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10U Q&A: Should My Child Play a Summer Sport?

07/08/2014, 10:45am MDT
By Guy Gosselin, ADM Regional Manager

Q: Hockey season is over and my 10-year-old would like to play a different sport this summer. Is it a good idea? We don't want to be left behind.

A: The answer is a resounding YES! It’s a great idea for your 10-year-old to play different sports during the hockey off-season.

In today’s youth sport culture, there is a destructive trend toward early specialization (choosing to focus on playing only one sport). Studies show that athletes who choose to specialize early not only increase their susceptibility to overuse injuries, they also increase the risk of athletic burn-out and tend to peak at 15 to 16 years of age.

With hockey being a late-specialization sport, playing multiple sports at a young age can benefit your child in the long run. It decreases the risk of overuse injuries, enhances their overall athleticism and nurtures their passion for hockey. Maintaining that passion and love for the game will make a big difference in your child’s development.

Another consideration should be where a 10-year-old fits within the long-term athlete development (LTAD) continuum. According to LTAD research, at age 10, kids should concentrate on learning and developing fundamental sports skills. The best way to do that is through playing multiple sports. Additionally, a 10-year-old is still within an optimal trainability window for developing suppleness (flexibility), which is enhanced by playing multiple sports requiring different movements. Fully developing this suppleness within the optimal trainability window can help reduce a child’s risk of future athletic injury. It’s within these windows of optimal trainability that players can make the largest gains in their development. Missing these optimal windows of trainability can limit players’ ultimate athletic potential.

So, if you want to boost your child’s development, encourage them to play other sports in addition to hockey.

Lastly, here are a few tips for choosing other sports for your 10-year-old:

It's not necessarily the sport itself that matters. What’s most important for a 10-year-old child is participating in activities that provide a focus on individual skills in a high-activity environment. In addition to the so-called “traditional” sports, things like martial arts, rock-climbing, swimming and gymnastics can also boost your child’s athleticism, as long as they provide a focus on individual skill development in a high-activity environment.

Seek out teams and organizations with smaller roster sizes that will maximize reps and activity time for your child. Find programs that insist on their coaches being well prepared and cognizant of age-appropriate training concepts and LTAD.

The most important thing is the fun factor. Activities shouldn’t be a grind. They should be fun for your child. If it’s fun, the child will want to keep doing it. Fun will enhance your child's experience and their level of engagement. Fun will keep your child feeling fresh and enthusiastic. And when next hockey season comes around, they will be excited and ready to hit the ice!

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