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Deciding to pursue a professional sports career, an athlete chooses an early or late specialization model. There is much research made on the subject of which one is safer or effective; however, it is still a subject of debate in the coaching field. There are many factors that the model can be judged on, such as pedagogy, sports science, motor learning skills, technical and tactical skills, augmented feedback, effective design, and athletic talent. This research paper will compare the models using these factors.
Well-developed motor skills are essential for an athletes life and specialization. It is believed by many that major abilities are easier and more efficiently learned at a young age, including motor skills. However, according to the results of the research conducted by Solum et al. (2020), there is no golden age for motor skill learning. Moreover, there was not found any difference between 10-year-olds, 18-year-olds, and 40-year-olds motor skill development (Solum et al., 2020). As such, early or late specialization does not affect motor skills acquisition.
The technical and tactical skills development of an athlete can usually indicate the level of their performance in competitive team sports. According to de la Rubia et al. (2020), the players age negatively affects short-term individual and collective performance. However, age positively affects athletes long-term performance (De la Rubia et al., 2020). As such, late specialization can be considered beneficial to technical and tactical skills development over early specialization due to the maturity level of the athletes.
Choosing an early or late specialization model is difficult for athletes, parents, and coaches. Both of the models have their advantages and disadvantages for the sportspeople. Early specialization allows athletes to dedicate most of their time to the sport of their choice, accumulating hours of practice and training to developing athletic talent. However, compared to late, early sport specialization was found to lead to increased rates of injury in children (Ahlquist et al., 2020). The late specialization model better serves an athletes mental health and a sense of self (Bucciarelli, 2021). Despite that, there is a chance of a worse performance due to lesser practice and training time for the preferred sport. Due to this, late specialization can be considered safer, but less efficient for athletes than early one.
The differences between early and late specialization should also include trainers, particularly the challenges of coaching and pedagogy. Since the early specialization model includes training children from a very young age, it can sometimes prove to be a significant difficulty for a coach. When considering professional sports, children are less motivated than young adults, requiring excellent coaching skills, advanced knowledge in sports science, and patience in planning an effective training design. Additionally, since children are subject to socialization and are shaped by their surroundings, the trainers are given the responsibility of influencing the young athletes skills and their place as members of society (Quennerstedt, 2019). However, as partially or fully developed human beings, teens and adults following the late specialization model can also be challenging to coach. They might display their independence and different opinions when given augmented feedback, disrupting the coaching process (Quennerstedt, 2019). However, it is not always the case, rendering late specialization less challenging for the coach.
Comparing early and late specialization models for long-term athlete development led to the discovery of many advantages and disadvantages of both models. Late specialization can be considered safer due to the lesser risk of injury and increased athletes mental health rates. The early model can be considered more effective in the case of highly-skilled coaching professionals. Despite that, skills development was proven not to be significantly affected by either of the models.
References
Ahlquist, S., Cash, B. M., & Hame, S. L. (2020). Associations of early sport specialization and high training volume with injury rates in national collegiate athletic association division I athletes. Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine, 8(3).
Bucciarelli, R. (2021). Early vs Late Specialization in Sports. Soccer Hub. Web.
De la Rubia A., Lorenzo-Calvo J., & Lorenzo A. (2020). Does the relative age effect influence short-term performance and sport career in team sports? A qualitative systematic review. Frontiers in Psychology. Web.
Quennerstedt, M. (2019). Physical education and the art of teaching: Transformative learning and teaching in physical education and sports pedagogy. Sport, Education and Society.
Solum M., Lorås H., & Pedersen A.V. (2020). A golden age for motor skill learning? Learning of an unfamiliar motor task in 10-year-olds, young adults, and adults, when starting from similar baselines. Frontiers in Psychology. Web.
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