This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Almost half of high school athletes surveyed specialize in one sport
SAN DIEGO — Forty-five percent of high school athletes specialize in one sport and do so, on average, 2 years earlier than current collegiate and professional athletes, according to results presented at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting.
“In our study, we found that high school athletes are choosing to specialize at an earlier age when compared to the current collegiate and professional athletes that we have studied,” Patrick S. Buckley, MD, said during his presentation. “This does suggest that high school athletes believe that specializing to play one sport is necessary for advancement, and a counterpoint to that is that the professional athletes in our group did not specialize at that younger age.”
For this study, a survey was distributed to 3,090 athletes: 503 high school athletes; 856 collegiate athletes; and 1,731 professional athletes. The survey was given prior to the athletes’ yearly pre-participation physicals. Athletes were asked if they had chosen to specialize in one sport and data were collected pertaining to that decision, including number of months per year of single sport training, the athlete’s perception of injury related to specialization and the athlete’s willingness to encourage single-sport specialization in childhood or adolescence to the next generation.
According to a press release, investigators found 45.2% of high school athletes, 67.7% of collegiate athletes and 46% of professional athletes specialized in a single sport during their childhood or adolescence. Single-sports specialization occurred at an average of 12.7 years, 14.8 years and 14.7 years, respectively. Current high school and collegiate athletes recalled statistically higher incidences (39.9% and 42.1%, respectively) of sport-related injury than current professional athletes at 25.4%. Overall, 79.7% of high school athletes and 80.6% of collegiate athletes indicated they believed specialization helps athletes play at a higher level compared with 61.7% of professional athletes. However, 22.3% of professional athletes reported they would want their child to specialize in a single sport during childhood or adolescence.
“In summary, high school athletes specialized at an earlier age. They recalled a higher incidence of sports-related injury and they were less likely to promote early specialization to the next generation,” Buckley said. “We think this is important for us as orthopedic surgeons to be involved with this discussion with athletes in the office and try to help educate them to make informed decisions as they are determining when to specialize in the future.” – by Abbey Bigler
References:
Buckley PS, et al. Paper #23. Presented at: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting; March 14-18, 2017; San Diego.
Disclosure: Buckley reports no relevant financial disclosures.