Multiple Sport Athletes

[joncarl]

Soccer mom, hockey dad mentality. Almost reaching baby beauty pageant levels.
A life for the parent as much as for the child.

I think it is more for the parents, whether it is trying to relive their youth or for a 'scholarship' to pay for college. If they actually took all the money they spent on club fees, travel etc they would have been able to pay cash for college. I don't fault families for wanting to do this, anymore as the kid gets older if they haven't 'kept up with the Joneses' they very well may get left behind. It is the youth organizations that are at fault.

 

[wcbsas]

My football coach really wanted us to play multiple sports, if for no other reason than to stay in shape, improve hand eye coordination, and improve overall athleticism. I likely went a little over the top and played football, basketball, baseball, wrestled and boxed. Jr. and Sr. years I added hockey and lacrosse. Loved both but neither were available my Freshman or Sophomore years. Looking back, I should have deep sixed basketball and baseball because I really wasn't very good at either.

Football at the high school level is about whomever has the best collection of athletes. Most coaches want them to play multiple sports - many push them towards track & field and wrestling. But do something - be athletic. My brother-in-law (a swim coach) had the football coach at his school guide his players to swimming for the conditioning, flexibility and endurance that sport provided. One year my BIL had the teams entire offensive line (250+ lb guys) swimming a relay for his program .... was fun to watch!

 

[Cornhuskers7]

They don't hand out scholarships and NIL in HS or middle school.

Tell that to some of these softball parents of 9 year olds...

 

[NorthwoodHusker]

I think it is more for the parents, whether it is trying to relive their youth or for a 'scholarship' to pay for college. If they actually took all the money they spent on club fees, travel etc they would have been able to pay cash for college. I don't fault families for wanting to do this, anymore as the kid gets older if they haven't 'kept up with the Joneses' they very well may get left behind. It is the youth organizations that are at fault.

Yep, it spreads like wildfire, but Tilly is going to going to Hawaii for the all American Beach volleyball extravaganza.

 

[wcbsas]

It would be interesting to see how IMG handles multi sport kids.

Yeah ... multi-sport
.... fall season - football,
.... winter season - weight lifting/conditioning,
.... spring season - 7-on-7 football
.... summer season - sprinting/weight lifting/conditioning

Exception to the rule ... exception to the rule

 

[NUinID]

I'm a high school basketball coach ... I believe basketball is a skilled experiential sport. You need a certain set of skills and you need experience - you need to know what to do when in certain situations. Having said that in most cases good to great athletes are necessary and needed. I'd rather have a great athlete and average skill guy over a good skill guy who is an average athlete.

I would never turn away a kid who wanted to play who was a good athlete but if i have another good athlete who's working at his skill set ... all things being equal ...

Playing in a small town likely means you don't have great numbers ... impressed that there were enough to fill 3 teams. My question is what are the team's competitors like ... are they skilled? Do they have post-season success? The conference I play in sends kids to the University of Iowa State and University of Texas among other colleges. We are playing extremely skilled players ... throwing good unskilled athletes at great athletes who are skilled is not a recipe for success.

I don't want to start an argument in this thread. Your response sounds exactly like what I would expect from a basketball coach.

Every sport is a "skilled experiential sport" not just basketball. One night at the all sports clinic in Lincoln my AD, an old basketball coach, and my head football coach almost came to blows because the AD insisted that basketball was a skill sport and football was not. The funny thing was that my head football coach was a multisport athlete at Black Hills St. in football basketball and track.

 

[CrabHusker]

Football at the high school level is about whomever has the best collection of athletes. Most coaches want them to play multiple sports - many push them towards track & field and wrestling. But do something - be athletic. My brother-in-law (a swim coach) had the football coach at his school guide his players to swimming for the conditioning, flexibility and endurance that sport provided. One year my BIL had the teams entire offensive line (250+ lb guys) swimming a relay for his program .... was fun to watch!

I really wish I'd have spent more time in the pool for those very reasons. Easier on the joints, great for endurance and works muscles in a completely different way. Shoulder injuries have limited my shoulder ROM, but it's something I'd still like to spend some time with, even at my 'advanced' age.

 

[Pops]

Multisport athletes participate in a range of sports and activities as they are growing up. They have the opportunity to try different things, instead of committing to one sport and practicing it throughout the year. According to the NCAA survey of college athletes, the sports with the highest percent of multisports athletes were football, lacrosse and track.

71% of DI men’s football players were multisport athletes.

A few surprises in the data behind single-sport and multisport athletes

Is it realistic for your student-athlete to play multiple sports?

usatodayhss.com

 

[Cornhuskers7]

I don't live in an area where soccer is a huge sport so I will take you word for it. I have a lot of first hand experience with bball coaches as a coach and as a parent.

I live in a small town of about 2100 in Idaho. My youngest, like @CrabHusker was the shortest power forward on the team as a freshman. Scrappy player plays good defense will score 4-6 points a game have 4 fouls and the most rebounds on the team while defending against a guy 5" taller than himself. Loves football more than basketball. Between his freshman and sophomore year all summer, the coach, wants kids coming to open gym and playing summer league basketball. He makes it to a few things but he is working and making money and lifting at night.

Before this season teams have always been split up freshman, reserves and varsity, always. This year the coach has an"C" team then reserve and varsity. My son and a couple of other sophomores are placed on what used to be the freshman team instead of the reserve per usual and there are 3-4 freshman playing reserve that made it to all the summer workouts. He never said at the beginning of summer that you need to be at x amount of things. He never said we are now having a C team instead of a freshman team.

So my son and the few other Sophs played out the season and then never played again. My son wrestled his last 2 years of HS. The thing is that Parma, my son's HS, wasn't any good at basketball basically the whole time he was in HS. They won maybe 4 games a year tops. Those 3-4 kids that coach ran off would have helped that team. One kid was 6'2" and another was 6'5" by the time they were seniors. He wanted kids to make a choice, and if you weren't all in on basketball than he didn't want you.

The head BBall coach at Norfolk where I taught was the same way. Wanted guys in the gym 24-7.

It's a tough situation as a coach. I can understand wanting to provide opportunities for kids to get better and rewarding people for their hard work. Basketball has certain skills, more so than some other sports, where there are certain skills you only develop by working on basketball (dribbling, shooting). If you don't touch a basketball for 8 months, you lose quite a bit.

That said, I played sports at a small private school and am involved with another one right now. When you have a small school, you can't afford to have people specialize in stuff. I was a three sport athlete my Senior year and two sport the rest of high school. If you didn't play multiple sports, you didn't have enough people to be good.

I think being multi-sport makes you a more well rounded athlete. That said, you get out what you put in. I know a number of multi-sport athletes that are working year round on each of their sports. That is how the manage to stay good at all of them, especially if you go to a school that is big and is competitive in a lot of things.

 

[Cornhuskers7]

I really wish I'd have spent more time in the pool for those very reasons. Easier on the joints, great for endurance and works muscles in a completely different way. Shoulder injuries have limited my shoulder ROM, but it's something I'd still like to spend some time with, even at my 'advanced' age.

I did swim team with our high school team when I was in 7th grade. Swimming is one of the toughest sports, in my opinion.

I moved away after that school year to a place where swimming competitively was essentially no existent, which is a shame because it was great exercise. Had I been able to keep swimming in the offseason, I think it would have helped me out a lot!

 

[Cornhuskers7]

Multisport athletes participate in a range of sports and activities as they are growing up. They have the opportunity to try different things, instead of committing to one sport and practicing it throughout the year. According to the NCAA survey of college athletes, the sports with the highest percent of multisports athletes were football, lacrosse and track.

71% of DI men’s football players were multisport athletes.

A few surprises in the data behind single-sport and multisport athletes

Is it realistic for your student-athlete to play multiple sports?

usatodayhss.com

I'll also say that most people who are athletic enough to be D1 in football were probably athletic enough to be really good at other sports without putting in a lot of extra time. That stat has been floated for a long time, but I'm not sure if it is being multisport that makes them incredible athletes or if they are incredible athletes and therefore they can be really good in a lot of sports.

 

[wcbsas]

I don't want to start an argument in this thread. Your response sounds exactly like what I would expect from a basketball coach.

Every sport is a "skilled experiential sport" not just basketball. One night at the all sports clinic in Lincoln my AD, an old basketball coach, and my head football coach almost came to blows because the AD insisted that basketball was a skill sport and football was not. The funny thing was that my head football coach was a multisport athlete at Black Hills St. in football basketball and track.

There are degrees of skill ... if your a good to great athlete ... you can find a spot on the high school football team ... may not be QB but the sport lends itself to athleticism ... the more athletes you have, the more successful the team can be.

Basketball too has spots for good to great athletes ... they again may not be the guys asked to score 20 points per game. There is a need for someone to rebound, defend ...

The ability to shoot a ball is a learned skill. The ability to have a counter move is a learned skill. And its not just basketball, its volleyball, soccer and baseball. There are specific skills that a newcomer cannot be expected to master by showing up at the beginning of the sport season. If a good athlete shows up at the beginning of a football season, most schools will find a spot for him - tight end, guard, tackle, special teams ... he may not beat out guys who've worked at the sport harder than he has. Its the nature of the sport ... football needs 11 athletes, basketball needs 5!

 

[Cornhuskers7]

I don't want to start an argument in this thread. Your response sounds exactly like what I would expect from a basketball coach.

Every sport is a "skilled experiential sport" not just basketball. One night at the all sports clinic in Lincoln my AD, an old basketball coach, and my head football coach almost came to blows because the AD insisted that basketball was a skill sport and football was not. The funny thing was that my head football coach was a multisport athlete at Black Hills St. in football basketball and track.

Ball handling and shooting are skills that only develop through repetition. Football has certain skills that are that way, too. Throwing a football would fall into that category. However, there are other skills like catching, running, which can be developed in other sports. Football has a lot of technique, but that isn't as much of a use it or lose it skill.

 

[wcbsas]

I'll also say that most people who are athletic enough to be D1 in football were probably athletic enough to be really good at other sports without putting in a lot of extra time. That stat has been floated for a long time, but I'm not sure if it is being multisport that makes them incredible athletes or if they are incredible athletes and therefore they can be really good in a lot of sports.

A D1 caliber athlete in any sport likely has had success in multiple sports. For the vast majority of us we will never experience being that athletic where our size, speed, strength, quickness, athletic IQ, competiveness are transferrable from sport to sport.

 

[TFrazier]

You basically described me as a basketball player, but I didn't quite hit the '4-6' points per game. I averaged 2 pts, 11 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 fouls a game. Yes. I fouled out of every game I played in as a senior.

I bet you had a few inadvertent throat punches in a couple of games.