Joe Madden's view on Travel Baseball vs the multi sport athlete.

[riseball]

Also the situation is very different for pitchers. Specialization is much more typical. It is very hard to put a pitcher on the shelf for months at a time and have them maintain their skills much less improve upon them. For pitchers a high level of athleticism is nice to have but not as critical as other positions. In fact many of the great pitchers I would not describe as elite level athletes. Rather they are athletes with elite level skills.

 

[SoCal_Dad]

The issue isn't specialization versus multi-sports. The issue is how seriously we take our youth sports. If we took math and science that seriously we'd all be driving solar-powered flying cars by now.

I can't see any of my former players ever being the type to sit in a lab and design and build a solar powered flying car. They were more the type to create and run the company that employed the folks that designed and built the solar powered flying car. I will take much more pride in what my DD accomplishes in the board room over what she will on the softball field.

Ken's point is valid when looking at youth sports above the rec level. Most kids would be better off if their parents gave as much enthusiasm and support in their academics as their athletics. Their future prospects would be better if more emphasis was placed on being a student than an athlete.

The great tech companies that come to mind were all started by people involved in the technology. Their genius was realizing when and how the tech could be commercialized.

 

[JAD]

Some kids are just great athletes and are great at any sport they try. Being an Auburn man, Bo Jackson and the "Bo Knows" Nike commercials come to mind. For those kids who are not great athletes their best chance to make it to college, or the pros is to "specialize" and work harder than kids who were born with more athletic ability.

 

[BobInMadison]

Having multiple sports has advantages. Sometimes another sport can help out with muscle development, or agility, or whatnot.

Many years ago, my father spent a year as a visiting professor at U of Hawaii. My mother pointed out to me that these enormous Polynesian men were actually quite graceful in the way they walk, and she attributed it to the Hula training they had all those years. Considering how many Polynesians are in the NFL, the grace and agility they get from Hula doesn't seem to hurt much.

There is a kid at the local HS, a long distance runner, who spends all her summers in Hawaii, and has had lots of Hula lessons.

I've sometimes had discussions with softball parents about how gymnastics or dance has helped some of the kids with agility. DD #3 is fairly agile, and tried ballet when she was much younger. In fact, softball is the third sport she tried. She played soccer for a little while. She also plays some volleyball.

Something I have pointed out is that a LOT of athletes wind up specializing in sports they took on later in life, often for cross-training.

For example, my son ran track as a freshman in HS. He tried rowing for cross-training, and he now rows in college.

A girl who was in his rowing club was a softball player from way back. She was all-conference 1B, and she would row in the fall for cross-training. She is now attending Wisconsin on a rowing scholarship. Her sister now rows in the fall and winter and plays softball in spring and summer.

A kid who went to my kids' HS specialized in basketball, and sometimes ran track. He took up football as a sophomore in HS. He is now attending Pitt on a football scholarship. His college coach asked him to go back to track for his senior year in HS, and he got a gold medal at the state championships in sprinting.

There were FOUR Wisconsin alumni who participated in the 2012 Olympics in sports they took up in college or later. Three were rowers, and one was a triathlete.

Of course, there were plenty of multi-sport atheletes in the past. The most famous being Jim Thorpe. The story is, one day he was walking on campus, and he saw some people had set up a high jump. Thorpe had never tried the high jump before, ran up in blue jeans, and made the jump. Later, he was told to go see the school's AD. Thorpe thought he was in trouble. When he got to "Pop" Warner's office, Warner informed Thorpe that Thorpe had just broken the school high jump record. Of course, later Thorpe went on to win the Decathlon, even though some events were new to him, play baseball for the NY Giants, and helped form the National Football League.

 

[Coachw01]

Man this is an interestIng topic... My daughter is a 10 year old fourth grader. She plays travel softball and is on a travel AAU basketball team. Her last Bball game she had 26 points including 3 3-pointers. She has probably missed more softball practices and indoor games because of her Bball schedule than anyone else on her travel softball team and today at practice she missed exactly zero balls hit/thrown to her, and her throws were dead on accurate and looked like bullets.(certainly can't say that for all of the girls) I have to think that dedicating that time this winter to another sport (keeping in mind we did do some softball work but it was not the priority) she absolutely loves did not hurt her ability to perform on a softball field. What I also noticed his her ability to quickly move to the ball and field it between her body where others had to struggle to back hand them. She also caught 5-6 ball very high and over her head that she had to leap in order to get as well as sprint to short hits and catch them basket style. Quick back/forth side/side movements... Ability to jump and snag balls... Gotta think basketball probably helped in those areas. The question would be is she a better softball now than she was last fall having made Bball her priority over the last 4 and a half months and I would answer absolutely.

I believe it's foolish and a little short sided to think that the skills and abilities that you gain from one sport are not useful in others (and I know that's not the argument). Our school is known for their outstanding football and wrestling programs. The best football/wrestling teams always had the same athletes on them. The two sports compliment each other tremendously.

I believe to each their own and everyone's situation is different. I'm just glad that my daughter has chosen to be involved in multiple areas of athletics and not specialize in one thing. I love watching my kid perform on a softball field and on the basketball court. I remember watching a college softball game last year where the center fielder made an outstanding leaping catch to rob a home run. After the catch the announcers began to tell the story about how she was a three sport athlete and was an all state basketball player. The exact words were '"she is without question the best athlete on the team, and can do just about everything". I have to believe a girl like this carries a lot of value on team. she was not the 'best' hitter, fielder... But give me a girl who can do a little of everything and she will do special things for her team. Would she have made the catch if she had just specialized, it's extremely possible/likely but maybe not. That catch clinched her team a conference championship. The ball clears the fence, they come in second.

I will say I think the pitching situation is a differnt beast and my DD is not a pitcher. I also understand the climate issue and we have to battle feet after feet of snow making Bball a great option. Great thread, nice debate!!

 

[dbronstein]

What the "don't specialize" crowd fails to realize is two things:

1) most students in MS/HS are required to take PE/Gym classes every day where they are utilizing different muscles, techniques, playing different sports, and activities such as the below MS curriculum for DD's school:

In what states is this required? Definitely not in Colorado. My middle schoolers have gym every thrid day. You are extremely fortuante to have a PE program like that, it is definitely not the norm.

 

[BobInMadison]

Middle schools here have gym every other day.

 

[reagansdaddy]

I think Coachw01 raises an interesting point above. Age may be a critical ingredient to the discussion. I played football in college and I never stepped onto a football field until I was 12 years old. I believe there is a point, maybe age 13-14, where a kid has reached as high as they will get in a particular sport. I gave up baseball at 13 to run track and enjoyed it very much.

For those who argue that specialization is a must, what age do you think that specialization should start?

I also agree with riseball that pitchers are a completely different story on this as compared to position players.

 

[TMoney]

I think the issue that gives travel ball a bad rep with coaches at a higher level, is the travel coaches/parents that demand a 160 game schedule, some of which are crammed into a 5 month season. They somehow think that this is going to translate into their child receiving a college scholarship when they are 10yrs old. This creates health issues and burn out for some really good athletes.

 

[CoogansBluff]

I think the issue that gives travel ball a bad rep with coaches at a higher level, is the travel coaches/parents that demand a 160 game schedule, some of which are crammed into a 5 month season. They somehow think that this is going to translate into their child receiving a college scholarship when they are 10yrs old. This creates health issues and burn out for some really good athletes.

I see your point, but I don't know anybody playing 160 games in 5 months.