Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1064942
JANUARY 2019 USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM // 7 3 U S A H O C K E Y N E W S , P E O P L E & P R O G R A M S O F F THE D R AW PHOTOS BY Big Stock Photo k Being exposed to a wide range of motions that come with playing a variety of sports will make kids better athletes in the future, no matter what sport they play. of pro athletes don't want their kids to specialize in a single sport while they're growing up of NHL and NCAA hockey players specialized in their sport before 14 years of age 12% 77% ince its inception almost 10 years ago, USA Hockey's American Development Model has strongly encouraged kids to play multiple sports as part of its focus on long-term athlete devel- opment. A new study seems to back that up. Researchers from the Penn State College of Medicine polled 91 pro- fessional, NCAA Div. I and Div. III hockey players about their sports history and found that the mean age of specializing in ice hockey was around 14 years old. The study also found that most of the ath- letes played two to four sports as children, with soccer and baseball being the most popular in addition to hockey. "There is considerable research that shows that exposing young kids to a wide range of motions at an early age will make them better athletes in the future, no matter what sport they decide to play," said Ken Martel, the technical director for the ADM. Martel helped facilitate a survey of pro players who represented the United States at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. They were asked at what age they began to specialize in hockey and the majority were between the ages of 14 and 16 when they made the commitment. One player, goaltender Jonathan Quick of the Los Angeles Kings, said he continued to play other sports until he enrolled in college. Two larger studies have come to similar conclusions. In 2017, the Rothman Institute at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital analyzed 3,090 athletes (503 high school, 856 collegiate and 1,731 professional) and found that the average collegiate athlete specialized at 14.8 years old and pro athletes specialized at 14.1 years old. The study also found that only 22.3 percent of professional ath- letes "would want their own child to specialize in a single sport during childhood/adolescence." A similar study conducted by the University of Wisconsin found that high school athletes with a "high specialization clas- sification" were at greater risk of lower extremity injury than ath- letes who play multiple sports. According to Martel, not only are young athletes at greater risk of over-use injuries, there is the burnout factor associated with playing one sport throughout the year without a mental break. "Most people would agree that broadening a child's youth sport experiences is a good thing," he said. "But there are plenty of examples of kids who get hurt when they specialize too early." P CASTING A WIDE NET Study Supports The Benefits Of Being A Multi-Sport Athlete S ADM