Early Sport Specialization

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Last week, my 6th grader told me that a guest speaker visited his class to talk about sports and told the students that they should be focusing on one sport.  This statement nearly made me choke on my breakfast. Unfortunately, there are many ill informed “experts” out there giving advice. For today’s blog, I would like to review the findings about sports specialization by some of the top sports medicine experts in the world. 

Research on Early Sports Specialization

In 2016, the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine published a consensus statement on sports specialization in the Orthopedic Journal of Sports Medicine.  I will cite this at the end of this blog*.  I urge you to read the full statement as it is very clear and references numerous studies on this subject.  The AOSSM defined early sports specialization as:

  • Competition or intensive training in a single sport for 8 months of the year or greater.

  • Participation in one sport to the exclusion of participation in other sports or free play.

  • Playing a single sport before 7th grade.

Reasons to Avoid Early Sport Specialization

  • Early sport specialization has shown to increase the likelihood of overuse injury.

  • “Burn out” is more common in those who specialize in a single sport early.

  • Early sport specialization can leave children feeling isolated from their peers; playing multiple sports often allows them to associate with different groups of kids.

  • In sports where peak performance is achieved in adulthood, there is no reliable evidence that early specialization is any advantage.

Recommendations of the AOSSM are as follows:

  • Children should avoid specializing in a single sport prior to 7th grade (roughly age of 13).

  • It is not recommended that children participate in organized sports for more hours per week than their age (13 y.o. should not exceed 13 hours of practice/competition per week).

  • All youth can benefit from strength and conditioning programming involving integrative neuromuscular training.

  • Free play should be encouraged.

With so many social media posts of twelve year olds hitting mammoth home runs and five year olds with perfect golf swings, it is easy to get caught up thinking that to give your kids a chance to play when they are older, they need to specialize early.  This is clearly not the case. It is important to encourage kids to play sports they enjoy, participate in multiple sports or activities, take breaks, enjoy free play, and participate in some form of exercise that involves integrative neuromuscular training.  This advice is the key to developing healthy athletes and reducing the number of youth sports injuries.

Complete Game Physical Therapy is ready to welcome you to our clinic in Lowell, MA. Contact us today at 978-710-7204 to make an appointment. 

*AOSSM Early Sport Specialization Consensus Statement, LaPrade RF, Afel J, et al. The Orthopedic Journal of Sports Medicice, 4(4); 2016


Amy Fieldscomplete game physical therapy, physical therapy, lowell, ma, massachusetts, early sport specialization, youth sports, injuries