From an interview with
Dr. David Steflik, McLeod Pediatric Cardiology
Wyatt McCrackin & Mike Rice, McLeod Athletic Training Coordinators

“Sports specialization is any kid usually under the age of 12 that is participating in one specific sport for more than eight months out of the year. So we’d honestly like it to be less than that. Typically, you don’t want to have your student athlete practicing any more hours in organized practice than they are years old. You have these five and six year olds – when they get out of school, they’re taken to batting lessons and then the fielding lessons, and then they might go to practice for another two hours, and then they go home and have to do their homework and get ready to go to bed and go to school the next day, only to repeat the same process. 

Sports specialization increases the injury risk and predisposes kids, especially at young ages, to chronic injury. There’s a misconception that when you start your child at a young age playing one particular sport, that is going to increase their chances to go to college or turn pro for whatever sport that they’re specializing in. And I think that’s moving away from sports specialization, moving towards participating in multiple sports. Not only is that better for your long-term health or your cardiovascular health as well, but also the child’s social development. They’re going to come into contact with different friends, have different peer groups that will then help them socially for the rest of their life. 

The question is, what is our goal? Is it to get into college, or let’s get a well-rounded child that can do multiple different things? If they end up being good at one sport and specialize later in life after they’ve developed and their growth plates are fused, they’re not at such high risk of injury.”

To learn more, speak with a pediatrician near you.