Multi-sport Youth Athletes' Perception of Pressure to Specialize in a Single Sport
Multi-sport Youth Athletes' Perception of Pressure to Specialize in a Single Sport
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Issue Date
2008
Authors
Lustig, Fawn Blasey
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Abstract
This qualitative study examined the perception of pressure on youth athletes to specialize in a single sport. The study included six athletes, three parents, and three coaches. The athletes were all male soccer players who had played in the past, or were currently playing another sport as well. They ranged in age from 11 to 22 years old. The parents all had soccer playing children who also at some point had played another sport. All three coaches coached soccer only. Previous research has demonstrated that early specialization may lead to pre-mature athlete burnout as well as overuse injuries. By adding another psychological component to the existing research, this Grounded Theory guided research examined how the pressure on the athlete to specialize may have also affected the experience. The interviews conducted asked the participants to describe the decision making process involved when deciding which sports to play. The researcher asked questions to assess how and why each sport was started and again how and why the participants had eliminated sports from their profiles. Areas such as who had influenced this process and how they had influenced this process were also explored. The 12 interviews were transcribed and analyzed, according to Grounded Theory guidelines, in order to present the information from the perspective of the athletes, their parents and coaches. The results showed that pressure is facilitative if the player has high self-efficacy and is in an environment where he has high levels of autonomy, success and social support. These results also showed that the pressure is debilitative if the player has low self-efficacy and is an environment with low levels of autonomy, success and social support.