High Performance Sport Leaders Network DSR Leederville May 2016

1. Early Specialisation in Sport
One basket only for my
eggs?
High Performance Sport Leaders Network
DSR Leederville
May 2016

2. Summary of Presentation
• What is Early Specialisation (ES) in sport? A
clear definition that works for all
• Can ES result in improved performance at the
highest level of sport and is it necessary?
• Considering the risks and benefits associated
with ES compared with early sport
sampling/diversification
• The importance of education for parents and
coaches of junior athletes to ensure informed
decisions are being made.
• Postulates for the role of deliberate play and
early sampling.

3. Why Early Specialisation?
• History
– Apparently, ES is not a recent phenomenon…
“The evil of excessive training in early years is strikingly
proved by the example of the Olympic victors: for no
more than two or three of them have gained a prize as
both boys and as men; their early training and severe
gymnastics exercises exhausted their constitutions”
Aristotle had concerns…
“for children they [gymnastics exercises] should be of a
lighter kind, avoiding severe diet or painful toil, lest the
growth of the body be impaired”

4. Why ES – what are the drivers?
• High regard for sporting success and increased
rewards at elite end of sport
• Increased pressure to succeed (v participate)
• Parents belief in the need to start young for
ultimate success and financial reward
• There is a robust relationship – time spent
practicing & achievement. But it is not linear
and the success pathway is multi-factorial

5. How early is too early?
US Kids Golf Foundation
2015 World Champions
Boys 6 and Under
Luke Parsons
Salley, South Carolina Score: -7
1st World Championship Win 1 Regional
Championship Win 3 State Championship
Wins 15 Local Tour Wins

6. Uncertainty over the ES area
• “the current lack of longitudinal research examining
the relative impact of formative pathway experiences
makes it difficult to determine how, when or if these
characteristics can be developed and planned” Gulbin et
al. 2013
• “Despite decades of research in this area, the costs and
benefits associated with early specialization in athlete
development are still not clear:” Baker, Cobley & Fraser-
Thomas 2009
• Each sport/parent/coach will need to develop their
own approach

7. Deliberate Play v Deliberate Practice
• Cote 2009
• Deliberate Play – an intentional and informal
activity designed to maximise inherent
enjoyment
• Deliberate Practice – a highly structured
activity that requires effort, generates no
immediate rewards and is motivated by the
goal of improving performance rather than
inherent enjoyment.

8. What is meant by ES?
• Four specific parameters - Baker, Cobley & Fraser-Thomas, 2009
– Early start age in sport
– Early involvement in one sport
– Early involvement in focused high intensity
training
– Early involvement in competitive sport
• ES typically - low volume of deliberate play
Cote, Lidor and Hackfort, 2009

9. Audience Participation
Consider the following questions in small
groups:
• What sports typically lend themselves to ES v
sports that benefit from early sampling?
• What are the patterns, key factors for these?

10. Potential Positives of ES
• Early Peak sports – gymnastics/ figure skating
high performance outcomes possible pre
puberty
• There is a positive relationship between time
spent practising and achievement – although
not linear
• ES athletes may receive more/better coaching
so potential skill acquisition and early
selections on teams
• Enjoyment from improvement

11. Potential Positives of ES cont…
• Examples in soccer where a “special effort” as
a child linked to adult elite performance
• High profile examples – Tiger Woods, Andre
Agassi
• To realise benefits there is a challenge to
provide appropriate monitoring of ES athletes
– recovery, nutrition, physical

12. Critical Periods
• Equivocal support in literature – practically
difficult to identify for individual athletes Phillips
et al. 2010
• Sport skills sequential, but not the same for
each individual. Young athletes unique and
different properties Anderson 2002
• Human development varied – we can adapt to
stimuli at later periods – plasticity Bruer 1998

13. Potential Negatives ES
• Uncertainty over outcomes – early success,
especially pre puberty is often not transferred
to success as an adult
• Unrealistic expectations on high achievers pre-
puberty can lead to negative reactions after
puberty where they are not well equipped to
handle the pressure

14. Drop off in Swimmers in Top 100
Participation at all time Top 100 in Swimming 100m Freestyle
Age under 10 Age 11-12 Age 13-14 Age 15-16 Age 17-18
2 6 11 29 100
2 13 27 45 100
Boys
Girls

15. Possible Negatives ES - Physical
• Overuse injuries e.g. shoulder tendonitis
swimmers, stress fractures, growth plate
closures. Stricker 2002, Dalton 1992
• Mattson & Richards 2010 feel no evidence
that ES causes overuse injuries – can avoid
with proper diet and training techniques.
Coaches and trainers can identify early
warning signs and take preventative measures

16. Possible Negatives ES - Skill
• ES in one sport may limit development of FMS –
possibly issues later in life – proficiency barrier
(Branta 2010)
• Early maturing athlete may be given key positions
& may fail to develop broader skills – what if
don’t develop requisite physique for that
sport/position post puberty? (Ackland & Bloomfield
1996)
• Late maturing – possibly less attention and skill
development – ultimately better physically
capable – less skill due to less attention

17. Possible Negative ES –
Psychological/ Sociological
• Burnout and increased stress Gould 2010; Callendar 2010
• Impaired identity development. If separated from
peers – young athletes may have a narrow perspective
on their identity Wiersma 2000
• Fun? Is ES at odds with having fun and making a longer
term commitment?
– Ice hockey – dropout group had started serious training
earlier, increased amount of off-ice training Wall &Cote 2007
– Swimming – dropouts fewer extra-curricular, started dry
land training earlier less time unstructured play swimming,
reached top-in-club earlier Cote et al. 2008

18. Possible Negative ES –
Psychological/ Sociological
• Social isolation, rivalry, a sacrificed lifestyle
and missed social opportunities Baker, Cobley and
Fraser-Thomas 2009
• Lack of autonomy and burnout & may
develop a sense of resentment and decreased
motivation for sport – few direct comparisons
in literature in this area

19. Potential Risks of ES
• USA National Association for Sport and
Physical Education – 2010
“Specialization in a single sport is more likely to
inhibit or distort balanced physical
development, restrict skill development
opportunities and undermine the forms of sport
participation that maximize lifelong fitness and
well-being”

20. Audience Participation
• Consider the following questions in small
groups:
• From your experience, how well do you think
the coaches within the current junior sport
system would be able to identify early
warning signs and take preventative
measures to protect young athletes,
particularly those in ES?

21. Early Sampling an alternative pathway
to elite performance
• Note limitation in literature – mostly cross
sectional and recall
• Several studies showing varied pathways to elite
performance
– Gulbin et al. 2013 – non-linear progression on Athlete
Development Triangle – 256 scholarship holders, 27
sports
– < 7% had pure junior to senior developmental
linearity
– Some athletes “switched pyramids” going with
another sport

22. The Athlete Development Triangle

24. Delaying the decision to specialise
• It has been suggested that late adolescents
have the psychological, social, emotional and
physical maturity to meet the demands of
competitive sports Cote 2009
• Also able to understand the benefits and costs
of intense focus on one sport Patel, Pratt & Greydanus
2002

25. Delaying the decision to specialise
• Moesch (2013) centimetres, grams, seconds
(cgs) sports –
• Elite v near elite – near elite more hours
training when younger.
• Elite more hours from ~ 18 years old
• cgs sports – more physical/ less tactical less
room for ES to benefit

27. Delaying the decision to specialise
• Early sampling and later specialisation -
several examples of better adult outcomes
– Portugal national team athletes played multiple
sports before specialising in final sport Leite, Baker &
Sampaio 2009
– And Russian swimmers who began specialised
training in swimming at 12-13 longer time on
national team & ended careers later than
swimmers starting at 9-10 Barynina & Vaitsekhovsky 1992

28. Oldenziel et al., 2004

29. Variability in Age of Onset of Training
- Olympic Athletes
• Gullich (2007) analysed data of 4455 Olympians - age at
onset of training in their main sport (in Vaeyens et al.2009)
• The initial age of discipline-specific practice varies
markedly between and within many Olympic sports
• A considerable proportion of international athletes
began training after the traditional ‘‘timing’’ of talent
identification (i.e. 8–12 years),
• For many Olympic sports specific training from an early
age is not an indispensable precondition for later senior
success.

30. Positives from Early Sampling
• Foundational personal, physical and mental skills
required to later specialise in one sport (Cote, Lidor & Hackfort
2009)
• Tendency for a greater amount of “play” activities –
inherent enjoyment seen as a key to continuing to
actively participate in sport
• Diversified sport experiences during childhood fostered
positive peer relationships and leadership skills in
University level athletes Wright & Cote 2003
• Deliberate play can have a positive influence on
motivational factors - self determination theory and
on an individual’s willingness to engage in more
externally controlled activities Cote 2007

31. Value of sampling
• “It is so noticeable on a hockey team that the
kids who played other sports and experienced
different things are always the smarter players
on your team, and they are able to handle
adversity better. They deal with adversity
better because they are thrown into different
environments and they trust their skills that
they may have learned elsewhere to get them
through certain things”. (Brent Sutter,
Edmonton Oilers)

32. Value of sampling

33. Audience Participation
• Consider the following questions in small
groups:
Consider athletes you know and/or coach.
• How good are they at keeping motivated or
showing coping strategies for challenges in
their sport?
• Do you think athletes from a wider sampling
background show different qualities?

34. Athlete Development Multi-Factorial
• Elferink-Gemser et al. 2013 Multi-factorial - rate
of learning, training, maturation – physical,
tactical, psychological. Youth sport – the more
mature tend to perform better. Often fail to see
best future performers.
• Emphasise individual nature of pathways to
expertise.

35. Athlete Development Multi-Factorial
• Future successful athletes have in common –
capability to do more than others, derive more
from same number of training hours, take
responsibility for their progress – self-regulation
of learning, reflective.
• System could help by - Providing a challenging
environment, not by excluding based on current
performance. Tracking learning, training and
maturation related to their personal performance
characteristics – guide them towards their goal.

36. Sport Cross Over – Talent Transfer
• Playing sports with similar underlying
performance elements – facilitated a greater
benefit from Early Sampling (Baker 2003)
• Able to transfer fundamental cognitive skills –
dependent upon the degree of perceptual and
information processing similarity between
sports
• May be impeded if the athlete has specialised
early and not developed FMS

37. Audience Participation
• Consider the following question in small
groups:
• Name some examples of successful talent
transfer in Australian high performance
sport?
• Why were they successful?

38. Does it matter where you are born?
• Birthplace Effect
• Ready access to good infrastructure and opportunities to play
& competition – flourish
• Wide range of age range competitors – broad array of sports
• Children in smaller cities are more likely to engage in
unorganised physical activities such as cycling, running,
skating and playing sports without the structure and adult
supervision required in urban settings Cote 2007
• Can develop a “high sport self concept” – drives commitment
to stay involved – more play and practice Cote 2007

39. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOcPTbN9
ZF4

40. A model to guide
• Consider the FTEM model as a way to guide
decision making about progression and
specialisation in sport
– It is about readiness to progress/ competency not
age per se – so a good model to consider
decisions on when to progress.

41. FTEM Model

42. International Society for Sport Psychology – Position
Stand: To sample or to specialize
• Postulate 1. Early diversification does not hinder elite
sport participation in sports where peak performance
occurs after maturation
• Postulate 2. Early diversification is linked to a longer
sport career and has positive implications for long-term
involvement
• Postulate 3. Early diversification allows participation in a
range of contexts that most favourably affects positive
youth development.
• Postulate 4. High amounts of deliberate play during the
sampling years build a solid foundation of intrinsic
motivation through involvement in activities that are
enjoyable and promote intrinsic regulation.

43. International Society for Sport
Psychology – Position Stand:
• Postulate 5. A high amount of deliberate play during the
sampling years establishes a range of motor and cognitive
experiences that children can ultimately bring to their
principal sport of interest
• Postulate 6. Around the end of primary school (~13) children
should have the opportunity to either choose to speciliase in
their favourite sport of to continue in sport at a recreational
level.
• Postulate 7. Late adolescents (~16) have developed physical,
cognitive, social, emotional and motor skills needed to invest
their effort into highly specialised training in one sport.

44. Final word…
• “Accordingly, before embarking on a specific
type of activity and training, athletes, parents,
and coaches should weigh the potential
health, psychological, sociological, and motor
benefits and risks associated with early
sampling or early specialization in children
ages 6-12.” Cote, lidor & Hackfort 2009

45. Thank You