Are We Really Building Better Athletes In The US?
There’s no doubt that sports specialization has crept into the American way of thinking, as far as athlete development goes. However, if you look around, especially at the Olympic level, more and more countries are starting to bridge the athletic success gap between the USA and themselves, regardless of the American proclivity to stuff our kids into the same sport year round.
There are 2 big reasons for that: 1. Other countries are flat out improving their training regimens and improving their youths’ athleticism. 2. American athleticism is decreasing as a result of early sports specialization, decreases in physical education, and overall lack of emphasis on outside free play. You’re crazy if you don’t think that in the span of the last 15-20 years (1994- today) that cuts to Physical Education, increased computer and video game time and playing 1 sport hasn’t affected American youth well-being as well as our international athletic status. Let’s explain.
If you step back and reflect on who it is that you know, I’m sure that you can find somebody who’s kids are playing the same sports year round and/or specializing at a young age. With that in mind we need to appreciate that there are 2 types of sports: EARLY Specializing Sports and Late Specializing Sports
Let’s talk about the 2 of them separately and break them down.
Early Specialization Sports- These are easily identifiable, especially where female athletes are concerned, and they include gymnastics, diving and figure skating. These sports rely on routines and hours upon hours of the same skills being repeated. They develop a sense of spatial awareness known as “proprioception” early on in order to be able to execute their techniques and routines at a high level. Mix in the fact that they have not hit puberty thereby keeping muscle mass to a minimum, it will be easier to launch and propel themselves thanks to keeping their weight down. (1,2)
Late Specialization Sports - Essentially every team sport is a late specialization sport, including baseball, soccer, football and track/field track (1,2). From an individual sport standpoint, golf is an example of a late specializing sport. Essentially, a late specialization sport is any sport where the athlete must spend 10 or more years practicing, competing and improving before they hit their peak. The average age of baseball players in their “career year” is typically in their mid 20’s to their early 30’s (4).
When you look at the differences between what the athletes in both groups are asked to do physically, you can see that there is a major difference between their sporting demands. The early specializers are on constant repeat due to their routines, while the late specializers are typically in a more randomized playing environment. Sure, the later specializers will practice the same drills over and over to facilitate learning, but there are external variables that need to be accounted for (other players on the field, weather, bounce of the ball) and, there is only cursory knowledge of what skill might be needed on the next play. There is a reactionary element that isn’t present in early specialization sports. The early specializers typically practice and compete in an environment devoid reactionary elements, hammer their routine until they get it down, then compete. The late specializers often have to read and react to the situation (hurdling a football tackler or identifying the incoming baseball pitch) in order to achieve their desired athletic outcome. Furthermore, there is a level of physical development that must be ascertained before the late specializer reaches their athletic peak.
If you look at the age of Olympic gymnasts (teens) and figure skaters (teens) vs the average age of professional baseball players in their “career year” (26+) you’ll notice that there is an age gap of potentially 10+ years. That begs the question, if baseball is a late specializing sport, what sense does it make to expect our young players to achieve a high level of success at the same age as an athlete in an early specialization sport? Gender aside, there’s a huge disparity between the human body from the ages of 10-25+. Asking a 10 year old baseball player to practice like a 26 year old baseball player while expecting them to achieve like a 15 year old female gymnast doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. In fact, it’s a recipe for disaster by making them practice in an age-inappropriate way and expecting them to achieve high levels of success at an early age. For baseball players, in particular, we are in it for the long haul.
Truth be told, more and more countries will be bridging the performance gap and eventually the USA will fall behind if we don't adapt. For more about what it is that other countries are doing, specifically Canada you can jump on over to the IN MOTION PERFORMANCE blog for more info.
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Located in Pittsburgh, PA, Mark Rice is the owner and operator of IN MOTION PERFORMANCE, a baseball development business that focuses on the athlete's physical development and injury prevention. Mark has over a decade's worth of experience working with Division I intercollegiate athletes and a passion for sports medicine, sports performance, strength and conditioning and injury prevention, all of which are incorporated into IN MOTION PERFORMANCE.