SPORT SPECIALIZATION AND COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP BELIEFS AND FINANCIAL INVESTMENT AMONG HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL PARENTS

BACKGROUND: Youth athletes are increasingly encouraged to specialize in a single sport and participate on club teams year-round to be offered a college scholarship. For collegiate baseball, only 11.7 scholarships are available for a 35-player team. Presently, the beliefs of parents of baseball athletes towards sport specialization are unknown along with whether they have an accurate understanding of college baseball scholarship availability. PURPOSE: To describe the beliefs of parents of high school baseball players regarding sport specialization and college scholarships. A secondary purpose was to compare child baseball participation characteristics by parent median household income (MHI) categories. METHODS: During the 2019 spring baseball season, 155 parents (female N=82 (52.9%), age: 49.45.5 years) of high school baseball players from six San Diego county high schools completed an anonymous questionnaire concerning parent and child demographics, child baseball participation information (e.g., club baseball team participation), money spent on their child’s baseball participation, sport specialization status, and parent beliefs regarding sport specialization and college scholarships. Sport specialization status was determined using a validated 3-point specialization scale. Parent MHI was estimated using residence zip code and categorized into MHI tertiles (low, middle, high). RESULTS: Seventy-three parents (47.7%) classified their children as highly specialized and 110 parents (71.0%) reported their child played club baseball in addition to their high school team. Parents reported spending a median of $3000 [$1500-6000] on their child’s baseball participation during the previous year. Only 44 parents (28.4%) reported being concerned about sport specialization. Most parents (69.9%) believed that specialization would increase their child’s chances of making a college team. Parents underestimated the number of college baseball scholarships available per team (median [IQR]: 5 [0-5]), but 55 parents (35.9%) believed it was “somewhat” or “very likely” their child would receive a college baseball scholarship. Compared to low MHI parents, high MHI parents were more likely to classify their child as highly specialized (65.8% vs. 31.7%, p=0.02), and have a child participating in club baseball (82.1% vs. 58.3%, p=0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Parents who reported a greater financial investment in their child’s baseball participation believed it would improve their child’s sport performance to play college baseball. Despite having a realistic understanding of the limited college scholarships available, parents were optimistic that their child would receive a baseball scholarship. The current year-round, highly specialized environment of youth sports in the United States may favor families with more financial resources.