Rick Davis, a PCA National Advisory Board Member, is a retired professional soccer player and former member of the U.S. National Team. He played with the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League, and was named Player of the Year in 1979. Davis was elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2001 and served as Executive Director of AYSO.

Davis takes a stance against early specialization in youth sports because he believes in the power of cross-training to help learn new skills and build strengths that can’t be acquired through a single-sport focus. He asserts that the more sports kids try, the more they can draw upon to increase their overall athletic ability. When it’s the right time to specialize, you’ll be better off as an athlete for playing multiple sports as a kid.