Multi sports athlete

This has been a subject many times on this site....best advice I ever heard was "Play as many sports as you can as long as you can" our experience was that college coaches liked recruiting multi sport athletes. The injury debate will come up....you can be injured just concentrating on baseball.

You might want to reduce it down to two sports to allow your son to prepare for,the baseball season but again if he loves playing multi sports I would vote to let him.

good luck

Welcome Beerdad,

The first advice I received here was from a wonderful lady who has since passed on Futurebackmom (Maryanne Shapi) any way but she always said "play both sports until the competition tells you otherwise"

I would have him keep playing as many sports as he can until it becomes obvious that he has to concentrate on baseball only. The time that this will likely become apparent is in the summer/fall of his Jr season which is the high recruiting period for baseball players. 

It will become self evident I think.

Good Luck!

If it was me, of the three I would loose the football.  Unless you're a division 1 prospect, not a lot of good things come out of it health wise.  Basketball is a sport, requiring more athletic skills -- I equate it to "fun" speed and agility type of training.  It will keep you in shape.  Only downside is potential overlap with baseball season/training.  Good luck.   

Keep playing.  My son played all three sports for 4 years.  You get something different from each sport.  Basketball and football are good becuase you get to play in front of and/or near hostile and noisy spectators, something baseball players often don't experiance until they play at FSU, USC (east coast), Fullerton.... btw basketball was the most dangerous for my son, the gym doors, walls and stands didn't move or give much when he ran into them.

Enjoy the high school experience. Play as many sports as possible. Then if you feel he needs off season development heading into junior year to be ready showcasing the following summer, skip basketball and spend winter focused on whatever development is needed for baseball.

This year entering high school my son made the decision to drop football and basketball. 

Football because the coach has no flexibility whatsoever when it comes to other sports and here your athletics class is your PE so he would have been stuck in football class all year missing out on a lot of reps. 

Basketball because he was self aware to know that riding the pine and missing out on the first few weeks of baseball were not going to benefit him.

It was a decision I tried to stay out of.  Wasn't upset that he quit football but wouldn't have worried had he made the decision to do so.

As others have stated I think if an athlete has the ability to play after HS in any sport it becomes apparent to them when the time comes that it is time to give up other things to maximize that opportunity.  Some kids are simply talented enough they don't ever get forced to choose and still realize the opportunity they desire.

Great question.  My son is an 8th grader (6'3" 155 pounds) and I was pondering this the other day.  He currently plays football, basketball and baseball.  My wife works in the school district as an administrator and we know a lot of the HS coaches.  We attended HS orientation the other day.  Each sport has an information station setup.  Each one of them were putting the pressure on my kid to make sure he is planning on playing their sport in HS.  Having had an older one who played football for the school and baseball for a travel team I know the time commitment that one needs to make to be successful.  I am concerned about burnout with all the camps and length of practices, etc.  I had a pretty long talk with the basketball coach (who coaches my kids travel basketball team).  His basic advice was listen to your kid.  He will know when he feels like its time to drop a sport.  Once he makes that decision you need to be supportive of he choice no matter how much you want him to stay a 3 sport athlete.  He told me that there are kids who do it these days but its rare.  I was really surprised when he told me that basketball - baseball was a better combination for the kids to manage.  I thought it would be football-baseball. 

As a HS Coach here is my input.  I do agree with what a lot of these people say, play as many sports as possible.  However, it is not always that simple.  You state that your son's passion is baseball and he wants to pursue baseball after high school, this to needs to be taken into consideration, and defined.  What I mean by defined is, what type of college and level is wanting to play at, at the next level.  If small college and JC is ok with him then he may very well never have to give up any sports. If he is attempting to go the D1 route he may very well fall behind. As a parent you need to understand that his skills might allow him to always be a starter in every sport based off the talent pool at his school.  This does not mean he will be ready to play college baseball.

Yes I know college coaches recruit multi-sport athletes.  I also know a lot more recruiting is going on outside the high school world during travel baseball as well showcases.  Is your son going to afforded the luxury of going to those during the summer while football is going on?  Also basketball and baseball do overlap.  Is your son getting his reps privately and playing catch to be with or ahead of the curve during basketball season?

I don't know your son and I do not know the school he attends.  If he wants to be a D1 baseball player, and can compete in all 3 sports and still have D1 coaches that are interested in him, I say go for it.  However, if he wants to be a D1 player, and he is not got that type of interest you might need to reevaluate the situation.

he should play the sports he wants to until he decides on the one he wants to concentrate on

My 2014 played 3 sports as a freshman....2 as a sophomore...and now down to one as a junior.  We let him do it at his own pace and as he wanted.  There are no regrets by him or us by allowing it to be his decision.

It tough to be "great" at three sports. Most of the kids I know who play beyond HS focus on one sport. Many coaches say they like the multi-sport player but I have witnessed it work against some. It really depends on the sports and coaches. Both my boys quit s****r before HS to focus on baseball, they both will be playing at the next level. It worked for us but you are the only one who make that decision for your son.

Good luck

Thanks for all the input, he has told me he is thinking of giving up basketball next year, it does interfere with baseball more than football. I think part of wanting to give up basketball, is being with his buddies, most of them are on the baseball team and I think he feels like he is way behind because  he is in basketball while they are getting ready for baseball season. By the way, baseball starts here just a few days after basketball playoffs starts.

My 2015 son is also thinking of cutting from three sports to one. He is definitely dropping golf in the fall but I would like to see him stick with basketball. At 6'4" he is a big at our small school. I think basketball requires better conditioning and athleticism than any other sport.(Don't Hate me! JMO) Football here interferes more with baseball than basketball. It begins in June with conditioning and seven on sevens eliminating summer and fall baseball.

If your son truly has potential in baseball why would you risk even the slightest chance to an injury in another sport. I know there are upsides to playing other sports but a football injury can be devastating and not worth the risk. Our HS catcher who had a verbal to Arizona State just tore his knee up playing basketball and had to have surgery now can't catch. I don't think people realize what it takes to get interests from college coaches and be the one they will give money to for college. The competition is fierce and expectations high!!! Take it from a parent who knows how good it is to not stroke tuition checks to a D1 college and my son played baseball year round by his choice.

Was just reading a great article on this very topic. Check it out:

http://www.nextlevelballplayer...lay-multiple-sports/

College coaches just want good kids that play great baseball and parents that don't interfere. Play any sport your comfortable with and have the talent to have fun and get to the next level. Be blessed for good health (no injuries) work hard and the bottom line is college coaches don't care what you did for sports yesterday they want you to perform today and tomorrow better than the other players on your team your competing with at the level they need you. It becomes a business very quickly!

Batting cages, that was an interesting link, I can see where college coaches are coming from, from their perspective. I agree with tmac2 on the injury issue. My biggest fear about my son playing football is getting injured and ruining his baseball future.

Seems like good advice from many on this string, however I don't think there is one answer for everyone. 

Factor in the kid's desire to play all sports vs. one sport, their desire to be with friends, the parent's desires, money commitments, year round travel teams, off season conditioning, overlapping seasons, potential long term talent, etc... and each kid/family need to decide what works best for them.  Beardad, you say his future beyond high school is baseball-- it that's his passion, I'd make sure the other activities did not interfere with but rather supported this goal.  How you do it is up to you guys.  Good luck.

This is a classic discussion on this board.  Everybody's situation is different.  There are some kids who are passionate about a particular sport, and others that excel at another sport with the possibility of playing in college.  I don't think there is a wrong answer or wrong decision to be made prior to verbally committing in college.   The best of both worlds is to be passionate and excel at a particular sport, then the decision gets a little easier.

Personally, I think once money is on the table (scholarship or admission offered) for college then I think the decision to play an alternate sport changes.  You've verbally committed to play a sport in college and you need to focus your attention to your health, and that future sport and situation.  IMHO, I think it would be best to drop  other sport(s) at that time.

Well all said and done the above varied opinions have just about covered most pro's and cons of which way to and/or not to go if one is an athlete competing in two or more sports, the reality of it all is what we all need to be aware of is that to be able to compete at the top of one;s game one must be dedicated enough to spend day in and day out perfecting their individual skills on the sport that they want to excel in and where is the time to do so when one goes from one season right into another?   A couple of years ago I talked to a dad during the end of baseball season whose son a then up and coming Sr.who also played basketball who never touched a baseball until basketball was over all of the sudden he decides that he was interested in playing baseball in college, now here comes basket ball again and a very short baseball season following,my suggestion is for the parents and athlete as a sophomore sit down regularly at least during the next two seasons and very seriously talk things over without any pressure from anyone one way or the other especially from various coaches not touching a baseball during basketball season cut his ability to enhance his baseball potential tremendously.in my playing days sports were seasonal without the advantage of indoor facilities.I have the same basic problem to contend with as an independent baseball teacher/instructor, which is based on scientific research not on old conventional opinionated belief's I have a baseball student who pitches and plays first base and also plays varsity football and basketball we started baseball lessons two month's ago and between this and that coming up along with his basketball involvement we are back to square one each time, with school ball coming up we are possibly still looking at square one,my main reason,attitude and interest for instructing is to work on my students individual skills especially pitching within a regular continuous time frame within a regular consistent cycle to enable their learning curve to perpetuate and continuously grow as each one's mental and physical capabilities will allow not just to have them come in for a lesson and see you next week, thirty minutes to an hour per. week is just futile to the learning process.to me it is very disgusting to teach under those conditions, I like to see player development/improvement which is the results of my teachings.all in all there are some very important decisions to be made, I also was involved in making a decision, all mine, one way or the other, football or baseball, luckily I made the right one because I knew that I was much better at playing baseball and consequently was very fortunate enough to have been offered a contract in the Phillie's organization of which allowed me to break a still standing record and compile a very high RBI total.

Work diligently and constructive and reap the results

kom_don

417 830 9137

Excellent post, kom don. I think the end of his sophomore year is the time to decide if he wants to concentrate on one sport, or continue playing more than one. My sons passion is baseball, he is a pitcher and playing basketball definitely interferes with him being ready to pitch early in the season. He does work on his own time to prepare for baseball, but that time is limited due to basketball practice and games, along with schoolwork. I agree with many on this topic, that everyone's situation is unique. I believe he will probably play only baseball after this year. He will be able to play summer and fall baseball if he decides to concentrate on baseball, however the choice will be his to make.

One of the issues that you need to guard against is that the coaches in the sports he is participating in are out for his well being(health) and development.

My son was a football and baseball 2yr letterman in each at a 5A HS in Texas.  He liked football but adored baseball. Again I said Texas HS Football and he was the starting QB his Junior year and starting pitcher and outfielder begining his junior year. 

The football coach did not have my sons well being and health in mind. He would make him participate in off season weightlifting and conditioning during last period and then release him, usually late, to go and participate in his baseball practice that was in season. His baseball team would have already been out there for an hour, stretched, warmed up their arms, etc. and he would have to jump into fielding and throwing drills after running to the field, changing his clothes and putting on his cleats as fast as possible to get in his work with them.  

Thats the way they do it in Texas. Football takes precedence over all other sports period.  We knew it wasn't right at the time and my son was totally exhausted all the time.  We used to justify it by saying "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger".  He would have to tell the coach his arm hurt so he wouldn't throw at off season football so he would have something left for baseball that day.  Only on game days was he able to concentrate solely on baseball for the day. One time he had to tell the baseball coach he couldn't play in the game because they had made them lift so heavy and hard the day before that he couldn't get his arm up over his head. I had repeated conferences with the head football coach and athletic director at the school after this incident and other requirements due to football but to no avail. Eventually the wear and tear on his body led to two stress fractures in his back and that made the decision very easy.  He had to take off three months during his senior year from football to help his back heal. This didn't quite do the trick because halfway into his senior baseball season he reinjured the back swinging and was done for the year and another 3 months off with no activity.  Bottom line is if these coaches are after your son to play their sport for their best interests and not your sons then it is time to step aside. If your son is as good an athlete as he sounds like he is, that talent will come out and take him to the next level in whatever sport he decides to concentrate on.

Luckily my son is now healthy and ended up signing to play baseball at a top NAIA baseball school here in Texas.

Good luck and good health to your son.  Multisport athletes are a treasure and usually are the best athletes at a school. I hope your multisport expierience is better than ours.

I came across this article that is about hockey but applies to all sports.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com...s/8043213/story.html