‘More, Younger’
Youth sports occupy a special place in American culture, shaping children’s character, health, and social lives. Across the United States, an increasing number of parents and coaches—often with good intentions—seek to introduce sports to children at younger and younger ages and with greater intensity than ever before. This approach, which I’ve labeled “More, Younger,” insists that increased time on the field, in the gym, or on the court is the surest path to success, scholarships, and lifelong athletic achievement. Proponents argue that starting children in organized sports at age three or four, scheduling multiple travel tournaments, and investing in year-round private lessons will produce the next generation of elite athletes.
‘More games, contests, practices, instruction and start them younger.’
However, research from various institutions, including the Aspen Institute’s Project Play (Aspen Institute, 2021), Michigan State University’s Institute for the Study of Youth Sports, and the Rutgers Youth Sports Research Council, strongly suggests that the “More, Younger” approach can do as much harm as good. Overemphasizing structured practices and competition early on is linked to two critical issues facing young athletes today: psychological burnout and overuse injuries. This concept often also tears apart community level sports, which are critical in the youth development concept – but that’s for another article. When children are pushed beyond their developmental limits—physically, cognitively, and emotionally—they may fall out of love with sports, lose motivation to continue, or develop chronic injuries that hamper their future athletic endeavors.
It’s important to note that sports can be incredibly positive for youth. A well-designed sports program has the capacity to teach teamwork, sportsmanship, grit, leadership, and many other life skills, as well as a lifelong love for their game. The goal is not to discourage early physical activity—indeed, free play and basic motor skill development are crucial for young children. Rather, this article advocates for an evidence-based, developmentally appropriate approach that aligns with guidelines championed by experts such as the Aspen Institute, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and academic researchers.
This piece will dive into the research on youth sports participation, focusing specifically on the dangers of starting too early and training too intensely. We will explore child and adolescent development, overuse injuries, burnout, and how parents, coaches, and sports administrators can collaborate to address these risks. In doing so, we will also highlight the advantages of skill acquisition and motor learning post-puberty and discuss how the “More, Younger” mentality threatens the holistic growth of young athletes.
The Rise of the “More, Younger” Approach in Youth Sports
The cultural climate of American youth sports has shifted dramatically in the last few decades. Parents and coaches, bombarded with stories of children being offered collegiate scholarships in middle school or making national-level teams at age ten, feel an impetus to accelerate their own children’s development. Compounded by widespread media coverage of prodigies in tennis, basketball, and other sports—like the Williams sisters or Tiger Woods—this cultural narrative has contributed to the sense that the earlier a child starts, the greater their chances of hitting the proverbial jackpot.
According to a 2019 survey by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (cited in Aspen Institute, 2021), youth sports participation patterns indicate an increasingly competitive environment. Children are specializing in a single sport at younger ages, prompted by travel team tryouts, the lure of elite leagues, and pressure from peers (peers of the parents, often). Similarly, the Rutgers Youth Sports Research Council (2020) notes that by the time kids reach the age of 10 or 11, many have already established rigid sports identities, deeming themselves “soccer players” or “basketball players” as opposed to well-rounded young athletes.
The “More, Younger” philosophy is also fueled by economic incentives. For some private clubs and coaching academies, recruiting children as young as five years old means more clients paying for longer periods of instruction. Often under the façade (not necessarily intentional) of helping young athletes, the money rolls in. Parents might pay thousands of dollars annually for lessons, equipment, and travel expenses, believing they are making a long-term investment in their child’s future. This early commercialism can overshadow the fundamental aim of youth sports: enjoyment, character development, a growing love for the sport, and holistic well-being.
Despite the popularity of this model, an increasing body of evidence indicates that specialized, high-intensity training at young ages may be both physically and psychologically detrimental. Overuse injuries such as Little League shoulder, gymnast wrist, or runner’s knee are becoming commonplace in grade school athletes. Moreover, the mental toll—performance anxiety, burnout, emotional exhaustion—should not be overlooked.
Understanding Child and Adolescent Development
To begin we must state the obvious – many coaches in the youth sports world are simply former players who now have a kid playing that sport. They are not educated or trained to understand what’s necessary to properly develop our youth.
A core misconception driving “More, Younger” coaching is the idea that children can be developed like mini-adults, responding similarly to the same forms and volumes of training that adults receive. In reality, children’s bodies and brains are in the midst of dynamic growth. For sports to be a positive force, training must be adjusted to align with these developmental stages.
A lack of understanding of the developmental stages leads to the
‘professionalization’ of youth sports.
Physical Growth and Maturation
From infancy to adolescence, children undergo substantial changes in skeletal structure, muscular strength, cardiorespiratory capacity, and coordination. Prior to puberty, growth patterns can be erratic. Children have shorter limbs and different leverage points compared to adults, which influences their biomechanics during movements like throwing, kicking, or running.
When a child transitions into puberty, hormonal changes stimulate rapid growth spurts and increases in muscle mass. This phase also triggers changes in bone density and joint architecture. This is the ‘age of proprioception.’ This means the athlete is best primed to conduct fine motor movement adjustments (correcting hip rotation timing during baseball pitching, fixing their basketball shooting form, etc). According to the American College of Sports Medicine (2020), intense, repetitive stress on growth plates (the areas of developing cartilage near the ends of long bones) is a common source of overuse injuries. If a child is already playing 50 (often more) baseball games per year at age 9 or 10 and continues to pitch intensively, they risk damaging these vulnerable growth plates. There are numerous other overuse injury scenarios we could talk about.
Cognitive Development
On a cognitive level, children’s brains are in early stages of developing the capacity for complex problem-solving, decision-making, and emotional regulation. Before approximately age 12, the prefrontal cortex—which is crucial for impulse control and strategic thinking—is still maturing (Steinberg, 2019). Coaching approaches that demand a high level of tactical sophistication or that rely on adult-like concentration and emotional management may be inappropriate for younger children.
Socioemotional Development
Socially and emotionally, children are in the midst of exploring their emerging identities and determining how they fit into the world around them. In healthy circumstances, sports provide a positive environment where kids develop teamwork skills, cultivate friendships, and gain confidence through gradual mastery of physical and mental skills. However, when parents place disproportionate emphasis on performance, winning, or external accolades, the child’s self-esteem becomes entangled with parental approval in a potentially harmful way. Instead of feeling that they are valuable simply for who they are, children begin to believe their worth is determined by whether they meet—or fail to meet—parental expectations in sports.
This dynamic is exacerbated by a reward system in which parental praise, extra privileges, or greater attention come only when the child excels in competition or shows improvement. When parental disappointment follows losses or subpar performances, young athletes can feel a profound sense of shame. Even when parents are slightly supportive of other areas, but go over the top for sports successes, this lesson is learned by the young athlete. Their self-image as both an athlete and a child becomes tightly woven into how well they perform. In these cases, the child’s core self-esteem is dependent on maintaining athletic success; a slump in performance, a prolonged injury, or even a transition to a new team can become a crisis of identity. The child may feel that they are “letting down” their parents and, by extension, failing as a person.
“Must perform, must impress.”
As children grow older, this conditional approval can encourage a cycle of anxiety and fear of failure. Dr. James Borchers, Ohio State Department of Athletics Head Team Physician and Fellow, American College of Sports Medicine spoke on the mental health crisis in America at the National Athletic Directors Conference in Austin, TX on December 17, 2024. He showed that Gen Z reports higher levels of anxiety, depression, and stress than any other generation in history. He also showed us that student-athletes report higher levels of negative emotional states than their non-athlete counterparts. Why?
No longer do they view sports as a source of joy, social interaction, and skill development; instead, it feels like a constant, high-pressure test of whether they are “good enough.” Over time, this stressful environment can drive them away from sports altogether if they sense that they cannot consistently meet such lofty standards. In some instances, the child continues to participate solely to earn parental love and validation. Ultimately, these pressures undermine the healthy social and emotional benefits that youth sports can provide, reinforcing the idea that an athlete’s worth is measured only by the final score or their latest performance—and not by the person they are off the field.
“Must perform, must impress.”
When adults—coaches or parents—push a child beyond their developmental capacities, the child may respond with anxiety, frustration, or apathy. What was intended as a fun, developmental activity can morph into an emotionally charged grind. This psychological pressure, combined with physical risks, underscores why “More, Younger” is a flawed approach.
PHYSICAL DEMANDS AND OVERUSE INJURIES
Common Overuse Injuries in Youth Sports
Overuse injuries occur when repetitive trauma accumulates faster than the body can heal. In youth sports, the phenomenon is increasingly widespread due to two factors: uneducated parents and coaches, and parents and coaches who don’t care/ignore the research. According to the Aspen Institute’s Project Play 2021 report, sports like baseball, gymnastics, swimming, and basketball see high incidences of shoulder, elbow, wrist, and knee injuries in preadolescent participants.
Some common examples include:
Tommy John Surgery: ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction is a procedure in which a damaged ligament on the inside of the elbow is replaced with a tendon from elsewhere in the body. Often performed on baseball pitchers, it aims to restore stability and function to the elbow joint.
Little League Shoulder (Proximal Humeral Epiphysiolysis): Caused by repetitive stress at the growth plate in the shoulder, typically from pitching.
Osgood-Schlatter Disease: Painful inflammation just below the knee, often seen in sports involving running and jumping.
Sever’s Disease: Inflammation of the growth plate in the heel, frequently observed in soccer, basketball, or track athletes.
Gymnast’s Wrist: Chronic stress injury to the growth plate near the wrist, linked to frequent tumbling and landing.
Children are particularly prone to these injuries because growth plates are weaker than the surrounding tendons and ligaments. Heavy training loads and frequent competitions magnify the risk.
Prevention Strategies for Coaches and Parents
Age-Appropriate Training: Shift the focus to fundamental movement skills (running, jumping, throwing, catching) for children under the age around 12. Gradually increase skill complexity and training intensity post-puberty.
Coach Education: Mandate training for youth coaches in injury prevention, recognizing overtraining symptoms, and proper biomechanics for developing athletes.
Cross-Training: Encourage children to engage in multiple sports, thereby distributing repetitive stresses across different muscle groups and movement patterns.
Coach Education: Mandate training for youth coaches in injury prevention, recognizing overtraining symptoms, and proper biomechanics for developing athletes.
Limit Competitive Seasons: Implement pitch counts (MLB PitchSmart has it all laid out) or match limits for sports like baseball, tennis, or soccer, in line with guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics (2019).
Coach Education: Mandate training for youth coaches in injury prevention, recognizing overtraining symptoms, and proper biomechanics for developing athletes.
Rest and Recovery: Schedule 2-4 days off per week, and offseason periods where the child does not engage in the same sport for at least 3 months.
And…
Coach Education: Mandate training for youth coaches in injury prevention, recognizing overtraining symptoms, and proper biomechanics for developing athletes.
By adopting these precautionary steps, youth sports organizations can avert a substantial number of overuse injuries and promote healthier, long-term athletic participation.
Psychological Demands and Burnout
Warning Signs and Stages of Burnout
Burnout is a state of chronic stress that leads to physical and emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and a sense of reduced accomplishment (Raedeke & Smith, 2019). For young athletes, burnout can manifest as:
Persistent fatigue or disinterest in practice.
Declining performance despite intense efforts.
Increased irritability and conflicts with teammates, coaches, or parents.
Difficulty sleeping
Changes in appetite.
Frequent minor illnesses due to a compromised immune system.
Burnout often unfolds in stages:
Enthusiasm: The child begins with high motivation and excitement.
Stagnation: The child’s performance plateaus or improvements are negligible.
Frustration: The child grows increasingly upset and questions their ability or the demands placed on them.
Apathy/Dropout: The child either becomes apathetic, mentally checking out, or quits the sport altogether.
How Overzealous Coaching Contributes to Burnout
Overzealous coaching (isn’t this what it all boils down to?) can be characterized by high-volume training, unrealistic performance expectations, and a disproportionate focus on winning over development. When coaches and parents push for more competitions and intense practices at younger ages, children do not have time to recover—physically or mentally. The child feels locked in a cycle of “must perform, must impress,” leading them to associate sports with stress rather than enjoyment.
In a 2020 publication by the Rutgers Youth Sports Research Council, sports psychologists stressed the importance of distinguishing between deliberate practice (which is highly structured, purposeful, and cognitively demanding) and deliberate play (child-centered, inherently motivating, and flexible). While some deliberate practice is beneficial, overwhelming a child with it can accelerate burnout.
Reclaiming the “Play” in Sports
A significant protective factor against burnout is simple: fun. When kids have opportunities for unstructured play and can experiment without fear of failure, they develop intrinsic motivation. They play because they love it. The Aspen Institute’s Project Play initiative (2021) highlights the importance of fostering a love of the game through age-appropriate, playful training sessions.
Strategies for coaches to reclaim “play” in sports:
Incorporate games that develop fundamental skills but remain fun and creative.
Encourage spontaneous, small-sided matches where kids set their own rules and officiate themselves.
Reward effort and improvement more than outcomes like goals scored or games won.
Regularly solicit feedback from the kids about what they enjoy in practice.
By emphasizing the joy of sport, coaches can extend children’s athletic longevity and reduce the risk of burnout.
Lessons Learned (and Missed) from Free Play
When children are given space for free play—unstructured, child-directed play—they learn to negotiate rules, handle conflict, experiment with boundaries, and develop creativity. This is not only essential for social skills but also fosters intrinsic motivation. However, the “More, Younger” model often supplants free play with regimented practices and adult-led drills.
Missed Opportunities in “More, Younger”:
Reduced leadership skill development: In free play, kids organize themselves, decide teams, and solve conflicts—crucial leadership experiences that can be overshadowed by adult management.
Lost autonomy: Children who are constantly under adult scrutiny may fear making mistakes, stifling creativity and risk-taking.
Narrow peer groups: By specializing early and attending “elite” clubs, children might miss out on the diverse friendships that come from participating in multiple, varied activities, especially with their community peers.
In effect, kids may develop an identity strongly tied to a single sport, leaving them vulnerable if they experience an injury, burn out, or simply lose interest.
THE POST-PUBERTY-ADVANTAGE
Neuromuscular Development
One of the central points often overlooked by “More, Younger” advocates is that skill acquisition and motor learning are not linear processes tied solely to volume of repetition. Read that again. While there is some truth to the adage “practice makes perfect,” developmental timing is equally critical. Post-puberty, adolescents undergo significant changes in neuromuscular coordination, strength, and power output, making them more receptive to advanced skill training.
According to a 2021 study in the Journal of Applied Sport Science (Taylor & Collins, 2021), focusing on foundational motor skills (like agility, balance, coordination) during preadolescence sets a more robust base for specialization post-puberty. For instance, a 15-year-old who spent ages 7–13 sampling different sports, acquiring diverse motor patterns, might catch up or even surpass a peer who specialized in one sport since age 7 but did not broaden their overall athletic skillset.
Late Bloomers vs. Early Bloomers
The concept of late bloomers is highly relevant to discussions about “More, Younger.” Some children do not show significant athletic promise at age 10, but by 15 or 16, they have the size, strength, and motivation to excel. Early specialization may prematurely weed out these late bloomers who could otherwise become outstanding athletes if given time.
Michigan State University’s Institute for the Study of Youth Sports has repeatedly highlighted that many professional athletes across different sports did not specialize until mid or late adolescence. This underscores the futility of making high-stakes decisions about a child’s athletic future in elementary school.
Skill Acquisition and Motor Learning in Adolescence
During adolescence, children can handle more complex cognitive and physical training. Their bodies are better equipped to endure specialized drills without as high a risk of growth plate injuries. Their brains are more adept at processing strategic concepts and handling stress. Thus, the investment in extensive, specialized training is often more efficient if it occurs in late-adolescence rather than early childhood.
The Rutgers Youth Sports Research Council (2020) maintains that a key to harnessing the post-puberty advantage is periodization—structuring training to align with growth phases, ensuring that the largest skill leaps occur when kids can derive the greatest benefit. Sounds a lot like Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD)…
THE ROLE OF PARENTS AND COACHES
Parent-Coach Communication
Parents play a pivotal role in setting the environment for youth sports. They are the gatekeepers of a child’s schedule, finances, and emotional support. However, parents sometimes lack the expertise to evaluate whether a coach’s methodology is developmentally appropriate. Open communication between parents and coaches can mitigate misunderstandings and ensure the child’s best interests are prioritized.
Effective practices for parent-coach communication:
Regular Check-Ins: Encourage meetings or brief chats every quarter or season to discuss the child’s progress, enjoyment level, and any concerns about overuse or burnout.
Clear Expectations: Coaches should clearly lay out their philosophy, training volume, and competitive expectations before the season begins.
Appropriate Boundaries: Parents should trust coaches to handle technical matters while coaches must respect parental input regarding the child’s well-being.
Setting Age-Appropriate Goals
Children’s goals in sports should revolve around fun, skill-building, and social development. Ambitions like “winning a national tournament” or “getting a college scholarship” are more appropriate for older adolescents who express their own desire to compete at a higher level. Parents and coaches must modulate their expectations to match the child’s age and interest level.
Importance of Coach Education and Certification
One major culprit in the “More, Younger” phenomenon is the fact that many youth coaches are volunteers or well-meaning individuals without formal training in kinesiology, child development, or sports psychology. In some sports, it’s not uncommon for a parent to step into a coaching role simply because no one else volunteered.
Solutions:
Certification Programs: Mandate coaching certification through organizations like the National Alliance for Youth Sports (NAYS) or specialized programs at universities.
Ongoing Professional Development: Provide continuing education workshops on new research around youth training loads, motivational techniques, and injury prevention.
Mentor Programs: Pair less experienced coaches with more seasoned, certified coaches who can provide guidance and feedback.
When coaches are equipped with the right knowledge, they can minimize the risk of fostering an overly competitive or damaging environment for children.
BEST PRACTICES FOR YOUTH SPORTS PROGRAMS
Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) Models
The Long-Term Athlete Development model (LTAD) proposes age- and stage-specific benchmarks that guide coaches on what to prioritize in training (Balyi & Hamilton, 2020). The stages typically look like this:
Active Start (0–6 years): Emphasize basic movement skills and unstructured play – 99% development, 1% winning.
FUNdamentals (7–9 years): Introduce fundamental movement skills, ensure it’s fun and inclusive – 90% development, 10% winning.
Learning to Train (10–12 years): Develop general sports skills, continue a multisport approach – 65% development, 35% winning.
Training to Train (13–16 years): Focus on advanced motor skills, aerobic capacity, and strength, aligning with puberty onset – 55% development, 45% winning.
Training to Compete (17–18 years): Specialization, high-intensity practices, and strategy become key – 5% development, 95% winning.
Training to Win (18+ years): Elite-level competition - win.
Active for Life (any age): Enjoy sports recreationally – play as much as your old joints can handle.
Following LTAD principles helps mitigate injuries and burnout, recognizing that children will benefit from broad skill development and that high-intensity, specialized training is better suited for mid to late adolescence.
Multisport Participation
Mounting evidence suggests that multisport participation fosters better athletic development than early specialization (Taylor & Collins, 2021). Children who play multiple sports develop a broader range of motor skills, reducing the risk of overuse injuries and mental fatigue from focusing on just one sport. Notably, many professional athletes—such as Olympic sprinters, NFL players, and NBA standouts—dabbled in multiple sports during their youth.
Safe Sport Policies and Guidelines
An increasing number of governing bodies, including the NCAA and USA Baseball, have introduced guidelines for youth coaches. For instance, USA Baseball (MLB Pitch Smart) has pitch count and rest day mandates to protect young pitchers’ arms. Safe Sport policies also address broader safety measures, including concussion protocols and the prevention of physical or emotional abuse.
Youth sports organizations should adopt these guidelines and ensure accountability. That means tracking pitch counts, monitoring training loads, and having a zero-tolerance policy for abusive coaching behaviors - making the well-being of young athletes a priority is crucial for sustainable success.
Policy and Organizational Recommendations
National Governing Bodies and Mandates
National governing bodies (NGBs) like USA Soccer, USA Basketball, and USA Baseball can play a pivotal role in setting standards for youth sports. Aspen Institute’s Project Play (2021) has highlighted the need for NGBs to coordinate on best practices, advocating a cross-sport approach so that guidelines are consistent, no matter what sport a child plays.
These could include:
Certified Coaches Only: Mandate a minimum level of training or certification for all coaches at competitive levels.
Age-Based Practice Limits: Restrict the number of formal practices and competitions per week for younger athletes.
Certified Coaches Only: Mandate a minimum level of training or certification for all coaches at competitive levels.
Transparent Pathways: Outline clear pathways of progression that emphasize skill development and fun over immediate competition results.
Certified Coaches Only: Mandate a minimum level of training or certification for all coaches at competitive levels.
Community-Based Initiatives and Access
Access to quality youth sports is another critical piece of the puzzle. If sports programs focus exclusively on competition and traveling teams, children from lower-income families, those not yet physically developed, or those in underserved areas may be left behind. This can perpetuate inequities, as sports participation becomes increasingly pay-to-play, and can exclude smaller and lesser-skilled prepubescent athletes.
Proposed solutions:
Community Grants and Scholarships: Funding for local clubs or schools to provide free or reduced-cost programs.
Facility Sharing: Partnerships between schools, parks, and private clubs to open facilities for broad community use.
Volunteer Training: Creating a pool of volunteers trained in basic coaching principles to expand the capacity of community-based programs.
By making sports more accessible and less commercialized, we can curtail some of the negative incentives that drive a “More, Younger” approach.
Public School Programs and Partnerships
Public schools can bolster youth sports by collaborating with local clubs and community organizations and can play a vital role in supporting community youth sports programs by leveraging their institutional expertise, resources, and commitment to holistic child development. As hubs of education-based athletics, schools house certified educators, who have a deeper understanding of age-appropriate education and child and adolescent development stages. By collaborating with local clubs and community organizations, schools can share this knowledge and reinforce best practices, ensuring that young athletes receive well-rounded support and guidance.
One way schools can facilitate this collaboration is by using Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) principles into their physical education curriculum. Instead of narrowing children’s focus onto a single sport, an LTAD framework prioritizes the development of fundamental movement skills—agility, balance, coordination, speed, and strength—through a variety of activities. As children progress through primary and secondary school, they are exposed to diverse sports and receive the appropriate level of physical challenge based on their developmental stage. By promoting LTAD within the school day, educators help establish a foundation of physical literacy that community clubs and youth programs can then build upon after school or on weekends.
As the professionals most qualified to cultivate young athletes—namely our physical education teachers—routinely introduce multiple sports in their curricula, one has to question why individuals lacking that expertise would still insist on early, single-sport specialization.
Additionally, school staff such as teachers, guidance counselors, and athletic trainers often have closer, daily contact with students than volunteer youth coaches do. This position makes schools the frontline for spotting red flags related to burnout, overuse injuries, or mental health concerns. For instance, if a student who once enjoyed physical activities becomes withdrawn, complains of chronic pain, or shows declining academic performance, these could be signs of overtraining or psychological stress stemming from an intense sports schedule. Teachers and athletic trainers are trained to interpret these warning signals, communicate with parents, and recommend adjustments—whether it’s decreased training volume, diversified physical activities, or simply more rest.
Schools can also organize training workshops or professional development sessions that invite community youth coaches to learn about age-appropriate coaching strategies, injury prevention, concussion protocols, and constructive motivational methods. These sessions can be led by certified school coaches, athletic directors, or health professionals who specialize in adolescent development. Establishing such shared learning experiences encourages alignment between school programs and local clubs, reduces the dissemination of conflicting information, and cultivates a stronger, more unified support network for young athletes.
Overall, a school’s dedication to education-based athletics, set through actions by the athletic department, can profoundly influence the culture of youth sports within its community. By modeling an environment that values fun, skill-building, and healthy competition, schools provide an example that local programs can adopt. This partnership promotes athletic environments where children can safely explore multiple sports, learn essential life lessons, and develop a positive relationship with physical activity that extends far beyond graduation.
Coach’s Final Thoughts
The “More, Younger” approach to youth sports has gained momentum in recent decades, fueled by cultural myths about early specialization and a gold-rush mentality regarding future scholarships or professional success. Yet mounting evidence from the Aspen Institute’s Project Play, Michigan State University’s Institute for the Study of Youth Sports, the Rutgers Youth Sports Research Council, and others underscores the dangers of forcing children into adult-like training regimes far too early.
Research consistently shows that kids learn more effectively and more sustainably post-puberty, when their neuromuscular system and cognitive capacities align for enhanced skill acquisition. Physical activity and fundamental movement skills are essential throughout childhood. The key is ensuring that sports experiences are developmentally appropriate—emphasizing play, variety, and gradual skill progression rather than a relentless drive to compete.
Parents and coaches wield significant influence over these outcomes. With the right education, training, and collaboration, they can create a youth sports environment where children are protected from excessive physical and psychological strain. National governing bodies and community-based programs likewise carry a responsibility to set guidelines and foster evidence-based approaches.
Ultimately, the goal is not to stifle athletic achievement but to cultivate it in a way that respects the natural trajectory of child development. By pushing children to do “more, younger,” we risk undermining the very foundation of their future athletic potential. By letting them learn and grow in harmony with their developmental stages, we pave the way for healthier, happier athletes who will carry a lifelong love for sports. In this sense, the best results—on and off the field—are achieved not by forcing children to go beyond their capacities early on, but by guiding them toward excellence through patience, respect, and the joyful spirit of play.