Abstract
The balance of sport practice and multisport participation has been debated in investigations of the development expertise in sport. Multisport engagement during childhood is thought to predict future success, potentially through improved intrinsic motivation. However, multisport participation comes at the expense of the accumulation of primary sport practice. Within-sport diversity is under investigated, yet can provide the benefits of diverse sport experiences while promoting sport-specific practice. Youth female soccer players (N = 211; U14-18 yr) across different skill levels (grassroots, competitive, premier, nationally competitive) completed a survey capturing soccer and other activity participation in childhood (5-12 yr). This was completed alongside questionnaires assessing intrinsic motivation. Between-sport diversity was measured through time spent in soccer vs other sports and number of other sports. Within-sport diversity was captured through number of positions played and number of team switches. Between-sport diversity in childhood did not differ across skill levels, with soccer accounting for >66% of all sport activity. The top two skill levels accumulated more soccer practice and had more within-sport diversity in terms of team switches (p <.01). However, the grassroots’ level showed the most diversity in terms of total number of positions played (p = .01). Measures of between- and within sport diversity were not correlated with intrinsic motivation (rs < .10). These data challenge the idea that childhood sport diversity predicts future motivation and is related to later success. Instead, these data describe pathways of skill development based on early majority engagement. Further analysis and longitudinal follow-up is ongoing.
