Is the risk worth it?

I left it up to my Son.
But if he wants to go to College, What sport give's him the best Chance of playing? The EH

mom:

I have always believed it is better for a kid in high school to play as many sports as possible. And, in regard to the injury factory, there are indeed risks (and not just in football) but there are risks (repetitive motion injury risks) inherent in focusing on a single sport.

It's tough to do this in many instances because of the level of competition. But nothing is guaranteed later and the fun and memories inherent in the high school experience with a multitude of sports can be irreplaceable.

I will add, however, that there are no clear cut answers to this dilemma and that every decision depends on the individual and his own unique situation.

In terms of playing in college, as long as he can develop his skills and posesses the requisite talent, then most coaches I know strongly advocate playing multiple sports.

Wow,..you all replied! Thanks sooo much!
Really helps to get advice from other people not in our little local community. Always good to hear other advice, especially from others of you who are going through the same thing, or have been in our shoes. I welcome all opinions and sooo aprreciate your time and interest! Kudos to you jemaz especially,...you're awesome!
Thank you thank you! Consider it all VERY valued!

jemaz - nice post - you pretty much said what I wanted to say. I believe it should be the son's decision. Life is a risk so you might as well enjoy yourself. You can never go back and reclaim things that you bypassed in highschool.

shortstopmom - welcome to the hsbbweb

As long as your son Wants to play let him, I have the same problem although I did get mine to give up football, He realized that the risk of injury was tooo great for him since his body is still growing.. Just basketball and baseball now. I wish you and son the best of luck!!!!!

Yes,..its the Varsity football that I'm worried about. He plays receiver ( go figure ) and gets crushed by BIG guys in our 6A league! ( he's only a sophomore ).
But,..as lots of the people here have said, the memories are priceless. Would just hate to see an injury hurt him from meeting his baseball college dreams.
Hmmm,...perhaps golf or chess? I could live with that! ha!
Thanks soo much for your time & thoughts!

I agree with jemaz too. My son played baseball and football in high school and while I didn't like him playing football it had very little to do with the fact he had already signed a NLI to play baseball and was being courted by professional baseball ---- although I did use those excuses. I didn't like him playing football because of the injury factor. There are other things that should be considered before a student athlete devotes the majority of his high school life to JUST sports ….. like academics, family, social life etc.
In my son’s case I thought it would be selfish of me if I denied him the opportunity to play football. We did discuss the pros and cons ( I got my objections in) and after the discussions I told him it was his call and I would support him one way or the other. He opted to play football and like some others have said, he does have a lot of memories because of it.
Unless there are unusual circumstances I think it should be the player’s call.
Fungo

My son is a lefty pitcher. He was also a defensive back/wide receiver for our football team. He also had signed a LOI. It didn't cross my mind for him not to play, however, we had lots of comments about our sanity. Football in our area is huge. At one time it was his favorite sport. I can honestly say our football coach does an excellent job of teaching proper technics. I do think that if you have a coach which isn't good at this the injury rate increases. We did survive his senior year with him receiving conference and state honors.

Let your son play as many sports as he wants to. Multi-sport athletes are becoming fewer and fewer unfortunately but alot of baseball coaches will tell you that football can actually enhance a baseball player.

In my son's case it definitely does. He is a QB on the varisty football team and he will be the first to tell anyone that football has taught him a level of toughness and leadership that baseball never could. Baseball is a great game but it certainly is not physically demanding as football is. My son is convinced that football has made him a better baseball pitcher.

Now his mother and I do hold our breath every time a DE knocks him into the parking lot from his blindside. I am always relieved when he scrapes himself up from the turf....

Ahhhh,..at last lots of advice from people who know what I'm talking about. I see I am not the only one who feels like the gray hairs are multiplying by the handfuls during football/basketball season,...with baseball around the corner. Most of our boys who play baseball on our highschool team are just that,..sole baseball players,...so I havent had alot of parent resources to discuss the risk factors with. Some people in our town have told me having my son play in a variety of Varsity sports for 4 years is too risky and they got me worried. Was I doing the wrong thing? Cant imagine telling my son he couldnt play if he was so passionate about it and worked hard to keep up the grades to go with it.
Were a military family with a dad who is deployed most of the time,...so just the ol' mom keeping things in check. Gotta cross the t's and dot the i's and you all have been SOOO much help!!!
Keep the advice coming! Its a BIG help!
Thx!!!

I agree with it has to be your son's choice. My son also played multiple sports at a high level.
In his senior year he cjose to play basketball and no HS baseball. He played Elite baseball which went all year and was at a higher level.
He did suffer a sprained ankle which put him in a lite workout mode for 4-5 weeks but it was not serious.
You have to allow them to enjoy the HS life but try to minimize the risk. Bsaeball could end abruptly and he would have missed the experiences that last a life time.

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Have told this story before but it appears worth repeating...

Two tall boys (6'6")..baseball was absolutley #1...against the advice of all, played four years of hoop...loved every minute...one even went through a serious career threatning knee injury in hoop just before the all important junior baseball summer...if you asked either one they would not have traded hoop for anything...

Why?...Nice Break from baseball - time for healing the body (arm), freshens the mind...
Great cross training conditioner - still using it even in college...Great Prep memories...Second sport doesn't carry the intense "future" pressure that baseball carries...Learned some really great leadership skills on champiosnhip teams...Individual awards - all league, MYP, all county - built confidence...I believe that coaches and other players had an increased respect for them as athletes and as leaders...

44

I get disappointed anytime I hear of any adult (parent or coach) who discourages a high school kid from playing other sports. Injuries can happen anywhere.....my son injured his shoulder in his car.....was never injured playing football or basketball........

In all my years as a college coach, I never heard one player tell me that he wished he would have given up other sports earlier......but I have had them say that they wished they would have kept playing other sports longer.

It is sad to me that some people will doscourage their kids from a fun, good, educational experience such as playing multiple sports.

We would not support son playing football....any other sport....but not football. That was decided very early on.....he chose to just play baseball.....he tried golf but gave it up.....said it adversely affected his baseball swing.......We were always in favor of any sport or activity that kept him busy and out of trouble.....except football!

quote:

......but I have had them say that they wished they would have kept playing other sports longer.

My husband's father insisted that he quit baseball in high school in order to concentrate just on football. He did end up with a very nice college scholarship; however, TO THIS DAY, he resents that his father insisted he give up baseball!

Let him play what he wants. He could trip over a crack in the sidewalk on the way to class and get hurt. At least if he's playing football, he'll know how to fall.

My 07 son has done three sports (football, wrestling, baseball) since forever. I've never had a problem with those. But after his freshman year he worked out a deal with his mother that if she allowed him to race motocross he'd get his grades up. Since then he's been on the honor roll every semester, something he'd never managed before. So on the one hand, it's a good thing. On the other, my stomach twists everytime I see him doing the jumps and riding full out. But what can you do. Football and wrestling are to pass the time, baseball is his natural sport. But, as he likes to say, riding is his passion. As a father I just pray he can stay healthy in the one so he can do the other.

It is just an odds thing. Like some of those game shows.

The odds are overwhelming in some cases.

For instance - If you play football - you will most likely be injured. The real question is the severity level.

Depends on what you are risking - and what you are gaining. And I mean that in the overall sense - not the financial sense.

For us - it was a no brainer - just about every other sport was low risk.

Football is maximum high risk.

Interesting choices IMO.

Good luck.

I tend to agree with Its on the risk/reward issue. I tend to view the rewards differently, though. For our son, football helped instill a sense of mental toughness, discipline, sacrifice, playing a true team game and playing 100% at all times. Personally, I think football provided both a mental discpline and physical toughness that has served our son very well when he then focused solely on baseball (intramural football excluded) in college. While there is no way to prove this, I tend to think he would not have the mental strength that has helped him so well in college and professional baseball had he not played high school football.

Infielddad...my husband played football, baseball and basketball in high school. His first love was baseball, but unfortunately he injured himself in football such that he ended his future in baseball.....and maybe as a consequence.....he did not want son to play football....but has said exactly what you have to say about football....that it taught him mental toughness and discipline.....and that there were times when he wished his son could have experienced the discipline of the sport too.....and in his life....he feels that the football training has stood him well.....

LadyNmom, we appreciated that risk every game. His senior year he was the only quarterback on his team. That wasn't the real issue though. The issue was he was a passing quarterback at all of 145 lbs in a running offense that used the quarterback... as the lead blocker. Played every down of every quarter, with a lot of parental anxiety. Nothing like watching him lead into a hole occupied by two tackles who average 325 lbs....and come out the other side.

My reply is a little different from some of the others. My son was an amazing, dominating football player. As a Freshman, he was a 235 lbs lineman. Both his Freshman and Sophmore years he was the only player on a very large team that went both ways (offense and defense).

Last year (before his Junior year started) he came to me and said that he did not want to play football, but that he wanted to focus on baseball. His reasoning was that if he played football, they would require him to lift weights to continue to get bigger/stronger. But if he was going to have any resonable chance of playing baseball in college, he felt like he needed to lose weight and become faster.

Personally, I was a little disappointed because I loved to watch him "dominate" the opposition. And I always felt that he would have easily gotten a football scholarship if that is what he wanted.

But I left the decision up to him, and supported him 100% once he made his decision. Bottom line, he was right. His focus on baseball has enabled him to make significant improvement in his baseball skills. And he has lost 20 lbs over the last year instead of gaining another 20. He is very excited about a full spring and summer of baseball, and hopefully signing in the early period in the fall. (He is a LHP who hits with power and has a 4.0gpa)

I'm glad my son followed his intuition and I am REALLY glad that I allowed him to make that decision without interference from me.

You'll never know what you missed if you don't play.

My son played three sports. As a sophomore sitting on the bench his basketball coach talked him out of quiting to play baseball. He was lucky to be talked out of it as his team very unexepectly won its league, section and came within one game of the state championship in his senior year. I have a picture of him defending against a kid now playing for Gonzaga --which makes for a pretty cool discussion at this time of year.

As for football he can tell his friends he was the "talking" captain on his football team and his co-captain was a kid who won a MVP award in a major bowl game this past fall.

None of this could happen if he didn't play.

Oh, and he had a great time doing it all.

It's High School folks, let em play......but keep on them about their grades! To many of you worrying about tomorrow. Take care of them yes and love them.

quote:

Originally posted by infielddad:
I tend to agree with Its on the risk/reward issue. I tend to view the rewards differently, though. For our son, football helped instill a sense of mental toughness, discipline, sacrifice, playing a true team game and playing 100% at all times. Personally, I think football provided both a mental discpline and physical toughness that has served our son very well when he then focused solely on baseball (intramural football excluded) in college. While there is no way to prove this, I tend to think he would not have the mental strength that has helped him so well in college and professional baseball had he not played high school football.

You make the point better that I was trying to make: football can and does make a better baseball player.

The Dallas Morning News ran a very interesting page 1 article in their Sports section about two years ago. The article was about the high predominance of "ace" high school pitchers in the DFW area that also played football - and more specifically QB on their football team. To a man every player interviewed for the article stated that they played football number one because they enjoyed it but also a close number two because it made them a better baseball player.

My son is a pitcher and QB also. He will tell anyone the same thing: Football has given him an edge in mental and physical toughness that those who do not play football do not possess. In addition the off-season conditioning and strength program has increased his speed, agility, strength, and endurance tremendously. Those are all qualities that help a baseball player and especially a starting pitcher.

Is there a risk of injury? You bet...but there is also HUGE risk of injury every time he goes out on a Saturday night with his friends or goes hunting or fishing. Should all those activities be cut out just because there is a 0.05% chance that he might make his living playing baseball? Not in my mind. These teenage years only come around once in a lifetime. You can only experience "Friday Night Lights" once in your life.

I would not take that away from my kid for anything.