Many of the youth in this generation are athletes and a common problem in recent years is the young athletes being pressured into specializing into one sport. The thought behind this is that if a child only plays one sport, the child will be very good at that sport.
The old saying is “practice makes perfect,” and I do not disagree with that. In anything, you need to pra
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ctice to become good at what you are trying to do. With that being said, sometimes practicing a special skill could become even more valuable when it is applied to another situation or sport.
A frequent issue that arises with specializing children in a single sport is the idea of “burning out.” Many children, by the time they get to high school or a higher level of competition, either cannot get any better than they already are, which could be good or average, or by that time are sick of the sport and want to move on.
There is an article written based off of the stories of prestigious coaches explaining why they want multi-sport athletes. Regardless of liking the sport or becoming great at it, sports were a huge source of fun in my childhood.
I was running around from practice to practice and I loved it. Children should be encouraged to play whatever sport they want to. Down the line if the child doesn’t like the sport, they can finish the season and move on to the next one.
Young athletes are some of the greatest players of these sports because they start fresh. If they are taught good fundamentals, they will be solid across the board in any sport they play.
The only thing in sports that children should specialize in at a young age is discipline in the game and listening to their superiors. Discipline is the single most important attribute in an athlete for any sport. Child athletes should be able to have as much fun playing sports as possible while they can and parents, your time commitment is always worth it for your kids.
