Just a rant

[NEF]

The most rewarding thing to me as a coach is when your children, past players, younger mentors, continue coaching, taking your best attributes and adding to them, continuing to learn and make the next generation better and pass it forward, I’m old school, some coach maybe changed your life for the better, not because of $$, but because someone did that for them. There’s too many people making money by promising things they may or may not be able to deliver, The multi sport athlete iis becoming a unicorn, which is sad. Just glad that there are some coaches that still do it for the right reasons,

 

[BT3100]

Multi-sport athlete is a tired old term that needs to be retired. Take any high level softball player today and even if they don't play another sport with a scoreboard they are running, lifting, and doing many other conditioning activities that combine multiple sports.

The term Multi-sport athlete started as an innocuous term but has morphed into a term to put down athletes who specialize in one sport. A kid wants to play several sports.. good for them however some parents feel the need to down put other parents who allow their kids to play one sport and maximize their skills in that area.

Yes, some kids can excel at several sports due mainly to physical attributes alone but many do not posses those gifts and instead spend countless hours pounding on their craft. They should not be made to feel inferior by parents who dislike that they far exceeded what many thought was possible due to sacrifice and commitment to one sport. I've seen several parents who laughed at kids who specialized while their kids dabbled. Then couldn't understand why those who specialized reached their full potential and rose to great levels of success.

A smart man once said "There's three things you don't ever tell a person.. who to love, how to spend their money and how to raise their kids"

 

[Towny9]

@BT3100 The book below goes against what most people think. Specializing actually doesn’t help kids get better at their chosen sport. It actually hurts them. The generalist (multi sport) usually catches up to the specialist and passed them, as they have a broader skill set to rely on once they specialize. Basically - try everything early and specialize later.

The problem with today’s youth culture is we don’t allow the kids to specialize later, we tell them they are already behind and they can’t catch up.

 

[BT3100]

@BT3100 The book below goes against what most people think. Specializing actually doesn’t help kids get better at their chosen sport. It actually hurts them. The generalist (multi sport) usually catches up to the specialist and passed them, as they have a broader skill set to rely on once they specialize. Basically - try everything early and specialize later.

The problem with today’s youth culture is we don’t allow the kids to specialize later, we tell them they are already behind and they can’t catch up.

I'm sure it is that way in some case. I can only go by what I've seen in 20 years of doing this. Specializing in freshman year is what I've seen that has worked best. Just my opinion.

 

[Towny9]

I'm sure it is that way in some case. I can only go by what I've seen in 20 years of doing this. Specializing in freshman year is what I've seen that has worked best. Just my opinion.

I would tend to agree with you there.

 

[The Man In Blue]

The benefits of being a multi-sport athlete are about much, much more than being athletic.

 

[stox]

I'm not saying we need to forgo other sports, but how does one merely get away with playing one season of rec softball per year and hope to have a shot at making a competitive varsity team in high school.

Not only the reps, but youth who play a sport year round have access to much better coaching and much better teams than the kid who plays for a random volunteer dad that drafts her in a spring rec season. The difference in development is astronomical even at the younger ages.

I suppose a stud athlete can bounce between several sports at a young age and be good enough to specialize in high school and be a varsity contributer, but for mere mortals, playing a season of rec ball from ages 8-14 puts them so far behind in mechanics and game knowledge that they'd need to dedicate so much time to catching up in high school when free time is scarce (schoolwork, other extracurriculars, social events).

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[Towny9]

I'm not saying we need to forgo other sports, but how does one merely get away with playing one season of rec softball per year and hope to have a shot at making a competitive varsity team in high school.

Not only the reps, but youth who play a sport year round have access to much better coaching and much better teams than the kid who plays for a random volunteer dad that drafts her in a spring rec season. The difference in development is astronomical even at the younger ages.

I suppose a stud athlete can bounce between several sports at a young age and be good enough to specialize in high school and be a varsity contributer, but for mere mortals, playing a season of rec ball from ages 8-14 puts them so far behind in mechanics and game knowledge that they'd need to dedicate so much time to catching up in high school when free time is scarce (schoolwork, other extracurriculars, social events).

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Why does a multi sport athlete have to only play rec?

 

[MNDad]

Why does a multi sport athlete have to only play rec?

In large school districts most kids won’t make varsity in multiple sports unless it’s a sport that isn’t super popular. My 7’ son played rec basketball and JV football because he played different sports each season. He saw what DD went through to reach the highest level and decided it wasn’t for him. Both kids were happy with their decisions and the sacrifices they made.

 

[Bonesaw]

I'm not saying we need to forgo other sports, but how does one merely get away with playing one season of rec softball per year and hope to have a shot at making a competitive varsity team in high school.

Not only the reps, but youth who play a sport year round have access to much better coaching and much better teams than the kid who plays for a random volunteer dad that drafts her in a spring rec season. The difference in development is astronomical even at the younger ages.

I suppose a stud athlete can bounce between several sports at a young age and be good enough to specialize in high school and be a varsity contributer, but for mere mortals, playing a season of rec ball from ages 8-14 puts them so far behind in mechanics and game knowledge that they'd need to dedicate so much time to catching up in high school when free time is scarce (schoolwork, other extracurriculars, social events).

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90% (at least) is done at home/by the parent in most cases I'd bet.