Why limit a child to a single athletic path? When people discuss the great athletes of the past century, the names that usually come to mind are not the players that are known for a single sport, but those who excelled in multiple sports. Athletes such as Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders, John Elway, Dave Winfield, Tony Gwynn, Marion Jones and Lebron James, all starred in multiple sports before hitting the professional ranks.

Despite a history of splendid multi-sport athletes, youth sports has seen a rapid increase in its athletes specializing in one sport. Sports specialization is when a child picks a sport and trains in that sport year round. Rather than competing in a different sport each season, athletes who specialize, remain committed to improving in one sport. While sports specialization may seem like a good idea on the surface, there are several risks.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, early specialization has some distinct advantages, but may have negative physical, psychological, and social effects on a child. “Specialization leads to repetition and repetition leads to increased risk of injury,” says Dr. Eric W. Edmonds, a Pediatric Orthopedic specialist at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, CA. “Injury leads to the inability to play that single sport that they have been training to participate. If they limit specialization, then they can be good at many sports, limit repetition by promoting cross-training and decrease injury risk.”

Parents also need to realize that when a child participates in different sports, certain skills carry over. The girl who plays basketball in the winter will likely have greater hand eye coordination for spring softball. The boy who runs track in the spring is likely to be faster on the gridiron when football season starts in the fall. There are tremendous benefits to challenging your body through various sports.

Dr. Edmonds isn’t quite sure why so many parents have turned to sports specialization, although he cites convenience as a potential factor. “We all live very busy lives and sometimes feel like we can limit how many games and classes and events we have to drive to if our kids specialize in one sport,” Dr. Edmonds says. “Also, a lot of parents are afraid that their child might not be a Jim Thorpe, so once they recognize a sport that their child likes or seems to be good at, then they actively push to have their child excel in that sport. Often times, people only know one way to get better at something, and that is to practice it over and over again – specialize. What you have to realize though, is that this is only one way to improve skills. The other is through cross-training, strength training and diversifying activities.”

By diversifying sports activities, parents can avoid one of the biggest pitfalls of sports specialization: burnout. Burnout happens when a highly committed athlete loses interest and motivation in their particular sport. It can occur in hard working, hard training athletes, who become emotionally, psychologically or physically exhausted.

For Buffalo Bills quarterback Trent Edwards, playing multiple sports gave him an athletic edge. During high school, Edwards was a star football and basketball player. “The thing I liked about playing another sport outside of football was that it game me another outlet,” Edwards says.” To me, focusing on one sport for 12 months out of the year wasn’t going to make me the best player. I needed another outlet so I didn’t get burned out. If you look at most professional athletes, you will see that they played a variety of sports, which made them more athletic and helped build different muscles. I always enjoyed playing basketball. It gave me another opportunity to meet new people and work with different coaches. It also allowed me to get away from football for a bit, which was good as well.”

By participating in numerous sports, a young athlete can develop other athletic skills that transfer to their primary activity. Quickness, balance, strength and mental toughness are stressed differently in different sports.

For children that refuse to try any other sports, it is suggested that they take breaks from their primary sport to help the mind and body revitalize. To be competitive in one sport is fine, as long as it is not year round. “I don’t know if children ever really know what they like,” Dr. Edmonds says. “Their opinions can often be fickle and after 7 years of playing soccer because it was the greatest sport of all time, it may have just become the worst for no better reason then they didn’t like their team name. I suggest that parents continually offer other activities and make sure that the athlete knows that she or he has the choice to do something different.”

Dr. Edmonds believes a suitable age for young athletes to begin to specialize is 13 for girls and 15 for boys. “This is the average age at which girls and boys reach skeletal maturity,” he explains. “At that time, bones are no longer growing, muscles and tendons have a chance to catch up and focused training will be safer.”

As sports specialization continues to grow in youth sports, it is important that parents are reminded that many of the professional athletes of today were 2 and 3 sport lettermen in high school. Once in a while a phenom comes around such as a Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan but that is less than one percent of high school athletes. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, it is estimated that 98 percent of the athletes that specialize will never reach the highest levels of sport. Research has shown that early specialization does not ensure success in a particular sport. In fact, there is a better chance of injury or burnout. Sports specialization can be dangerous unless approached cautiously and in the right child.