Defining a research agenda for youth sport specialisation in the USA: the AMSSM Youth Early Sport Specialization Summit.

Sport specialisation is becoming increasingly common among youth and adolescent athletes in the USA and many have raised concern about this trend. Although research on sport specialisation has grown significantly, numerous pressing questions remain pertaining to short-term and long-term effects of specialisation on the health and well-being of youth, including the increased risk of overuse injury and burnout. Many current elite athletes did not specialise at an early age. Methodological and study design limitations impact the quality of current literature, and researchers need to prioritise pressing research questions to promote safe and healthy youth sport participation. The American Medical Society for Sports Medicine hosted a Youth Early Sport Specialization Summit in April 2019 with the goal of synthesising and reviewing current scientific knowledge and developing a research agenda to guide future research in the field based on the identified gaps in knowledge. This statement provides a broad summary of the existing literature, gaps and limitations in current evidence and identifies key research priorities to help guide researchers conducting research on youth sport specialisation. Our goals are to help improve the quality and relevance of research on youth sport specialisation and to ultimately assure that opportunities for healthy and safe sport participation continue for all youth.

Current Trends and Impact of Early Sports Specialization in the Throwing Athlete.

Early sports specialization (ESS) is a relatively new trend that has led to many youth athletes to focus on only 1 sport at an increasingly young age. Although parents and coaches perceive that this will improve their athlete's chances of success at the collegiate and professional levels, studies have shown the opposite. ESS leads to increased injury risk, higher rates of burnout, and lower lifelong sports participation without increasing elite achievement. Throwing athletes are particularly vulnerable to these overuse injuries of the shoulder and elbow, which have been shown to correlate directly to the number of throws and innings played.

Pedals and Pedagogy: Cycles of Hope and Health.

The Kalihi Valley Instructional Bike Exchange (KVIBE) is an innovative youth bike program housed in Kokua Kalihi Valley Family Comprehensive Services (KKV), a community health center in Honolulu, Hawai'i. KVIBE utilizes a popular education model to raise the social consciousness of its youth participants, who are primarily working class, Indigenous, and native to the Philippines or the Pacific Islands, especially Micronesia. Initially designed as a bike repair program where youth could earn a bicycle through sweat equity, KVIBE has grown into an educational space that teaches bicycle mechanics as well as personal history and identity. The KVIBE curriculum incorporates a social determinants of health approach with the Four Connections Framework, an Indigenous health framework developed by KKV and the Islander Institute. This article shares details of this program, as a pedagogical model for programs to engage underserved and marginalized Asian, Pacific Islander and Native Hawaiian youth who suffer from displacement and historical trauma via colonization. Additionally, this article speaks to the importance of seeing marginalized youth not as an at-risk group but as agents in creating community health.

Leisure-time physical activity and participation in organized sports: Changes from 1985 to 2014 in Finland and Norway.

Participation in organized sports is a popular and important part of the lives of children and adolescents and is associated with improved psychological and social health, as well as an increased likelihood of meeting physical activity (PA) recommendations. Changes in modern society, including increased car ownership and use of technology and electronic media, have led to an additional focus on the importance of health-enhancing PA among children and adolescents. The aim of this article was to study the secular changes in self-reports of participation in organized sports clubs and leisure-time vigorous physical activity (LVPA), and whether the relationship between participation in organized sports clubs and LVPA has changed from 1985 to 2014. Questionnaire data were collected in two cross-sectional samples of Finnish and Norwegian 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds in 1985/1986 (n = 7137) and 2014 (n = 9218). Overall, participation in organized sports clubs and level of LVPA appears to have changed in the same direction in the two Nordic countries. The proportion of 11-year-olds reporting to be participants in organized sports clubs increased from 1985/1986 to 2014. There was an overall increase in self-reported LVPA. The association between participation in sports clubs and LVPA was stronger in 2014 than in 1985/1986. The findings indicated subgroup differences, in particular with regard to a steeper increase in LVPA and participation in sports clubs among Finnish girls. We suggest that attention should be given to the role of organized sports to better understand secular changes in PA.

Sports Team Participation Among US High School Girls, 1999-2015.

Sports team participation has myriad benefits for girls. We used the 1999-2015 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a nationally representative survey of US high school students, to examine time trends in sports team participation. Data from 2015 alone were examined for current differences in participation by sex, race/ethnicity, grade, and weight status. For both analyses, unadjusted and adjusted logistic regressions, with team participation as the dependent variable, were used. In 2015, 53% of US high school girls participated in team sports. Participation was higher among non-Hispanic white (60.7%) compared to Hispanic (40.7%) and Asian (35.6%) girls, and girls with normal-weight status (58.1%) compared to overweight (50.0%) and obese (36.5%) girls ( P < .01 for all comparisons). From 1999 to 2015, the rate of increase in participation was higher among non-Hispanic black girls than non-Hispanic white girls. No increase was observed for Hispanic and Asian girls. Addressing the disparities found in team participation is imperative.

Childhood Sports Participation and Adolescent Sport Profile.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to increase understanding of the link between sport specialization during childhood and adolescent physical activity (PA). The objectives were as follows: (1) describe the natural course of sport participation over 5 years among children who are early sport samplers or early sport specializers and (2) determine if a sport participation profile in childhood predicts the sport profile in adolescence. METHODS: Participants (n = 756, ages 10-11 years at study inception) reported their participation in organized and unorganized PA during in-class questionnaires administered every 4 months over 5 years. They were categorized as early sport samplers, early sport specializers, or nonparticipants in year 1 and as recreational sport participants, performance sport participants, or nonparticipants in years 2 to 5. The likelihood that a childhood sport profile would predict the adolescent profile was computed as relative risks. Polynomial logistic regression was used to identify predictors of an adolescent sport profile. RESULTS: Compared with early sport specialization and nonparticipation, early sport sampling in childhood was associated with a higher likelihood of recreational participation (relative risk, 95% confidence interval: 1.55, 1.18-2.03) and a lower likelihood of nonparticipation (0.69, 0.51-0.93) in adolescence. Early sport specialization was associated with a higher likelihood of performance participation (1.65, 1.19-2.28) but not of nonparticipation (1.01, 0.70-1.47) in adolescence. Nonparticipation in childhood was associated with nearly doubling the likelihood of nonparticipation in adolescence (1.88, 1.36-2.62). CONCLUSIONS: Sport sampling should be promoted in childhood because it may be linked to higher PA levels during adolescence.

Enjoyment and Behavioral Intention Predict Organized Youth Sport Participation and Dropout.

BACKGROUND: Dropout from organized youth sport has significant adverse health implications. Enjoyment and behavioral intentions have consistently been linked with participation and dropout; however, few studies have investigated these links using a prospective design. This study explored whether enjoyment and intentions to continue predicted dropout behavior at 1-year follow-up. METHODS: Questionnaires were completed by 327 regular sport participants (mean age = 13.01 y at baseline). After 1 year, 247 individuals (75.5%) continued participating in their main sport and 26 individuals (8%) dropped out. A hierarchical logistic regression model estimated the probability of dropout. In step 1, the following covariates were included: age, sex, competition level, perceived competence, parental support, coach-athlete relationship, friendship quality, and peer acceptance. In step 2, enjoyment and intentions to continue were included. RESULTS: Step 1 indicated that age, parental support, coach-athlete relationship quality, and peer acceptance were significantly associated with dropout. Step 2 explained further variance in dropout, with both enjoyment and intentions inversely associated with dropout. Peer acceptance was the only covariate to remain significantly associated with dropout in step 2. CONCLUSIONS: Findings support the use of enjoyment and behavioral intentions as indicators of sport participation/dropout behavior and may aid the development of interventions aimed at preventing future dropout.

Significado de ser jogador de vôlei em fase de transição de carreira / Meaning to be volleyball player in career transition phase / Significado de ser jugador de voleibol en proceso de transición de carrera

O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar o significado atribuído a ser jogador de voleibol por atletas da categoria sub 19 em processo de transição de carreira. Foram avaliados dezesseis jogadores do sexo masculino, idades entre 17 e 18 anos, por meio de dados biográficos, questões fechadas e da pergunta geradora: "O que significa para você ser um jogador de vôlei? A análise dos discursos foi feita através dos procedimentos propostos por Miles e Huberman (2004). Foram obtidas quatro categorias de respostas: habilidades psicoemocionais e comportamentais; emoções no esporte; reconhecimento e retorno financeiro; competências como atleta/jogador. Segundo estes atletas, o significado do esporte está especialmente na paixão pela prática, mas também no aperfeiçoamento da tática e da técnica, no desenvolvimento de habilidades psicoemocionais e de comportamento, no reconhecimento profissional e pouco no retorno financeiro. Compreender o significado de ser jogador pode ser a chave para a elaboração de um plano de preparação psicológica que vise dar suporte às necessidades neste momento de escolha profissional.

The objective of this study is to assess the meaning of being that a volleyball player for the under-19 players who are experiencing a transition in their in career. Sixteen male players aged 17 and 18 were evaluated, by being asked the triggering question "What does being a volleyball player mean to you?" The analysis of the discourses was carried out according to the procedures recommended by Miles & Huberman (2004). Four response categories resulted: psychoemotional and behavioral skills, emotions in sport, recognition and financial return, skills as an athlete/player. The athletes showed that the meaning of sport lies especially in the passion for practice, but also, in the improving of their tactics and techniques, in the development of psychoemotional and behavioral skills, in the professional recognition and, to a lesser degree, in the financial aspect. Most athletes state they intend to continue in the juvenile sports categories, therefore, understanding the meaning of this activity in their life can be the key to the elaboration of a plan of psychological preparation whose aim is to provide support to their needs in this moment of professional choice.

El objeto de este estudio fue el de evaluar el significado de ser jugador de voleibol para jugadores de categoría sub-19 en proceso de transición de carrera.Se evaluaron dieciséis jugadores del sexo masculino, con edades entre 17 y 18 años, por medio de una pregunta generadora "¿Qué significa para ti el hecho de ser un jugador de vóleibol?" El análisis de los discursos se realizó según los procedimientos recomendados por Miles & Huberman (2004). Fueron obtenidas cuatro categorías de respuestas: habilidades psicoemocionales y comportamentales, emociones en el deporte, reconocimiento y retorno financiero, competencias como atleta/jugador. Los atletas han demostrado que el significado del deporte está en el perfeccionamiento de la táctica y de la técnica, en el desarrollo de habilidades psicoemocionales y de comportamiento, en el reconocimiento profesional y poco en el aspecto financiero. La mayoría de los atletas afirma que pretende permanecer en el deporte juvenil; por lo tanto, comprender qué significa esta actividad en sus vidas puede ser la llave para elaboración de un plan de preparación psicológica, con vistas a dar soporte a sus necesidades en este momento de elección profesional.