Context: There is increased growth in sports participation across the globe. Sports
specialization patterns, which include year-round training, participation on multiple teams of …

Athletic identity (AI), the degree of personal connection to sport, is well-described in adult
research; however, this social trait has been less studied in younger age groups. This …

Despite the well-recognised benefits of sport, there are also negative influences on athlete
health, well-being and integrity caused by non-accidental violence through harassment and …

The health, fitness and other advantages of youth sports participation are well recognised.
However, there are considerable challenges for all stakeholders involved—especially youth …

Background: Early sport specialization is not a requirement for success at the highest levels
of competition and is believed to be unhealthy physically and mentally for young athletes. It …

Sports specialization is becoming the norm in youth sports for a variety of reasons. When
sports specialization occurs too early, detrimental effects may occur, both physically and …

OBJECTIVE: To complete a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature to
determine if sport specialization is associated with overuse musculoskeletal injuries. DATA …

Biological maturation can be defined as the timing and tempo of progress to achieving a
mature state. The estimation of age of peak height velocity (PHV) or percentage of final …

Background: Recommendations exist to encourage safe youth participation in sport. These
recommendations include not specializing in 1 sport, limiting participation to less than 8 …

Context: Many coaches, parents, and children believe that the best way to develop elite
athletes is for them to participate in only 1 sport from an early age and to play it year-round …