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

chinamigarden said:

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.

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Chris8 said:

Awesome. Some kids don't want to do three sports. In the case of DS he saw starting his HS year he could play basketball and baseball..his two sports (well golf was third but conflicted with baseball season in HS). He decided to forego basketball even though his mom and I wanted him to continue to play. He said he could make JV no problem but he didn't see himself making Varsity even his senior year because of the depth of talent in the BB program. Looking back he assessed the situation correctly. Kudos to a young 14you for making decisions for his life that took him in the direction he wants to go.

We're now on the same road with DD next year. She swims and plays softball. Dropped soccer a year ago mostly because you either go club (year round) or rec. Rec didn't look appealing to her with the girls that were on the team and their lack if real interest in playing but more interested in goofing off. Heading into HS she's considering joining water polo in the fall (it's a club sport not a Varsity letter sport), swimming in winter and softball spring/summer. She initially told the water polo coach no thank you "i have fall softball with my TB team". He told her she could come to practices on her off days and he would work around her Softball schedule. Hmmmmm...that got the wheels turning. As of last night I think she's going to give WP a try. But if she decides after year 1 it's not for her...that's ok. Our job is to help mold shape her and guide her into adult hood.

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Elk Grove Hurricane said:

I agree with the post earlier that the 3-sport athlete is being pushed out. The 2-sport athlete is also being pushed out IMO. Softball, basketball, and soccer are three sports that are 10-11 months long, minimum, for those trying to start for a high school team (or at travel/club upper levels). From my experience, every coach is fine with a kid being a two-sport athlete if, and only if, their first choice is the coach's sport. One team we left was proud to say we encourage all the kids to play multi sports, and a volleyball team we almost joined claims the same thing. But, neither team meant it if the multi-sport girl was going to miss practices from their team.

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chinamigarden said:

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.

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riseball said:

I have no issue with 3 sport athletes, if they have the goods to do it that's great. Just gets old that every time the subject of 3 sport HS athletes comes up someone has to go back to the white ball and 40 foot age. How is what someone did in High School 25 years ago relevant to the experience of a kid in High School today? Kind of trivializes what it takes to do it in 2019.

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chinamigarden said:

Ok forget for a moment that Finch was a pitcher. Her hitting record against the white ball from 40 feet is not trivial
Compared to today.

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Ksphenom said:

Off topic:
I have friends with a young girl 12 years old. She wants to go to the Olympics for Team USA Gymnastics. She left public school last year and is now being home schooled to ensure she can train sufficiently to make her dreams come true beyond HS.
An amazing athlete. Overachieving human.

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