Late specialization: the key to success in centimeters, grams, or
seconds (cgs) sports
seconds (cgs) sports
Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports
K. Moesch, A.-M. Elbe, M.-L. T. Hauge, J. M. Wikman
Abstract: A controversial question within elite sports is whether young
athletes need to specialize early, as suggested by Ericsson et
al., or if it is more beneficial to follow the path of early
diversification proposed by Coˆ te´ et al., which includes
sampling different sport experiences during childhood and
specializing later on during adolescence. Based on a Danish
sample of 148 elite and 95 near-elite athletes from cgs sports (power sports)
(sports measured in centimeters, grams, or seconds), the
present study investigates group differences concerning
accumulated practice hours during the early stages of the
career, involvement in other sports, career development, as
well as determining whether or not these variables predict
membership in the elite group. The results clearly reveal that
elite athletes specialized at a later age and trained less in
childhood. However, elite athletes were shown to intensify
their training regime during late adolescence more than their
near-elite peers. The involvement in other sports neither
differs between the groups nor predicts success. It can be
concluded that factors related to the organization of practice
during the mid-teens seem to be crucial for international
success within cgs sports. Future research should adopt a
longitudinal design with means of drawing causal inferences.
athletes need to specialize early, as suggested by Ericsson et
al., or if it is more beneficial to follow the path of early
diversification proposed by Coˆ te´ et al., which includes
sampling different sport experiences during childhood and
specializing later on during adolescence. Based on a Danish
sample of 148 elite and 95 near-elite athletes from cgs sports (power sports)
(sports measured in centimeters, grams, or seconds), the
present study investigates group differences concerning
accumulated practice hours during the early stages of the
career, involvement in other sports, career development, as
well as determining whether or not these variables predict
membership in the elite group. The results clearly reveal that
elite athletes specialized at a later age and trained less in
childhood. However, elite athletes were shown to intensify
their training regime during late adolescence more than their
near-elite peers. The involvement in other sports neither
differs between the groups nor predicts success. It can be
concluded that factors related to the organization of practice
during the mid-teens seem to be crucial for international
success within cgs sports. Future research should adopt a
longitudinal design with means of drawing causal inferences.
As you can comprehend from the study's abstract above, kids should not specialize in a sport early. Late specialization is more superior than early specialization. Children need to learn key training fundamentals first such as catching, throwing, skipping, running etc and then progress slowly slowly. In addition, other studies depict that learning key training fundamentals first surely can affect children activity levels later on in their lives.
I'm really furious when I hear that children ages between 6-12 are trained like normal adults. Kids are different structurally and neurologically build so there is a quite a big difference in comparisons with adult training. There is a great chance that early specialization kids will be superior at first in relation to kids that are not specialized early, but it should be noted that this phenomenon will not be true afterwards.
The bottom line is that kids should not be specialized early. Kids need to experience all the training fundamentals first and then specialized in a sport. Let your kids try different things and sports. Make sure you listen to your kid and do not push them and train them like adults.
Coach Prezas, 'Founder of Youth Movement Performance'
Coach Prezas, 'Founder of Youth Movement Performance'
2 comments:
At what age should training in speed and endurance should start? Also, when at max what intensity?
I will suggest start simple speed and agility drill with ages 10-13 and then do more complex drills later on.
For endurance I will say 14 and up but be careful cause training for speed should not be at the same time as with endurance.
I will not recommend max intensities in youth. 70% ages 15 and up for starts it alright
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