Should my Child Specialize in a Sport?
Overview
A big question that parents of young athletes might be asking themselves is if their child should specialize in a sport. While specializing in a sport can be an important step for athletes who want to play at a high level, its crucial to make sure that it is done at the right time. In today’s blog post we will be looking at when your child should specialize, the benefits, and what specializing looks like.
When should your child specialize in a sport?
At some point if your child wants to play a sport professionally they have to start to put all their focus and energy on training for that sport. But when is the right age to have your child focus on one sport? According to an article titled Early to Specialize: Will it Make Your Child Athlete Healthy, Wealthy and Wise? by ActiveKidMD it says that evidence shows that the best time for your child to specialize in a sport is after puberty or when they are around 15 or 16 years old. This gives your child the opportunity to try multiple sports, grow essential movements, and grow physically and cognitively. Having the opportunity to participate in multiple sports while they are growing up will allow them to make the best decision on what sport they want to specialize in, apply what they learned in other sports to the sport they choose, and have the maturity to be able to commit to more intense and specialized training. It’s also important to know the potential risks that can come with having your child specialize too early. These include overuse injuries, burnout, a limit on long term development, and more can sometimes happen when your child specializes in a sport too early.
Benefits of specializing
Choosing to specializes in a sport at the right time has a wide variety of benefits for your child. One of the benefits that is associated with specialization is it helps your child to acquire new and more advanced skills. This comes from the fact that your child is focusing on one sport and dedicating more time learning new skills along with getting more reps or game time. Another benefit is a greater amount of self-confidence in their ability to play the sport that they choose to specialize in because they are spending a lot of their focus, time, and energy on the sport. These are just two of the potential benefits for your child by choosing to specialize in a sport but there are many other benefit of specializing in a sport at the right time.
What does specializing look like
Specializing might be the next step for your child to bring their playing to the next level, so what does specializing look like? When your child specializes in one sport they dedicate the majority of their time for the majority of the year to that sport. This means competing at a high level, training outside of practices, and participating in activities that help you to grow skill in the specific sport. While specializing can help your kid to get better at a sport, specializing takes up a lot of time, energy, and ability and is best to do once your child has gone through puberty.
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