Sports Mastery

SPORT SPECIALIZATION CONSIDERATIONS Skill Acquisition and Motor Performance Perspective Perhaps the greatest and most obvious benefit of specialization is the acquisition, development, and proficiency of motor skills related to success in a given sport. An athlete who practices a skill or set of skills with increased frequency and duration, considering he or she does so in a scientifically appropriate manner, may become more proficient at the skills than one who practices them periodically and irregularly, as may be the case with diversification. With the relatively short career of most athletes and a perceived finite amount of time with which an individual can reach peak physical performance, many athletes and coaches believe that it is foolish not to specialize. However, studies from the former Soviet Union, in which early specialization was widely practiced, have provided evidence against its effectiveness. It’s widely recognized that only a minority of Soviet athletes from single sport backgrounds were