The Product of the Big Club Machine

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https://nypost.com/2019/10/14/the-sp...hool-athletes/

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https://nypost.com/2019/10/14/the-sp...hool-athletes/

Just one more reason why girls shouldn't play sports.

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Or vote.

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For whatever reason we have several friends who are doctors. The pediatrician friends all say early specialization is ruining kids' bodies - overuse injuries and injuries you normally see in adult or college players, plus massive burnout. Of course the orthopedics like the added business, but they totally agree it's become a big issue and do what they can to make sure their kids don't go that route.

I know the argument is there from a skills standpoint to specialize, but at what cost? Realistically so few will ever play in college, let alone go pro. Keep it in perspective.

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Exactly right, no sports, no voting, no driving. Sorry got to run to my pro Omar rally and can't post anymore. But here is another brilliant analysis by her: https://www.newsweek.com/ilhan-omar-...nspire-1373304

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no need to drag politics into this you ^ douche. Go to the political section for that.

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https://nypost.com/2019/10/14/the-sp...hool-athletes/

No kid needs to play club soccer or specialize in any one sport until 6th grade. And you don't even HAVE to do it then. Your kid will be fine, trust me. If your kid is good and works hard, they can make a club team at age 13 and get on the path. You're just wasting money doing it earlier than that.

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For whatever reason we have several friends who are doctors. The pediatrician friends all say early specialization is ruining kids' bodies - overuse injuries and injuries you normally see in adult or college players, plus massive burnout. Of course the orthopedics like the added business, but they totally agree it's become a big issue and do what they can to make sure their kids don't go that route.

I know the argument is there from a skills standpoint to specialize, but at what cost? Realistically so few will ever play in college, let alone go pro. Keep it in perspective.

It's not uniquely the case that kids get overuse injuries and burnout from specialization. It's also the fact that American kids don't just play for one team a lot of the time - they play for 2-3 teams in the same sport. It's more "over-scheduling" as much as "specialization". This isn't a conversation that occurs with any great repetition in Europe or South America. A US kid can easily be playing for a club team, a town team and a middle school team all in the same week, to the extent of having days where they are going to three practices a day (middle school, then town, then club). That's where you get burnout and overuse injuries. Pick one soccer team to play for, and then use the rest of the free time to recover or play a different sport, and the overuse injury/burnout issue will likely be diminished.

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It's not uniquely the case that kids get overuse injuries and burnout from specialization. It's also the fact that American kids don't just play for one team a lot of the time - they play for 2-3 teams in the same sport. It's more "over-scheduling" as much as "specialization". This isn't a conversation that occurs with any great repetition in Europe or South America. A US kid can easily be playing for a club team, a town team and a middle school team all in the same week, to the extent of having days where they are going to three practices a day (middle school, then town, then club). That's where you get burnout and overuse injuries. Pick one soccer team to play for, and then use the rest of the free time to recover or play a different sport, and the overuse injury/burnout issue will likely be diminished.

my kid did the 3 team (club, MS, town) routine, and it was a big mistake. Way too much time playing soccer -actually looking forward to high school and only playing for 1 team for the Fall.

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It's not uniquely the case that kids get overuse injuries and burnout from specialization. It's also the fact that American kids don't just play for one team a lot of the time - they play for 2-3 teams in the same sport. It's more "over-scheduling" as much as "specialization". This isn't a conversation that occurs with any great repetition in Europe or South America. A US kid can easily be playing for a club team, a town team and a middle school team all in the same week, to the extent of having days where they are going to three practices a day (middle school, then town, then club). That's where you get burnout and overuse injuries. Pick one soccer team to play for, and then use the rest of the free time to recover or play a different sport, and the overuse injury/burnout issue will likely be diminished.

They mostly are trained by low level coaches who know little about proper physical training, recovery etc.

But most kids I know that are over scheduled are trying to still do multiple sports at once. Soccer club families drop town pretty quickly and few middles schools have teams.

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Older D specialized in soccer at u14 at the highest level, and dropped playing hoops. She now plays in college and has had some injuries that I feel can be traced back to specialization and overuse. She should have played hoops in HS and took winter off from soccer. Youngest daughter plays Varsity soccer, hoops, and lax in HS and is almost never injured.....Would never recommend any specializations until college, don't buy into the hype and money machine.

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Older D specialized in soccer at u14 at the highest level, and dropped playing hoops. She now plays in college and has had some injuries that I feel can be traced back to specialization and overuse. She should have played hoops in HS and took winter off from soccer. Youngest daughter plays Varsity soccer, hoops, and lax in HS and is almost never injured.....Would never recommend any specializations until college, don't buy into the hype and money machine.

At the same time, the professional players in the Champions League usually only played one sport throughout their career. The difference being that in Europe the academies usually have strict rules on playing time and training, etc. La Masia kids reputedly aren't even allowed to play pick-up games, for example - they are restricted to the hours they train and the weekend game they play, in general, with the rest of their time spent focusing on schoolwork.

It's not just a lack of variety that causes overuse injuries - it's lack of rest. High school teams practicing 2 hours per day, playing 2-4 games per week (despite what the CIAC rules say), then going straight into winter training (if at a club), and then Spring season with 2 teams, then tournaments, then summer camps, then the captain's practices, then preseason camp, then preseason, then the high school season again - it's a wheel that a lot of kids never get off from until they are injured or until they quit.

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At the same time, the professional players in the Champions League usually only played one sport throughout their career. The difference being that in Europe the academies usually have strict rules on playing time and training, etc. La Masia kids reputedly aren't even allowed to play pick-up games, for example - they are restricted to the hours they train and the weekend game they play, in general, with the rest of their time spent focusing on schoolwork.

It's not just a lack of variety that causes overuse injuries - it's lack of rest. High school teams practicing 2 hours per day, playing 2-4 games per week (despite what the CIAC rules say), then going straight into winter training (if at a club), and then Spring season with 2 teams, then tournaments, then summer camps, then the captain's practices, then preseason camp, then preseason, then the high school season again - it's a wheel that a lot of kids never get off from until they are injured or until they quit.

Sounds like OW except La Masia is free and exceptional.

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At the same time, the professional players in the Champions League usually only played one sport throughout their career. The difference being that in Europe the academies usually have strict rules on playing time and training, etc. La Masia kids reputedly aren't even allowed to play pick-up games, for example - they are restricted to the hours they train and the weekend game they play, in general, with the rest of their time spent focusing on schoolwork.

It's not just a lack of variety that causes overuse injuries - it's lack of rest. High school teams practicing 2 hours per day, playing 2-4 games per week (despite what the CIAC rules say), then going straight into winter training (if at a club), and then Spring season with 2 teams, then tournaments, then summer camps, then the captain's practices, then preseason camp, then preseason, then the high school season again - it's a wheel that a lot of kids never get off from until they are injured or until they quit.

Like someone said above kids also aren't normally supervised or trained by athletic trainers who can show kids ways to reduce injury risk or deal with an injury. High schools usually have one trainer who is trying o help all athletes and attend as many events that they can. Here's it's patch'em up and send 'em back out again. The college schedule is no better than HS - practice or games almost every day. They also have conditioning and weight training, but at least in college there are trainers supervising and helping athletes.

Athletes don't have to play multiple sports at the same high intensity they do their primary sport, but should be doing other things when possible. Switching it up is good for their metal health as well. Also there are athletic trainers out there that can devise workout plans to address certain issues, strengthen certain muscles etc to help lower injury risk.

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at the end of the day, injuries are injuries. growing kids are very susceptible to physeal injuries (growth plate, or generally how your bones grow longer) that can be very serious. "cross training" through other sports can be beneficial as it *may* force the body to work through any muscular or biomechanical imbalances. however, it's not necessary at all. kids can play one sport or several, but the bottom line is that they need sufficient rest and careful monitoring. honestly it's the latter where there's the greatest deficiency as it requires (a) understanding of the unique issues surrounding growing/changing bodies, and (b) coach/parental intervention. one sport athletes usually unfortunately have helicopter/snowplow parents and an innate internal drive/fear of disappointment (obviously this is a massive over-generalization but i imagine part of the problem)