The Disadvantages of Sports Specialization and the Advantages of Sports Diversification
Exceptions to Specialization
Although studies show that specialization is not conducive to overall success in most sports, there are a few exceptions to the rule. These exceptions include what are defined as more acrobatic and artistic sports. Sports such as diving, figure skating and gymnastics prove that early specialization (training at the age of 5-7) is beneficial. The reason for this is that the complex movement and sport skill for these sports should be learned before the onset of growth spurts. This usually happens at around age 12 for females and age 14 for males. It is important to note that early specialization may be beneficial for acrobatic or artistic sports, but is not beneficial for team sports (Balyi, Way and Higgs 2013).
When is it safe?
Parents and athletes often ask, "When it is safe to specialize?" It is hard to give an exact time, but most researchers would suggest that at age 15, it is safe for an athlete to choose one sport to play year-round. In fact, researchers suggests that a child who "increas(es) the training volume later (after 15) is more than able to make up for time not spent training when even younger." This means that specializing earlier than age 15 does not guarantee that an athlete will be better than one who specializes later (Ross 2011). The graph below gives a good visual representation of how little training volume matters at an early age.
IImage by Christy Ann Linder from artilce by Becca Pang (link to http://www.flogymnastics.com/article/29194-3-best-male-gymnast-of-2014)
Image by Ross Tucker. Ph. D. via his article (Link to http://sportsscientists.com/2011/04/early-vs-late-specialization-when-should-children-specialize-in-sport/)
Image by Canadian Olympic Diving Club (Link to http://olympic.ca/sports/diving/)
Image by Matthew Stockman on Getty Images (Link to http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/akiko-suzuki-of-japan-competes-in-the-ladies-free-skating-news-photo/97064123)
Image by Ross Tucker. Ph. D. via his article (Link to http://sportsscientists.com/2011/04/early-vs-late-specialization-when-should-children-specialize-in-sport/)