Essay Question Topic: Is there an association between early sport specialization in youth and overuse injuries? Identify potential sports and training loads that are at higher risk based on available evidence

 In the last couple of decades, the interest in professional sports has been on the constant rise among children and youth across the globe. According to reports, just under 80 percent of secondary school athletic directors reported an increase in the number of youth athletes in their physical education classes (1). In the United States alone, the number of young people who participated in sports activities rose more than three times between 1987 when there was approximately 18 million youth engaged in sports to around 60 million in 2008 (2). Between 1997 and 2008, there has been a three percent increase in sports activities in children aged seven or younger (3). Involvement in various sports positively impacts health as well as personal skills such as self-esteem, communication, peer-to-peer relations, and leadership skills. However, a higher number of young athletes has also increased the level of competitiveness and the overall risk of overuse injuries. Baseball players are at particular risk of experiencing injuries due to high amplitude arm motions that require both speed and strength and put significant stress on shoulders and elbows. Therefore, there is a need to identify whether baseball players are at risk of experiencing injury during the period of their childhood and adolescence.
Despite the rising number of children athletes, there is a growing concern that the portion of multisport youth athletes will continue to decrease due to early sport specialization. Sport specialization is defined as intensive training in one sport that lasts for at least eight months per year and excludes training in other sports (4 Jayanthi et al., 2013). According to research, professional baseballers follow the trend of early sport specialization as half of them specialized in this sport before they enrolled in high school. The average age for specialization is estimated to be 15-years and every