In order for a child to have a healthy interaction between development and athletics, one where they pass mature with greater enjoyment and life-experience while avoiding potential physical and psychological injury, parents must actively match the athletic activity with their child’s development (physical, neurocognitive, and social). Just as children progress from blocks to books, there is a normal progression of skills or milestones that they must sequentially develop. Despite conventional wisdom to the contrary, early involvement in a sport that requires skills beyond a child’s neurodevelopment will not cause the child to develop more quickly, just as no amount of training will make a child walk before a certain level of neurologic maturity. (And, of note, children that walk earlier do not necessarily gain other motor skills earlier than other children) In the same way, if a child is still learning to catch a ball with both hands, participating in baseball will not cause them to develop those skills more quickly but rather may put them at risk for discouragement and injury.
Organized sports activity should be used in its proper place, i.e. to provide a fun, social environment for a child to integrate and develop already-attained skills. It is important to note that quantitative progress (i.e. number of milestones reached) and qualitative progress (i.e. not only can the child jump and throw but how well can they jump and throw) are different entities and the latter should be taken more into consideration for determining developmentally-appropriate sports activities. The child must be neurodevelopmentally ready for a sport but also must be able to adapt skills specific to the demands of the sport. The earlier in neurodevelopment a child is, the harder it will be to carry out multitask coordination, such as that required in soccer (kicking while running, tracking movement of teammates to whom passing, and paying attention to defenders and adjusting actions).
While participation in low-pressure recreational sports can be introduced at a younger developmental age, it is very important for parents to have a healthy, step-wise approach to the progression and timing of their child’s involvement in organized athletics. Your child’s physician can help you select developmentally-appropriate activities for your child that will allow for maximal growth and enjoyment of physical activity for all involved.
Key Milestones to remember
6-7 years – can compare skills to their peers
8-9 years – cognitive understanding of social and competitive nature of sports
11-12 years – have most/all of the psychologic skills needed for complex and competitive sports
Pediatric Sports Participation Pearls
1. Children are not small adults.
2. Coaching - The National Youth Sports Coaches Association (www.nays.com) provides parental information for youth sports involvement as well as services for coaching training/certification as well as background checks. Other resources include websites for the North American Youth Sport Institute (www.naysi.com) and the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports (ed-web3.educ.msu.edu/ysi/).
3. Organization - Organization of sport activity has the potential benefit of guidance and supervision but can also create demands and expectations that exceed the readiness and capabilities of young participants and can also emphasize goals that are not necessarily child-oriented. (tournaments, all-star teams, MVP awards, trophies, award banquets)
4. Purpose of Sport – Children who are taught that sports’ purpose is for personal development, lifetime health, and enjoyment are more likely to develop effective coping skills.
5. Some anxiety can be healthy, e.g. the pregame “jitters”.
6. While many parents dream of their child becoming the next child sports prodigy, research shows that very early involvement/specialization in a sport will not cause a child prodigy to emerge and is likely unhealthy for the child.
7. It is important as a child is developing for them to experience both cooperation and competition. Self-esteem can be affected if too much emphasis is placed on winning instead of successful skill development and having fun.
8. Strength Training can be a healthy part of physical activity in children. However, the motivation should come from the youngster instead of coaches and parents and should be part of an overall balanced athletic activity “portfolio”.
9. A child who starts puberty before others their age may be labeled a “superstar” until their peers catch up developmentally. On the other hand, a child who seems to be lagging behind their peers may be late-bloomers.
10. Obese children are often physically weaker than their peers and are more vulnerable to injury, especially in collision sports.
11. Weight control/Nutrition – Gymnastics, figure skating, swimming, field hockey, track, wrestling, long distance running, and ballet are sports where children are at particular risk for maladaptive behaviors because of body-style/weight importance in the sport. These behaviors can include taking drugs to gain weight (e.g. anabolic steroids) or can also include restricted eating behaviors or excessive exercise to lose weight. Children participating in organized sports activity need special emphasis on adequate caloric intake, balanced diet (e.g. Food Guide Pyramid - http://kidshealth.org/kid/stay_healthy/food/pyramid.html ), and adequate iron and calcium/Vitamin D intake.
