Tipperary footballer Michael Quinlivan believes that a lack of cross pollination in sport will only be detrimental to gaelic games in the long run.
Speaking on Wednesday morning's #OTBAM in association with ScrewFix Ireland, Quinlivan explained why pigeon-holing players into a specific code will only do a disservice to the country's national games.
"We see a lot of specialisation. We talked about how a lot of the hurling team have a player a lot of sports growing up, it's something that's starting to die out.
"It's such a pity because there are certain things that you pick up cross-code that you can't develop if you're a single code athlete from the age of four or five unfortunately.
"I played a lot of soccer growing up, so developing the skill to be able to play with both feet is very transferable.
"Being comfortable when the ball is underneath you is something I'm a little bit more accustomed to. I don't always want the ball hopping into me, sometimes I want to play it a little bit lower.
"Or if you play rugby or soccer, you're very, very good at picking a line, attacking the space and maybe having a go at a wee shoulder.
"I think from a young age people are being asked to specialise too much."
Quinlivan did point out that at some levels, particularly in coaching, the study of separate sports is done to help improve tactical shape and develops the evolution of team structure.
"I think Jim Gavin and Joe Schmidt have spent time together to model their set-ups and they're picking up stuff. You're seeing a lot of basketball being brought into gaelic games."
He added: "Unfortunately in gaelic games the last little while, we've started to copy one another in different iterations."
