11 Responses to “Sport Specialization vs Sport Exclusivity”

1. 

   April 28, 2011 at 3:52 pm, Lance said:

   Does sport specification effect development of athletes on either side of puberty in different manners.

2. 

   April 28, 2011 at 4:11 pm, Carl Cepuran said:

   How different does a sport have to be from one’s specialty sport to be considered “non-directed”?

   At what age range does the 60-40 ratio guide apply? In other words, say at age 17 can you go to 70-30 and at age 18 80-20, for example? Or no?

   Is the 60-40 guide variable by sport as well as by age? Are there some sports where a different mix is ok at the same age?

   What leads to 40% being the right number and not 30 or 50 for non-directed activity?

3. 

   April 28, 2011 at 4:23 pm, Ken said:

   Hi Brian: Thanks for the great content.Back at the end of January you posted a 2 parter from Dr. Toby Brooks about this subject. I made the mistake of letting the parents of a 10 year old full time tennis player read it. I don’t see him any longer. I think if you spoke in front of a room full of tennis parents you might not get out. Junior tennis is 24/7/365. Season starts January 1, ends December 31. It’s all about ranking. No time off, by the way, this player has injury trouble….thanks…

4. 

   April 28, 2011 at 8:17 pm, Brian Grasso said:

   Great comments all! Thank you for offering them…. Please, be sure to come back here in 2 weeks – I’ll be reviewing and answering every one of these comments/questions…. LOVE the passion of the IYCA Family! BG

5. 

   April 29, 2011 at 12:22 am, Dean Kashiwabara said:

   What is the difference in getting a certification in Youth Fitness Specialist vs. starting out with studying your Complete Athletic Development program? I am a physical therapist and have been to the Athletes Performance training for rehab personnel, also took in some courses on speed and agility, etc.. I want to start working with young athletes(football, maybe basketball) but don’t know where to start. There is so much info out there(reading books and DVDs with Gray Cook and Michael Boyle
   Would welcome any comments and suggestions
   Thanks
   Dean

6. 

   April 29, 2011 at 8:07 am, Raj Gavurla said:

   In addition to the motor stimulus in a 60% to 40% specialization ratio, for an athlete to continue rise they need to develop and enhance their mindset, mood, and mental motivation skills. That’s the largest difference between professional, college, high school, and youth sports. The Winning Mental Pyramid (shows the relationship between motivation, inspiration, attitude, mindset, mood, and subconscious) is practical application of leading edge research and process customizable to produce wins, grow, and evolve.

   See practical examples on http://www.inner-motivation.com (click Sports Team Coach Advisor heading) and download the report.

7. 

   April 29, 2011 at 9:58 am, Nick said:

   Hey Brian:

   I agree with the whole nurturing 60-40 concept. Having developed a solid system over the last 15 yrs. in the youth sports trade training outside of coaching. It still amazes me how parents & coaches push kids to exclusivity so early. As a general rule, I tell my clients in the non- skating/gymnastics world, I don’t care what sport the kids play thru 9. Let the kid enjoy and build that inventory warehouse set of skills – the bottom line psychologically – just have the pure joy of sports. Psychologically as u guys reinforce, the work to fun ratio will be increasing in coming years! Between 9 -12 yrs. old as a general rule start specializing – if you continue to ask the one important question – Do you want to play at the elite of the next level? If not, just do what you enjoy. If you are in that upper echelon 1% (i.e., Manchild – Lebron James) it doesn’t matter; The work to fun ratio just icreased. Otherwise, you need to start discerning motor skills match, size, etc.. 12 – 14 yrs. old Possibly narrow the focus and stick with the complimentary sport (e.g., football/basketball and track compliment each other). Now you are in that 14 – 18 zone, everybody wants u and needs I (HS Coach, Club Coach, camps, all star teams, etc.). As a rule I tell my specialists make sure 25% of your year is spent physiologically getting away from the day 2 day grind getting bigger, stronger, and faster with functional training integrated. If you are not specializing make sure you have clearly defined a primary sport if you want D1 and it is clear u r training and performing at that level. I coach @ elite $$$ HS as well. It amazes me on the other extreme where the student-athletes think they r performing at a high level playing all 3 sports w/o excelling in 1 with expectations to perform at a D1. I explain there is nothing to alter their behavior possibly at a D3 and that is not always the case either (i.e., elite D3s that drive as hard as D1s). The bottom line make sure you are a well-adjusted student-athlete that understands where u truly r in the big picture of youth sports. As usual great topic!

8. 

   April 30, 2011 at 8:23 am, Roy Alfonso said:

   My son played Baseball and Soccer till he was 15. He then “specialized” in Soccer. My son is 18 now. The Soccer coach wanted him to play year round. Most soccer coaches want their players to play all year. At any age I don’t agree. Since my son was 10 years old I would do off season conditioning with him. We would begin with weak areas, strengthen the joints and just before he would rejoin his team, we would work with dynamic stabilization, speed, power and agility.
   At what age do you think a kid should specialize?

9. 

   May 04, 2011 at 1:00 am, Dan Walters, PT said:

   This topic of discussion has been part of my education of parents who have young injuried athletes. Having treated these young athletes for over use injuires is a shame. Elbows of little league pitchers, shoulders of volleyball players, and knees/ankles of football and soccer players. The list goes on and on for every sport. Glad to hear you are educating everyone on this topic. Some of our greatest athletes were multi-sport heros. Athletes such as Jim Thorpe, Babe Zaharias, Bo Jackson, and Dion Sanders. This sounds old fashion but let the kids play their season sports.

10. 

    May 05, 2011 at 11:07 am, Hannah Weide said:

    I completely agree. But I want to add that the 40% doesn’t have to be always “organized” sport related. Whatever happened to neighborhood games of kickball, rollerblade hockey, soccer, basketball, etc. It doesn’t always have to be organized. This gives parents and families time together also. In today’s society we are too engrossed on having our children in everything and anything. Going from one activity to the next. In my opinion this is where we need to change. Sports are a wonderful avenue, but over stimulating your child in everything will hinder your family time and your child’s ability to have fun!

11. 

    May 22, 2011 at 10:41 am, Randy said:

    What role should the school system play in LTAD? The final outcome of LTAD is winning(Elitism and Olympics), yet in the school system we emphasize participation and competition. How can we work together to make kids active for life?