The Organized Chaos of the Multi-Sport Youth Athlete

Caution: Excessive Training Load, Inadequate Rest

One topic that seems to be brought up consistently in conversations about youth sports is early sports specialization (versus being a multi-sport athlete) - and the demonization of it!

With that said, the research evidence is fairly clear regarding the potential negative physical, mental and social outcomes associated with early sports specialization including the increased risk of overuse injury and burnout and the blunting of general motor skill development. This evidence and concern has prompted the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine to issue position papers on the topic. Likewise, most, if not all, of the U.S. national governing bodies also condemn early specialization and support multi-sport participation (at least on paper and websites!).

But is playing multiple sports the magic bullet for health and development of young athletes? What happens when the young multi-sport athlete is accumulating significant training loads across all sports and not getting adequate rest and recovery?

The Organized Chaos of the Multi-Sport Youth Athlete

Usually, in the specialized youth athlete, there is not only a concern for focusing on only one sport but also a concern for high training loads. But, being a multi-sport athlete may not necessarily shield from excessive training loads, and in fact, it may actually be the cause of it.

Let me explain and give some examples.

This can happen when young athletes participate in multiple sports (and/or multiple teams), often within multiple facilities, schools and clubs - and delivered by multiple coaches. This situation was coined as ‘organized chaos’ by Phibbs and colleagues who studied adolescent rugby players participating concurrently on a regional academy squad and with their school and amateur club.

In the case of the multi-sport athlete, the organized chaos may go something like this ….

Let’s go through a typical week for a hypothetical young multi-sport athlete. Perhaps it starts at 6AM with a weight lifting session for football with little time to eat breakfast before the school day (8AM-3PM). After school (3:30-5:30PM), there is basketball practice which may include intense conditioning because the basketball coach did not talk with the football coach. Then into the car and through the fast food drive-thru on the way to a private quarterback lesson or personal training session or another club team practice (6:30-7:30PM)—which may include another strength & conditioning component (because again, nobody communicates). And then, 1-2 hours of homework (8-10PM), some social media time before finally falling asleep at 12:30AM…… and waking after about 5 hours of sleep to start it all over again with a speed and conditioning session for football at 6AM…

This might sound crazy, but the reality is: this is probably NOT hypothetical and is actually playing out somewhere right now.

Now, here’s a true story—let me introduce you to my son’s youth sport experience. Beginning at age 12, Kaleb participated as a “multi-sport” athlete in baseball and hockey - and both were essentially year-round. The “competitive” hockey season ran from mid-August through March followed by a short spring league in April-May and then “voluntary” camps and clinics in June and July. Baseball season ran March through July, followed by Fall ball from August through October. Practice for the summer “select travel” team started in December, along with winter hitting league. Oh yeah, I forgot about the private lessons for the skating coach and hitting coach! (P.S. Yes, I am admitting to falling into ‘the youth sports trap’ which may be a topic for another day)

The “Fallacy” (and Organized Chaos) of the Multi-Sport Athlete

Do you see the “fallacy” of the multi-sport athlete? My main point here is that just because an athlete is participating in more than one sport on a yearly basis does not mean that we are out of the woods in terms of healthy athletic development. I have spoken on podcasts about this issue a few times and emphatically state that we should be perhaps more concerned with the overall training load or training volume imposed on the young athlete—along with recovery—and not just specialization in a single sport. (On the flip side, it is possible to do early sports specialization in a “healthy” way. Stay tuned as this will need to be a stand alone piece.)

The typical day described above can be part of what many would describe as our hectic, modern-day lifestyle; whereby, there is the challenge of finding a balance between school, sports, extracurriculars, family, social life, and for some teens, a job. Although many of these activities are part of “the business of growing up”, an imbalance or unhealthy exposure to daily activities can impact physical, psychological, emotional, cognitive, and social health and wellness.

Why Does Organized Chaos Happen?

First and foremost, more is better - right?! Parents of young athletes, unfortunately, have this mindset.

Second, the busine$$ of youth $ports plays a role. Private facilities and academies and personal trainers/coaches need to keep the lights on and pay the bills. This means year-round opportunities like Fall ball, winter hitting league, private lessons, individual training sessions, camps, etc.

This all leads to limited alignment and communication among stakeholders (including the parents) in developing an appropriate long-term athletic development program for the young athlete.

Recommendations for Managing the Multi-sport Athlete

Besides noting this issue of organized chaos, the Leeds Beckett research group have also provided some recommendations for managing the situation [Read the full paper here].

The recommendations include:

• Enhanced communication and collaboration between all stakeholders. Sometimes easier said than done … as humans are complex. But, it is worth the effort to coordinate, collaborate and communicate the training schedules as the health and well-being of the young athlete should be a central tenet of any long-term athletic development program.

• Monitoring training load. The simplest approach is tallying the total number of hours week. A general rule has been proposed that this should not exceed the age of the young athlete. Although this can certainly be a start to understanding training load, a key factor is missing - intensity. Wearable technology (GPS, heart rate monitors) now allows for the quantification of training load but comes at a cost. One simple and inexpensive approach is the session Rating of Perceived Exertion or sRPE. RPE is the subjective perceptual rating of how hard or intense the session was. A training load score (the sRPE) is calculated by multiplying the RPE of the session x duration of the session = session RPE (or sRPE). For example, a 2-hour basketball session at a RPE of 6 would be training load score of 720 (120 min x 6). The following data and graph shows the calculation of sRPE and the trend for a 1-week period.

Of course, much of this is also based on education. However, educating parents (and other stakeholders) can certainly be a challenge, as many of you who have tried can attest to.

The other important recommendation is rest and recovery. Nutrition and sleep are the cornerstones of recovery. But also consider other restful and re-energizing activities like listening to music, hanging out with friends, etc.

The Three P’s (Prioritize, Plan, Prepare)

Teaching youth (and perhaps educating parents as well) about time management skills and a balanced lifestyle can help distribute the proper amount of time to the activities and tasks that are important. From a practical standpoint, The Three P’s (Prioritize, Plan, Prepare) are strategies that can help youth and parents better manage time.

Sport and extracurricular schedules should also consider the demands placed upon children from an academic perspective during the school year. The youngsters academic education should be emphasized (only a very small percent will make a living playing professional sports), and the demands of sport and extracurriculars should complement the academic schedule, not conflict with it. The pulling demands of class work, examinations, social obligations, and peer groups, all play a role in the overall wellness of youth, as stress levels, sleep, nutrition, and sports can all be negatively or positively impacted depending on the ability to balance everything. Add to the situation the pressure to perform in athletic competitions, and the demands become even greater.

Adults (parents, coaches and trainers) overseeing young multi-sport athletes have a responsibility to monitor these factors to balance the sports and extracurricular schedule to allow for optimal child and adolescent development. At the end of the day, some hard decisions may need to be made … for the health, well-being and optimal development of the youngster.

Final Thoughts: NCAA Recommendations…Think About It!

In closing, here is something to think about …..

NCAA athletes are allowed 8 hours of countable athletic-related activities in the off-season with 2 mandatory off days per week. During the in-season that number climbs to 20 hours per week with 1 mandatory off day per week. These hours can be split up between practices, strength and conditioning, skill work, or film sessions.

For some of teenage athletes who go onto play NCAA sport, this will actually be a reduction in the number of hours given what they are currently spending per week at the junior high and high school level! Think about it.

(P.S. Thanks to former college strength & conditioning coach Mike Silbernagel for sharing this last nugget.)