Challenging our understanding of youth sport specialization: an examination and critique of the literature through the lens of Bronfenbrenner’s Person-Process-Context-Time Model

The examination of youth sport specialization and athlete participation pathways have been sustained lines of inquiry among multiple branches of the sport sciences. The common consensus in scholarly and practical circles indicates that intensive specialization – particularly at an early age – is a maladaptive pattern of participation that presents risks to an athlete’s physical and psychosocial development. Despite these words of caution, a...