My kid’s becoming a junior football star – should they drop their other sports?

Your child just earned an elite football academy invite. Before they drop their other sports, consider this: research shows most professional and Olympic athletes played multiple sports growing up, and early specialization actually increases injury risk. The Conversation reports on sports science findings that recommend children diversify their sporting experiences through age fifteen, then gradually narrow their focus. Georgia Black, an exercise science lecturer at the University of Queensland, also stresses a key workload threshold: organized sports training should not exceed your child's age in hours per week — so a twelve-year-old maxes out at twelve hours weekly to prevent burnout and injury.

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