Sports degree programs that focus on the development of a single sport very early in professional life are increasingly being questioned. A private school on Quebec’s south coast is a pioneer by taking a major step toward countering the damaging effects of over-specialization among young athletes.
Over the years, Patricia Bourcier has seen all too often teenagers turning their backs on their favorite sport in “disgust” before they graduated high school.
“I played football for a long time and my best years were CEGEP and university. What saddened me the most was seeing young people full of potential who dropped out in secondary four because the best was ahead of them. But we could see that they had done too much,” says the coach of Juvénat Notre-Dame du Saint-Laurent in Lévis.
Patricia Bourcier, the coach of Juvénat Notre-Dame du Saint-Laurent, has seen too many students give up their sport when they only had to play one. Photo Daphnee Dion-Viens
For example, a young person could play soccer at school as part of their sports concentration, participate in practices and games with their inter-school team after school, and also play in a civilian league in the evenings and weekends.
A revised and corrected model
In order to counteract the discontinuation of sports, Juvénat Notre-Dame has completely realigned its sports programs as part of a carefully considered change from autumn 2021.
Rather than offering concentrations in a single sport, the facility has developed a program called “Sports 3D,” which focuses on the practice of a variety of sports to develop young people’s skills in a more general way before they choose a discipline against End of secondary school.
During their studies, students will have experienced no fewer than 35 different sports, says Ms. Bourcier, who played several sports herself in her youth before devoting herself to football after attending CEGEP.
In addition to the different sports they can try, students have training sessions in the training room. Photo Daphnee Dion-Viens
“I think that we are currently taking the opposite approach with physical education lessons that start in primary school. The role of the school should not be to train athletes, but to give young people the opportunity to try out many different sports throughout school,” she says.
Sports studies questioned
The coach is not the only one who advocates for children and young people to practice multiple sports. In her recent essay Faut que ça move! Authors Pierre Lavoie and Jean-François Harvey assert that this approach is gaining popularity worldwide.
It instills in young people a desire to exercise to have fun rather than to win at all costs, allowing them to develop their skills by not just focusing on performance, the authors say .
The Association of Private Educational Institutions says that the premature specialization in sport “is currently being questioned by some schools”. The Juvénat Notre-Dame du Saint-Laurent is also “a leader in this field,” we add.
The change introduced at this school has clearly brought joy to the young people and their parents, as the school receives twice as many applications as there are places available for this program.
Young people like Sofie Croteau, 14, who has already played several sports, feel like a fish in water, while others, like Charles-Étienne Sévigny, are happy to be able to practice sports they never thought they could would ever try. like pickleball or badminton. “If you play for fun, it’s fun,” says the 14-year-old.
The program is now in its third year and Ms. Bourcier is pleased with the positive impact this change has had on students. “We see that our young people are happy,” she said.
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