Youth sports are supposed to be fun and healthy, but a new, locally produced documentary exposes the dangers to young athletes of sports specialization.
Produced by the non-profit organization Give and Go Sport Education, the 34-minute documentary features the experiences of Olympic gold medalist Damian Warner (decathlon), NHL Hall of Famer Eric Lindros, as well as local athletes Joe Siddall, Frank Renaud and Danielle Campo McLeod among others.
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The documentary, released Wednesday, is available for rental or purchase online at: https://www.giveandgosport.ca.
“Nobody is talking about (the issue) but everyone knows it,” said Give and Go Sport Education executive director Mark McGuire, who played and coached professional hockey in Europe and who has been an instructor for both Hockey Canada and the Ontario Minor Hockey Association.
“They’re all saying this is true, but they stick with the 12-month schedule of baseball, hockey or soccer for fear of not fitting in or their kid being perceived to be behind.
“We feel it was time for someone to stand up and advocate for the kids and say something, not just on the sports basis, but also on the emotional and mental health piece.”
McGuire and former Windsor Star sports columnist Bob Duff produced the documentary with local filmmaker Ken Amlin.
The $44,000 project was made possible through in-kind and private donations, grants and support from organizations such as St. Clair College, the Canadian Mental Health Association and Canadian Tire’s Jumpstart Charities.
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It’s the first of three documentaries and accompanying e-learning modules/certifications to examine the topic in depth. The second documentary will focus on coaches and the final film will be for parents.
“Our mandate is to change a mindset to alter a culture,” said Duff, who co-founded Give and Go with McGuire in 2018.
“The advent of sport specialization in youth sport is endangering our children and it certainly isn’t attaining its supposed objective of making better athletes.
“Experts in the field of medical and mental health offer quantitative data displaying sports specialization won’t improve a child’s chances of gaining a college scholarship or to even play professionally in a sport.
“In fact, it will actually hurt their chances of advancement.”
McGuire said the movement towards sports specialization has roots that stretch back decades. The beginning of the trend also happens to coincide with the growth of the economic riches at the professional level.
“The only reference point we have is the Tiger Woods’ effect,” McGuire said.
“He was on the Mike Douglas Show (Oct. 6, 1978, not even three years old) and his father Earl was there and brought him up on centre stage and introduced him as going to be a professional golfer.
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“Then you have the Williams’ sister effect, all-in at age five or six playing tennis only. They came out okay, but they’re outliers.
“The majority of them don’t make it.”
What quickly followed was the expansion of summer camps, clinics, academies and off-season training that soon extended a season to a year-round commitment with no time for the body to rejuvenate. Fundraising to pay for the high cost of travel sports has been added to the list of demands.
“I’ve heard of a travel team in Ontario where 10-year-olds were playing 110 games,” McGuire said.
The results are physical, emotional and mental distress that leads to burnout and quitting sports altogether.
Film participant Dr. Robert Litchfield of Western University’s Fowler Kenndy Sports Medicine Clinic reports he’s performing Tommy John surgery on 13- and 14-year-old baseball players. The surgery repairs a damaged ligament in the elbow joint by transplanting a tendon from another part of the body.
“It’s one thing if you’re a major league player and you’re 30 years old and you want to get another year or two out of your career — you don’t have the Tommy John surgery as a teenager,” McGuire said.
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Wayne McNeil, who co-founded Respect Group with former NHLer and sexual assault victim Sheldon Kennedy, also shared that children who play multiple sports are less likely to be victims of abuse.
They recognize inappropriate language or touching in one sport because they have the reference point of acceptable behaviour from their other activities.
“From (a mental health perspective), single-sport athletes who have a path selected for them and don’t make it suffer what is called an identity crisis,” McGuire said.
“They’re uncertain where they fit in after being given a certain message since they were very young. When they’re not that, they start to question themselves.”
The filmmakers hope by hearing of the perils of sports specialization from elite level athletes, the cycle can be broken.
“The people in the documentary are top shelf,” McGuire said.
“Olympic gold medalists, former NHLers and former major league baseball players and national sporting group representatives like Participaction and CMHA. It’s a collective message.”
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