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When Kids Specialize Early, They Lose The Hunger To Compete

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Mike Klinzing is the Founder and Executive Director of Head Start Basketball (@HdStartHoops). He is a USA Basketball Youth Development Certified Coach. Mike loves the game of basketball and he always has. When you hear stories about the kid who was always playing basketball in the dark, in the snow, in the living room, that was Mike.

In this video, Klinzing shares that coaches often pressure kids into choosing one sport early, and playing it year round. Coaches do this as early as 8 or 9 years old, but, as Klinzing shares, when coaches put this pressure on, kids are losing the chance to become well-rounded athletes, which can make them better when they do specialize later on. When kids specialize, it also causes more overuse injuries over time. Finally, specialization and year round play without change of season can often cause kids to lose their hunger and passion for that sport so that they don't want to go out and play that sport again.