Early Sport Specialization Flashcards
PRINT LTAD
**
Pros of LTAD:
- good goals
- framework
- consistency
Cons of LTAD:
- focused on physiology and motor skills
- doesn’t take psychological needs into account
- little evidence to support
- may endorse overtraining/early specialization
- focuses on skill development in the younger years only
DMSP stands for:
Developmental Model of Sport Participation
Deliberate play:
- informal sport games
- enjoyment
- intrinsic motivation
- similar to active play
Deliberate practice:
- highly structured
- skill development
- involves effort
- performance
- extrinsic motivation
Deliberate play is done…
for its own sake
Deliberate practice is done…
to achieve a future goal
In deliberate play, interest is…
on the behaviour
In deliberate play, interest is…
in outcome of the behaviour
Deliberate play is ____ enjoyable.
very
Deliberate practice is _____ enjoyable.
not
Deliberate play is ____ quality.
pretend
Deliberate practice is carried out _____.
seriously
Deliberate play has _____.
flexibility
Deliberate practice has ____ _____.
explicit rules
In deliberate play, adult involvement ____ required.
not
In deliberate practice, adult involvement _____ required.
often
Triangle model for recreational participation through sampling:
- ages 6-12: sampling years
- ages 12+: recreational years
Triangle model for elite performance through sampling:
- ages 6-12: sampling years
- ages 13-15: specializing years
- ages 16+: investment years
Triangle model for elite performance through early specialization:
early specialization
Recreational participation through sampling includes:
- wide variety of activities
- high levels of deliberate play
- low levels of deliberate practice
- sampling many different activities
- more focus on fun than specific skill development
- enjoyment, health > competition, performance
Elite performance through sampling includes:
- high levels of deliberate play in various activities
- over time, amount of play decreases, amount of practice increases (at age 13 they are equal)
- engage in fewer activities as they get older
- investment years: pick 1 activity to focus on performance in this
Elite performance through early specialization includes:
- focus on 1 sport
- large number of deliberate practice activities
- starts as early as 6-7
Early sport specialization is defined using 3 criteria. What is the first?
participation in intensive training and/or competition in organized sports greater than 8 months per year (essentially year round)
Early sport specialization is defined using 3 criteria. What is the second?
participation in one sport to the exclusion of participation in other sports (limited free play overall)
Early sport specialization is defined using 3 criteria. What is the third?
involving prepubertal (seventh grade or roughly age 12 years and younger) children
Probable outcomes of recreational participation through sampling:
- recreational participation
- enhanced physical health
- enhanced psycho-social development
Probable outcomes of elite performance through sampling:
- elite performance
- enhanced physical health
- enhanced enjoyment of sport
Short term probable outcomes of elite performance through early specialization:
- elite performance
- reduced physical health (more likely to have overuse injuries)
- reduced enjoyment
- burnout
- dropout
- lower unstructured free play
Long term probable outcomes of elite performance through early specialization:
decreased sport participation as adults
Why has there been an increase in early sport specialization over the last few decades?
- sports is more popular
- parents pushing kids
- status comes with being a good athlete or having a kid that is a good athlete
- on the podium (building athletes to make the olympics)
- everyone looks up to pro sports (money, fame)
- media coverage
- belief that early sport specialization and deliberate practice will lead to elite performance
- professionalization of youth sport and shift towards extrinsic goals
ISSP 7 postulates: 1. Early diversification (sampling) does not hinder elite sport participation in sports where…
peak performance is reached after maturation
ISSP 7 postulates: 2. Early diversification (sampling) is linked to ….
a longer sport career and had positive implications for long-term sport involvement
ISSP 7 postulates: 3. Early diversification (sampling) allows participation in a range of contexts that most favourably affect _____ _____ ______.
PYD
ISSP 7 postulates: 4. High amounts of _____ play during the sampling years build a solid foundation of _____ _____ through involvement in activities that are ______ and promote _____ ______.
- deliberate
- intrinsic motivation
- enjoyable
- intrinsic regulation
ISSP 7 postulates: 5. High amounts of ______ play during the sampling years establishes a range of _____ and ______ experiences that children can ultimately bring to their _____ _____ of interest.
- deliberate
- motor
- cognitive
- principal sport
ISSP 7 postulates: 6. Around the end of primary school, children have the opportunity to either choose …
to specialize in their favourite sport or to continue in a sport at a recreational level
ISSP 7 postulates: 7. Late adolescents have developed the _____, _____, ____, _____, and ____ skills needed to invest their effort into _____ _____ training in ______ sport.
- physical
- cognitive
- social
- emotional
- motor
- highly specialized
- one
When might early specialization not result in negative consequences, such as burnout?
- having a choice is important
- making sure people in environment are supportive
- in sports where peak comes early (ex. gymnastics)
Is early specialization in swimming related to burn out and drop out?
- no markers of early specialization were related to burn out
- swim training volume and total years of swimming more than 8 months/year were positively related to intentions to continue swimming
Cairney et al. (2018) examined whether participation in _____ sport and PA were longitudinally associated with decreased or increased _______ _____ ____ ____ across middle childhood (grade 5) to adolescence (grade 8) in Ontario.
- organized
- discretionary active free play
Finding from Cairney et al. (2018):
children and youth who participate more in organized sport and PA also report participation in more discretionary active play
Selection effect:
those who naturally like to be active will find ways to be active
Gateway effect:
those who are involved in sport can facilitate confidence etc that help their discretionary play
Cairney et al. (2018) provides evidence for …
the value of participation in multiple sports
Over scheduling hypothesis:
kids in too much sport won’t have time for active play
Limitations of Cairney et al. (2018):
- self report measures
- just looking at number of sports, not amount of time
To support athletic competition and long-term health, experts recommend ____ _____ _____ before < or equal to ___ years old.
- early sport sampling
- 12 years old
Early sport specialization often leads to reduced _____ and ______ health of athletes as well as _____ _____ ______ in adulthood.
- physical
- mental
- lower sport participation
Whether early sport specialization leads to ____ ____, ____ ____, or less _____ ____ ____ ____ is unclear.
- burn out
- drop out
- unstructured active free play
