Why kids shouldn't specialize in one sport

“The more you’re exposed to, the better opportunity it is for all kids to figure out what they really want to do in life.” – Four time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady on kids

specializing in one sport.

I completely agree with one of the all-time greats. Part of growing up and being a kid is trying new things and figuring out what you enjoy most. Brady stated that he is hoping his kids are “late bloomers” who can learn to love a lot of sports throughout their childhood.

Specialization in one sport at a young age can also lead to mental and physical exhaustion, better known as burnout. As a child, I was fortunate enough to be exposed to a multi-sports environment. Nothing was more refreshing than starting a new sport at the end of another one. As much as I enjoy all sports, I couldn’t imagine just playing one throughout my childhood. The American Medical Society for Sports Medicine said that studies of college level and Olympic athletics found that the majority of them played multiple sports growing up and did not specialize early.

Let’s open the world of sports to all the young athletes out there and give them every possibility to succeed in the game of life!

Franchise Spotlight

Overtime Athletics Franchise Spotlight is featuring our Anne Arundel County Maryland owners, Theodore & Ariel Horton. In only a couple months, this duo is making some noise in their territory. They have partnered with 14 elementary schools and secured Woodmore County Club for an 8 week summer camp.

Theodore Horton is Prince George's County, Maryland native. He graduated from Lincoln University in 2012 with a bachelors degree in Health Sciences and became a middle school physical education teacher shortly after. Theodore taught for two years and developed a passion for youth sports programming and mentorship. After transitioning out of the classroom, he became employed with Overtime Athletics and came even more passionate about the OTA's mission: give H.I.G.H F.I.V.E.S. After working for OTA for a while and finding out that franchising was an option, Theodore knew that he wanted to purchase an OTA territory to continue to create a safe and fun space for children to be engaged with sports.

Ariel Horton is a resident of Maryland by way of Virginia. She graduated from Howard University in 2011 with a bachelors in English and in 2012, graduated with a Masters in Education from Howard University's School of Education. Ariel is a first grade teacher in DC Public School System and is passionate about creating meaningful learning experiences for youth. When Theodore introduced Overtime Athletics to her as an opportunity to franchise, she knew that it was a great fit for their family! Ariel is proud to be apart of the Overtime Athletic family and looks forward to growing the Anne Arundel County territory to serve more families and school communities!

#OvertimeAthletics #OvertimeAthleticsFranchise #OTAFranchise #HIGHFIVES

Who are the Overtime Athletics Instructors?

The Overtime Athletics instructors come from a wide variety of backgrounds. Most are students at the local colleges or universities that are perusing degrees in childcare, youth empowerment, general education, coaching and/or sports management. We also have other instructors that are school teachers, personal trainers and/or nutritionist. OTA looks for qualified instructors that can carry out the mission of what’s most important to us; fun through sports and safety. We want Overtime Athletics to be the premier afterschool sport enrichment program known for their consistently fun activities and quality instructors that take safety seriously. We know that this can only be achieved through the instructors we call our own.

The process to become an OTA instructor starts from the initial interest. We screen potential instructors looking for how professional they are, what their demeanor says, if they were on time and how well they communicate. As an extension of OTA, we want each instructor on staff to uphold each of the values OTA holds true. We are only as strong as the instructor we have on staff.

Each potential instructor will go through an interview where he/she will be screened and questioned on what brought them to OTA, what is their background in childcare, and how they feel they can make an impact with OTA. We look for qualities that set others apart, qualities such as politeness, communication, enthusiasm, desire, drive, punctuality and consideration. We, at OTA, know that these are qualities that cannot be taught so therefore it is vital that each instructor that becomes a part of the OTA team, have these trademark qualities and characteristics.

During training, the instructors will be given the tools they are needed to run safe and successful OTA sports classes. They are taught how to set up their lesson plans, how to create games and activities for various sports for various age groups, as well as how to keep all the kids moving and focused on the activity at hand. This lesson is vital because idle hands is where mischievous children get into trouble. Empowering each instructor with techniques to keep the kids, active, moving and happy, we decrease the need for discipline and increase the want for more fun.

Each instructor is responsible for catapulting OTA above all of our competitors. We work to try to improve our standard of service each chance we get. It is through the training, quality and standards of our instructors that we can continue to provide leading services in afterschool programs.