What is early specialization sports?
ESS has been defined as intensive training or competition in organized sport by prepubescent children (<12 years of age) for more than 8 months per year, with focus on a single sport to the exclusion of other sport and free play.
What does early specialization mean?
Early specialization is defined as a focus on one sport with the exclusion of others. This means kids are playing just one sport, often for a single team, year-round.
What does sport specialization mean?
Sports specialization is intense training in 1 sport while excluding others. Sports specialization in early to middle childhood has become increasingly common. There is a concern that sports specialization before adolescence may be deleterious to a young athlete.
Why is early sport specialization important?
The strength and power gained through early growth and development will allow this athlete to compete with older, stronger players and show his superior physical strength over players in his own age group.
What do you mean specialization?
Definition of specialization 1 : a making or becoming specialized. 2a : structural adaptation of a body part to a particular function or of an organism for life in a particular environment. b : a body part or an organism adapted by specialization.
Is football an early Specialisation sport?
The majority of professional football players in England followed the early specialisation pathway starting football at 5 years of age, spending time in soccer specific practice and play activity (Ford & Williams, 2012).
Is early sport specialization good?
While early sport specialization can help with skill development, it can also be detrimental in developing overall athleticism. An increased amount of volume of one specific movement while the body is growing can lead to imbalanced development a higher chance of overuse injury.
What are the benefits of sport specialization?
Specifically, an athlete that focuses on one sport can experience improved self-confidence in their sport, increased motivation, better concentration, and an improved ability to regulate emotions in that sport. For young athletes that are still maturing, these advantages can provide greater opportunities for success.
What is an example of a specialization?
If, for example, a country can produce bananas at a lower cost than oranges, it can choose to specialize and dedicate all its resources to the production of bananas, using some of them to trade for oranges. All these areas focus on the production of these specific goods, and they trade or purchase other goods.
Why is early sport specialization bad?
Why is early Specialisation bad?
Young bodies are vulnerable. We only get one chance to go through puberty and too much high intensity training can delay it. This narrows the window to build bone mass and develop muscle strength and coordination, which then increases the risk of injury throughout life.
What are the components of early sports specialization?
Three components that define early sports specialization include year-round training (>8 months per year), choosing a single main sport, and quitting all other sports to focus on 1 sport. Increased degree of specialization is positively correlated with increased serious overuse injury risk.
What is the difference between early sport specialization and sports diversification?
Early sport specialization can be defined as “intense year-round training in a specific sport with the exclusion of other sports at a young age” (5). On the other hand, sports diversification is the “participation in a variety of sports and activities through which an athlete develops multilateral physical, social, and psychological skills” (10).
Do young athletes need early specialization training?
Sports specialization patterns, which include year-round training, participation on multiple teams of the same sport, and focused participation in a single sport at a young age, are at high levels. The need for this type of early specialized training in young athletes is currently under debate. Evidence Acquisition: Nonsystematic review.
Does early sport specialization increase the risk of injury?
This has resulted in an increase in sport-related injuries, but the reasons for this are complex and multifactorial. Sport participation offers multiple benefits for children and adolescents, but there is concern that early sport specialization (ESS) may lead to adverse health and social effects.