Another vote for playing multi sports

Timely post.  My son and I were just discussing this last night.  He is a soph and this was his last year playing football.  70% sure it was his last year playing basketball as well.  We were at his end of year basketball banquet last night and the Soph coach had a discussion with him and asked him to reconsider the basketball thing.  He was a little down on himself through the season as he did not start, but he forgets that he entered the season hurt and then injured his back during the season as well.  He missed about 8 games total due to injury.  Coach told him that if it wasn't for the injuries he would have had a lot more playing time.  They were being cautious with him to make sure he healed up well as they knew he would move right into baseball season without any rest.  

Not sure the title is accurate.  He mentions the very young ages.

 

I think it is poor work when someone doesn't do any research before writing an article like this.  Dexter Fowler is someone we are very familiar with.  In fact, he is one of my most favorite kids that we watched play when they were young.

 

For those that follow travel baseball, Dexter was a mainstay for East Cobb. He played a ton of Travel Baseball both summer and fall for several years before being drafted and of course he played HS ball in the spring.  He in fact played baseball from coast to coast long before he graduated from HS.

 

Kind of a bad example for that article. BTW, Joe Madden should take a closer look at his roster, because it is and will be loaded with Travel Baseball players. Especially all the younger guys that are so promising. They all played Travel Baseball at a high level.

Kids should play as many sports as they want to play. If they decide that one sport is the only one they really want to play then fine. If they decide they want to play more than one fine. There are examples of kids that played multiple sports and it worked out great. There are examples of kids that at some point and time played only one and it worked out great. Are you going to make your kid play 3 sports in HS if he only wants to play one because you heard it will give him an advantage? Are you going to make your kid give up other sports so he can focus on one? This is a tired old worn out subject imo.

As a sox fan and cub hater I don't much care what madden has to say lol.  But in all seriousness it is very fashionable for some reason now to bash specialization and laud the idea of 'kids being kids' and playing all the sports in season.  Of course we all look at things from our own situations.  And my son loves baseball and can't get enough.  He has played football but all the brain injury stuff frankly has us spooked so he doesn't anymore.  He plays on a top level AAU basketball team and by some miracle of god he will be able to make 75% of those games between baseball events.  We considered playing two baseball teams and skipping basketball but he opted to play AAU cause he has great teammates and it was a ton of fun last year.  So we do the multiple sport thing, BUT... baseball is king and pretty much year round for him.  He is not a natural and really needs to work at it if he is going to play at the level he wants to play at.  And I also tire of hearing everybody say 'dreaming of playing mlb' as if its a negative.  How many kids have ever put that uniform on and did not dare to dream a little.  So why is it ok to dream but not ok to work towards that dream?  Especially if you see your dream is within reach?  My son's only dream right now is to play D1 baseball at the highest level possible.  Until someone actually presents EVIDENCE that playing multiple sports helps MORE than specializing I will continue to see these statements for what they are - anecdotal!  And remember its a chicken and egg thing - did most mlb players become mlb players cause they played other sports?  Or did mlb players play other sports in their past simply because they were good athletes?  Saying X% of mlb players played multiple sports in high school is NOT evidence and proves nothing.

The problem arise when the HS coaches start to push the kids to play "their" sport.  If there is a conflict, do you go to summer basketball or summer baseball or the 7 on 7 football league? 

I used to like you.  But now not so much.    Go Cubs! 

       
       
Lol.  Remember its hate the sin not the sinner!  I still like you and forgive you for the very serious baseball transgression of being a cub fan!  In the immortal words of Led Zeppelin (or robert plant as the case may be),  there's still time to change the road you're on!

Different folks for different strokes, is what I say. What I don't like is when someone says that their kid played 3 sports never had a single lesson and he was drafted and played in the minors for 20 years, so apparently what we did was right and everyone else is wrong.

CUBS  ( Completely Useless by September )

 

GO CARDS!!!!!!

Look, if Joe Maddon is talking about 12-13-14, I don't think many people would disagree with him. But this is a weird, recurring topic in the baseball community. Consider the following:

(1) About two-thirds of the high schoolers picked in the first-round the last couple of years played only baseball for their high schools (I posted the list on another thread on the same topic). Has that somehow hurt them? Does that make them unathletic?

(2) Almost all -- yes, of course there are a few exceptions -- college athletes play only one sport. Is there something magical about age 19 that makes it perfectly normal and acceptable for a 19-year-old (college freshman) to play only one sport, but a horrible miscarriage of justice and the American way for an 18-year-old (high school senior) to play only one sport?

(3) The vast majority of top-level (i.e., NBA potential) high-school basketball players play basketball year-round and play only basketball in high school. Do basketball dads get concerned about this and think that it somehow makes their kids unathletic?

 

This year 2019Son has played on his middle-school flag football, soccer, and track teams, in addition to playing baseball on his travel team. So year-round he is playing other sports. But in high school he wants to concentrate on baseball -- and I don't think there is anything wrong with that. 

Oh, and Kris Bryant played only baseball in high school -- Joe Maddon might want to re-think Bryant's status as the Cubs' (and MLB's) top prospect.

Great comments from others.  And as I have said on similar threads the borderline kids may need to specialize even more!  Common sense says the more baseball you work on the better you become at baseball.  The more basketball you play the better you become at basketball etc.  I remain open for actual proof that shows multiple sports make you a better baseball player...  I don't think it will be found.

Im with Golfman25.  Now that I know your a Sox fan, I may have to request an ignore button be added to the website.  Go Cubs.

The better athlete you become the better player you can become. You don't have to play multiple sports to become a better athlete. But you also don't become a better athlete simply by playing games either. The advantage of playing much more baseball than another kid will be surpassed by the superior athlete once they enter HS in many cases. One player might be more fundementally skilled at fielding a ground ball. The other is quicker, stronger, more athletic. Once they learn proper fundementals, game over. But that better athlete might just be the kid that didn't play multiple sports. In that case game over.

 

If a kid is going to play one sport in order to gain an advantage. Or play one sport in the desire to devote all his time to one sport so he can be the best he can be. It is crucial that they understand a huge part of that is not actually playing games. A huge part of that will become working towards becoming a better athlete that will allow them to play at a higher level. Getting faster, quicker, stronger, more flexible, etc. Now they can use other sports to achieve that goal. Or they can learn that getting better at baseball doesn't always mean playing the game. A large part of a player's time in college working at getting better is not spent on a baseball field. And it is not spent with a glove or bat in the equation.

 

I see this debate as being silly. Let kids do what they want to do. If they want to play encourage them to play. If they don't want to play don't force them. There is no right or wrong answer imo. If your pushing your kid to multiple sports because you think its going to give him an advantage thats sad. If your pushing your kid to specialize because you think its going to give him an advantage thats sad as well. Let him push it. If this post offends anyone I did not write it to offend. I never do.

Extremely well said! Coach.

 

 

Some coaches are not looking for a raw athlete to develop. Therefore a descent player doesn't make the squad for the first time in his life and now he moves on to something else, which is also fine if that's the path they choose. Being good, or working real hard at baseball is not for everyone. I know a kid that was average at best across the board on everything he did, including walking. At 6'2" his Freshman year he quit basketball to concentrate on baseball, in 3 years he has gone from 80-91and is very polished and can get outs. Focusing on baseball instead of sitting the bench in basketball has done him well.

Nailed it, Coach!

       
       
There is an ignore button!  You can block people.  Haven't done it so I don't know how it works.  And I am sure you would not want to miss out on my south side wisdom.

Timely topic as my 2017 just had a heck of a week last week due to being a dual sport athlete.  

 

His dilemma, his last week of swimming taper toward competing in the State finals which he qualified in 4 events (the max) for, versus baseball tryouts which is his "main" sport.  

 

Thanks to district clusterbleeps, practice and tryouts were at the same time.  Of course both coaches expected his full and undivided attention but he made the decision to split the week and go to tryouts Mon/Tues and swim on Wed/Thurs (meet was Friday).  

 

The results, a nod to JV (V carrying 22 players, zero sophs) and a 25th place finish in his solo event and a new personal best and school record and 19th place finish in one of his relays.  

 

V HC said he looked rusty at tryouts but understood why and I expect him to show his excellent conditioning, speed, and strength in the first part of the season and hope he'll get a call up to support the V squad in the stretch run.  

 

Having the 2nd sport keeps him focused on the two sports and school with a side of girls, which is a perfect combo to keep him moving in the right direction in all of them.

       
       
Congrats to your son.  The amount of time and dedication swimming takes leaves little time for anything else.  My younger son is a swimmer.  One of the best distance swimmers in wisc.  #1 in his age in 1000 free.  That was my proud papa moment for him.  But beware if your son is a pitcher.  My baseball playing son we took out of the pool because there is almost universal agreement that swimming and Pitching is a recipe for rotator cuff disaster.  Might want to do some research.  Best of luck.

I have a 2017 UT/P who has a dual sport "problem", too.  Soccer and Baseball.  In Hawaii the soccer season this year ran until the end of Feb. S was called up to V in January at end of JV soccer season, which made us all very happy.  Unfortunately, Baseball tryouts started around Feb 1 with a NEW coach.  Old coach had already talked to us about S having a spot on V, and not to worry about the overlap, but new coach didn't know S from a hole in the ground. S made what tryouts he could when there wasn't soccer and fortunately impressed enough to make V. But he's still working into baseball shape and the V season is almost a third over.  Are other parents dealing with overlaps like this?  How do you help your kids get their arms in shape?  Just wait and start throwing after the competing season is over?  Thanks.

I was looking up one of my son's former LL teammates who play(ed) for Florida until three surgeries ended his career. I found an article on Kevin O'Sullivan talking about multi sport athletes. In this case it was two of his players who also played high school hockey. He's pro multi sport. He said it's good to have different kinds of coaches in sports with different levels of emotion. He also commented on their athleticism. Those (the hockey players)  are probably the two players he would stand behind in a basebrawl. 

Thinking Coach May is also an English/writing professor on top of what appears to be one great coach. I agree, there simply is no right or wrong answer here. In my case, I made (regrettably) the decision to specialize in football starting Soph year. Being in a large metro area my friends and I were able to play in some great HS rec league basketball and baseball leagues. The same Dads who coached us in LL coached those teams for us as well. They actually drilled us pretty good and ran what felt like real teams. We were able to grow athletically as Coach May mentioned by putting in the extra work and conditioning. It wasn't just about the games. There was no stress about conflicts with our priority sports for the HS. At least 10 of us are all still good buddies and have a drink -or a few- several times a year with the Dads. If you are good enough to play (not benchwarmers)  2 or more Varsity HS sports at competitive HS, I say go for it. Those are memories that can last forever, unless you played football and can't remember anything.