CONSEQUENCES ARISING FROM EARLY SPECIALIZATION IN RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS

Introduction: Rhythmic Gymnastics (RG) is an essentially female sport, which provides the development of all characteristics for its apprentices, through various opportunities for body and motor movements. It is a high performance sport that must be started in childhood. Objective: the present study aimed to understand and analyze the biological and emotional consequences resulting from early specialization in RG athletes. Method: The method used was bibliographical research, and for that, master's dissertations and scientific articles found in the database of Capes, Google Scholar and Unicamp Archives, published in the last 10 years, were considered. The search was based on the keywords: Rhythmic Gymnastics, early specialization, training, high performance and gymnastics. It was based on the list of articles with a female population, aged between 06 and 30 years, high-performance athletes federated in Rhythmic Gymnastics. Result and Discussion: There are two points that were discussed and highlighted in this work. One is about the biological aspects of how gymnasts are biologically affected in their maturational developmental stages, and what happens to athletes who enter a performance training regime before the onset of puberty. Early specialization should not be confused with sports initiation or early stimulation, since the latter can be both an initial stage for future athletes and an elementary stage in the formation of the individual, who will not necessarily follow a professional career in sports, using it only in your daily life11. Overtraining can affect many high-performance gymnasts, with some consequences. Another point is about psychological aspects in which it is subdivided into three concepts. The first discussed intrinsic factors that lead to a demotivation of children due to their interest in sports due to physical fatigue, lack of time for fun and poor school performance. The second contested how gymnasts are forced to perform as much as possible in order to overcome their own limits, which can generate syndromes such as Burnout, causing them to abandon sports. And the last point was about frustrating aspects, from selection processes to start the sport, to injury issues. Final considerations: Although few studies were found that specifically address early specialization in RG as the main subject, studies were found that confirm that early specialization brings many negative consequences to the lives of practitioners of the modality, interfering with the state of nutrition and sexual maturation , in self-esteem and self-confidence, in the enjoyment of sports, lack of time for fun, low school performance, and especially in the motivation of these athletes, who may develop syndromes such as Burnout, as discussed. Another important point highlighted in this study was the preparation of professionals who deal directly with athletes who go through the early specialization process, since these people are responsible for and accompany a large part of these athletes' lives for years, thus playing a crucial role in their development., and as has been reported there are many people totally unprepared to deal with it. This awareness must be made with the aim of ending or at least minimizing the consequential risks of early specialization.