I don't remember my friends in middle school having so many injuries at such a young age. Maybe we played with pain and the diagnosis is much better now but I have to think that over specialization / overuse has something to do with it?
when we were kids, we played our sport during season,
and then pick-up games at the fields (or in the street!) occasionally off-season,
and also played a large variety of other sport.
We certainly didn't sport-specific train in the garage and/or basement off-season,
and certainly not 3x-4x per week, until maybe HS sophomore or junior years -
and even then that was pretty rare.
I don't remember having any friends whose parents really pushed them to train so specifically, repetitively at such young ages.
the advent of "travel sports" sure has changed a lot.
Last edited: