Many people think that sports are different. It is true that basketball and rugby require different athletic qualities. Due to significant differences between these branches of sports, many people may fail to see the actual similarities between them. People often view rugby as a more physical and aggressive sport, while basketball is better played by taller athletes. Because of these changes, we often hear how people advise us to properly specialize at earlier ages. Basketball and volleyball are also not so much different. Both require vertical jumps, ball skills, hand eye coordination and lateral movements.
As younger athletes start to decide on their preferences, they will begin to specialize. Their decision could also depend on the advices of their coaches. Young athletes should make sure that they choose a type of sport that can offer them advantage over the competition. Young athletes should know how to improve their skills. Parents and coaches should observe results and it is important for them to make sure children to follow the proper path. It is good for young athletes to have early specialization and they should nurture the proper sport-specific performance. By specializing properly, young athletes could better improve themselves in many areas.
We should know that early specialization doesn’t always provide high performance if young athletes don’t work as hard as they should. Many young athletes are active and have keen interest on specific types of sports. However, real specialization doesn’t really begin until they reach the age of 16. Athleticism is an important factor that people need to focus during early age. With constant training in vision and reaction, athletes could become virtually unstoppable. The athletic training facilities already available in many areas and this should allow young generation to properly develop their athletic skills.
Children should start to develop their athletic skills by playing neighbourhood games and multiple sports. Very young children could start to play tag and this is actually a preliminary form of sports that can be enhanced in later ages. Tags could educate children about lateral speed, linear speed, balance, body control skills, coordination, flexibility, adjusting the center of mass, team work, strategies and setting up opponents. With these games, it is important for children to examine what parts of the game that they enjoy the most. Early specialization is a good thing, only if children can follow this up properly.
We should know that at younger age, their athletic development is still incomplete. Even so, we could still encourage young children to improve their relevant skills, such as shooting and dribbling. Although they can still play multiple sports, it is important for parents to encourage children to have more focus only on one or two skills. If children want to play soccer, children can help to improve their footwork, agility and vision. They should develop the proper skills depending on specific positions. Whatever children do, they should make sure that things they do are related to sports activity.