By: Mackenzie O’Connell, CycleHealth Intern
Recently, an article was published in the Boston Globe titled, “Now campaigning against Tommy John Surgery: Tommy John” and its message is stated loud and clear. Kids should NOT be specializing in sports. Today, the idea that has been drilled into parents’ heads is that the earlier kids choose a sport to focus on, the more time they have to train and better themselves on their journey to become an all-star athlete. Although the concept sounds promising, choosing only one sport to practice at very early age is actually far from beneficial. Tommy John was a pitcher for the New York Yankees for a number of years and had an outstanding career until an elbow injury caused him to need surgery in order to ever be able to pitch again. Thankfully, a doctor was able to develop a surgical method that allowed John to get back out on the field, just like new, and pitch for another twelve years. This career saving surgery was named after the great Tommy John, but in his opinion the honor came with a price, as he believes in recent years the procedure has had to be completed on kids far too young. The new trend of sports specialization is what John blames and he and his son, also named Tommy John, talk about this problem in the article. The two explain that, “Kids are being pressured into overperforming, causing degenerative joint problems. They are overstimulated, less aware, overcoached, and underdeveloped. They shouldn’t be playing just one sport.”
CycleHealth stands most definitely on the side of the John family. Kids should want to be adventurous and try new things! By forcing kids into one sport so young, we are keeping them from thinking and dreaming big and from challenging themselves to work hard at multiple activities and aspects of life. Sport specialization, as the John family members explain, “...is hurting American youth athletes more than it is developing them” because instead of making youth sports about being active, meeting friends, learning discipline, and having fun, it has become “...less about the kids — and more about the cash.”
Athletes such as Clayton Kershaw, Troy Aikman, Tom Brady, Robert Griffin the III, Abby Wambach, and Lolo Jones, alongside both Tommy Johns, are just some examples of famous athletes who played multiple sports growing up. And based on the stellar accomplishments of these individuals, playing more than one sport throughout their childhood was not detrimental whatsoever to their future athletic careers. Instead, these sports stars were able to learn various lessons of strength, persistence, passion, failure and hard-work in more than one setting and to work to overcome the different kinds of challenges that each activity put in front of them.
Abby Wambach, one of, if not the best female soccer player in history, played basketball and soccer throughout high school. In an article written in USA Today, “U.S. women were multi-sport athletes before focusing on soccer,” she explains that, "Having the ability to play basketball for a bit throughout the year gave me the chance to crave soccer, to miss it."
Lauren Holiday, another fantastic female soccer player gives her thoughts in the article as well. She says, "Having that variety [of playing different sports] is an awesome thing and I would encourage any young athlete or parent not to restrict themselves." Holiday also adds, "Doing different things develops different parts of your body. It can help prevent injuries and definitely help prevent burnout." I think these two athletes messages are frequently missed by parents, coaches, and those involved in the youth sports industry. Sports should not be a chore; they should be an activity that kids love. If kids don’t have the chance to miss a sport in an off-season or by taking some time off, they will begin to slowly dread attending practice, have a higher chance of getting injured and may eventually burn-out.
At CycleHealth we are motivating kids be active and live healthy lifestyles, and whether kids choose to do so by taking part in organized sports or not, they should not have sacrifice the fun that is being a kid by trying any and all activities, in order to start training to be “professional athlete” at the age of ten. 📷