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  1. 1. Specialization

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If you believe that young athletes should specialize in a sport, at what age should they begin to do this. OR do you believe that young athletes should not specialize in a sport. I would love any feedback that anyone could give.

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I guess my question to your question is what is the objective of specializing in one sport? The obvious answer I think would be so the kid can get really good at one sport. What if he is a very athletic kid however? Most athletic kids can certainly play more than one sport.

I think until a youth gets to be at least 12 he should "hone" all his skills not just one. More opportunity. Maybe he gets bored with the "one" and now he's behind the rest of the "class" cause he's only played one sport. 12 is old enough to know what you want generally speaking up until then you have to do a lot of thier thinking for them.

I just think there are far too many pros as opposed to cons for going with more than one sport. Kids are very resiliant. Far more than they get credit for sometimes. Theres also the other end of the spectrum, you dont want to force them to play anything or push them too hard to play 18 different sports. My son plays baseball and football tried wrestling didn't like it so finshed season and didn't go back.

How do you know what you like if you haven't tried all your options. Who knows kid may love water polo and if he doesn't try it cause he's hung up on being all he can be in one sport. Well, where does that get anyone? Just seems like narrow minded thinking to me. To use a silly buzzword I'm not to fond of in the first place but I think is pretty appropriate...

Think outside the box...Be all you can be not just one of the things you could be...

Syn :huh:

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Great topic.

I think it is hard to peg a specific age and say it works for all children. And you would have to define "specialization". Do you mean focusing on one sport to the exclusion of all others or just giving a little extra attention to one sport versus another.

I tend to think that a little extra sports instruction can be a good thing for athletes of any age. However, if you are going to cut off all other sports and focus on one, there could be psychology byproducts of that much intensity. I think you would want to see some visible signals from your child that he is ready for that type of focus.

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