Playing multiple sports can be extremely beneficial for kids and young teens. It’s a practice that used to be commonplace – when the seasons changed so did the sports. However, since the turn of the millennium many kids have fast-tracked into specialization.
Whether because of their own desires or the encouragement of parents, the focus of many children has shrunk to a singular goal. Fortunately, this trend may be turning yet again across North America.
In the United States and Canada, we’ve found numerous examples of successful young athletes playing multiple sports in high school and earlier years, such as Samantha and Tori Lassahn. These outstanding three sport athlete twins recently added a fourth sport to their repertoire at Concordia Prep School in Maryland. North of the boarder, Joey Moffat, another multi-sport athlete, was also just named Manitoba Baseball’s player of the year. The examples go on and on.
This rise in multi-sport athletes can be found in school districts like St. Joseph, Michigan, where the upward trend of multi-sport athletes is gladly welcomed by Athletic Director Kevin Guzzo. In his community’s local paper, Guzzo explained that:
“Research shows those who are involved in more than one sport are more successful in life. Those that only do one sport can get burned out. They don’t typically last for four years in high school.”
Across our own research, we found similar comments echoed by professional coaches and athletes alike.
Before discussing the benefits of playing multiple sports, let’s take a deeper look at the 10,000 Hour Myth to find out why so many children have been specializing in one sport.
The 10,000 Hour Myth
Sport specialization for youth is based on a belief that the more a child practices a sport, the better they’ll be. This belief found a compelling advocate in Malcolm Gladwell. In his book Outliers, Gladwell brought the 10,000 hour rule into our popular vernacular. The rule suggests that success in any field can be achieved with 10,000 hours of practice.
In the book, Malcolm Gladwell references a particularly Canadian example. He says that Wayne Gretzky’s on-ice genius may be ascribed to his logging 10,000 hours of hockey very early in his life. As a child Gretzky played endlessly on his backyard rink in addition to regular games and practices. From this we can posit that Gretzky’s genius grew from his obsessive practice.
There’s something very attractive about this idea. By suggesting that any regular person may find success, Gladwell makes genius seem attainable. It’s no wonder than that the idea has really stuck with most people. Unfortunately, it’s a rule that has since been disproven numerous times.
Practice Won’t Make Perfect
Multiple studies have proven the 10,000 hour rule wrong since Gladwell made it famous. The Guardian summarizes one of these latest studies as proving “merely good players practiced as much as, if not more than, better players.” This suggests that some people are in fact more naturally talented than others. Furthermore, increasing practice simply may not close that talent gap.
When commenting on these findings in the Guardian’s article, Case Western University psychologist Brooke Macnamara said, “When it comes to human skill, a complex combination of environmental factors, genetic factors and their interactions explains the performance differences across people.” In other words, there’s no simple explanation to account for skill differences.
This means there’s absolutely no guarantee that children specializing in one sport at a young age will rise to greatness.
So, if there’s no guarantee, and if Athletic Directors like Kevin Guzzo say that single sport athletes risk getting burnt out, why not instead encourage young athletes to try multiple sports?
The Benefits of Playing Multiple Sports
It can take a lot of energy to focus on just one sport. When kids practice multiple nights a week and compete on a regular schedule, it’s easy to fatigue. But, playing multiple sports provides kids and young teens with the opportunity to take a break and enjoy something different.
In almost every sport the competitive peak comes at the very end of the season. Whether it’s playoffs, a championship tournament or a big regional meet, these experiences require a lot of mental and physical preparation. For some kids, their nerves may be shot when their competitive season wraps up. So, the last thing they really want to think about is jumping into a skills camp or off-season training for the same sport.
A Campaign for More Multi Sport Athletes
Rob Newson, Executive Director of Hockey PEI touched on this closed loop of constant training in an interview with the CBC. He said, “If [young players] are pressured 12 months of the year in one specific sport, we can lose them very quickly…” In an attempt to curb this pressure, Hockey PEI has joined Hockey Canada in their campaign encouraging kids to play multiple sports.
If kids and young teens have another sport to jump into at the end of their season, they’re suddenly able to switch gears. Instead of dwelling on last season’s mistakes, they’re thinking in a different way about a whole new sport. It’s a great way to prevent mental fatigue and keep the fun alive.
Multi Sport Athletes Interact with a Broader Range of Peers
A natural extension of playing multiple sports is playing with different groups of kids. Approaching new situations with a different group of peers requires different types of collaboration and cooperation. Learning how to succeed on different teams is also a skill that’s directly transferrable to the workplace.
Another benefit is that multi sport athletes have an opportunity to bring their collaborative team-based perspective to each locker room they enter. This can help curb instances of bullying.
As we’ve discussed before, bullies may not always understand when they’re bullying. If a competitive team develops a habit of blaming or picking on one or two athletes, multi sport athletes may be more likely to understand this habit as an act of bullying. Because they’ve experienced team bonding on different teams, they can bring a fresh perspective and potentially help intervene.
Helping Kids Create A Rich Identity
Specializing in one competitive sport often requires intense dedication. Kids who are constantly traveling for their sport may miss out on important family events, sleepovers and friends’ birthdays.
Scholars like Lenny D. Wiersma have noted that these commitments can leave athletes feeling “socially handcuffed” to their training regimen. Or worse, some may even feel socially isolated.
By playing multiple sports, athletes open themselves up to new friends and new mental and physical challenges. In this way, multi sport athletes may draw upon more diverse experiences to inform their sense of self. Instead of feeling isolated as a single-sport athlete, kids can realize that they’re capable of meeting new challenges with new groups of people.
Playing Multiple Sports Teaches You How To Win
Iowa State Football coach Matt Campbell says that playing multiple sports, is seen as a positive factor in their scouting evaluation process.
Why?
Because playing multiple sports in high school teaches youth how to compete. Campbell views sports specialization this way:
“…the greatest ingredient you lose, is you lose competition and how to compete. You can’t compete in the weight room. You can’t compete with a trainer, even though everybody’s selling you to go do that, but you can’t. When you compete is when you’re winning or you’re losing and you’re figuring out how to win. I think that’s what track teaches you, I think that’s what wrestling teaches you, that’s what basketball teaches you, that’s what baseball teaches you.”
What Campbell is saying, is that single sport athletes spend a lot of time training skills and strength. Athletes can help hone their skills in the weight room and practice facility but they can’t compete there.
Coach Campbell suggests that by playing multiple sports, athletes sharpen their ability to compete. Instead of repeating the same training, multi sport athletes can spend more time learning how to win and lose across different sports.
From these opportunities, multi sport athletes become more mentally resilient in competition. And it isn’t just mental reliance that’s gained from playing multiple sports.
Preventing Repetitive Strain Injuries
Kids playing multiple sports appear to be more physically resilient. In October 2019, the New York Post told the story of numerous specialized athletes suffering overuse injuries. Among them was Alex Apfel, a high school soccer player who specialized in soccer at 5 years old.
After playing 10 months per year, for multiple years, she developed numerous repetitive strain fractures and ligament injuries.
These fractures and ligament issues that Apfel endured are not unique. In 2017 the American Journal of Sports Medicine published a study which found that athletes who specialized in one sport for more than 8 months of the year were more likely to endure overuse injuries in their arms and legs.
On the flip-side, the study suggests that athletes who do not specialize, endure less overuse injuries. These benefits of avoiding specialization extend to motor development too.
Building More Well-rounded Movements
According to another recent study, girls who specialize too early in sports such as basketball, soccer and volleyball could find that a single-minded focus “may hinder motor development.” Meaning that youth who repeat certain athletic movements may not properly develop abilities to perform movements outside their sport.
The study’s author, Christopher DiCesare, explained that this can, “lead to compromised hip and knee coordination during dynamic landing and jumping activities, which can lead to increased chance of potentially life-altering injuries.” This means that multi sport athletes are likely to move better and avoid more serious injuries.
Dr. Charles A. Popkin, pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Columbia University Medical Center, agrees with this idea. He told the New York Times, kids that play multiple sports “develop whole-body skills like balance, quickness and core strength.” These ultimately improve a child’s athletic ability and performance across all sports.
Playing Multiple Sports Improves Performance
We’ve established that playing multiple sports has clear benefits to mental health and physical health. However, perhaps the most persuasive argument for competitive multi sport athletes is improved performance.
NATA is the National Athletic Trainer’s Association that studies athletic health and sport. Recently NATA released a statement on reducing the risk of injury related to sport specialization in youth. In the statement, NATA revealed the success of multi-sport athletes, relating to Football.
The statement quoted Professional Football Athletic Trainers Society (PFATS) President, James Collins, who said:
“The players who make it into the NFL are significantly more likely to have played multiple sports while growing up… In fact, almost 90% of 2018 NFL Draft picks were multiple-sport athletes.”
You read that correctly, 90% of draft picks! That’s an overwhelming majority. But the success of multi-sport athletes isn’t limited to football.
At the beginning of this article we mentioned Joey Moffat, Manitoba baseball’s player of the year. Moffat is a two-sport athlete. When asked about playing two sports, he had this to say: “I think multi-sport athletes have a bit of an advantage because you’re not using the same muscle groups you use for ball as you do for hockey or for hockey as you do for ball. I think it’s a big advantage not only for the athletic ability but for building new relationships.” Clearly, playing multiple sports has benefited Joey socially and athletically.
Staying Ahead of the Competition
When USA Today profiled the US Women’s World Cup squad, they found a clear trend toward multi sport athletes. “A quick survey of members of the squad found that collectively they played at least 14 different sports competitively while growing up, as well as soccer. And significantly, all believe the other disciplines enhanced rather than hindered their soccer careers.”
Again, the key is that all of these athletes felt that playing multiple sports enhanced their soccer abilities.
In one specific example, Abby Wambach explained, “Playing basketball had a significant impact on the way I play the game of soccer.” She said, “[I]n basketball I was a power forward and I would go up and rebound the ball. So, learning the timing of your jump, learning the trajectory of the ball coming off the rim, all those things play a massive role.” Evidently, reading the ball in basketball directly transferred over to her soccer career. And in Wambach’s case, her career was one for the books.
Summary: Playing Multiple Sports Brings Multiple Benefits!
Playing multiple sports in high school and prior, has enormous benefits for youth. In contrast to the deeply entrenched 10,000 hour rule, young athletes see greater mental and physical health benefits from playing multiple sports.
These benefits help individuals avoid feelings of social isolation and build new relationships. Additionally, multi-sport individuals can avoid injury, increase mobility and ultimately excel in their favorite sport. It’s no wonder trainers and coaches recommend playing multiple sports.
Soccer star Abby Wambach captured the heart of it when she said:
“Having the ability to play basketball for a bit throughout the year gave me the chance to crave soccer, to miss it.”
As sports club software developers and parents of young athletes, this is what all of us at Uplifter love to see. An existing love for sport enhanced by new experiences!
