Up Front with BFS editor Kim Goss
It’s been said that the number of sports medicine clinics in the US is growing at such a fast pace that by the year 2019 they will all be connected by a giant walkway. That’s a joke. What’s not a joke is seeing a large number of athletes disappearing from high school athletes to specialize in a single sport.
While is true that to achieve the highest levels in most sports, early specializing often does more harm than good for most young athletes. First, most young kids don’t know what sport they have the most potential to excel in at the highest level, or what sport they will enjoy the most.
A father who played baseball may put their son in Little League, but perhaps this young athlete has poor hand-eye coordination yet has the physical gifts to be an exceptional middle-distance runner or cyclist? Likewise, a mother was distance runner may encourage her daughter to (literally) follow in her footsteps, but perhaps this young person is gifted with fast-twitch fibers and would be better off in gymnastics or basketball? Only by exposing children to a variety of sports will they be able to determine which sports are best suited for them...
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