The Issue Of Sport Specialisation And The Development Of Sport Expertise
Vol.13,No.2(2019)
There are two different ways of how to achieve sport expertise. The first is called early sport specialisation and second is called early sport sampling. Although, early sport specialisation is associated with negative physical, psychological and social development consequences, research claims that early the specialised approach to sports training is necessary to achieve elite sport performance. This is because of the 10.000-hour rule and the theory of deliberate practice. On the other hand, experts who defend the early sampling approach argue that sampling various sports during childhood and later start with special training is the basis for specialisation in adolescence and adulthood and that the athlete can benefit from such a transfer across sports. The aim of this review is to discuss early sport specialisation and early sport sampling approach in terms of expertise development in sport. Results suggest that despite a relatively high number of research in this area, it is still not clear which approach is more effective for attaining sport expertise. Conclusions of studies that examined the validity of the theory of the deliberate practice of the 10.000-hour rule in different sports are inconsistent. In addition, studies that dealt with early sampling approach examined mainly team sports and were conducted with retrospective design in which athletes do not have to recall their experiences or that the recall of experiences can be biased. Moreover, very few studies report early specialisation of their athletes. Therefore, longitudinal studies are needed to reveal which approach is more effective to achieve expertise in sport.
early sport specialization; early sampling (diversification); sport expertise; deliberate practice; deliberate play
Linda Komínková
Charles University
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