Dear ETV News Editor,
I feel that it is not as beneficial as some may think, for young athletes to participate on traveling and elite teams at an early age. It appears that the costs may outweigh the benefits.
Studies show that children who are one sport specified, actually end up being less talented than their peers who play several sports. Their muscles do not have balanced development, because the same muscles are used over and over again in doing only one sport continually. The best athletes are those that play a variety of sports as young kids. Dr. Nirav Pandya, director of sports medicine for the Hospital and Sports Medicine Clinic in California, estimates “60 percent of patients come in because of injuries they’ve suffered from focusing on a single sport year-round. Using those same muscles and joints at a young age can lead to breakdowns,” he explained to Healthline. (August, 2016)
The National Council of Youth Sports resources for parents reports, “as early as grade school, your child may get pressure to focus on playing one sport year-round. Research on child and athletic development rejects this approach. Ask program leaders how they’ll make room for playing other sports.”
Are the kids on these elite teams more talented than in years gone by, when kids spent more time practicing with their friends at home opposed to spending so many hours on the road? It doesn’t appear that the talent has improved with the traveling.
J.Wallace reports in Huffpost (Dec. 2015), “the USTA, NFL, MLB, NHL, NCAA, U.S. Olympic Committee and three dozen other leading sports organizations joined forces to speak out against the popular ‘early specialization’ trend in youth sports, where children under 12 focus intensively on one sport, at the exclusion of others, year-round.”
In an ad that appeared in SportsBusiness Journal, the group highlighted the risks of early specialization in developing bodies and encouraged playing multi-sports instead, which “can lead to better performance, less burnout, less social isolation, and, most importantly, more lifelong enjoyment in sports.”
Kids may have more time on the court or field and see a variety of teams, coaches, and players, but the opportunities may not outweigh the costs. Speaking of costs, the tournament organizers may be putting a lot of money in their pockets, but the parents are taking money out of theirs. The costs for gas, food, motels, travel bags, uniforms, shoes and time away for travel add up, and the outcome may be detrimental to the overall well-being of the child.
Family time is being lost to team play, but other things are being lost as well. Time lost from school as kids leave school early to travel, loss of carefree childhood days to stress and pressure to make the team and participate, loss of health to overuse injuries, loss of enjoyment of the sport to the length of duration played.
Kids may appear to enjoy a selective sport for a time period, but it turns out that burnout and injury are showing up down the road. Less kids are choosing to play sports for the long run, when they are immersed at such an early age.
Given the fact that the majority of young kids don’t even play high school sports, let alone college sports, is the tradeoff worth it? Kids do need exercise and activity, but they also need to have fun. Evidence is proving that too much stress and pressure on young kids to succeed and win is pushing kids away from sports as they get older.
Parents, who believe their child needs to excel to get a college scholarship someday, will be better off starting a secure college account for their kids, and let them participate in a variety of activities while they are young. The majority of young athletes are not going to receive an athletic scholarship, so putting money away instead of putting more money into traveling would be better investment.
Because participating on traveling and elite teams as a young child is not as beneficial as some may think, parents would be better off taking the time to go out and play with their children and participate in family activities, instead of spending so much time on the road with traveling teams.
Thanks for your time,
Nadene Hinkins
Orangeville, UT
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