THE ISSUE OF SPORT SPECIALIZATION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPORT EXPERTISE

Abstract

There are two different ways how to achieve sport expertise. First is called „early sport specialization“ and second is called „early sport sampling“. Although, early sport specialization is associated with negative physical, psychological and social development consequencies, researches claim that early specialized approach to sports training is necessary to achieve elite sport performance because of 10.000 hour rule and the theory of deliberate practice. On the other hand, experts who defend early sampling approach argue that sampling various sports during childhood and later start with special training is the basis for specialization in adolescence and adulthood and that athlete can benefit from such a transfer across sports.    The aim of this review is to discuss early sport specialization and early sport sampling approach in term of expertise development in sport.     Results suggest that despite a relatively high number of research in this area, it is still not clear which approach is more effective for attaining sport expertise. Conclusions of studies that examined the validity of the theory of deliberate practice and 10.000 hour rule in different sports are inconsistent. In addition, studies that dealt with early sampling approach examined mainly team sports and were conducted with retrospective design in which athletes do not have to recall their experiences or that the recall of experiences can be biased. Moreover, very few studies report early specialization of their athletes. Therefore, longitudinal studies are needed to reveal which approach is more effective to achieve expertise in sport.