Photo by Andrik Lanfield Petrides
When I helped build a sports performance gym in Long Island, our focus was to work with athletes of all levels-we worked with 8 year old kids to professional athletes. This was the first time that I would be working with youth kids and non-collegiate athletes, my prior background was working as strength and conditioning coach at the collegiate level and in the NFL. As you can imagine there was a bit of a learning curve for me.
The most interesting aspect for me was dealing with the parents. I read about parents living through their kids but wow to see this first hand was a bit unnerving. It was unfortunate that some misinformed parents thought to be the best at their sport the young athlete needed to practice that specific sport all year long and then train at sports performance center too. Seeing young kids being burned out from a long day of school, practice, study hall, and then expected to train at a high level was insane. No matter what we told the parents it just never stuck.
With that said, Dr. James Andrews a well respected surgeon (he’s the guy every high level athlete goes to) has spoken his thoughts on early specialization and burning out young athletes. Here are a few quotes that I hope will better inform parents and young athletes that believe early specialization is the key to their future success:
“Specialization and “professionalism” are leading to a spike in youth injuries
Specialization leads to playing the sport year-round. That means not only an increase in risk factors for traumatic injuries but a sky-high increase in overuse injuries. Almost half of sports injuries in adolescents stem from overuse.
Professionalism is taking these kids at a young age and trying to work them as if they are pro athletes, in terms of training and year-round activity. Some can do it, like Tiger Woods. He was treated like a professional golfer when he was 4, 5, 6 years old. But you’ve got to realize that Tiger Woods is a special case. A lot of these kids don’t have the ability to withstand that type of training and that type of parental/coach pressure.
The whole youth sports system has gotten out of control
The systems out there in youth sports, particularly travel ball, have been important financial resources for the people who run them. Parents spend a fortune keeping their kids in a year-round sport, with travel and everything else. What’s happening is, the tail is wagging the dog. The systems are calling the shots: If your son or daughter doesn’t play my sport year-round, he or she can’t play for me. Never mind that your kid is 12 — I need year-round dedication.
Simply giving kids a little bit of a break could prevent most of these injuries
Kids need at least two months off each year to recover from a specific sport. Preferably, three to four months. Example: youth baseball. For at least two months, preferably three to four months, they don’t need to do any kind of overhead throwing, any kind of overhead sport, and let the body recover in order to avoid overuse situations. That’s why we’re seeing so many Tommy John procedures, which is an adult operation designed for professionals. In my practice now, 30 to 40 percent of the ones I’m doing are on high-schoolers, even down to ages 12 or 13. They’re already coming in with torn ligaments.
Give them time off to recover. Please. Give them time to recover.”
*Quotes from Yellow Hammer
Our Thoughts
I’m 100% with Dr. Andrews and would add that you should expose your children to as many various sports as they feel comfortable with. By doing so, it allows the young athlete to see what sports they may like and challenges their bodies to new skill sets. Put in another way, allowing them to be challenged – yet having fun- through various sports teaches their bodies to develop new “tools” (skills) that will help develop their overall athleticism. The bigger the foundation the higher they’ll peak.
In short, let your kids develop a love for sports and they’ll flourish.
Train smart,