The other side to the "Multi-Sport Athlete"

[cncsoftball]

I thought about this thread while watching a phenomenal three-sport athlete during our high basketball sectional tournament last night. I was in awe of her during volleyball season and saw last night that she is an even better basketball player. This girl is only 5'8 and doesn't have a lot of "finesse" in either of those sports, but her strength and pure athleticism are amazing. While I think she could have gone on to play college ball in either of those sports if she wanted and had more time to devote to them, she got a full ride to an ACC school for shot put. I told my husband when we got home last night that I was glad no one had taught her to pitch a softball .

 

[Strike2]

Nice! My DD's high school averages out your school's numbers. We send maybe 1 girl a year to college. Most years 0.

Talking about 18U teams, not high school.

 

[uncdrew]

Yes, I loved watching my goofy, uncoordinated, slow DD play Basketball. It was very grounding for her, and having fun while other girls shined as the superstars was good for everyone.

 

[MNDad]

When I first heard complaints about specialising in the 70’s and 80’s it was that kids who played multiple sports wouldn’t be able to compete against kids who played club/AAU etc. I think the reasoning today is the same, it’s just packaged differently.

I do like to see a variety of sports/activities, but it’s none of my business how other families approach it.

 

[Vertigo]

When I think of a MS athlete who went D1 I think of Mo’ne Davis. She played varsity soccer, BB, and softball in HS and went D1 for softball. Played travel softball very briefly with a local team - not sure if she even did it for a full season. Typically played baseball in the summer. She started her D1 career batting over .300 before Covid. Not bad for a girl who played multiple sports and barely played any travel softball.

 

[cedwards2460]

Almost every orthopedic surgeon and college coach preach multiple sports. Urban Meyer has said the first question he asks a kid is ""what other sport(s) do you play" There is no one size fits all but I believe multiple sports gives your body a better chance of staying healthy and allows a child to become overall more athletic

 

[radness]

Think there is a difference between being dedicated over a course of say 'years' to multiple sports.
Like club soccer, basketball, vollyball, & with softball.
Even just 2 sports throughout the year.

...rather than a little kid playing seasons of rec ball (shorty seasons) and mixing playing other sports. (with shorty seasons)
This is really different imo because this is very much more experimental than a dedication.

When young people start making decisions what they like seems to form what they will apply time to.

Also, imo there is a difference between being on CLUB/TRAVEL teams
(with the dedication it takes to be competitive in that arena)
Vs.
Playing high school sports.
~ making that compairison because there is a VAST difference in talent in high schools sports
Than there is to dedicated athletes in a club/travel dynamic.

As for injuries...they happen
in any sport...certain injuries seem to occur more in some sports than others, regardless of playing multiple sports or not.

 

[ncap]

I think some sports pair well with others. I know when I was in high school the football coach encouraged the lineman to be on the wrestling team for example, as it taught them specific things that were useful in both sports. Competition also tends to give extra incentive especially to kids, and being active doing anything is better then sitting on your rear end. We've found that swimming is a fantastic secondary sport to softball as it has very flexible schedules and is great for general fitness and keeping your kid active especially in areas where it is difficult to play softball year round.

I also think it is important to remember we're talking about kids, and although the OPs daughter seemed to be a success story who earned a D1 scholarship the reality is that most of our DDs will not. I believe there is mental and social benefit to mixing with different friend groups and not tying up a lot of self worth in the performance of one activity. There are only a very small handful of women in the world making a living playing softball, so the reality is they will almost certainly leave this sport behind at some point so the lessons they learn and the enjoyment they get along the way is what will be left at the end of the day.

I am sure the parent the OP talked to was looking at the cost of college and thought it sure would be great to be on scholarship. But what does that persons DD think? Would she give up the friendships she made playing other sports? Hindsight is 20/20 and maybe pushing a very good multi sport athlete into one sport early has her burn out 2 years in and she ends up in no sports.

 

[schwabach]

When I think of a MS athlete who went D1 I think of Mo’ne Davis. She played varsity soccer, BB, and softball in HS and went D1 for softball. Played travel softball very briefly with a local team - not sure if she even did it for a full season. Typically played baseball in the summer. She started her D1 career batting over .300 before Covid. Not bad for a girl who played multiple sports and barely played any travel softball.

She's a talented athlete who loves playing multiple sports. I doubt that playing multiple sports made her better at any one of the sports.

Michelle Moultrie is an example of a talented athlete. She was a walk-on and then standout at Florida and I believe she didn't even start playing softball until high school.

Almost every orthopedic surgeon and college coach preach multiple sports. Urban Meyer has said the first question he asks a kid is ""what other sport(s) do you play" There is no one size fits all but I believe multiple sports gives your body a better chance of staying healthy and allows a child to become overall more athletic

I think the problem is repetitive intensive training all year for the single sport that is the problem. If the kid takes time off to give their body a rest they should be okay.

 

[Greatdaytobeawildcat]

To add, we should probably disregard the football and football coach perspective. There is no year-round football. That would be a fast track to insanity. There's a reason kids only play 10-15 football games in a year.