It is a strange phenomenon: while schools are increasingly looking to broaden and extend the academic curriculum for children, allowing and encouraging pupils to study more subjects for a longer time, sports bodies are trying to narrow the scope for children by having them focus on one sport at a much younger age. Academics want pupils to specialise at a much later stage; sports want children to specialise at a very young age. Children in Zimbabwe really only specialise in a reduced amount of specific academic subjects at the age of sixteen and even then it is down to three subjects, yet sports bodies want children to specialise in one sport at the age of twelve (or younger). Of course the simple reason why national sports bodies want children to specialise in their sport at a young age is that they want to grab the children before other sports do, such is the small pool of sports people in this country – to do that, they have to pick them young, before they are ripe (and hope they will ripen away from the tree).

In contrast there are clear advantages for a child to play different sports, with skills, concepts and tactics cutting across different sports. It is interesting that many professional sports respect that and now vary their training exercises by using other sports, partly for fun but also for lessons to be learned (netball for cricketers and soccer players). However, specialisation at a young age is doubly serious as not only do sports bodies wish children to specialise in their sport at an early age, so too are coaches wanting players to specialise in a position at a very young age. The obvious mistake here is that many youngsters are only suitable for a particular position at a young age because they have developed faster (or indeed slower) than others of the same age; when others catch up, or their own development slows down, they may well find themselves in the wrong position. This writer played hockey on the left-wing for over ten years as a school child but ended up playing sweeper for the full national team when he turned twenty, clearly his best position. There are clear advantages to not specialising in a particular position early on, just as there are clear advantages in not specialising in a particular sport at a young age. By playing in different positions children will learn how a player in that position works so when he plays in a different position he will understand that position’s role and be able to counter-act that player’s movements. It is interesting too how players in national teams in their training sessions love to play a different role in the ‘fun’ sessions that will be included – goalkeepers love to show their hand as strikers, wicket-keepers love to show their style as spinners. This message needs to be repeated and respected constantly: education is for life, sport is integral to education so sport is for life.

School sport coaches therefore should be concerned for Long Term Victory not Short Term Success; school sport coaches need to be concerned for the Long Term Development of the child, not Short Term Specialisation. Long Term Athlete (or Player) Development (LTAD or LTPD) is now a world-wide accepted philosophy, incorporated by many countries into their sports policies. Olympic bodies and sports bodies claim to adhere to them; the International Rugby Board promotes the concept (though individual countries seem to ignore it). The key is to get the right principles at the right age-group. So, in one model, the principles are as follows: Stage 1: Active Start (0-6 years); Stage 2: FUNdamental (girls 6-8, boys 6-9); Stage 3: Learn to Train (girls 8-11, boys 9-12); Stage 4: Train to Train (girls 11-15, boys 12-16); Stage 5: Train to Compete (girls 15-21, boys 16-23); Stage 6: Train to Win (girls 18+, boys 19+); Stage 7: Active for Life (any age participant). This can be compared to the same Long Term Player Development programme promoted by IRB (International Rugby Board) on their websites, which identifies five stages: Fun (Age 6-12), Development (12-16), Participation (1518), Preparation (17-21) and Performance (20 & over) Specialisation has become ‘spoil-ialisation’. We must protect and develop our children at the right stage and not think that stealing a start on others will help. Too many youngsters have been sucked in early and then spat out when their growth spurt has receded. There is nothing special about that.