Best Practice for Youth Sport

On the other hand, gymnastics and figure skating have been designated early-specialization sports (Balyi et al., 2013; Vaeyens et al., 2009), in which elite levels of performance are achieved before puberty. Gymnastics and figure skating are subjectively judged, with performance expectations calling for smaller, lighter, more flexible bodies to execute the difficult skills required at the elite level. Thus, it is typical for gymnasts and skaters who aspire to attain elite status to begin extensive technical training very early, and there is evidence that expert athletes specialized earlier than nonexpert athletes in these sports (O'Connor, 2011). Former Olympian Dominique Moceanu began gymnastics at age 3, and by age 7 she was training six days a week for at least 25 hours per week.

Overall, research supports early diversification as facilitative to athletes' development in most sports. Kids can start their favorite sports early and also participate in other sports and activities. Early diversification doesn't mean that a young athlete can't spend a significant amount of time doing the sport he likes best. We would just recommend that early experiences in the late-specialization sports include a lot of deliberate play and spontaneous practice, as opposed to excessive levels of highly technical deliberate practice.

David Leadbetter, internationally recognized golf instructor, coaches Charles Howell III, a PGA tour player who has not yet realized the great promise he showed as a junior golfer. Leadbetter says of Howell (whom he has coached from the age of 12): "Charles has had a solid career, but he hasn't hit the heights some thought he might. I have always felt part of his problem is that he played only golf growing up. That hurts him. In other ball games you develop a feel for throwing and distance. But Charles never did that. He doesn't have the instinctive touch or hand - eye coordination you need to hit the ball close [inside 120 yards, or 110 meters]. If only he'd played baseball as a kid. That would have helped his awareness for distance (Huggan, 2013, p. 37).

A similar pattern was found in swimming (Fraser-Thomas, Cote, & Deakin, 2008a). Adolescent swimmers who dropped out were involved in fewer extracurricular activities and less unstructured swimming play during their early years, and also began more specialized training activities (training camps, dryland training) earlier than active swimmers. So although the starting ages of the dropout and active swimmers did not differ, the earlier specialized focus of the dropouts may have contributed to their discontinuation of swimming. Interestingly, dropout swimmers also reached "top in club" status earlier than active swimmers. The authors suggest that a comedown from child stardom to adolescent mediocrity, with resultant disappointment and decreased confidence, could occur for some kids who specialize and achieve early success.

Because dropping out is a motivational issue, it may be that early exclusive sport specialization does not allow youth athletes to experience the playful enjoyment found to be important to elite athlete development before age 12 (Bloom, 1985; Cote et al., 2003). A premature emphasis on technical training, deliberate practice, and competition may thwart the falling in love with a sport, which has repeatedly been shown to fuel the passion and commitment needed to continue to higher levels of sport.

A useful activity to do with young athletes is to ask them to draw their personal identity pie, labeling various pieces of the pie to represent who they are. The pie on the left side of figure 10.4 provides a multidimensional example: A young tennis player identifies other personally significant activities or personal strengths that define who she is. The pie on the right side of figure 10.4 might be drawn by another young tennis player; she is narrowly unidimensional and would be vulnerable to major blows to her self-worth and self-concept when encountering obstacles in her pursuit of expertise in tennis. A multidimensional identity is a good insurance policy for kids because it provides them with broad coverage of their sense of self. Help young athletes develop lots of pieces in their pies.

These restrictions are important because they have a trickle-down effect on youth sport. When Kevin Garnett signed as the fifth pick in the National Basketball Association draft in 1995 straight out of high school, the search for star players moved down from high school to elementary school (Dohrmann, 2010). It fueled the pressure on kids to play year-round and travel extensively at extremely young ages to compete in national tournaments. For example, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) has sponsored a 2nd-grade boys' national championship tournament since 2004. Sport organizations and youth sport leaders should continue to lobby for age restrictions to protect kids from pressure to specialize early and exclusively.

On the other hand, gymnastics and figure skating have been designated early-specialization sports (Balyi et al., 2013; Vaeyens et al., 2009), in which elite levels of performance are achieved before puberty. Gymnastics and figure skating are subjectively judged, with performance expectations calling for smaller, lighter, more flexible bodies to execute the difficult skills required at the elite level. Thus, it is typical for gymnasts and skaters who aspire to attain elite status to begin extensive technical training very early, and there is evidence that expert athletes specialized earlier than nonexpert athletes in these sports (O'Connor, 2011). Former Olympian Dominique Moceanu began gymnastics at age 3, and by age 7 she was training six days a week for at least 25 hours per week.

Overall, research supports early diversification as facilitative to athletes' development in most sports. Kids can start their favorite sports early and also participate in other sports and activities. Early diversification doesn't mean that a young athlete can't spend a significant amount of time doing the sport he likes best. We would just recommend that early experiences in the late-specialization sports include a lot of deliberate play and spontaneous practice, as opposed to excessive levels of highly technical deliberate practice.

David Leadbetter, internationally recognized golf instructor, coaches Charles Howell III, a PGA tour player who has not yet realized the great promise he showed as a junior golfer. Leadbetter says of Howell (whom he has coached from the age of 12): "Charles has had a solid career, but he hasn't hit the heights some thought he might. I have always felt part of his problem is that he played only golf growing up. That hurts him. In other ball games you develop a feel for throwing and distance. But Charles never did that. He doesn't have the instinctive touch or hand - eye coordination you need to hit the ball close [inside 120 yards, or 110 meters]. If only he'd played baseball as a kid. That would have helped his awareness for distance (Huggan, 2013, p. 37).

A similar pattern was found in swimming (Fraser-Thomas, Cote, & Deakin, 2008a). Adolescent swimmers who dropped out were involved in fewer extracurricular activities and less unstructured swimming play during their early years, and also began more specialized training activities (training camps, dryland training) earlier than active swimmers. So although the starting ages of the dropout and active swimmers did not differ, the earlier specialized focus of the dropouts may have contributed to their discontinuation of swimming. Interestingly, dropout swimmers also reached "top in club" status earlier than active swimmers. The authors suggest that a comedown from child stardom to adolescent mediocrity, with resultant disappointment and decreased confidence, could occur for some kids who specialize and achieve early success.

Because dropping out is a motivational issue, it may be that early exclusive sport specialization does not allow youth athletes to experience the playful enjoyment found to be important to elite athlete development before age 12 (Bloom, 1985; Cote et al., 2003). A premature emphasis on technical training, deliberate practice, and competition may thwart the falling in love with a sport, which has repeatedly been shown to fuel the passion and commitment needed to continue to higher levels of sport.

A useful activity to do with young athletes is to ask them to draw their personal identity pie, labeling various pieces of the pie to represent who they are. The pie on the left side of figure 10.4 provides a multidimensional example: A young tennis player identifies other personally significant activities or personal strengths that define who she is. The pie on the right side of figure 10.4 might be drawn by another young tennis player; she is narrowly unidimensional and would be vulnerable to major blows to her self-worth and self-concept when encountering obstacles in her pursuit of expertise in tennis. A multidimensional identity is a good insurance policy for kids because it provides them with broad coverage of their sense of self. Help young athletes develop lots of pieces in their pies.

These restrictions are important because they have a trickle-down effect on youth sport. When Kevin Garnett signed as the fifth pick in the National Basketball Association draft in 1995 straight out of high school, the search for star players moved down from high school to elementary school (Dohrmann, 2010). It fueled the pressure on kids to play year-round and travel extensively at extremely young ages to compete in national tournaments. For example, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) has sponsored a 2nd-grade boys' national championship tournament since 2004. Sport organizations and youth sport leaders should continue to lobby for age restrictions to protect kids from pressure to specialize early and exclusively.

On the other hand, gymnastics and figure skating have been designated early-specialization sports (Balyi et al., 2013; Vaeyens et al., 2009), in which elite levels of performance are achieved before puberty. Gymnastics and figure skating are subjectively judged, with performance expectations calling for smaller, lighter, more flexible bodies to execute the difficult skills required at the elite level. Thus, it is typical for gymnasts and skaters who aspire to attain elite status to begin extensive technical training very early, and there is evidence that expert athletes specialized earlier than nonexpert athletes in these sports (O'Connor, 2011). Former Olympian Dominique Moceanu began gymnastics at age 3, and by age 7 she was training six days a week for at least 25 hours per week.

Overall, research supports early diversification as facilitative to athletes' development in most sports. Kids can start their favorite sports early and also participate in other sports and activities. Early diversification doesn't mean that a young athlete can't spend a significant amount of time doing the sport he likes best. We would just recommend that early experiences in the late-specialization sports include a lot of deliberate play and spontaneous practice, as opposed to excessive levels of highly technical deliberate practice.

David Leadbetter, internationally recognized golf instructor, coaches Charles Howell III, a PGA tour player who has not yet realized the great promise he showed as a junior golfer. Leadbetter says of Howell (whom he has coached from the age of 12): "Charles has had a solid career, but he hasn't hit the heights some thought he might. I have always felt part of his problem is that he played only golf growing up. That hurts him. In other ball games you develop a feel for throwing and distance. But Charles never did that. He doesn't have the instinctive touch or hand - eye coordination you need to hit the ball close [inside 120 yards, or 110 meters]. If only he'd played baseball as a kid. That would have helped his awareness for distance (Huggan, 2013, p. 37).

A similar pattern was found in swimming (Fraser-Thomas, Cote, & Deakin, 2008a). Adolescent swimmers who dropped out were involved in fewer extracurricular activities and less unstructured swimming play during their early years, and also began more specialized training activities (training camps, dryland training) earlier than active swimmers. So although the starting ages of the dropout and active swimmers did not differ, the earlier specialized focus of the dropouts may have contributed to their discontinuation of swimming. Interestingly, dropout swimmers also reached "top in club" status earlier than active swimmers. The authors suggest that a comedown from child stardom to adolescent mediocrity, with resultant disappointment and decreased confidence, could occur for some kids who specialize and achieve early success.

Because dropping out is a motivational issue, it may be that early exclusive sport specialization does not allow youth athletes to experience the playful enjoyment found to be important to elite athlete development before age 12 (Bloom, 1985; Cote et al., 2003). A premature emphasis on technical training, deliberate practice, and competition may thwart the falling in love with a sport, which has repeatedly been shown to fuel the passion and commitment needed to continue to higher levels of sport.

A useful activity to do with young athletes is to ask them to draw their personal identity pie, labeling various pieces of the pie to represent who they are. The pie on the left side of figure 10.4 provides a multidimensional example: A young tennis player identifies other personally significant activities or personal strengths that define who she is. The pie on the right side of figure 10.4 might be drawn by another young tennis player; she is narrowly unidimensional and would be vulnerable to major blows to her self-worth and self-concept when encountering obstacles in her pursuit of expertise in tennis. A multidimensional identity is a good insurance policy for kids because it provides them with broad coverage of their sense of self. Help young athletes develop lots of pieces in their pies.

These restrictions are important because they have a trickle-down effect on youth sport. When Kevin Garnett signed as the fifth pick in the National Basketball Association draft in 1995 straight out of high school, the search for star players moved down from high school to elementary school (Dohrmann, 2010). It fueled the pressure on kids to play year-round and travel extensively at extremely young ages to compete in national tournaments. For example, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) has sponsored a 2nd-grade boys' national championship tournament since 2004. Sport organizations and youth sport leaders should continue to lobby for age restrictions to protect kids from pressure to specialize early and exclusively.

On the other hand, gymnastics and figure skating have been designated early-specialization sports (Balyi et al., 2013; Vaeyens et al., 2009), in which elite levels of performance are achieved before puberty. Gymnastics and figure skating are subjectively judged, with performance expectations calling for smaller, lighter, more flexible bodies to execute the difficult skills required at the elite level. Thus, it is typical for gymnasts and skaters who aspire to attain elite status to begin extensive technical training very early, and there is evidence that expert athletes specialized earlier than nonexpert athletes in these sports (O'Connor, 2011). Former Olympian Dominique Moceanu began gymnastics at age 3, and by age 7 she was training six days a week for at least 25 hours per week.

Overall, research supports early diversification as facilitative to athletes' development in most sports. Kids can start their favorite sports early and also participate in other sports and activities. Early diversification doesn't mean that a young athlete can't spend a significant amount of time doing the sport he likes best. We would just recommend that early experiences in the late-specialization sports include a lot of deliberate play and spontaneous practice, as opposed to excessive levels of highly technical deliberate practice.

David Leadbetter, internationally recognized golf instructor, coaches Charles Howell III, a PGA tour player who has not yet realized the great promise he showed as a junior golfer. Leadbetter says of Howell (whom he has coached from the age of 12): "Charles has had a solid career, but he hasn't hit the heights some thought he might. I have always felt part of his problem is that he played only golf growing up. That hurts him. In other ball games you develop a feel for throwing and distance. But Charles never did that. He doesn't have the instinctive touch or hand - eye coordination you need to hit the ball close [inside 120 yards, or 110 meters]. If only he'd played baseball as a kid. That would have helped his awareness for distance (Huggan, 2013, p. 37).

A similar pattern was found in swimming (Fraser-Thomas, Cote, & Deakin, 2008a). Adolescent swimmers who dropped out were involved in fewer extracurricular activities and less unstructured swimming play during their early years, and also began more specialized training activities (training camps, dryland training) earlier than active swimmers. So although the starting ages of the dropout and active swimmers did not differ, the earlier specialized focus of the dropouts may have contributed to their discontinuation of swimming. Interestingly, dropout swimmers also reached "top in club" status earlier than active swimmers. The authors suggest that a comedown from child stardom to adolescent mediocrity, with resultant disappointment and decreased confidence, could occur for some kids who specialize and achieve early success.

Because dropping out is a motivational issue, it may be that early exclusive sport specialization does not allow youth athletes to experience the playful enjoyment found to be important to elite athlete development before age 12 (Bloom, 1985; Cote et al., 2003). A premature emphasis on technical training, deliberate practice, and competition may thwart the falling in love with a sport, which has repeatedly been shown to fuel the passion and commitment needed to continue to higher levels of sport.

A useful activity to do with young athletes is to ask them to draw their personal identity pie, labeling various pieces of the pie to represent who they are. The pie on the left side of figure 10.4 provides a multidimensional example: A young tennis player identifies other personally significant activities or personal strengths that define who she is. The pie on the right side of figure 10.4 might be drawn by another young tennis player; she is narrowly unidimensional and would be vulnerable to major blows to her self-worth and self-concept when encountering obstacles in her pursuit of expertise in tennis. A multidimensional identity is a good insurance policy for kids because it provides them with broad coverage of their sense of self. Help young athletes develop lots of pieces in their pies.

These restrictions are important because they have a trickle-down effect on youth sport. When Kevin Garnett signed as the fifth pick in the National Basketball Association draft in 1995 straight out of high school, the search for star players moved down from high school to elementary school (Dohrmann, 2010). It fueled the pressure on kids to play year-round and travel extensively at extremely young ages to compete in national tournaments. For example, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) has sponsored a 2nd-grade boys' national championship tournament since 2004. Sport organizations and youth sport leaders should continue to lobby for age restrictions to protect kids from pressure to specialize early and exclusively.

On the other hand, gymnastics and figure skating have been designated early-specialization sports (Balyi et al., 2013; Vaeyens et al., 2009), in which elite levels of performance are achieved before puberty. Gymnastics and figure skating are subjectively judged, with performance expectations calling for smaller, lighter, more flexible bodies to execute the difficult skills required at the elite level. Thus, it is typical for gymnasts and skaters who aspire to attain elite status to begin extensive technical training very early, and there is evidence that expert athletes specialized earlier than nonexpert athletes in these sports (O'Connor, 2011). Former Olympian Dominique Moceanu began gymnastics at age 3, and by age 7 she was training six days a week for at least 25 hours per week.

Overall, research supports early diversification as facilitative to athletes' development in most sports. Kids can start their favorite sports early and also participate in other sports and activities. Early diversification doesn't mean that a young athlete can't spend a significant amount of time doing the sport he likes best. We would just recommend that early experiences in the late-specialization sports include a lot of deliberate play and spontaneous practice, as opposed to excessive levels of highly technical deliberate practice.

David Leadbetter, internationally recognized golf instructor, coaches Charles Howell III, a PGA tour player who has not yet realized the great promise he showed as a junior golfer. Leadbetter says of Howell (whom he has coached from the age of 12): "Charles has had a solid career, but he hasn't hit the heights some thought he might. I have always felt part of his problem is that he played only golf growing up. That hurts him. In other ball games you develop a feel for throwing and distance. But Charles never did that. He doesn't have the instinctive touch or hand - eye coordination you need to hit the ball close [inside 120 yards, or 110 meters]. If only he'd played baseball as a kid. That would have helped his awareness for distance (Huggan, 2013, p. 37).

A similar pattern was found in swimming (Fraser-Thomas, Cote, & Deakin, 2008a). Adolescent swimmers who dropped out were involved in fewer extracurricular activities and less unstructured swimming play during their early years, and also began more specialized training activities (training camps, dryland training) earlier than active swimmers. So although the starting ages of the dropout and active swimmers did not differ, the earlier specialized focus of the dropouts may have contributed to their discontinuation of swimming. Interestingly, dropout swimmers also reached "top in club" status earlier than active swimmers. The authors suggest that a comedown from child stardom to adolescent mediocrity, with resultant disappointment and decreased confidence, could occur for some kids who specialize and achieve early success.

Because dropping out is a motivational issue, it may be that early exclusive sport specialization does not allow youth athletes to experience the playful enjoyment found to be important to elite athlete development before age 12 (Bloom, 1985; Cote et al., 2003). A premature emphasis on technical training, deliberate practice, and competition may thwart the falling in love with a sport, which has repeatedly been shown to fuel the passion and commitment needed to continue to higher levels of sport.

A useful activity to do with young athletes is to ask them to draw their personal identity pie, labeling various pieces of the pie to represent who they are. The pie on the left side of figure 10.4 provides a multidimensional example: A young tennis player identifies other personally significant activities or personal strengths that define who she is. The pie on the right side of figure 10.4 might be drawn by another young tennis player; she is narrowly unidimensional and would be vulnerable to major blows to her self-worth and self-concept when encountering obstacles in her pursuit of expertise in tennis. A multidimensional identity is a good insurance policy for kids because it provides them with broad coverage of their sense of self. Help young athletes develop lots of pieces in their pies.

These restrictions are important because they have a trickle-down effect on youth sport. When Kevin Garnett signed as the fifth pick in the National Basketball Association draft in 1995 straight out of high school, the search for star players moved down from high school to elementary school (Dohrmann, 2010). It fueled the pressure on kids to play year-round and travel extensively at extremely young ages to compete in national tournaments. For example, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) has sponsored a 2nd-grade boys' national championship tournament since 2004. Sport organizations and youth sport leaders should continue to lobby for age restrictions to protect kids from pressure to specialize early and exclusively.

On the other hand, gymnastics and figure skating have been designated early-specialization sports (Balyi et al., 2013; Vaeyens et al., 2009), in which elite levels of performance are achieved before puberty. Gymnastics and figure skating are subjectively judged, with performance expectations calling for smaller, lighter, more flexible bodies to execute the difficult skills required at the elite level. Thus, it is typical for gymnasts and skaters who aspire to attain elite status to begin extensive technical training very early, and there is evidence that expert athletes specialized earlier than nonexpert athletes in these sports (O'Connor, 2011). Former Olympian Dominique Moceanu began gymnastics at age 3, and by age 7 she was training six days a week for at least 25 hours per week.

Overall, research supports early diversification as facilitative to athletes' development in most sports. Kids can start their favorite sports early and also participate in other sports and activities. Early diversification doesn't mean that a young athlete can't spend a significant amount of time doing the sport he likes best. We would just recommend that early experiences in the late-specialization sports include a lot of deliberate play and spontaneous practice, as opposed to excessive levels of highly technical deliberate practice.

David Leadbetter, internationally recognized golf instructor, coaches Charles Howell III, a PGA tour player who has not yet realized the great promise he showed as a junior golfer. Leadbetter says of Howell (whom he has coached from the age of 12): "Charles has had a solid career, but he hasn't hit the heights some thought he might. I have always felt part of his problem is that he played only golf growing up. That hurts him. In other ball games you develop a feel for throwing and distance. But Charles never did that. He doesn't have the instinctive touch or hand - eye coordination you need to hit the ball close [inside 120 yards, or 110 meters]. If only he'd played baseball as a kid. That would have helped his awareness for distance (Huggan, 2013, p. 37).

A similar pattern was found in swimming (Fraser-Thomas, Cote, & Deakin, 2008a). Adolescent swimmers who dropped out were involved in fewer extracurricular activities and less unstructured swimming play during their early years, and also began more specialized training activities (training camps, dryland training) earlier than active swimmers. So although the starting ages of the dropout and active swimmers did not differ, the earlier specialized focus of the dropouts may have contributed to their discontinuation of swimming. Interestingly, dropout swimmers also reached "top in club" status earlier than active swimmers. The authors suggest that a comedown from child stardom to adolescent mediocrity, with resultant disappointment and decreased confidence, could occur for some kids who specialize and achieve early success.

Because dropping out is a motivational issue, it may be that early exclusive sport specialization does not allow youth athletes to experience the playful enjoyment found to be important to elite athlete development before age 12 (Bloom, 1985; Cote et al., 2003). A premature emphasis on technical training, deliberate practice, and competition may thwart the falling in love with a sport, which has repeatedly been shown to fuel the passion and commitment needed to continue to higher levels of sport.

A useful activity to do with young athletes is to ask them to draw their personal identity pie, labeling various pieces of the pie to represent who they are. The pie on the left side of figure 10.4 provides a multidimensional example: A young tennis player identifies other personally significant activities or personal strengths that define who she is. The pie on the right side of figure 10.4 might be drawn by another young tennis player; she is narrowly unidimensional and would be vulnerable to major blows to her self-worth and self-concept when encountering obstacles in her pursuit of expertise in tennis. A multidimensional identity is a good insurance policy for kids because it provides them with broad coverage of their sense of self. Help young athletes develop lots of pieces in their pies.

These restrictions are important because they have a trickle-down effect on youth sport. When Kevin Garnett signed as the fifth pick in the National Basketball Association draft in 1995 straight out of high school, the search for star players moved down from high school to elementary school (Dohrmann, 2010). It fueled the pressure on kids to play year-round and travel extensively at extremely young ages to compete in national tournaments. For example, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) has sponsored a 2nd-grade boys' national championship tournament since 2004. Sport organizations and youth sport leaders should continue to lobby for age restrictions to protect kids from pressure to specialize early and exclusively.

On the other hand, gymnastics and figure skating have been designated early-specialization sports (Balyi et al., 2013; Vaeyens et al., 2009), in which elite levels of performance are achieved before puberty. Gymnastics and figure skating are subjectively judged, with performance expectations calling for smaller, lighter, more flexible bodies to execute the difficult skills required at the elite level. Thus, it is typical for gymnasts and skaters who aspire to attain elite status to begin extensive technical training very early, and there is evidence that expert athletes specialized earlier than nonexpert athletes in these sports (O'Connor, 2011). Former Olympian Dominique Moceanu began gymnastics at age 3, and by age 7 she was training six days a week for at least 25 hours per week.

Overall, research supports early diversification as facilitative to athletes' development in most sports. Kids can start their favorite sports early and also participate in other sports and activities. Early diversification doesn't mean that a young athlete can't spend a significant amount of time doing the sport he likes best. We would just recommend that early experiences in the late-specialization sports include a lot of deliberate play and spontaneous practice, as opposed to excessive levels of highly technical deliberate practice.

David Leadbetter, internationally recognized golf instructor, coaches Charles Howell III, a PGA tour player who has not yet realized the great promise he showed as a junior golfer. Leadbetter says of Howell (whom he has coached from the age of 12): "Charles has had a solid career, but he hasn't hit the heights some thought he might. I have always felt part of his problem is that he played only golf growing up. That hurts him. In other ball games you develop a feel for throwing and distance. But Charles never did that. He doesn't have the instinctive touch or hand - eye coordination you need to hit the ball close [inside 120 yards, or 110 meters]. If only he'd played baseball as a kid. That would have helped his awareness for distance (Huggan, 2013, p. 37).

A similar pattern was found in swimming (Fraser-Thomas, Cote, & Deakin, 2008a). Adolescent swimmers who dropped out were involved in fewer extracurricular activities and less unstructured swimming play during their early years, and also began more specialized training activities (training camps, dryland training) earlier than active swimmers. So although the starting ages of the dropout and active swimmers did not differ, the earlier specialized focus of the dropouts may have contributed to their discontinuation of swimming. Interestingly, dropout swimmers also reached "top in club" status earlier than active swimmers. The authors suggest that a comedown from child stardom to adolescent mediocrity, with resultant disappointment and decreased confidence, could occur for some kids who specialize and achieve early success.

Because dropping out is a motivational issue, it may be that early exclusive sport specialization does not allow youth athletes to experience the playful enjoyment found to be important to elite athlete development before age 12 (Bloom, 1985; Cote et al., 2003). A premature emphasis on technical training, deliberate practice, and competition may thwart the falling in love with a sport, which has repeatedly been shown to fuel the passion and commitment needed to continue to higher levels of sport.

A useful activity to do with young athletes is to ask them to draw their personal identity pie, labeling various pieces of the pie to represent who they are. The pie on the left side of figure 10.4 provides a multidimensional example: A young tennis player identifies other personally significant activities or personal strengths that define who she is. The pie on the right side of figure 10.4 might be drawn by another young tennis player; she is narrowly unidimensional and would be vulnerable to major blows to her self-worth and self-concept when encountering obstacles in her pursuit of expertise in tennis. A multidimensional identity is a good insurance policy for kids because it provides them with broad coverage of their sense of self. Help young athletes develop lots of pieces in their pies.

These restrictions are important because they have a trickle-down effect on youth sport. When Kevin Garnett signed as the fifth pick in the National Basketball Association draft in 1995 straight out of high school, the search for star players moved down from high school to elementary school (Dohrmann, 2010). It fueled the pressure on kids to play year-round and travel extensively at extremely young ages to compete in national tournaments. For example, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) has sponsored a 2nd-grade boys' national championship tournament since 2004. Sport organizations and youth sport leaders should continue to lobby for age restrictions to protect kids from pressure to specialize early and exclusively.

On the other hand, gymnastics and figure skating have been designated early-specialization sports (Balyi et al., 2013; Vaeyens et al., 2009), in which elite levels of performance are achieved before puberty. Gymnastics and figure skating are subjectively judged, with performance expectations calling for smaller, lighter, more flexible bodies to execute the difficult skills required at the elite level. Thus, it is typical for gymnasts and skaters who aspire to attain elite status to begin extensive technical training very early, and there is evidence that expert athletes specialized earlier than nonexpert athletes in these sports (O'Connor, 2011). Former Olympian Dominique Moceanu began gymnastics at age 3, and by age 7 she was training six days a week for at least 25 hours per week.

Overall, research supports early diversification as facilitative to athletes' development in most sports. Kids can start their favorite sports early and also participate in other sports and activities. Early diversification doesn't mean that a young athlete can't spend a significant amount of time doing the sport he likes best. We would just recommend that early experiences in the late-specialization sports include a lot of deliberate play and spontaneous practice, as opposed to excessive levels of highly technical deliberate practice.

David Leadbetter, internationally recognized golf instructor, coaches Charles Howell III, a PGA tour player who has not yet realized the great promise he showed as a junior golfer. Leadbetter says of Howell (whom he has coached from the age of 12): "Charles has had a solid career, but he hasn't hit the heights some thought he might. I have always felt part of his problem is that he played only golf growing up. That hurts him. In other ball games you develop a feel for throwing and distance. But Charles never did that. He doesn't have the instinctive touch or hand - eye coordination you need to hit the ball close [inside 120 yards, or 110 meters]. If only he'd played baseball as a kid. That would have helped his awareness for distance (Huggan, 2013, p. 37).

A similar pattern was found in swimming (Fraser-Thomas, Cote, & Deakin, 2008a). Adolescent swimmers who dropped out were involved in fewer extracurricular activities and less unstructured swimming play during their early years, and also began more specialized training activities (training camps, dryland training) earlier than active swimmers. So although the starting ages of the dropout and active swimmers did not differ, the earlier specialized focus of the dropouts may have contributed to their discontinuation of swimming. Interestingly, dropout swimmers also reached "top in club" status earlier than active swimmers. The authors suggest that a comedown from child stardom to adolescent mediocrity, with resultant disappointment and decreased confidence, could occur for some kids who specialize and achieve early success.

Because dropping out is a motivational issue, it may be that early exclusive sport specialization does not allow youth athletes to experience the playful enjoyment found to be important to elite athlete development before age 12 (Bloom, 1985; Cote et al., 2003). A premature emphasis on technical training, deliberate practice, and competition may thwart the falling in love with a sport, which has repeatedly been shown to fuel the passion and commitment needed to continue to higher levels of sport.

A useful activity to do with young athletes is to ask them to draw their personal identity pie, labeling various pieces of the pie to represent who they are. The pie on the left side of figure 10.4 provides a multidimensional example: A young tennis player identifies other personally significant activities or personal strengths that define who she is. The pie on the right side of figure 10.4 might be drawn by another young tennis player; she is narrowly unidimensional and would be vulnerable to major blows to her self-worth and self-concept when encountering obstacles in her pursuit of expertise in tennis. A multidimensional identity is a good insurance policy for kids because it provides them with broad coverage of their sense of self. Help young athletes develop lots of pieces in their pies.

These restrictions are important because they have a trickle-down effect on youth sport. When Kevin Garnett signed as the fifth pick in the National Basketball Association draft in 1995 straight out of high school, the search for star players moved down from high school to elementary school (Dohrmann, 2010). It fueled the pressure on kids to play year-round and travel extensively at extremely young ages to compete in national tournaments. For example, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) has sponsored a 2nd-grade boys' national championship tournament since 2004. Sport organizations and youth sport leaders should continue to lobby for age restrictions to protect kids from pressure to specialize early and exclusively.

On the other hand, gymnastics and figure skating have been designated early-specialization sports (Balyi et al., 2013; Vaeyens et al., 2009), in which elite levels of performance are achieved before puberty. Gymnastics and figure skating are subjectively judged, with performance expectations calling for smaller, lighter, more flexible bodies to execute the difficult skills required at the elite level. Thus, it is typical for gymnasts and skaters who aspire to attain elite status to begin extensive technical training very early, and there is evidence that expert athletes specialized earlier than nonexpert athletes in these sports (O'Connor, 2011). Former Olympian Dominique Moceanu began gymnastics at age 3, and by age 7 she was training six days a week for at least 25 hours per week.

Overall, research supports early diversification as facilitative to athletes' development in most sports. Kids can start their favorite sports early and also participate in other sports and activities. Early diversification doesn't mean that a young athlete can't spend a significant amount of time doing the sport he likes best. We would just recommend that early experiences in the late-specialization sports include a lot of deliberate play and spontaneous practice, as opposed to excessive levels of highly technical deliberate practice.

David Leadbetter, internationally recognized golf instructor, coaches Charles Howell III, a PGA tour player who has not yet realized the great promise he showed as a junior golfer. Leadbetter says of Howell (whom he has coached from the age of 12): "Charles has had a solid career, but he hasn't hit the heights some thought he might. I have always felt part of his problem is that he played only golf growing up. That hurts him. In other ball games you develop a feel for throwing and distance. But Charles never did that. He doesn't have the instinctive touch or hand - eye coordination you need to hit the ball close [inside 120 yards, or 110 meters]. If only he'd played baseball as a kid. That would have helped his awareness for distance (Huggan, 2013, p. 37).

A similar pattern was found in swimming (Fraser-Thomas, Cote, & Deakin, 2008a). Adolescent swimmers who dropped out were involved in fewer extracurricular activities and less unstructured swimming play during their early years, and also began more specialized training activities (training camps, dryland training) earlier than active swimmers. So although the starting ages of the dropout and active swimmers did not differ, the earlier specialized focus of the dropouts may have contributed to their discontinuation of swimming. Interestingly, dropout swimmers also reached "top in club" status earlier than active swimmers. The authors suggest that a comedown from child stardom to adolescent mediocrity, with resultant disappointment and decreased confidence, could occur for some kids who specialize and achieve early success.

Because dropping out is a motivational issue, it may be that early exclusive sport specialization does not allow youth athletes to experience the playful enjoyment found to be important to elite athlete development before age 12 (Bloom, 1985; Cote et al., 2003). A premature emphasis on technical training, deliberate practice, and competition may thwart the falling in love with a sport, which has repeatedly been shown to fuel the passion and commitment needed to continue to higher levels of sport.

A useful activity to do with young athletes is to ask them to draw their personal identity pie, labeling various pieces of the pie to represent who they are. The pie on the left side of figure 10.4 provides a multidimensional example: A young tennis player identifies other personally significant activities or personal strengths that define who she is. The pie on the right side of figure 10.4 might be drawn by another young tennis player; she is narrowly unidimensional and would be vulnerable to major blows to her self-worth and self-concept when encountering obstacles in her pursuit of expertise in tennis. A multidimensional identity is a good insurance policy for kids because it provides them with broad coverage of their sense of self. Help young athletes develop lots of pieces in their pies.

These restrictions are important because they have a trickle-down effect on youth sport. When Kevin Garnett signed as the fifth pick in the National Basketball Association draft in 1995 straight out of high school, the search for star players moved down from high school to elementary school (Dohrmann, 2010). It fueled the pressure on kids to play year-round and travel extensively at extremely young ages to compete in national tournaments. For example, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) has sponsored a 2nd-grade boys' national championship tournament since 2004. Sport organizations and youth sport leaders should continue to lobby for age restrictions to protect kids from pressure to specialize early and exclusively.

On the other hand, gymnastics and figure skating have been designated early-specialization sports (Balyi et al., 2013; Vaeyens et al., 2009), in which elite levels of performance are achieved before puberty. Gymnastics and figure skating are subjectively judged, with performance expectations calling for smaller, lighter, more flexible bodies to execute the difficult skills required at the elite level. Thus, it is typical for gymnasts and skaters who aspire to attain elite status to begin extensive technical training very early, and there is evidence that expert athletes specialized earlier than nonexpert athletes in these sports (O'Connor, 2011). Former Olympian Dominique Moceanu began gymnastics at age 3, and by age 7 she was training six days a week for at least 25 hours per week.

Overall, research supports early diversification as facilitative to athletes' development in most sports. Kids can start their favorite sports early and also participate in other sports and activities. Early diversification doesn't mean that a young athlete can't spend a significant amount of time doing the sport he likes best. We would just recommend that early experiences in the late-specialization sports include a lot of deliberate play and spontaneous practice, as opposed to excessive levels of highly technical deliberate practice.

David Leadbetter, internationally recognized golf instructor, coaches Charles Howell III, a PGA tour player who has not yet realized the great promise he showed as a junior golfer. Leadbetter says of Howell (whom he has coached from the age of 12): "Charles has had a solid career, but he hasn't hit the heights some thought he might. I have always felt part of his problem is that he played only golf growing up. That hurts him. In other ball games you develop a feel for throwing and distance. But Charles never did that. He doesn't have the instinctive touch or hand - eye coordination you need to hit the ball close [inside 120 yards, or 110 meters]. If only he'd played baseball as a kid. That would have helped his awareness for distance (Huggan, 2013, p. 37).

A similar pattern was found in swimming (Fraser-Thomas, Cote, & Deakin, 2008a). Adolescent swimmers who dropped out were involved in fewer extracurricular activities and less unstructured swimming play during their early years, and also began more specialized training activities (training camps, dryland training) earlier than active swimmers. So although the starting ages of the dropout and active swimmers did not differ, the earlier specialized focus of the dropouts may have contributed to their discontinuation of swimming. Interestingly, dropout swimmers also reached "top in club" status earlier than active swimmers. The authors suggest that a comedown from child stardom to adolescent mediocrity, with resultant disappointment and decreased confidence, could occur for some kids who specialize and achieve early success.

Because dropping out is a motivational issue, it may be that early exclusive sport specialization does not allow youth athletes to experience the playful enjoyment found to be important to elite athlete development before age 12 (Bloom, 1985; Cote et al., 2003). A premature emphasis on technical training, deliberate practice, and competition may thwart the falling in love with a sport, which has repeatedly been shown to fuel the passion and commitment needed to continue to higher levels of sport.

A useful activity to do with young athletes is to ask them to draw their personal identity pie, labeling various pieces of the pie to represent who they are. The pie on the left side of figure 10.4 provides a multidimensional example: A young tennis player identifies other personally significant activities or personal strengths that define who she is. The pie on the right side of figure 10.4 might be drawn by another young tennis player; she is narrowly unidimensional and would be vulnerable to major blows to her self-worth and self-concept when encountering obstacles in her pursuit of expertise in tennis. A multidimensional identity is a good insurance policy for kids because it provides them with broad coverage of their sense of self. Help young athletes develop lots of pieces in their pies.

These restrictions are important because they have a trickle-down effect on youth sport. When Kevin Garnett signed as the fifth pick in the National Basketball Association draft in 1995 straight out of high school, the search for star players moved down from high school to elementary school (Dohrmann, 2010). It fueled the pressure on kids to play year-round and travel extensively at extremely young ages to compete in national tournaments. For example, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) has sponsored a 2nd-grade boys' national championship tournament since 2004. Sport organizations and youth sport leaders should continue to lobby for age restrictions to protect kids from pressure to specialize early and exclusively.