There is an increasing trend towards sports specialization at younger and younger ages in America. While the rationale for this has been increased focused training, earlier attainment of the “10,000 hour rule” popularized by Malcolm Gladwell, pursuit of a college scholarship or professional contract, as well as  the competitive instincts we experience as parents and coaches to see our kids “be the best.” We see other kids and teams doing it, so we think our child will fall behind if our children don’t specialize as well. Despite this growing trend, there is ample evidence to suggest this specialization does more harm than good, and multiple academic, physician, and governing sport organizations have come out against this practice.