One sport or multiple sports?

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Ken Krause

Administrator
Admin
May 7, 2008
3,911
113
Mundelein, IL
First of all, thanks to Jan Pauly and Jennie Hughes Janda for sharing this story via Facebook. It’s definitely worth a read. The story is on the nagging question of our times in youth sports – should young athletes play multiple sports if they want to be successful, or should they instead focus on one […]
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redhotcoach

Out on good behavior
May 8, 2009
4,706
38
Multi-soorts sounds great, but opportunities are going away. My soccer dd has a yearly off season of Thanksgiving to Christmas. Volleyball is trying hard to become year 'round. High school coaches get mad if the girls run track because it overlaps softball. Softball dd likes basketball, but only top about top 8 to 10 (from school of around 2000) see any play time, so she quit and lifts weights and hits year 'Round.
 

Cannonball

Ex "Expert"
Feb 25, 2009
4,854
113
Multi-soorts sounds great, but opportunities are going away. My soccer dd has a yearly off season of Thanksgiving to Christmas. Volleyball is trying hard to become year 'round. High school coaches get mad if the girls run track because it overlaps softball. Softball dd likes basketball, but only top about top 8 to 10 (from school of around 2000) see any play time, so she quit and lifts weights and hits year 'Round.

... and IMO, is going to get rewarded for hitting year around.

I was a head coach for girl's basketball for a few years. Long enough to have the school record for wins. Then, it seemed as if everyone lost their minds. Basketball became a year around sport and I was coaching a couple of other sports. I was doing baseball both HS and Legion. My parents didn't want the year around basketball and neither did the players since most were also soccer and going to college in either soccer or volleyball. However, you had the one or two parents who pushed the issue and so, along with some other major reasons, I resigned. These poor kids are catching it from every coach who lays claim to them.

As an FYI, a lot of people in our community wanted to stir up controversy between the football coach and me. He is a great guy and so, we decided we would list a set of workouts for the weight room, speed work outs, ... and let the kids know when both of us were available to get their work in. HS coaches have to back off on some of the multiple sport athletes. Again, JMHO!
 
Feb 17, 2014
7,152
113
Orlando, FL
..."look at some of the top athletes of our time. The article mentions Wayne Gretzky, Michael Jordan, Tom Brady and several others. All top performers, and all multi-sport athletes through high school. Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders were multi-sport athletes in the pros, although they are exceptions."

So these guys were exceptional athletes because they played multiple sports? I think not!!! They were gifted athletes that happened to play multiple sports. This plays right into the myth that college coaches recruit players because they play multiple sports.
 

Cannonball

Ex "Expert"
Feb 25, 2009
4,854
113
I am glad that my dd played multiple sports in HS. She played for me on the golf team and did well enough to get college scholarship offers to golf in college. However, for her, that wasn't ever a goal. Instead, she wanted to compete in other varsity sports. She liked the idea of being on a team that wasn't softball related. She really enjoyed having participated in a sport she and I could do after softball. Fortunately, she can and does now play with her boyfriend and his friends and lays a whipping on them. IMO, some kids need that other sport as almost a distraction from the pressure of softball. Otherwise, I can't explain it. My wife would pick her up after golf and drive her to softball practice, weightlifting, speed work, ... which were all required by her team. This is really going to sound dumb to most of you but in our community and small town, kids still wear letter jackets. BB wanted that golf letter on her jacket along with the awards as much as she wanted her softball stuff on that jacket.
 

Ken Krause

Administrator
Admin
May 7, 2008
3,911
113
Mundelein, IL
..."look at some of the top athletes of our time. The article mentions Wayne Gretzky, Michael Jordan, Tom Brady and several others. All top performers, and all multi-sport athletes through high school. Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders were multi-sport athletes in the pros, although they are exceptions."

So these guys were exceptional athletes because they played multiple sports? I think not!!! They were gifted athletes that happened to play multiple sports. This plays right into the myth that college coaches recruit players because they play multiple sports.

Doesn't matter what you think. Or what I think for that matter. Read the source article. Gretzky thinks he was a better athlete because he played multiple sports. Abby Wambach of the US womens soccer team thinks she was a better soccer player because she played multiple sports. There are plenty of other stories like that out there as well. Despite their prodigious athletic gifts, which were probably better than those of most of the kids they competed against in their main sport, they feel their ability to play that sport was enhanced by what they learned participating in other sports.

Eventually you have to specialize. But a lot of kids are being forced to do it way too early and missing out on opportunities to make themselves better all-around athletes - and ultimately better at their #1 sport.
 
Jun 27, 2011
5,089
0
North Carolina
The fact that Jordan thinks he was better for playing two sports doesn't really prove it, though. I'm sure if he'd done drama that he would say that being on a stage made him better in sports, too. I do believe in some balance, but I don't think other sports are necessary, especially for softball, which is such a multi-skill and multi-movement sport.

Instead of looking at Jordan and Gretzky, I'll give you an example of a kid in DD's high school. I've always admired her as an athlete, although she's not what I'd call a super athlete. But she's learned to pitch. She's learned to slap. Takes a lot of time and effort to do those things at even just a decent level. She's also a great base-runner. She can play several positions on the field. She also plays travel soccer and is a good goal-scorer. She is very fast. She's competent at so many things. Overall, she's probably a better athlete than my DD.

But, she's about to finish her high school career having never started on the varsity level in any sport. It's a huge high school w/ sports-loving parents, the results of which are 30+ year-round athletes in almost every sport, and the only ones who start at more than one are the Michael Jordans and Wayne Gretzkys of the school. I don't think she regrets the path she took. She's had loads of fun playing on softball & club teams. But if she wanted to be a great high school player, or play in college at either sport, she would've been better off giving up soccer and pitching 3-4 years ago and making softball and slapping a full-time commitment. And with the raw speed she has, I think she would've had a shot. But those opportunities were taken by a few who went full-time soccer or softball before she did.
 
Jun 12, 2015
3,848
83
Mine played basketball briefly. She didn't love it though. I've been thinking about swim team in January when softball is less intense.
 
Feb 17, 2014
7,152
113
Orlando, FL
The fact that Jordan thinks he was better for playing two sports doesn't really prove it, though. I'm sure if he'd done drama that he would say that being on a stage made him better in sports, too. I do believe in some balance, but I don't think other sports are necessary, especially for softball, which is such a multi-skill and multi-movement sport.

Instead of looking at Jordan and Gretzky, I'll give you an example of a kid in DD's high school. I've always admired her as an athlete, although she's not what I'd call a super athlete. But she's learned to pitch. She's learned to slap. Takes a lot of time and effort to do those things at even just a decent level. She's also a great base-runner. She can play several positions on the field. She also plays travel soccer and is a good goal-scorer. She is very fast. She's competent at so many things. Overall, she's probably a better athlete than my DD.

But, she's about to finish her high school career having never started on the varsity level in any sport. It's a huge high school w/ sports-loving parents, the results of which are 30+ year-round athletes in almost every sport, and the only ones who start at more than one are the Michael Jordans and Wayne Gretzkys of the school. I don't think she regrets the path she took. She's had loads of fun playing on softball & club teams. But if she wanted to be a great high school player, or play in college at either sport, she would've been better off giving up soccer and pitching 3-4 years ago and making softball and slapping a full-time commitment. And with the raw speed she has, I think she would've had a shot. But those opportunities were taken by a few who went full-time soccer or softball before she did.

At one point Jordan thought he was a baseball player. Turned out he was JV at best.
 
Mar 20, 2014
918
28
Northwest
DD played basketball freshman and sophomore year. She has decided not to play junior year. Softball is her passion and after several colleges coaches have cringed when she mentioned that she played basketball she has decided to just focus on softball...
 

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