I think one aspect of kids specializing more and more that doesn't get discussed at all is the prevalence of bigger and bigger high schools.

Since 1992, the following high schools (non-charter/private) have been built in Utah:

Canyon View
Cedar Valley
Copper Hills
Corner Canyon
Crimson Cliffs
Desert Hills
Farmington
Fremont
Green Canyon
Herriman
Juan Diego
Lone Peak
Maple Mountain
Mountain Ridge
Ridgeline
Riverton
Salem Hills
Skyridge
Snow Canyon
Stansbury
Syracuse
Timpanogos
Westlake

Every single one of these new schools are 4A-6A. Not one new high school that isn't a charter or private school in 1A-3A. This makes sense since that is where the growth of the state is. But, bigger schools leads to more specialization. That's just the nature of the beast. Not only do you have to kill yourself if want to go pro or play in college. You practically have to devote full year practice and training just to be on varsity teams these days in some of these schools.

Our team played at a tournament in Manti this offseason and we talked to the Hurricane coach who said that they were going to play 70 GAMES before the season started. 70 GAMES! He said that there's just very little chance for someone to play basketball there unless they only play basketball or if they're a freak athlete.