Multiple Sports Specialization

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For an athlete, sports have become an activity involving physical exertion and skill, in which an individual or team competes against one another or others for entertainment and pleasure. Early sport specialization is be defined as “intense year-round training in a specific sport with the exclusion of other sports at a young age”. On the other hand, sports diversification is the “participation in a variety of sports and activities through which an athlete develops multilateral physical, social, and psychological skills.”(www.nsca.com) It has become apparent that kids and young adults that specialize in only one sport are becoming more prone to injuries than those who specialize in multiple sports. In the argument of single vs multiple sport participation, and its effect upon performance, injury, and burnout, is not a settled issue, and arouses many emotions through the dynamics and certainly out in the open. They see kids and young adults who specialize in a single sport as ones who have a gift and will stick with it till the end and more prone to injury. However, people who do more than one sport have a less likely chance of injury and use more muscles in different ways that keeps the body healthier from cramps and possible tears. On the contrary, many of these kids and young adults have more fun doing multiple sports instead of one …show more content…
Utilizing this theory, it can be concluded that in order for athletes to be the best at a particular skill or sport, they need to start early with skill development and practice very specific activities to improve their strengths and reduce their