When I was a little girl, my parents exposed me to many sports to see what I liked best. Ice skating didn’t last (my skinny legs caved after a few minutes), and basketball was a total disaster (I was on the defeated team). Eventually I found my athletic niche when I picked up tennis in elementary school and squash in seventh grade. Over the years, my talents became clear: individual sports were my thing.

I went on to play varsity squash at Dartmouth, and I continue to play today, but how much better would I have been had I started playing years earlier? What if there’d been a way for my parents to know which sports I’d excel at most? Now there is.

With a simple mouth swap, a controversial new test tells parents which sports their children should play. DNA analysis of the ACTN3 gene identifies whether your child is better suited to speed and power sports, like football and sprinting, or endurance sports, like long distance running, or both. For details on the science behind the test, read the New York Times coverage from last week.

Experts are divided over the study. Some see it as an exciting development, with the potential to help parents steer their children in the right direction. Others are wary of its effects. Youth sports are notorious for over-involved moms and dads living out their own athletic dreams through their children; this test would only magnify the pressure and expectation surrounding success. And now with growing pressure to gain an edge for college admissions, the test could mean that the overachiever experience starts younger and younger, with less enjoyment along the way. One scientist says the test will be far more important for elite athletes rather than five-year olds with parents looking for that future college edge.

What do you think? Personally, I’d be intrigued to know what the test says about me now, as a young woman in my twenties, but I’m glad my parents let me find my way as a young girl. Based on those initial failings on ice and in team sports, I have a hunch I would have ended up on the squash court anyway.

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