Negative effects can be prevented by encouraging participation in multiple sports
High school students who focus on one sport are more likely to be injured or suffer from burnout. However, new research from the University of Georgia suggests that their motivation for majoring in a sport is pure: a love of the game and competition.
The study, published in the Orthopedic Journal of Sports Medicine, surveyed 975 high school athletes in the United States and found that more than one in five reported a high level of specialization in a sport. More than 42% indicated a low degree of specialization.
Dee Warmath
“Some studies have indicated that if you specialize in a sport, say just playing baseball or just playing football, you’re doing the same moves over and over again, so there are a lot of problems with repetitive use injuries,” said Dee Warmath, Lead author of the study and assistant professor at the College of Family and Consumer Sciences. “Other studies have suggested that there is also a link to burnout. They want young adults to get involved in their sport and that has many benefits. But if you only play football all year round, you run the risk of burning out and potentially leaving the sport.
Experts often recommend limiting athletic specialization, especially among high school athletes. Prior to this study, little was known about the motivations that led high school athletes to specialize. Knowing what motivates your child to specialize in a sport can help parents and coaches develop a textbook to encourage the student to diversify.
“We may need a more balanced approach to dealing with sport specialization when athletes are engaging in it for really positive reasons,” said Warmath, who works in the Department of Financial Planning, Housing and Consumer Economics. “So instead of saying that sport specialization is bad and you shouldn’t do it, maybe it’s more about finding ways to compete more effectively and emphasizing how even some professional athletes use other sports to train for their main sport . This variety of sports can make you better at your main sport.”
The key, Warmath said, is finding ways to communicate to athletes why specialization might have negative consequences and what they can do to avoid them.
Two types of competition
The study examined the two characteristics of competitiveness: the enjoyment of competition, which might be associated with a love of the game or a higher level of sporting behavior, and the willingness to fight in competition. High-performing athletes are more likely to be high-performing in all aspects of their lives, which can manifest in more aggressive and contrarian attitudes.
We have to recognize that athletes get into sport specializations for really positive reasons: They want to get better at their sport.” —Dee Warmath, College of Family and Consumer Sciences
The researchers found that athletes who planned to play sports at university were significantly more likely to have a high level of specialization. Athletes who enjoyed competing were also more likely to specialize.
The athletes who played a variety of sports were more likely to display contrarian traits, such as: B. challenging or arguing with other people, even if it leads to conflict or hurt feelings. More athletic effort gives them more opportunities to compete.
“It’s like telling someone they could crash while driving, so they shouldn’t drive because that way they won’t crash,” Warmath said. “We have to recognize that athletes embark on a sport specialization for really positive reasons: They want to get better at their sport. They want to compete more effectively.”
The study was funded in part by a Mind Matters Challenge Grant from the National Collegiate Athletic Association/US Department of Defense. David R. Bell and Andrew P. Winterstein co-authored the paper.
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