3/17/06

Multi Sport Athletes

We are getting involved in a discussion between coaches and parents of young
athletes on the topic of over-specialization and the impact of club programs
on athletics. I am a CSCS and work with athletes as a trainer, not a pt.
Just wondered if you could hit this topic on your blog. Thanks.Travis Knight, MEd, CSCS

I am always happy to comment on that topic. Those are two areas very dear to my heart. First of all I think a philosophical statement is in order – we must remember that this is about the youngster and his or her well being. Youth sports are not for the gratification of the adults involved. That is the crux of the problem to start with. Too many parents and coaches are trying to relive or revive their faded athletic careers through their children.

Perhaps the biggest change that I have seen in my 37 years in coaching is the move, now a stampede to overspecialization. It is as if the kid has not specialized in a sport by twelve years old they are doomed to failure. Actually the opposite is true, for every youngster who specializes and becomes a star (whatever that is) there are twenty who never play sports at all! I believe in all around development, build a complete athlete with a rich repertoire of motor skills and sport skills. There is no reason for a youngster not to play three sports, but the problem today is the club sport high school conflict that forces the kid to make a choice. Club seasons go on forever, soccer is year around, and basketball plays 8- 100 games, youth AAU baseball 120 games. Where does it stop? The argument is that the short high school season does not give the kids enough exposure. That is pure bull shitake. It worked for a 100 years, what has changed? What has changed is that we have too many people involved for their own self interests. Don’t kid yourselves these clubs make money. Meanwhile the poor coaches in the schools are scrounging to raise money to buy new uniforms. It is just symptomatic of the culture of excess that we live in.

As a former teacher and junior high school and high school coach I believe we need to get sport back in the control of the schools. We need to have qualified coaches who are trained as teachers, so they understand how to teach and know about growth and development. Forget the college scholarships. If you have talent there is a scholarship somewhere, especially for the girls. I recommend the youngsters play multiple sports until their junior or senior in high school. They if they figure out they are good enough and can specialize, then specialize. By that time they will have gotten very fit and skilled in a wide range of activities, then they are ready to pick a sport. I will give an example from my early teaching and coaching days. Terry Schroeder who went onto become the best water polo player in the world, played youth football, basketball, baseball and swam. He did not even play water polo until high school. Another example comes from my work in professional baseball. After the draft I would sit down and meet with each new player and interview them about their training and sports background. After a couple of years I found an interesting trend. The players who had played multiple sports started to pass the players who just had played baseball, which was true regardless of the position. Mike Cameron, currently with the San Diego Padres is an example. He played football, basketball and baseball all through high school. He started out in pro ball as a very good athlete and not a very good player. But his athleticism enabled him to be a very good baseball player. The player take number two in the baseball draft after Ken Griffey is an example of the opposite. He played nothing but baseball from the time he was little. He did nothing to develop his athleticism. He never made it, in fact he struggled because he did not have the athletic skills.

Enough of a rant and now some specific recommendations: Regulate the length of club seasons, especially under the age of 14. Limit summer leagues and passing leagues, instead have open gym. No parents involved. Coaches must be certified. Reinstitute mandatory physical education. The key to changing this trend is educated coaches who can teach and develop kids.

2 Comments:

At 3/17/06, 11:24 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Vern: I think there is a bigger theme here then just sports specialization and that is the loss of childhood for families who decide to invest so much of their kids time in one activity. This relates to some of your earlier posts. Todays post makes me think about a meeting I attended where parent and school representatives in our local area got together to discuss sports at our schools. Although there our a number of educational alternatives for high school students where I live, most kids go to a very good public high school that has an enrollment of 4000. There is a lot of anxiety amongst the parent body about whether there kids will make certain teams at this high school. A parent at this meeting got up to talk about their 6th grader who was playing between 50 and 60 basketball games during the winter. Their family time was totally dominated by this childs participation in basketball, but they were willing to do it because they wanted to make sure this child was good enough to make the team at the local high school. The public high school head girls basketball coach was in attendance at the meeting and was asked did she think that was enough. The coach had a good answer stating that how many basketball games a kid played when they were in sixth grade had only a little to do with whether she would ever play basketball on her varsity team. Talent and desire were the greatest factors to determing making the team. Since this answer did not seem to be quite what the parent wanted to hear, the coach then went on to say that unlike many basketball coaches, she kept 18 girls rather then 12-15 that many other basketball coaches kept on there rosters. This discourse made me think how sad it is for so many kids who sacrifice other opportunities in life to pursue one interest at an early age. Parents seem to buy into the idea that if you want to create Tiger Woods this is what you have to do. They seem to forget completely about talent or interest, let alone what is developmentally sound for kids. I say the same thing as you, Vern. If you really have an interest in sports, arts, or academics that you want to specialize in, wait until your junior year -- at the earliest -- in high school before you completely focus on one activity or interest. Up until that time, try to figure out where your talents and interests lead you by tryng a broad range of sports or activities.

 
At 4/25/06, 3:17 PM, Blogger Scott Sailor, EdD ATC said...

I really appreciate the great comments made by Vern and Patrick. I have worked as an athletic trainer for most level of athletics from Pop Warner Football to Professional Football, high school through college athletic teams. I am saddened to see the extinction of the multi-sport athlete. I think the best comment that was made on this topic I have ever heard was made by Vern regarding Mike Cameron - "He started out in pro ball as a very good athlete and not a very good player. But his athleticism enabled him to be a very good baseball player." We need to remember that there is much more involved in athletic performance then just ability. I remember the day when the football coach encouraged the receiver to run track so he could learn to run faster. Now I see coaches dominating a child's time promoting thier own (the coaches') agenda rather than thinking about what is best for the child. Patrick also opens the door to another huge conversation and that is the "cost" of year-round sport participation. The lost of family time and development of secondary interests could be very costly the day after the last goal is scored and the last base is stolen.

 

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