The reasons why your children should not practice just one sport: "We believe that you have to dedicate many hours from a young age and that is not the case"

Javier Sanchez

Updated Thursday, February 8, 2024-21:42

Jannik Sinner

, recent Australian Open champion, was more of a skier than a tennis player until he was 12 years old. As a child,

Erling Haaland

, who also practiced athletics and skiing, scored as many goals in the handball goal as in the soccer goal. Before being international as a soccer player,

Salma Paralluelo

was international as an athlete and is still the Spanish under-18 record holder in the 400 meters. And so many, many young athletes:

Kylian Mbappé

's parents

insisted on tennis,

Victor Wembanyama

also played handball,

Tadej Pogacar

even tried orienteering races...

The benefits of practicing multiple sports shine among the elite and, however, in Spain there are fewer and fewer boys and girls who do it. In the latest sports habits survey of the Higher Sports Council, in 2022, 51% of Primary and Early Childhood students stated that they only practice one discipline. In 2015, 40% did so. Because?

«Early specialization is a myth that we have rooted in our culture. We think that to be good at a sport you have to dedicate many hours to it from a young age, we think that working in clubs is better than in schools... There are many more reasons, especially economic, but it is very difficult to change something so accepted by the majority," says

Javier Peña

, director of the Center for Studies in Sports and Physical Activity (CEEAF) at the University of Vic. "The ideal would be for children to not dedicate more hours a week to a single modality than their own age, That is to say, that they do not train nine hours a week in football or tennis if they are eight years old, and that they do not exceed 16 hours a week at any age, something that is very common in swimming or gymnastics," adds the university professor, one of those who are trying to change the trend.

Injuries and fatigue

Through the Red Trip project, federations and clubs are made aware that practicing a single sport is not the path to success and, what is worse, it carries risks for the physical and mental health of children. «In our talks we encourage clubs to first teach general motor skills instead of specific technical gestures. A clear example is a boy or girl who, at the age of 10, is already playing goalkeeper or doing complete shooting training. It's not ideal. "It can cause problems," explains Peña with data that supports his arguments.

According to a study by the Universities of California, Chicago and Wisconsin in 2018, around 50% of sports injuries treated by pediatricians in the United States are due to overuse: tennis elbow, swimmer's shoulder, Achilles tendinitis. .. In some modalities, such as skiing, the percentage is lower (37%) and in others, with more impact, such as athletics, it is higher (68%), but the total is around half. The body, still immature, is put under too much stress and breaks down. And something similar happens in the psychological section.

Sinner, after winning the Australian Open. JOEL CARRETTEFE

A joint 2017 survey by the Universities of Karlstad and Leeds of 258 teenage athletes from Sweden and the United Kingdom found that, in individual disciplines, 48% felt overtrained and, in teams, 30% felt the same. The risk of abandonment, of burning out, of burnout, was high (up to 11% in individuals) while the interest in continuing to play sports after leaving the competition was very low.

«And we are talking about countries with different sports cultures. In the United States, for example, the high school system has always made boys and girls practice three different sports, although more and more are specializing early to get university scholarships. In the Nordic countries, winter modalities are also usually combined with summer modalities. In Spain that doesn't happen," says Javier Peña who, beyond tradition, assumes that the other big hole is in the pocket. One extracurricular activity is already expensive, two or three are impossible to pay for.

A government solution

«The problem is that multisport is not promoted in schools and sports training depends on clubs that often function as a business. If they gain the athlete's loyalty early, they prevent them from trying other things and leaving. In addition, there are many clubs that use competition at an early age as a hook. Maybe they can't win the League or the ACB, but they are champions of Spain as cadets and that is a claim," explains the professor, who accepts that even at home, with his daughters, it has been difficult for him to achieve the ideal that would be to combine a sport of endurance and one of strength.

«A child who does climbing and swimming, for example, may encounter the problem that he is not valued in either climbing or swimming: this child is considered not to have enough commitment and is relegated. There are a thousand examples like this: the roller hockey club that does not accept beginners over 6 or 7 years old or the tennis school that places its best coaches with those who go four days a week," concludes Javier Peña, who sees very It is difficult to end the single-sport culture in Spain, but not to lighten it.

Flag football match between teenagers in Badalona.EFE

It is a ball in the Government's court. The United States or Norway models are not compatible for various reasons, but there is a closer example of how to incentivize multisport on a large scale. In Portugal, free extracurricular activities between 6 and 10 years old, between first and fourth grade, has increased the number of students practicing various disciplines, has promoted schools as the epicenter of sports training and, at the same time, has changed the profile of the practitioners: there are more boys in sports that are poorly considered girls and vice versa. It is an expensive path, but it is a path to reverse the increase in early sports specialization in Spain.