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Better bones, decimated ligaments.

In some cases yeah. Women’s soccer and ACL injuries are unbelievably high.

But overall I agree with these findings. Makes for better athletes. Interestingly there are more multisport Div 1 athletes than ones that just played and trained in a single sport.

That's the study after they publish Coffee is Good for You/Coffee is Bad for You.

Any reason they couldnt just lift for bone strength instead?

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Lifting trains big muscles, it's not multidirectional.

It increases bone strength

My knee feels this

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Thats just plain wrong. Lifting weights is multidirectional. And it’s true. resistance training is safe and enhances bone health in youth/adolescents

because its less effective than high impact weight bearing activities

Weightlifting and plyometrics A good resistance coach for long term youth development should have lots of mixed movements, and do a combination of weight workouts, calisthenics, plyometrics, and agility based (skill) work. It should not be overly specific or geared towards any one sport.

I felt a sharp pain in my ankle just reading this.

Working a much wider range of muscles, assuming one can hopefully avoid injury which also increases with these types of exercises, then of course the athlete would be overall healthier and more competent. The best runners I've ever known were string-beans, good for little other than running and whatever their own ingenuity can accomplish.

specialization is for college and master's athletes, the youths need a wide base for general skills to be well developed.

A lot of these team sports train endurance so I guess it's more bang for your buck if you don't care about strength

This doesn't necessarily mean that it's better to direct children towards multidirectional sports OVER running. Running doesn't require specialized equipment, specialized facilities, or other people, which means that developing a running routine at a young age could possibly lead to a more active life in the long run.

It has some potential to be, but is generally not multidirectional.

No matter what your gym bros tell you, lifting weights isn’t the end all be all of exercise. It is missing a lot and it isn’t entirely safe

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Nothing is entierly safe. Lifting is safer than the vast majority of sports.