Sports fans love to debate the greatness of famous athletes from different eras, especially as this applies to GOAT discussions. Montana or Brady? Jordan or LeBron? Not only do we argue over great players, we also debate different teams from different eras, too. The Celtics of the 60’s, or the Bulls of the 90’s? The Pittsburgh Steelers of the ’70’s, or the Patriots over the last 20 years? Expanding this discussion to include athletes and teams from previous eras against today’s athletes and teams and we arrive at a simple question: Are today’s athletes better than the past? And if so, why, and are there costs that come with better sport proficiency?
Athlete training today
Objectively speaking, athletes today — including young athletes — regularly outperform previous generations. Modern day athletes run faster, jump higher, and swim at record speeds, just to offer a few easy examples. In fact, previous athletic records once held by adults are now regularly challenged by athletes much younger, and in just about every sport that keeps records we see those records fall. While there may be outlier athletes of the past who would likely still perform at a high level today, those are exceptions, not the norm. So if we can agree that athletes today are generally better than athletes of the past, why is this the case, and what new problems have developed as athletes have improved?
- Better athletes, but narrower athletes. Many kids today specialize (only play one sport) in sports early and become quite good — at that one sport. This approach to sport participation leaves kids vulnerable to sport burnout, and overuse physical injuries.
- The professionalization of childhood. Year-round seasons, professional coaches, rankings, social media exposure, and recruiting pressure. This new paradigm for kids creates adult-level pressure for them, an identity exclusively tied to sport performance, and a lot less room for failure.
- Injuries are no longer just “bad luck.” Sport injuries today are more systemic than they are random. Overuse injuries like ACL tears and stress fractures occur largely due to the growing number of games played each year coupled by the lack of rest, downtime, and no off-season.
- Sport burnout is a feature, not a bug. Sport burnout is no longer an anomaly, but is expected at some point in your child’s youth sport career. Constant pressure and emotional fatigue leads to loss of intrinsic motivation and eventual premature quitting.
- The illusion that more = better. Does more games, more reps, and more travel always lead to positive outcomes? The science doesn’t support this approach, as development does not scale linearly but instead in conjunction with rest, variation, and unstructured play.
- Economic and social costs. Youth sports have essentially become “pay-to-play.” Travel leagues, private coaching, club fees, and ongoing equipment replacement have created have/have not scenarios that impact what kids get to compete.
- Identity foreclosure. Kids who only see themselves as athletes and their only future path as college and pro sports set themselves up for future stress, depression, and anxiety constantly battling to be one of the top 2% who ever make it that far.
- Short-term gains vs. long-term development. Winning now, making the top team, and getting exposure can negatively effect a kid’s long-term development and love of the game.
- Less unstructured play. Less pickup games in exchange for more structure impacts kids and how they freely interact with others, experience sports with less pressure, and improve social relations by playing for the love of playing, not just to eventually earn a college scholarship.
To be clear, not everything is doom-and-gloom and problematic in sports, but there is also little argument that kids today experience a very different, intense, and less forgiving sport environment than their parents. In an ideal situation, kids vary their routines, play for the love of playing, embrace life skills learned through sports, and create friendships and experiences for a lifetime. If a child has athletic talent, then he or she will almost inevitably be noticed and likely have some college opportunities presented. Unfortunately, what I just described is a fading memory of previous generations being exchanged for a hyper-competitive, pro sport focus for increasingly more kids.
Final thoughts
There is little argument that, generally speaking, athletes today are better than athletes of the past. The question, however, is whether the means and approaches used to develop better athletes today offsets the growing number of serious issues and concerning trends witnessed as a result? Is it worth it to see better athletes, when at the same time far more young athletes today are suffering serious physical injuries and experiencing an increase in sport burnout? Like with most things in life there are trade-offs, and this is certainly the case when it comes to youth sports and how young athletes maximize their sports training.
drstankovich.com
