Development of professional volleyball players: relations between elite athletes and early specialization

Abstract

Although the literature indicates harms of early sport specialization, this procedure remains applicant, based on the belief that sooner training and participation in competition increase the chance of success in highest level. The purpose of this study was to investigate how was the process of sports initiation of 52 male professional volleyball players, in the Paulista Championship and National Superligue. The focus was to analyze the possible occurrence of early specialization and diverse sporting experiences. Data was collected using a questionnaire and analyzed by descriptive statistics. Results show that the majority of the athletes were not early specialized and experienced different practices during training in childhood in different sports. The data support the belief that when sport training focusing on competitive results begins after or during the puberty there are greater chances of success in sports compared to early sport specialization.