I could write about a billion words on this, but the short answer is that the article is generally empirically correct by almost all metrics for almost all people. As the soviets demonstrated, one...
I could write about a billion words on this, but the short answer is that the article is generally empirically correct by almost all metrics for almost all people. As the soviets demonstrated, one often gets better results by taking an athlete with a solid base of physical preparation and then specializing them, rather than have an athlete specialize from youth. And from a quality of life standpoint, it's much better to be a generalist throughout your childhood.
If all you care about is winning, there are, of course, exceptions. The modern Chinese system is all about feeding athletes into a meat grinder of specialization from a very young age. Most burn out, drop out, or get hurt. The genetically superior manage to stay healthy and tend to excel at very high levels. That system doesn't consider what's best for the athletes, of course.
I could write about a billion words on this, but the short answer is that the article is generally empirically correct by almost all metrics for almost all people. As the soviets demonstrated, one often gets better results by taking an athlete with a solid base of physical preparation and then specializing them, rather than have an athlete specialize from youth. And from a quality of life standpoint, it's much better to be a generalist throughout your childhood.
If all you care about is winning, there are, of course, exceptions. The modern Chinese system is all about feeding athletes into a meat grinder of specialization from a very young age. Most burn out, drop out, or get hurt. The genetically superior manage to stay healthy and tend to excel at very high levels. That system doesn't consider what's best for the athletes, of course.