The other side to the "Multi-Sport Athlete"

[_MIA_]

Are you trying to make the rest of us feel like slackers? Cuz if you are......it might be working.

We all don't have sleighs to get our kids to tournaments..he has a built in logistical advantage..

 

[Santa]

Are you trying to make the rest of us feel like slackers? Cuz if you are......it might be working.

No, not at all. Just sharing my kid’s journey.
There is not a local softball travel ball program so she has found other outlets to compete.

She does fly red-eye to play softball and baseball tournaments on some weekends. She racked up over 100,000 miles in both 2019 and 2020. And has 30,000 already this year.

But, this week, she likes to go ski 10 miles at -20F as fast as she can and then go play a basketball game. And then do it again.

For a rural kid, this is the option she came up with to showcase as being elite.


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[PDM]

I usually chuckle when I hear about the benefits of the multi-sport athlete. I truly understand and fully appreciate the point of view that kids should engage in as many sports as possible for various reasons. However when the time comes to specialize I don't think that the specialization turns off the valve of training and has such negative consequences like others feel. When my softball player trains she runs, maybe more than some track athlete's. She lifts heavy and for reps. She trains kickboxing at the local UFC gym and spars with others often. She jumps during anaerobic workouts and puts up numbers that are top of the charts. Her team workouts include burners, suicides' and just about every other exercise that basketball players engage in. Maybe her program is unique but I doubt it and think that many on here have their DD's in programs that are similar and I'm sure some are more intense.
Fast forward to this week, I am having a conversation with a parent who has a DD the same age as my kid. This is a parent who was adamant that my DD should not specialize in softball so early and even questioned our parenting back in the day for allowing her to do so. Our DDs both played basketball until 12's and LAX, Softball etc and they both wanted to play D1, they even picked out schools at 12 years old and hung banners on their walls. They were like sisters and the other DD was a much better pure athlete in my opinion, in fact she was a better softball player than DD in REC. DD decided to take the softball path and her friend went with the multi-sport approach because her parents refused to allow her to focus on only one sport even though she wanted to play softball year round. So her glove would get put away in fall and picked back up in spring.
Here we are 3 months from HS graduation and I bumped into DD's friends mother last night. Hadn't seen her in years. She congratulated me on DDs commitment and said "Yea I wish we could have kept "Danni" in just one sport, she is looking at a few colleges but no matter the sport will be a walk on, no schools have offered her as of yet".
I have no doubt that she will walk on and be a contributor to any program. Still a great overall athlete but in my opinion but never made the commitment to become great at one sport. I know that this is not a popular point of view and I remember being judged by parents from REC back in the day for moving DD from our local travel team to a regional team. There is no one size fits all approach and guess what, the multi-sport athlete doesn't have a clear advantage when it comes to playing in college, I'd argue it's a disadvantage to those who want to do so. Just my point of view.

A friend of mine was a 4 year starter in HS in 3 sports, soccer, basketball, and softball. Never played travel ball in any of those sports except as a guest player occasionally. She went to a large school and all of her teams were very good. She then went on to be a D1 softball player and two year starter. Every athlete is different so there is not a single correct way to do it. As long as they stay healthy and engaged, leave them alone and let them do what they want.

 

[ang2bmd]

Well high school softball is getting ready to start here in Indiana. Will see if my kiddo earns her 3rd varsity letter of her freshman year. Funny that the sport she plans to play in college is the one she will have the hardest time making varsity on as a freshman. Extremely strong program with multiple upper classman P5 D1 commits. School is middle size but the soccer and basketball programs aren't strong programs right now. She works so hard at sports and school. Lifts 3 days a week. Hits formally twice a week and practices preseason 3 x week. Somehow still studies, has friends and makes straight As. Blessed

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[_MIA_]

Well high school softball is getting ready to start here in Indiana. Will see if my kiddo earns her 3rd varsity letter of her freshman year. Funny that the sport she plans to play in college is the one she will have the hardest time making varsity on as a freshman. Extremely strong program with multiple upper classman P5 D1 commits. School is middle size but the soccer and basketball programs aren't strong programs right now. She works so hard at sports and school. Lifts 3 days a week. Hits formally twice a week and practices preseason 3 x week. Somehow still studies, has friends and makes straight As. Blessed

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Does she play club/travel for basketball or soccer? A weak bball program in Indiana?
My DD's HS is the opposite. Bball is really strong and softball not so much which is kind of weird since we live in Norman, OK. Not sure how it will be by the time she hits HS in 4 years but if history is any indication it won't change.

 

[uncdrew]

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.

I agree. I think the athlete was amazing and could play many sports well. Not that playing many sports made her much better at any of them. We'll never know, but she could have been way better at any one of those sports had she specialized.

 

[uncdrew]

My daughter loves to compete. She plays 10 Varsity sports. She is not the best at all of them (volleyball, cross country running, Nordic skiing, rifle, tennis, wrestling) but has made the State Championships in all of them. We are very remote: taking planes to basketball games, 700 mile bus trip for Conference opponents... but those are the trips and experiences she values most of all.

She has traveled across the globe for track, softball, baseball, and basketball. She is very busy during the summer but has gotten encouraging feedback from college coaches on her athleticism.

Playing a lot of sports and trying new ones (represented USA in international competition for *table tennis*) has definitely shaped my daughter in ways playing only softball never would have.


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You win Santa.

I'm a big fan, by the way. Keep up the good work.

 

[ang2bmd]

Does she play club/travel for basketball or soccer? A weak bball program in Indiana?
My DD's HS is the opposite. Bball is really strong and softball not so much which is kind of weird since we live in Norman, OK. Not sure how it will be by the time she hits HS in 4 years but if history is any indication it won't change.

Nope not anymore. She used to through 8th grade for basketball and summer after 6th for soccer. She just athletes her way in soccer because she's so fast. Basketball just isn't a big thing in our school. Teams not bad....winning record 2nd in sectional but not great. She played just enough to earn a letter. Shes learning there that she might need to spend a minute on some skill development if she wants to keep playing. Softball team is a perennial power program. Had 3 peated for the state title and had a solid shot at the 4 x when covid hit. Back in the days of early verbal we had d1 commits that didn't make varsity freshman year so its a tough environment. Twice a week preseason practice for now. Her travel team practices on Sundays until the official start of practice on 3/8

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[karnog]

I think the "evolution" of youth sports now vs. even 5 years ago, much less 10 years ago, needs to be taken into consideration. What kids experienced 5-10 years or more ago cannot be compared to today's kids. Year-round travel, club, AAU, etc. programs have taken over youth sports. The traditional fall, winter and spring sport seasons have gone the way of the dodo bird. Competitive kids/parents feel compelled and pressured to specialize in one sport early or be left behind ...and they will be left behind. That's the sad but true facts.

DD is in 8th grade and has been in a year-round softball program for 5 years. Needless to say, she's pretty good in softball. However, she also enjoys playing basketball. She's athletic and sports come naturally to her. So over the years, she's played the usual winter basketball season for her school and in 2018 and 2019 was able to play fall AAU and attend a couple weeks of camps in the summer. This past year, due to COVID and other factors, she didn't play any AAU basketball or attend camps. She tried out for the winter school team and barely made the "A" team because her skills just weren't there. Every other kid on her team plays basically year-round basketball, including during COVID. I know by high school, she can kiss playing basketball good bye. Her skills will simply have fallen too far behind ...unless she takes some time away from softball and puts more time into basketball. And then she'll lose a little of her edge in softball. That's just how it goes. It's the reality of youth sports.

Can some kids play multiple sports and excel in all of them? Sure, but I think in today's environment, those kids are far and few between.

Even schools are struggling to have the best players on their teams. There's a soccer program in our area that has kids who want to play in their most elite program sign a contract that they will not play for their school team. Why? Because more and more colleges look for players in these year-round programs and less at schools.

Here's another example of the hit schools are taking. Anyone watch that Game Ready YouTube series that came out just before COVID happened? It's a docuseries about a couple 18U SoCal travel teams. One of the girls who is a pitcher decides to skip her last year of high school softball to save her arm for the upcoming travel season. She wanted to assure being in her best shape and being seen by college recruiters in the showcase tournaments they were playing in. What a blow for that high school team!

 

[Orthodoc]

Santa... that is awesome and kuddos to you for being able to provide those opportunities.

For the argument of multi sport athletes vs single specialization....
Double edged sword for sure. There is some decent research out there suggesting that multi sport athletes have less overuse injuries (81% higher in most recent Cleveland Clinic study). Of course another source of injury is the strength discrepancy cause imbalances in joints. Some of those get lumped into overuse and some are not recorded as such. The volleyball ACL plyometrics study from a few years back was a real eye opener. The hypothesis being that plyometrics in collegiate volleyball players decreased their risk of ACL ruptures. The argument that comes from that is that plyometrics is similar to doing multiple sports. That can be a bit of a stretch, but not out of the question.
What I have seen as a real issue is the mental and emotional side of being a single sport athlete. Burn out is real and your child may not tell you about it because you are as invested (or more so) as they are. I see it in my practice several times a year. High level athlete comes in with an issue that I can’t seem to identify any pathology for. As I’ve gotten older, I have come to just straight up ask them if they need a break from things for a while. Sometimes it’s like officiating a break up except between parent and athlete. To be fair I see this some with multi sport athletes who just don’t want to play anymore, but not to the same level as single sport athletes.

The upside of being able to polish your skills early as a single sport athlete cannot be ignored. The kids that avoid the injury bug, don’t burn out, and dedicate themselves to one sport seem to have an advantage.

Everyone’s road is different. As an upper extremity surgeon, it is my recommendation to have an honest dialog with your son or daughter and make sure they know your aren’t going to lose your mind if the answer isn’t what you want it to be. If they want to be a SS athlete, great! Just make sure you do plyometrics training and take some time off to recover mentally and physically. If they want to be a multi sport athlete, great! Just make sure you carve out some time to work on the sport she is most passionate about and make sure they mentally do not burn out. Additionally, you must Accept the possibility of not being able to hone your skills at a level that your competition may. It isn’t a guarantee, but generally speaking two equally talented kids will have different skill levels if one practices more than the other assuming it is the same quality of training.