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Families these days are always on the go! There are more opportunities and availabilities for parents to enroll their kids in a facet of sports and activities to keep them busy and out of trouble. The number of youth-involved sports is constantly growing, as are the options for the “normal” school-based sports mixed with the ever-growing club organizations. The extra club sports are becoming more popular.
Practicing soccer
Many parents are left questioning whether they should have their child focus on one sport or should they encourage multiple sports. Parents also tend to question whether it is healthy for their child to play year-round sports or should they encourage rest in the off-season. This article will briefly address those common questions and concerns.
The answer to this question seems to be yes. There are multiple benefits to kids playing year-round sports such as physical, cognitive, mental, and social benefits. Sports keep kids active and that is important for health benefits. The cognitive benefits may be overlooked. Sports help a child grow cognitively by teaching the need for concentration and focus.
The child must learn to focus both in the realm of sports and learn the management of focusing to complete homework and schoolwork in a timely manner. The child also learns about judgment, intuition, and memory recall related to adapting to the demands of the sport. Sports will teach a child about self-esteem and self-image, as well as goal setting and leadership.
All skills that will later help the child transition to the demands of adulthood and into the workplace. Another benefit of sports is the lesson of socialization. Sports help facilitate a child’s social skills and need for communication in person. The strong emphasis on technology, smartphones, and social media facilitates a false sense of communication, sports require direct communication and at times the need to learn to resolve conflict in a personal manner.
The most popular youth sports are currently:
All of these sports offer opportunities for kids to play year-round sports. Youth sports have become specialized by playing the same sport year-round.
There has been proven research to state that year-round sports are good for kids, however, all research states that specialization in a single sport is strongly discouraged. A recent study suggests that 88% of college athletes played more than one sport as a child. There is no evidence to support that intense training in a single sport before the age of 13 is necessary to achieve elite status. Therefore, no need to push your child in one direction.
Read this article about Elbow Injuries in Youth Athletes.
Youth baseball is a year-round sport
The two most common concerns of a single sport all year round are the increased risk of overuse injury and burnout ultimately leading the child to discontinue the sport prior to maturation. The emphasis on a single sport year-round means the child is using the same muscle groups repetitively with ultimately no break or recovery time. This can lead to overuse injuries such as Leaguer’s elbow, Little League Shoulder, or stress fractures.
The best way to avoid injuries with year-round sports is to encourage participation in multiple sports with sports that stress different parts of the body. It is suggested if the child plays an overhead sport such as baseball or softball, to focus on a lower extremity sport such as track or cross country in the off-season. It is important to always remember that if a child participates in sports all year that they still may need a time of rest and recovery for a few weeks at minimum.
It is also important to educate your child that it is important to listen to their body and communicate with both the parents and coaches if they are noticing the onset of pain. Overuse injuries from repetitive activities will only progress with time and if caught in the early stages the recovery time will likely be less allowing the child to return to sport in a timely manner.
Overuse activities can cause injuries
In summary, it is always beneficial to keep children active and sports can be a key tool in a child’s development. However, specialization in a sport year-round at a young age can be detrimental. Allow your children to try all the sports if they so choose! They can still become great collegiate or pro athletes if they play multiple sports throughout middle school and even high school!
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