Sport Management: Burnout and Early Specialization Every year there are a number of children who withdraw from participating in youth sports. While countless leave sports to pursue other interests, a significant number detest their experience in sport. From the intense practices to pressure-filled competitions, young athletes can feel a considerable amount of stress. If this stress remains for an extended period of time, children experience “burnout” and lose their desire to continue playing. There are two ways parents can avoid youth sports burnout for their children: making sure the children have a healthy balance in their lives and giving the children input into decisions. While sports require dedication in order to achieve a high level …show more content…
Sports specialization is an intense training in a single sport while excluding others (Jayanthi et al., 2013). In my opinion, athletes should not begin to specialize in one sport before adolescence. Rates of sports specialization appear to increase with age. Although numerous people would agree that the number of hours spent in practice and training generally positively correlates with the level of achievement in sports, specializing in sports at an early age can cause burnout which would ultimately be more detrimental than beneficial. Swimmers who specialized early spent less time on the national team and retired earlier than athletes who specialized later. They reported that the foremost reasons for leaving the sport were psychological fatigue, general health, and difficult loads (Barynina & Vaitsekhovskii, 1992). Rhythmic gymnasts, those who specialized earlier and spent more hours training from age 4 to 16 years, rated their health lower and experienced less fun (Law et al., 2007). Despite early specialization being beneficial to attain elite-level skill in a sport, intense training in a single sport and the exclusion of others should be delayed until adolescence to optimize success, while minimizing the potential for …show more content…
Neither my parents nor I had that desire for myself; therefore not one sport was more central than the other. Academic success stood as the most valuable compared to athletic success. That environment placed less pressure for me to train with greater intensity and focus when it came to competitive sports. Sports were extra-curricular activities as opposed to a full-time job and the pathway to the subsequent level. I absolutely benefitted from playing multiple sports throughout my youth. I have participated in soccer, basketball, football, track & field, wrestling, and even taekwondo. Competing in all these sports developed me into a better athlete and enhanced my fundamental movement skills that are necessary for all sports. In addition, it gave me multiple perspectives that I might not have had otherwise. This improved my ability to be a teammate and instilled in me a more competitive nature. Although different sports brought different demands, the growth of confidence remained the same. I never suffered from burnout during my youth, nor did I detest my experience. Ultimately, participating in multiple sports gave me time to decide where my passion lied and what I preferred to play. As a result, my participation in high school sports was limited to only football and
More specifically, children are also increasingly pressured--again, usually by parents and coaches--to specialize in one sport and to play it year-round, often on several different teams (Perry). Now, if sports specialization is such a great idea, then why are kids being “pressured”? As stated before, sports specialization can result in severe injury or even retirement from sports all together. Evidently, parents would not want to risk their athlete’s entire athletic career just because of an overuse injury. Knowing this, a diversity in sports activities is the solution to the problem. Additionally, a specialization in sports can lead to the young athlete not experiencing a sport that he or she may truly enjoy in their life. If a parent already makes a child decide on a sport to play, how will the child know if that is the sport they truly want to participate in? As the child ages, they could realize that the sport they play now is not one that they love anymore, so they could just quit. Deciding at such a young age is not only a hasty decision, but also a terrible one. Finally, this specialization can also create social problems. If a child is already so competitively involved in a sport, then their social lives and relationships with friends are at risk. The clear choice here is to let the child live a normal life by allowing them to make friends and play, rather than taking over their lives with competitive
There are many things to look at on both sides all good and bad effects. “Nowadays, there is a trend for early specialization in a single sport or even a single position. We see year-round participation in baseball, soccer, basketball, and hockey. Athletes like Michael Phelps and Mia Hamm both began competitive careers well before puberty.” (UVM Medical Center 1). “Supporters of specialization in a single sport state the early participation in that sport will increase skills and help one develop in his or her sport better than other athletes participating in multiple sports.” (UVM Medical Center 1). People feel they will do better in their sport if they play only one . Also they feel will be able to make it farther that athletes playing multiple sports. For being good and making a team specialization in one sport may be a good
Sports are a popular pastime among all ages and types of people. People not only participate in them for fun, but also for money, physical fitness, rush of competition, and for many other personal reasons. Playing sports is especially common among young people in schools. Athletics are great and enjoyable for many reasons, but there can be a point where sports participation can go too far and become negative for children and adults. Sports specialization for young people is an increasing trend that results in sports having a negative impact on individuals and society.
These days, there is too much pressure on children who participate in organized sports because of the unnecessary parental involvement they experience. A growing concern amongst those involved in youth sports is that certain aspects of parental involvement become detrimental to the development and experiences of young athletes. Early emphasis on winning, making money, and the disruption of education can exceedingly affect ones desire to further participate in a sport later on in his/her life.
Potential Burnout In conclusion, a lot of the points that have been made throughout this paper can be benefits of children playing just one sport in general, but they should be playing multiple sports for the huge reason of burnout. Specialization often leads to children being burnt out because of the over repetition at such a young age, while it takes a lot of repetitions to be elite at a sport, incorporating practice and training from other sports will allow a child to have a break from their ‘main’ sport while still staying in shape and developing athletic and mental skills. “An athlete who specializes early or plays on an ultra-competitive select team is at increased risk of burnout or quitting sports as a result of chronic stress, repetitive strain and a decrease in intrinsic motivation and enjoyment during their training sessions” (Lench, n.d.). Kids will feel pressure from their parents to do extremely well if they do specialize, this is because parents will have spent countless amounts of money and time on their kids'
Specialization in Sport: An Overview of Some Unanswered Questions. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 7, 390-393.
The following essay explores the factors that have an impact on the development of individuals to promote long term involvement in sport and physical activity by reviewing a range of literature and sporting frameworks. It has been said that positive developmental outcomes have been experienced in young people who are actively engaged in sport. (Fraser-Thomas et al 2005) The factors that influence this positive development can have an impact on whether young people remain involved in sport long term.
The early maturity of physical development in children can be broken into two categories: early advancement of motor skills and precocious puberty. A child’s fine and gross motor skills can become fine tuned because of the growing popularity of youth athletics and physical health programs. The United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals states that “sport has the natural ability to draw on, develop, and showcase individual strengths and capacities.” It also mentions that sports enhance physical growth and development while simultaneously enhancing psychosocial health and development (“Sport for Development”). Programs like S.M.A.R.T., Sports Management, Academics, and ...
Physical activity and fitness is a very important aspect of life. In most cases, people are happier, have better self – esteems, and are more successful when they are healthy. By virtue of that scenario, there is no better time to develop a healthy life style than childhood. It is easy for parents to get their children on the right track by introducing them to sports at a young age.
In order to become the best at a sport, some parents have their child specialize in one sport so they will become the best. While this is one way of thinking about how to have a child excel at a sport, it is not beneficial. It can cause injuries and children may not enjoy the sport as much as they use to. While specialization in youth sports could help them be the best, it will actually have a negative effect on their health and well-being in the future.
According to the people collecting data at the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports at Michigan State University, “Kids who participate in organized sports do better in school, have better interpersonal skills, are more team oriented, and are generally healthier” (Chen 1). In consequence, sports can help kids have a better life because the things you learn in sports can help you in school and if you do well in school, you can get a good job. In the end, I think the lessons learned through sports are more important than the stress kids may face while playing a competitive sport. The stress adolescents may have to face in a sport can teach them how to deal with more stressful things in real life, so the stress isn’t so bad
During the early infancy physical activity is mainly related to play activities, with the pass of time the children are encouraged to engage in sports and this encouragement increase until the adolescence. The early sport specialization in youth and adolescence have been discussed for many researchers, there are positive and negative aspects of the effect of the early specialization on the development and vice versa, since that the transition from the childhood to the adolescence is defined by structural, physiological and psychological changes. The definition of sport specialization is presented by Myer et al (2015) as an intensive year-round training in a single sport at the exclusion of other sports, where a young athlete should be able
If the child feels like they are burning out on the sport or are being pressured too much, they could also talk to the parents or coaches and actually communicate how they feel and how the pressure is affecting
The main goals behind Sport Education are to help students become knowledgeable about different sports and activities to the point where they can participate in these outside of the classroom to stay active. Also it teaches execution and strategies and encourages competitiveness. It is important for kids to be competitive because they will have to be in life and it will teach the importance of winning and losing the right way. “Sports offer kids a great chance to work cooperatively toward a common goal. And working coope...
Over 70% of kids in the United States quit competitive sports by age 13 annually because of the pressure competitive sports bring. Many people debate over the topic that competitive sports are beneficial to kids. Organized team sports, although played by many, can cause harm to children at a young age. By playing competitive sports many kids are exposed to the pressure, whether it be from coaches, parents, or even other players. Many adolescents feel large amounts of pressure from competitive sports which can affect them physically and psychologically.