Summary

When compared to late specializers, college basketball players who specialized early had similar career lengths and rates of time-loss injury, scholarship attainment, and recruitment.

Abstract

Objectives:
There has been a trend towards single-sport specialization at increasingly younger ages amongst youth athletes. Early specialization has been associated with increased injury rates and reduced career longevity in professional basketball players. However, the effects of early specialization on injury and longevity in college basketball have not been studied. Further, the effects on other important career markers such as recruitment and scholarship attainment are not well understood. The purpose of this study is to determine whether associations exist between early specialization and injury risk, recruitment, scholarship attainment, and career longevity in college basketball athletes.

Methods

This study surveyed former basketball student-athletes from multiple American colleges who graduated between 1960 and 2018, and current athletes who completed at least one season of basketball. Demographics, age of specialization, time-loss injury history, scholarship attainment, recruitment status, and longevity of college basketball career were obtained. Early specialization was defined as narrowing participation to a single sport (basketball) before age 14. Athletes were specifically queried for sports-related injuries that resulted in greater than 30 days out of sport or were season-ending. Chi-square and Fisher’s exact test were performed to identify significant differences.

Results

One hundred and eight basketball players completed the survey, including 6 current athletes and 102 former athletes. There were 54 males and 54 females. Fourteen athletes were classified as early specializers (before age 14) and 94 athletes were classified as late specializers (age 14 and older). There were no significant differences between early and late specializers in terms of rate of injury (14.3% vs. 31.5%; p = 0.23), rate of surgery for a sports injury (14.3% vs. 18.5%; p = 1.0), or mean college basketball career length (3.21 years vs. 3.09 years; p = 0.4). There was also no significant difference in scholarship attainment (69.2% vs. 66.3%; p = 1.0) or recruitment status (71.4% vs. 71.2%; p = 0.76) between cohorts. Between females and males, there was no significant difference in rate of early specialization (9.3% vs. 14.8%; p = 0.38). There were no significant differences in rates of injury (30.2% vs. 30.2%; p = 1.0), surgery (23.0% vs 13.0%; p = 0.17), scholarship attainment (72.2% vs. 62.8%; p=0.3), or recruitment (72.2% vs. 79.3%; p=0.4). Females on average had a longer collegiate career length than males (3.95 years vs. 2.89 years; p=0.03).

Conclusions

Early specializing college basketball players did not experience increased rates of injury, surgery, or decreased collegiate basketball career longevity. Early specializers were also not more likely to be recruited or to receive a scholarship. These findings suggest that early specialization may not be a risk factor for injury, need for surgery, or attrition in the collegiate basketball population. These findings also suggest that early specialization may not be necessary for recruitment or scholarship attainment in college basketball. Further prospective study evaluating all injury types, including overuse injuries, is warranted to better understand the effects of early sport specialization in this population.