Nelwin Gonzlez Barreto

Word Count: 1,132

How does specializing in a single sport affect a developing athlete?

Before reaching an elite level in a sport, athletes must face many challenges that
will form their career in the future. This means that a developing athlete has to
train many hours and choose his sport(s) to reach an elite level. Some athletes
choose to play multiple sports and others choose to specialize in a single sport.
One might think that the athlete that specializes in a single sport is going to be
better at that sport and be more successful in his career. Many studies show that
this is not true. Athletes that specialize in one sport tend to have more problems
in their sport career than athletes that play multiple sports. These problems
include injuries, emotional problems, and more which we will discuss later on.
This is problem is very serious in many athletes. When athletes are young and
developing, their parents are always pushing them and trying to help them
improve. The problem with this is that most parents think that it's better that the
athlete specializes in one sport as soon as he can. They do this because parents
think that their child is going to fall behind in the sport. They need to understand
that playing multiple sports can help you learn and use more skills and it can
help you enjoy more sports.

There are many negative effects and risks that developing athlete will encounter
when specializing in a single sport. In John O'Sullivan's blog, he states that In a
study of 1200 youth athletes, Dr Neeru Jayanthi of Loyola University found that
early specialization in a single sport is one of the strongest predictors of injury.
Athletes in the
study who
specialized
were 70% to
93% more likely
to
be injured than
children who
played multiple
sports!(Is it Wise
to
Specialize, n.d.).
This can happen
to
many athletes,
not
just the ones in
Dr. Neerus study.
Fig 1: Active For Life.
Another issue
Retrieved from
with devoting yourself into one
http://activeforlife.com/what-elite-athletes-have-in-common/
sport only is that you wont be
recognized by many coaches recruiting from high school. Pete Carroll, Seattle
Seahawks american football coach says, The first questions Ill ask about a kid
are, What other sports does he play? What does he do? What are his
positions?(Active For Life, n.d.). He states that all of those factors are important
to him. The following graph shows the amount of students who got recruited by
Urban Meyer, a coach from Ohio State. We can clearly see the difference
between both athletes. Athletes that play multiple sports are more recognized by
coaches. Many of these problems are caused by something called burnout or
burning desire. There are three main factors involved in an athletes burnout:
negative performance, non-supportive feedback from coaches, and overtraining.
All of these factors can cause injuries, emotional problems, or even decreased
motivation.
Fig 2: Multiple Sports. Retrived from
http://therumpus.net/2014/07/over-the-hill/ &
http://pelelepew.com/tag/steve-nash/

We already know that

specializing in a single sport is
a bad choice, so a good
question can be: How can we
solve this? There are many
ways to help young athletes
with this problem. One way we
can do this is by explaining to parents the benefits of playing multiple sports.
This is a very basic response and can only help athletes who are young and
havent decided if they should play multiple sports. But what about athletes who
are already specializing in one sport? This is harder but first they need to try and

play another sport if possible. The picture above shows Steve Nash, one of the
best point guards in NBA history and he also played some professional football
before basketball. If the athlete cant play another sport, then we need to help
him with his mental mindset and with his emotions (social factor). Emotions can
influence an athletes goals and motivations. For example, if the athlete is bored
or distressed, it is unlikely that he is going to improve his performance. Emotion
regulation can help an athlete feel better while playing a sport and it can help
him control his emotions. Emotion regulation deals with using strategies to
maintain or modify your emotions. If a young athlete that specializes in a single
sport can regulate his emotions, then he can prevent and reduce the risks of
decreased motivation or distress emotions. These athletes should get welleducated coaches that know about the sport, but also know about enhancing
emotion regulation. Some exercises that help enhance emotion regulation are:
1. Identify emotional states associated with best and worst performance. These
might vary from athlete to athlete. (The British Association of Sport and Exercise
Sciences, n.d.).
2. Examine the use and effectiveness of athletes emotion regulation strategies.
A strategy an athlete believes to be effective may not be so. (The British
Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences, n.d.).
3. Help athletes examine the perceived cause of their feelings. If change is
desired, help them re-appraise the causes. (The British Association of Sport and
Exercise Sciences, n.d.).
4. Recognise that many sport performance management strategies will also act
as emotion regulation strategies. (The British Association of Sport and Exercise
Sciences, n.d.).
Another way coaches can help an athlete specializing in a single sport is by
letting him have some free play. This means that the athlete should have some
moments where he can do whatever he wants and be creative in his sport. For
example, a coach should let the football athlete do some dribbling and try new
cool skills that dont have anything to do with the training. The athlete would
then enjoy the sport more and he would not get bored. This can also give some
extra motivation on the athlete. In free play, kids play multiple positions, and
focus solely upon the enjoyment and fun of the sport...This is exactly the
opposite of structured, organized training with a long term goal in mind, and has
been scientifically shown to yield better overall athleticism. (Changing the
Game Project, n.d.). All of these strategies can help an athlete, that specializes in
a single sport, prevent and reduce risks.
In conclusion, studies show that young developing athletes that specialize on one
single sport have more injuries, they lack of motivation and enjoyment, and they
face emotional problems. We can try to convince athletes to play multiple sports
and if thats not possible then we can help them with their emotional problems.
We can do this by enhancing emotion regulation, and motivating them more by

being supportive. In my opinion, looking back at all the research I would say that
if we help these athletes control their emotions and stay focused and at the
same time enjoy their sport, then they can improve their performance and
prevent these risks. To sum up, athletes should be certain about their choice of
sport and they should be able to enjoy it.

References:
O'Sullivan, J. (n.d.). Is it wise to specialize? Retrieved February 2, 2016,
from Changing The Game Project website: http://changingthegameproject.com/is-it-wise-to-specialize/

O'Sullivan, J. (n.d.). What about the single sport athlete? Retrieved February
3, 2016, from Changing The Game Project website:
http://changingthegameproject.com/what-about-the-single-sport-athlete-specialization-part-ii/