As backed up by recent findings from ACC, New Zealand Football is continuing to promote a balance of sporting activity that supports healthy participation through its Fit4Football player welfare programme.

Alarming statistics have just been released by ACC which report a massive 60 per cent surge since 2008 in sports-related injuries to kids aged 10 to 14 – double the increase of any other age group.

While there may be a number of reasons for the spike in injuries, a growing concern is that too much sport may be just as harmful for children as not getting enough exercise.

“Unfortunately, too much is as detrimental as too little,” says Megan Crockett, Player Welfare Manager for New Zealand Football.

“As a sporting body, we have to lead and inspire our kids to participate and play sport – wherever that may take them – as well as supporting our parents, coaches, clubs and schools in providing the right systems and structures for healthy sport participation,” she adds.

“Through Fit4Football and along with ACC, we will continue to support our parents and kids to make good, informed decisions on loading in junior and youth sport.”

In response to the concerning statistics and with the support of New Zealand Football, ACC is promoting a weekly training guideline of ‘one hour for every year of age’ as a way for young children to avoid being sidelined through injury.

“We’re encouraging parents to use a guideline where the amount of organised sport per week – both training and competition – should not exceed their child’s age,” says Isaac Carlson, ACC Head of Injury Prevention.

“That means a 10-year-old should avoid doing more than 10 hours of organised sport per week, across all their sports and PE. At least one hour a day of moderate-to-vigorous exercise is beneficial, either play or organised sport,” he explains.

“We’re finding young kids are increasingly in one of two camps – those not doing enough exercise who may be putting themselves at risk of injury because they aren’t conditioned for activity and, in growing numbers, those that are engaging in higher levels of sport and training and aren’t getting enough of a break,” he adds.

“More structured sports training and competition means kids are being exposed to higher-intensity, higher-volume training from an earlier age, which can increase the risk of repetitive overuse and fatigue-related injuries.

"Too much high-intensity training reduces the energy available for growth and development. This can affect not only peak bone mass and the onset of puberty but a number of other important body systems, which can have lifelong consequences for injury and physical and mental illness.”

There’s also a global trend towards young people specialising at an earlier age in a single sport which, according to the Australasian College of Sport and Exercise Physicians (ACSEP), is contributing to early burn out, loss of motivation and potential mental health issues in later life.

The ACSEP position statement recommends children should not specialise in a single sport until at least the age of 12 years, which is endorsed by Sport NZ, New Zealand Football and Fit4Football.

“Too many adults think kids should focus on one sport – that early specialisation and early success will set kids up to be great athletes in the years to come,” says Alex Chiet, National Sport Development Consultant at Sport NZ.

“In reality, that’s very rarely the case. Most top athletes have grown up playing multiple sports and many delayed specialisation until well into their teens or even longer.”

For more information on the New Zealand Football Fit4Football programme, please click here

For more information on ACC’s promotion of balanced sporting activity please click here

Article added: Wednesday 05 June 2019