ArticleChildren (Basel, Switzerland)2023
To Sample or to Specialise? Sport Participation Patterns of Youth Team Sport Male Players.
Article in Children (Basel, Switzerland), 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Training characteristics of professional development activities in elite football players: a systematic review.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Pooled it
- The Role of Training Age and Sport Specialization in Achieved Selection Tier in Adolescent Handball Talents.Sports medicine - open · 2026Article
- Artificial Intelligence in Sub-Elite Youth Football Players: Predicting Recovery Through Machine Learning Integration of Physical, Technical, Tactical and Maturational Data.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Unveiling Players' Perceptions of Mother- and Father-Initiated Motivational Climates and Fear of Failure in Youth Male Team Sports.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This study characterised the sport participation patterns of 546 male youth team sport players. A retrospective questionnaire was used to identify the sport starting age (general sports and main sport) and the quantity and type of sports undertaken during the early years of development. A mixed-ANOVA and Chi-square tests were implemented. All participants started involvement in sports at the same age (~5 years) and participated in the same number of sports during their early years (1 to 2 sports). However, football players started participating mainly in team games (football, futsal) and water polo players in CGS sports (swimming). Participants reported different ages for initial participation in: (i) main sport (football players started participating earlier, around 5-6 years), (ii) onset of specialisation (football players specialised earlier, around 7 or 8 years), (iii) types of sports engaged in (football players were involved in more team games and water polo in more CGS sports), and (iv) variations in weekly training hours (water polo reported more hours of training). This study provided empirical evidence for understanding the effects of different sporting pathways on long-term athlete development. Some key incongruities between contemporary knowledge and practice are acknowledged. Further investigations should be developed by examining the trajectories in different sports, countries, genders, and cultural contexts.
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