Sport specialization refers to the decision an athlete and/or their support systems makes to focus on one sport and practice that sport intensively and year-round, while minimizing participation in other sports. This is different from diversification, which refers to the process of trying out different sports to see what an athlete might like (Sackett, 2019).
Weirsma (2000) notes that coaches and parents often think specializing in one sport early on will help athletes develop their skills better than their peers. This belief potentially stems from the idea that 10,000 hours of deliberate practice over 10 years is necessary to become an expert in a sport (Ericsson, Krampe, & Tesch-Römer, 1993). Research doesn’t consistently support this idea. For example, certain sports may require early investment to become elite, but in most sports, specializing early doesn’t make a difference (Côté, Baker, & Abernethy, 2007).
While there are some benefits to specializing early, (e.g., coaching and visibility for college or professional recruiters (Myer et al., 2015)), there are also risks. Specializing early has been linked to physical injuries and burnout, as well as social and psychological issues, like missing out on socialization opportunities and losing enjoyment in the sport (Brenner, 2007; DiFiori et al., 2014). Early specialization is also associated with higher dropout rates later on in sporting careers (Russell & Limle, 2013).
In an effort to balance potential benefits and costs, recommendations suggest that athletes wait until at least 12 years old to specialize in one sport with some suggestions recommending athletes continuing to try out different sports throughout high school (Vealey & Chase, 2016).
References
Brenner, J. S. (2007). Overuse injuries, overtraining, and burn- out in child and adolescent athletes. Pediatrics, 119, 12421245.
Côte ́, J., Baker, J., & Abernethy, B. (2007). Practice and play in the development of sport expertise. In G. Tenenbaum, & R. C. Eklund (Eds.), Handbook of sport psychology (pp. 184202). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
DiFiori, J. P., Benjamin, H. J., Brenner, J. S., Gregory, A., Jayanthi, N., Landry, G. L., & Luke, A. (2014). Overuse injuries and burnout in youth sports: A position statement from the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 48(4), 287288.
Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T., & Tesch-Römer, C. (1993). The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychology Review, 100, 363406.
Myer, G. D., Jayanthi, N., DiFiori, J. P., Faigenbaum, A. D., Kiefer, A. W., Logerstedt, D., & Micheli, L. J. (2015). Sport specialization, part I: Does early sports specialization increase negative outcomes and reduce the opportunity for success in young athletes? Sports Health, 7, 437442.
Russell, W. D., & Limle, A. N. (2013). The relationship between youth sport specialization and involvement in sport and physical activity in young adulthood. Journal of Sport Behavior, 36, 8298.
Sackett, C. (2019). In D. Hackfort, R. J. Schinke, & B. Strauss (Eds.), Dictionary of sport psychology: Sport, exercise, and performing arts. Academic Press, 317-318.
Vealey, R., & Chase, M. (2016). Best practice for youth sport. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Wiersma, L. D. (2000). Risks and benefits of youth sport specialization: Perspectives and recommendations. Pediatric Exercise Science, 12(1), 1322.
