This syndrome
was identified by ESPN The Magazine reporter Tom Farrey in his excellent overview of the youth sport scene called “Game
On – The
All-American Race To Make Champions Of Our Children.” The myth
of identifying them early, specializing early in a sport, and starting to
train them young as a key to future success is a myth. By doing this we are
hurting kids physically and psychologically. We are certainly not identifying better
athletes. I read somewhere that the odds against a child becoming a pro by the
time they are 18 is about three million to one. So think about that, for every
Freddy Adu, Lebron James or Tiger Woods there are literally millions out there
who won’t and can’t make it.
Take note
of some of the conclusions from a USOC report, “The Path to Excellence,” a study
done surveying US Olympians from 1984 through to 2000. Here are some cogent
points from that report:
Olympians
were most often introduced to their sport through unstructured activities.
Once
enrolled in an organized sport, quality coaching was important to insure acquisition
of sound technique.
Clubs
and community programs were primarily responsible for training these athletes.
Physical
education classes played a key role in developing fitness and in learning basic
skills.
It
took the average Olympian three years to find success at the local level as a
child.
It
took 12 to 13 years from starting the introduction to their sport before they
made their first Olympic team.
Many
played multiple sports as teenagers, they did not specialize!
It
is a shame that the conclusions of these report, now at least eight years old,
did not get the attention it deserves. It certainly debunks many of the myths
that abound regarding early specialization. The concept that it takes ten years
or ten thousand hours to achieve excellence in any discipline has received much
attention. In November I had the opportunity to attend a seminar at the USOC
where Dr Anders 
Ericsson, who came up that concept presented. After listening
to him talk and asking him after his talk, I am convinced that the concept has
been misapplied. It is NOT FORMAL instruction in sport; free play contributes to
the ten years and ten thousand hours. The moral of the story is that it takes
time, there are few prodigies. It is almost impossible to predict who will be
the next Tiger Woods. Give the kids the gift of movement and the spontaneity
and the joy of play. Give them increasingly complex movement problems to solve
so that when they are teenagers if they choose to travel the path in pursuit of
athletic excellence that they have all the tools.
