The Cost of Intense Sport Training, Is It Worth It?

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For years, sport specialization has been a trend amongst young athletes, and is continuing to grow rapidly. In the hopes of reaching elite level playing ability, kids participate in intense year-round training, popularly known as "Early Sport Specialization". While the idea of making it to a professional level is appealing, what is the real cost of sport specialization? It has been widely researched and shown that sport specialization from a young age can lead to increased physical injuries, psychological issues, and losing passion for the sport that these children once adored.

Research has shown that intense training focused on one single sport has lead to overuse injuries, acute injuries, sprains and fractures. Due to the fact that certain muscles are being repeatedly stressed over and over for months, those certain muscles get tired out and are more likely to be injured.

"Osgood-Schlatter" is a popular disease that is a result of over training where the growth plate on the shin bone becomes irritated due to overuse of the muscle. On top of being at risk for physical injuries, children who participate in early sport specialization are at a higher risk for psychological issues. Deciding to vigorously focus on one sport from a young age comes with sacrifices. Social isolation, not hanging out with friends, decrease in academic performance, and much more. Dealing with these conditions from a young age will increase anxiety and stress in these kids. It is important for kids to have a nurturing environment growing up, in order to promote mental and physical health. With this new phenomenon of sport specialization, both the physical and mental well being of these kids are declining.

Despite the fact that there are many detrimental effects when it comes to sport specialization, there have also been many articles published by athletic trainer's who give recommendations on how to keep the children's sport experience fun and healthy at the same time. Encouraging multi-sport participation, decreasing added pressure from coaches and parents, and giving the kids an opinion on their life in sports have all been effective ways to enlighten the experience. It has also been

recommended by the "National Athletic Trainer's Association" to avoid specializing in one sport for however long you can, not playing a sport for more than eight months in the year, and leaving time for recovery after a sport season.

This issue is very destructive to kids everywhere, and is increasing every year. It is a controversial argument that needs to be discussed more by coaches, parents, schools, and athletic trainer's. Early sport specialization has been shown to cause health issues, mentally and physically, and clearly has the ability to ruin a childhood experience. I believe that the recommendations put out by several author's can help give parents and coaches an insight on how this can harm their kid. I just hope enough people can wake up and realize the damage caused is much worse than the possible reward, before it is too late for their own kid.recommended by the "National Athletic Trainer's Association" to avoid specializing in one sport for however long you can, not playing a sport for more than eight months in the year, and leaving time for recovery after a sport season.