And Another Thing...


Peter Martell ISI Executive Director


THE DANGERS OF EARLY SPORT


SPECIALIZATION I often take the opportunity to voice (or vent) my industry concerns on this page, but this time someone else has already done it and I couldn’t have said it any better myself. Tis is a problem affecting all sports in America today. Te credit goes to author Josh Levine and Let’s Play Hockey.


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38


EARLY SPECIALIZATION AND YEAR-ROUND


TRAINING IS DESTROYING YOUTH HOCKEY By Josh Levine


T


oday’s hockey culture is dam- aging youth hockey players’ futures and putting the integrity of our


game at risk. Year-round training sched- ules for the youngest hockey players and the pressure to always do more are not only harming young skaters emotionally and academically, but also athletically. Yet we are constantly told the opposite. Many have argued that early specialization in hockey is required to become elite. Tey couldn’t be more wrong.


Early specialization is when a player


decides prior to puberty to completely focus his or her efforts on one sport and engages in high amounts of repetitious, monotonous, deliberate training regimens designed to maximize skill development. Te problem with early specialization in hockey and in many team sports, however, is that it is harm- ful at young ages, causing a host of problems and hindering athletic development. Te first major problem with special-


izing in hockey too early is that practice makes permanent, not perfect. For exam- ple, Mite skaters have short attention spans, and this limits the amount of time they can focus and perform repetitions correctly. Year-round training schedules also


cause fatigue as young athletes aren’t given proper rest and recovery periods. As a result of the constant practice, many young players develop short, choppy and more upright strides. Some parents have even asked me how their player could possibly seem to be getting worse at skat- ing when they are doing skating clinics, AAA programs and off-ice training regi- mens all at the same time! Finally, despite all the hysteria and pres-


sure to start early, specialize early and train as much as is physically possible, the real- ity is that young athletes prior to puberty cannot achieve significant muscular gains. One common argument for early spe-


cialization is that in sports like gymnastics and figure skating, athletes specialize early and are elite or well on their way to elite status at young ages. Tis is an utter fallacy. In team sports like hockey, peak perfor- mance isn’t reached until post-puberty, whereas in gymnasts peak performance is always reached prior to puberty. Hockey is a game with an infinite


amount of possibilities, movements and patterns. It requires an athleticism far dif- ferent than gymnastics or figure skating; foresight, creativity, patience and quick


decision-making are needed. Athletic skills can’t be compartmentalized — skat- ing, shooting, reading and reacting occur at the same split second. Contrast this with a gymnast’s routine where the exer- cises are planned and moves are routine. Hockey is the exact opposite. Playing only hockey at a young age versus participating in multiple sports limits the variety of motor skills a young player should learn. Like a child who learns two languages and can more easily pick up a third, a young athlete who plays multiple sports and learns multiple move- ments will be better able to pick up new skills. In addition, playing multiple team sports introduces an athlete to varied game situations and helps improve an athlete’s ability to read and react to the rest of the players in the game. Te most unfortunate consequences of


early specialization include the epidemic of overuse injuries and the psychological burn- out that many players experience. Today, overuse injuries in sports have hit a record high. Many doctors attribute this to the increasing intensity of organized youth sports. Often, young athletes are getting hurt


before they have a chance to fully develop physically. Many others are becoming so burned out that they quit altogether. However, the hidden cost of year-round hockey is the untold number of athletes still playing but without a passion for the game. We don’t have to accept this state of


affairs. Although time is running out, we can still restore sanity and integrity to the game of hockey. Tis will require families to start resisting the enormous pressure to always do more. Community associa- tions, coaches, collegiate and professional hockey players and many others will need to step up in order to change the tide. It’s time to save our game.


Josh Levine is a former Jefferson Jaguar, a Princeton University graduate, founder of The Fortis Academy and author of “Save Our Game: What’s Wrong with Hockey Training Today and How to Fix It.”


Tank you, Josh. My only comment or suggestion is that I am not sure that figure skating should be excluded. Many elite skaters are now continuing to compete well into their 20s or even early 30s. Even figure skaters should be able to “have a life” outside of skating.


ISI EDGE WINTER 2014


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