Is the female multi-sport HS athlete a thing of the past?

This is a big deal for me, because it was important to my dd. I am afraid that the 3 sport athlete is not only going away, I think she is being pushed away. Statements here on this board over the years showed me that some other parents look at the 3 sport athlete as selfish and by not dedicating her life to softball she isn't a worthy team mate. My DD played 3, (softball, bball, vball) she had to give up track to winnow it down to 3. Plus she played in the band, if you haven't had a band kid you probably don't know what a big commitment that is, we were surprised.

What benefit did my dd gain, well she learned how to deal with not being the best player on a team, which made her a better team mate and leader. She learned how to get things done while busy with other things. She learned how to win, and how to not let losing tear you up inside (big problem for her as youngster). She learned how to get along with a variety of people, and how to take different types of coaching. She learned how to deal with playing the position she didn't want. In the end she was a starter on all 3 sports, we were a small school but our league was huge so they divided all the schools up into divisions by the previous year's record, in all of the sports she played we typically played schools twice as big as ours. In softball we played teams as big as 3000 students in our league. I watched lots of games and I am confident she could have started at 2 sports in plenty of those big schools and been on the team for the third.

When my son started at our HS in 2007 the school had over 800 students, the school gives out a certificate at the end of the year to all the 3 sport athletes, at that time there were probably 100 in our school. Even a couple of 4 sport athletes. One girl who graduated with my son earned a D1, Big Ten, scholarship and set state records in her 4th sport (pole vault). By the time my dd graduated from the same school we had 300 less students and it seemed like only 25 3 sport athletes, including my dd.

When my dd was in 7th grade we had a meeting for all parents of her travel org, we had parents from all age groups. It was brought up that we should require all the players be one sport athletes, I stood up and asked why? I was pretty passionate and when we voted it was voted down. But that night we were ready to leave the org that had been home for 5 years. And within 2 years we were gone.

So as I usually say, if 3 HS sports was good for Jenny Finch, its good for my dd as well. And your dd.

OK so I rambled, but you get the gist. I am a 3 sport athletic supporter.

Was wondering when someone would dust off the Jennie Finch example. Why is it when folks speak of the virtues of the 3 sport athlete and claim that it is still a thing, they always go back to that someone from the previous century who has been out of the game for a decade? Not sure what someone did in HS in the mid 90's is relevant 25 years later. Maybe need to get everyone off the land line, fire up the 28.8 and connect to a BBS or AOL and find a new icon.

CanOfCorn said:

Asking a couple HS coaches/friends, what has worked locally to some extent are some of the following:

• Show up to youth league events like opening day just to have parents/kids see you, bring a couple energetic girls from current HS team. Talk up the program and fun.

• Host a coaching night at the HS and go over some basic skills, introduce them to a few fun practice activities (we do softball base running relay, ultimate softball or queens).

• Get involved with a local recreation/travel teams with players from your district (suggest 6-8th grade so pre-high school age) especially in that age when girls might want to drop out.

• Host a summer clinic or weekend clinic. If you do a indoor March clinic before your HS season you can raise money for your HS team and awareness of the program. Have anyone trying out for HS team help and it get them volunteer hours (bonus).

• Raise awareness of the positives of playing team sports. Females especially who play team sports tend to be more successful, rise to higher ranking positions and earn more money over their careers than those who did not, particularly if they played HS/College sports.

• Get involved with a local batting cage or similar and give some side lessons.

• Invite youth teams to games, come up with ideas like run the bases with a varsity player. One friend of mine has a youth league night where the varsity teams (home and away) are introduced and walk out with a youth player (who is mentioned). Then big photo in the outfield. I think they play catch with the kids too at some point, she had 200 people for a HS game on a 50 degree evening.

My friends put in work and it has paid off generally because even if they lack numbers some years the quality of players they have on the diamond tend to be solid.

Good luck this season!

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Yes to this. Several of the above at work in our area. Our rec league sponsors winter clinics (Saturdays from Jan through March) which are run by the high school team. High school players also serve as "team helpers" for spring rec (like an extra coach, they show up to games and practices as much as their schedule allows and help run drills, extra pair of hands, etc. - I think it counts towards their required community service hours). And in return we try and get our travel girls to as many high school home games as we can.

riseball said:

Was wondering when someone would dust off the Jennie Finch example. Why is it when folks speak of the virtues of the 3 sport athlete and claim that it is still a thing, they always go back to that someone from the previous century who has been out of the game for a decade? Not sure what someone did in HS in the mid 90's is relevant 25 years later. Maybe need to get everyone off the land line, fire up the 28.8 and connect to a BBS or AOL and find a new icon.

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Jennie Finch could probably play 3 sports in HS today and still be almost (or just) as competitive in college and beyond as she was back then because she was a tremendous athlete and being 6' helped in her other two sports. I doubt she put all that
much time (outside of organized practices..if she even attended all of them) in her two secondary sports.

pattar said:

Jennie Finch could probably play 3 sports in HS today and still be almost (or just) as competitive in college and beyond as she was back then because she was a tremendous athlete and being 6' helped in her other two sports. I doubt she put all that
much time (outside of organized practices..if she even attended all of them) in her two secondary sports.

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To your point she was not a 3 sport athlete throughout her High School career. As a Junior and Senior standing 6' it is no surprise that she also played volleyball and basketball.

CanOfCorn said:

I thought about this a bit since your questions was how to get interest in softball back up at your school. First thing is to check enrollment because higher numbers help and it is good to know if you are fighting a tide that is rolling out or just a loss/shift of interest.

Either way you need to connect with parents and kids at a younger age. Your losing kids before they even get to you. Studies show about 65-75% of kids drop out of youth sports at or before the age 13, so long before you every see any of them. Your hoping a few motivated parents will get a group of kids to HS on a constant basis but if the focus of those parents turns to another sport you lose them and your program suffers. If your parents are motivated but lack the knowledge to effectively coach the kids then the kids will quit anyway because the game is tedious at a young age.

Asking a couple HS coaches/friends, what has worked locally to some extent are some of the following:

• Show up to youth league events like opening day just to have parents/kids see you, bring a couple energetic girls from current HS team. Talk up the program and fun.

• Host a coaching night at the HS and go over some basic skills, introduce them to a few fun practice activities (we do softball base running relay, ultimate softball or queens).

• Get involved with a local recreation/travel teams with players from your district (suggest 6-8th grade so pre-high school age) especially in that age when girls might want to drop out.

• Host a summer clinic or weekend clinic. If you do a indoor March clinic before your HS season you can raise money for your HS team and awareness of the program. Have anyone trying out for HS team help and it get them volunteer hours (bonus).

• Raise awareness of the positives of playing team sports. Females especially who play team sports tend to be more successful, rise to higher ranking positions and earn more money over their careers than those who did not, particularly if they played HS/College sports.

• Get involved with a local batting cage or similar and give some side lessons.

• Invite youth teams to games, come up with ideas like run the bases with a varsity player. One friend of mine has a youth league night where the varsity teams (home and away) are introduced and walk out with a youth player (who is mentioned). Then big photo in the outfield. I think they play catch with the kids too at some point, she had 200 people for a HS game on a 50 degree evening.

My friends put in work and it has paid off generally because even if they lack numbers some years the quality of players they have on the diamond tend to be solid.

Good luck this season!

Click to expand...

Thanks for the very thoughtful response.

We do host a pitching/hitting and coaching clinic each February as a fundraiser and to reach out to current TB and Rec players.

10 years ago I coached TB with the president of the the larger local TB organization (there are 2). I told him I would help instruct for any of the organizations coaches who were new or felt like they could use help. So he emailed each coach with my qualifications and experience. I got 2 responses both from 10U teams and here's the rub. After a couple of practices I asked both coaches how many kids were local and would go to my HS (we have 2 HS's in our city)? Of the 24 kids (total both teams) 15 were local kids and 3 lived in areas going to my HS. The balance of the local kids were living in areas that would have them attend the other HS. So here I am coaching kids who will likely be playing against us. How Ironic.

I do attend the local TB tournaments and make sure I speak to any parents of kids already in and also slated for our school. I have to walk a fine line when watching these games with the parents because some of the coaching I see of these teams is shall I say is...inadequate and downright frustrating at times. Some parents get it and others don't. I will work harder at attending Rec team games this summer and will discuss your other suggestions with our AD and other softball coaches.

Once again thanks for taking the time to respond.

riseball said:

Was wondering when someone would dust off the Jennie Finch example. Why is it when folks speak of the virtues of the 3 sport athlete and claim that it is still a thing, they always go back to that someone from the previous century who has been out of the game for a decade? Not sure what someone did in HS in the mid 90's is relevant 25 years later. Maybe need to get everyone off the land line, fire up the 28.8 and connect to a BBS or AOL and find a new icon.

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It was different back then and easier on the athletes to make it happen. We do not have a single girl playing three sports at our HS. Plenty of two sport girls but no one plays three. A more recent example would be Haylie McCleney but she is a freak of nature. Not tall but was great at every sport she played including being the QB in football until she started middle school. A former middle school basketball coach at our MS used to brag about how he won back to back county championships and only lost one game. He never bothered mentioning McCleney would out score teams 40-20 off steals and fastbreaks. She was simply on another level.

Maybe girls just don't want to play more than one sport?

riseball said:

Was wondering when someone would dust off the Jennie Finch example. Why is it when folks speak of the virtues of the 3 sport athlete and claim that it is still a thing, they always go back to that someone from the previous century who has been out of the game for a decade? Not sure what someone did in HS in the mid 90's is relevant 25 years later. Maybe need to get everyone off the land line, fire up the 28.8 and connect to a BBS or AOL and find a new icon.

Click to expand...

Wow, why so bitter? That seems to be your thing when someone talks about doing it differently then you and yours did it. This is an example of what I was saying about other parents talking poorly about the 3 sport athlete. So its not how your dd did it, it doesn't make it wrong, just like it wasn't wrong for your dd to focus on one aspect of one sport.

And yes its old news that Jenny Finch played 3 sports back in the day. But its still softball and its still 3 sports. And she is still known as one of the greatest college softball players ever. I know several girls who are currently playing college softball and they were 3 sport athletes in HS, these days they are the exception and not the rule, but it shows that it is possible and its still happening.

Lightning said:

As a parent, I see the opposite side of the coin as well - lots of parents who see that their kid is below average and who decide that if they aren't great at the sport, they need to quit. It doesn't matter if their daughter is learning, and having fun, if they're in the bottom half of the lineup or playing mostly outfield the parents think it's not worth their time or energy unless their kid is Suzy Superstar.

I particularly hate seeing some of these girls who have grown so much as players being told by their parents that they're not good enough to keep playing.

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I See that too....

And it's sad. I've seen so many kids, boys and girls benefit, from playing team sports...enjoying wins, learning to fight through adversity, manage their time, emotions, school work, friendships. Lessons that can't be quantified but ones that help in positive development of youth into adults.

What is awesome is the number of DFP folks in different parts of the country who really care about this sport and young ladies participating in athletics in general. Each of is (Hopefully) is making a lasting positive impression in the lives of many kids.

My wife is a teacher and on her bad days...I remind her if she makes the difference in the life of just ONE kid her career is worth it and a success. Reality is she's made a difference in MANY MANY kids lives. I only hope to have a similar influence on the teams I am blessed to coach.