Tennis professional Donald Young, left, and tennis instructor Rikki Alrutz, right, help 5-year-old Davion Gormany learn how to hit a tennis ball at a clinic in New Haven, Conn., Wednesday, July 9, 2008. (AP Photo/Bob Child)
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Updated: Monday, 01 Dec 2008, 11:37 AM EST
Published : Monday, 01 Dec 2008, 9:00 AM EST
LOS ANGELES - Parents obsessed with having their children play sports may now have a test that can help them decide which sport to steer their kids to.
Atlas Sports Genetics in Boulder, Colo., is offering a $149 test that it claims can predict a child's natural athletic strengths. The company takes a DNA sample of the kids and analyzes it for a specific gene.
Specifically, they are looking for ACTN3, one gene among more than 20,000 in the human genome, according to the New York Times . Atlas Sports Genetics said the test can determine whether a person would be best at speed and power sports, endurance sports, or a combination of the two.
A 2003 study primarily based in Australia discovered the link between ACTN3 and those athletic abilities.
Some experts are skeptical, saying ACTN3 testing is in its infancy and virtually useless. Dr. Theodore Friedmann, the director of the University of California-San Diego Medical Center's interdepartmental gene therapy program, told the New York Times that the testing is "an opportunity to sell new versions of snake oil.
"This may or may not be quite that venal, but I would like to see a lot more research done before it is offered to the general public," he added in the Times interview. "I don't deny that these genes have a role in athletic success, but it's not that black and white."
The testing is mainly done on kids eight years old and younger. The analysis takes two to three weeks and contains information that suggests which sports are most appropriate and what paths to follow so the child reaches his or her potential, according to the New York Times.
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