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A Review Of The Effects Of Early Sport Specialization On The Health Of Adolescent Baseball Players, Robert C. Juniewicz

Bone Bulletin

Introduction

Participation in sports during adolescence is beneficial for participants as it improves fitness, enhances psychosocial development, increases academic performance, and boosts self-esteem.¹ One of the most popular sports among adolescent athletes is baseball, with nearly 500,000 high school players in the United States in 2020.1 While participation in sports has been shown to have clear benefits and has been steadily increasing, recent decades have also seen a dramatic rise in the level of competition.² As a direct result, there has been an increase in the prevalence of early sports specialization (ESS) with an estimated 14-47% of adolescent …