football and baseball oftern don't mix

You hit the nail on the head..I face it where i'm at every day and its a 5A. Most mine end up migrating to baseball and I start very few football guys, but it wouldn't have to be that way if some of our football coaches could check their egos at the door. I have two football guys starting..Up from 1 the past couple years..We actually have two more that would be, but one tore meniscus powercleaning on max day and another tore his shoulder up and tore acl in football season.Just had 3 football players bolt and go srtraight baseball. Puts me in bad spot since I coach football also. Love both sports, but our kids are pushed to max. 6:30 am powerlifting starts.. Unbelievable reps and load issues.. At 7ball offseason begins..Again insane running program. Then they suppose to come practice baseball that afternoon.ha

Amen to both posts, at our hs, moe than several soph's have quit football to play only baseball or basketball. The reason as the two prior posts mentioned...off season football every morning until school is out in May. Lifting weights during baseball for pitchers, crazy. Even if you are injured, you have to show up every morning. Our football coaches totally toss a side spring sports as if they are nothing. I am trying so hard to get my son to quit fb and concentrate totally on academics and baseball. We attend a 4-a school in Dallas.

I have been lurking on this site for the past couple of years with no good reason to post, but this thread, for some reason, got to me. I have a son who is a freshman and plays both football and baseball. He got a lot of pressure to quit baseball this year after being the only fish to be moved to varsity at the end of the football season and for the play-off run. The pressure did not come from the coaches but from other players, upperclassman, that had quit baseball. Now he is a lot better football player than he is baseball, and is slated to start at MLB next year as a soph,but he no slouch in baseball, he won the staring 1st base job on the JV over a Jr and soph. He and I had a long conversation about him quitting. I told him that the decision was his and his alone, but not to be influences by a bunch of kids that were not in his athletic category. I told him that the rosters were full of kids that could not handle playing both sports and that most of it came from not having the extra social time. I realize that it take a great deal of commitment to play two sports and also get the school work in, but there are kids that do it all the time. The professional rakes are full of guys that that played multiple sports, but of coarse they are the special ones. It take a special kid to play multiple sports in high school they have to be dedicated, focused, and a good athlete. But those kids usually go on to be exceptional men in what ever they decide to do in life.

C'mon now...REALLY??? Surely you must be over-exaggerating??? Football coaches demanding this stuff out of two sport kids??? You mean kids actually decide for themselves at 4A and 5A schools to choose to play only ONE sport???

Those of you that know me on this board know that the above is EXTREMELY SARCASTIC!!!

So much I'd like to say but it's best to just let a sleeping dog lie.

Big_Red, nice name.

Also, I was under the impression that football and baseball played in different semesters! You would think something could be worked out, or they could cut the dual sport athletes in half.

quote:

Originally posted by Big Red:
Big_Red, nice name.

Also, I was under the impression that football and baseball played in different semesters! You would think something could be worked out, or they could cut the dual sport athletes in half.

They are separate semesters, but our boys from football, that wanted to play baseball, were told they
had to stay with football in the spring semester they could not change to baseball if they did then consider themselves cut from football next year. They could go to baseball after school but HAD to do off season football 1st period.

It can be done,playing both sports. Its not easy and my son was ready to call it quits. He was an all area athlete on the football field but desired to play baseball at the next level. When his football coach heard he was playing tourneys during football season his all area awards this year suddenly were not to be had. They are educators first. What they taught them was how to hold a grudge and cheat a kid out of having a dream and punish those that do.

good points. understand that they those who elect to play both are required to stay in football class during baseball. remember ad is football coach, baseball coach reports to ad. Example, my kid kicks off his day at 6:00 a.m. with football conditioning and position sessions, then 4th period football, then baseball afterschool. message to oneself---only trust one-self and what you control.

Playing multiple sports is tough especially at the bigger schools.

What I see at our school and don't understand is the how they treat baseball. When football season ended the football kids that play basketball got to go to basketball during the athletic period. The kids that play s****r got to go to s****r during the athletic period but the kids that play baseball had to stay in football. What's up with that?

My son is a freshman and is actually getting pulled in the other direction. He is being really pulled into the baseball only direction but his first love is football but knows that he is a better baseball player.

Well I have dealt with this for three years. My son is junior starting varsity bb for the second year after finishing a great 2nd season as a varsity fb player. He loves playing both, great at both, but prefers bb for the future. Keeping that in mind, parents always worry but I think a little more in football, especially that my son is a WR and gets hit often and even in practice. Next year as a senior, he will make the decision to come back or give it up (I am an unsure at this time). I know it be alot of pressure from the fb coach, my son started every game, 31 catches, 550 yards and 7 TD's. He has been contacted(emails), by a few small D3 schools due to his good grades and smaller size(5'9) but his heart is with baseball and I don't want to see him get hurt and miss out on his senior year. Very tough for a parent, but I will have a talk with him after summer ball. He gave up basketball and track before high school and now maybe one more. He has the baseball talent for small D1, D2 caliber for sure and that is where the time and money is going to. Future looks bright in the great world of Baseball. Thanks.

Big Red,

What's wrong with lifting weights during the season? I've talked to several college coaches who lift during the season. Most college programs will lift 3-4 times a week in the Off-Season, and 2-3 In-season to maintain. Lifting weights is great conditioning for pitchers and catchers. As long as the coach takes care of the players arms, then I see nothing wrong with it. Weight training is a GREAT thing for ball players.

Ben...nothing wrong with lifting weights during baseball as long as it's related to proper lifts and not max lift designed for bulking up. In this particular case, coaches didn't care about players arm. We lifted through baseball with proper supervision and designed for baseball players. Agree with your points with assumptions.

I see what your saying but some workouts are percentage based, which sets and reps are collected around a player's max. So depending on the workout, your son might be testing because of the particular workout the coach is doing. In my experience, percentage-based workouts are the most effecient. If you don't max out every 6-8 weeks then the player will not gain strength because he will be doing workouts based on his original max. Not very effective. From your viewpoint, there's no excuse for a coach not caring about a player's arm.

quote:

Originally posted by gamefever:
When his football coach heard he was playing tourneys during football season . . .

Playing two sports to me means to be 100% committed to the in-season sport. The football coach SHOULD me mad that the kid is playing baseball tournaments during football season, just like the baseball coach SHOULD be mad when he finds out the kid is playing AAU basketball or is in some 7 on 7 league during baseball season! Just my opinion.

I hear these same stories around here, from parents at 2A through 5A. My son faced the same thing. He pitched on Varsity at a 4A school for 4 years, while working out offseason as a Varsity defensive lineman for 3 years. Those two workout (lifting) strategies definitely don't compliment each other. Some days when it was his turn to pitch, his leg muscles would be so sore from football lifting that climbing the mound hurt. Football was king, so baseball just had to deal with it. The majority of the baseball starters were also football players. They had success in both sports, but I think baseball could have been something special with some cooperation.

Reading these posts make me glad that Catcher is a baseball only kid. However, I do hear about these issues from other parents and it is concerning, especially when we're talking about fb players that are also once-a-week pitchers. I greatly understand the dynamic of Texas High School Football, as I was a part of a 5A State Champion my senior year, but at what point as a parent do you have to raise a red flag to the coach (whether it be the ad or the baseball coach)? After all, this is your kid's health. The decision to play two sports doesn't diminish the passion for either one during the off season of that sport. If anything, it makes the athlete that much better through increased coordination and overall athleticism. I know that it's always taboo to bring up any issue with a hs coach, but at the cost of your kid's health? Don't think so.