“A lot of coaches say I’m at the age where I have to choose one sport and only play that sport from now on. But I like a lot of sports. What should I do?” —Alex, 11, Upper East Side
A: One of the great things about being a child is that you can explore many different activities and experiences. This is also true for sports. Sports should be fun and children should follow their hearts and participate in what makes them happy.
I know some children who have such a strong passion for a single sport that they are satisfied focusing their efforts on that sport. The risk of focusing heavily on one sport at an early age, however, is that some children may burn out and lose interest while they are missing out on other athletic opportunities and experiences. I believe at your age you should expose yourself to as many sports as possible for two reasons. First, you never know what other sports you might like unless you try them. Second, is that playing multiple sports allows you to develop a variety of muscle groups which is important to your physical development.
Therefore, while you may excel at a single sport at an early age, there are many benefits to being exposed to a variety of sports.
Every so often you should ask yourself the following question, “Why do I play sports?” The following three answers should be among your reasons;
1) to have fun,
2) to get better at it and
3) to be with friends.
You only get to be a child once. As you get older, time constraints and other pressures will probably force you to limit your activities. Please make sure if you chose to focus on one sport at an early age it is because it is what makes you happiest.
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Bio:
Jeffrey Bernstein is
the founder and director of Simply Sports, Inc., a not-for-profit youth
sports organization in New York City that offers soccer leagues,
basketball leagues, floor hockey leagues, multi-sport afterschool
classes , holiday programs, dodgeball tournaments and June programs for
ages 3-12 always focusing on the positive, fun aspects of learning each
sport. Jeffrey thanks his two boys (Zachary 11, Koby 8) m for agreeing
to share their dad and coach with other children.
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