NORWALK, Calif. - When it comes to youth sports, like football for example, how old is too young to begin specializing in just one sport? These days, an increasing number of parents and student athletes would argue that it's never too early to begin preparing for a college scholarship by narrowing the focus.

According to the NCAA, only two percent of high school athletes will receive scholarship money to play sports at the collegiate level — a fact that has led many kids to begin preparing much earlier on.

In Norwalk, you’ll find a group of 50 kids — ages seven to 14 — already working out as if they were in college.

Laced Facts Academy is a school that integrates football training into its curriculum. The school is split into two classrooms, one for 2nd to 4th graders and the other for middle schoolers. Every student enrolls in an accredited online program and then participates in a two-hour training in the afternoon.

“A lot of NFL players come here to work out with the kids and they can’t even hang because it’s so intense,” said Mike Evans, the founder of Laced Facts.

Evans said that in today’s competitive sports world, the younger you get used to the intense level of competition, the better.

“The game has changed [and] everything is a business,” Evans explained. “And that’s not just from the high school level, it’s from the youth football level.”

But it’s an unpopular opinion overall. Safety concerns over the game of football are rising, plus, according to a recent study by Active Kids, 80 percent of youth athletes quit after age 15.

But Mia Sadler, whose son is in the 4^th grade, believes the mix of academic and athletic work is good for the group.

“You have your kids that like music, you have your kids that are artists, and then you have your kids that are athletes,” she said. “I know I can speak for a lot of parents. We’re trying to get them to college. That’s the main goal here and we need to prepare them. I think the earlier the better.”