Playing 2 sports

Mine is a position player who stopped playing basketball for his Sr. yr in HS (he switched high schools). The decision was his. The HS baseball coach at his original school could not stand that he played varsity basketball, especially when they made the playoffs and it interfered with a baseball scrimmage. My son feels very strongly that basketball helped him stay athletic and improved his mobility and speed. As parents, we were very grateful that he had a friend/support group outside of the baseball team.

2023 played the widely hated, almost sport of football (pansy euro style; not the real red/white/blue type) which helped with burn out and gave him a different friend group.   That said, I know of a 2023 P5 LHP commit who just shredded his knee playing basketball.  The hindsight vision scope would say... WHY?!   

@Dadbelly2023 posted:

2023 played the widely hated, almost sport of football (pansy euro style; not the real red/white/blue type) which helped with burn out and gave him a different friend group.   That said, I know of a 2023 P5 LHP commit who just shredded his knee playing basketball.  The hindsight vision scope would say... WHY?!   

The interesting point about the unfortunate incident of this player is offseason lifting and speed training could lead to the same injury as we all likely know. I understand being a college baseball recruit and stopping with football - the goal there is to punish the opponent. But soccer or basketball I think would have more upside than the possible downside of injury. I’m sure there are plenty of torn muscles in the weight room - those just don’t get shared or talked about as much as an injury during a sporting event.

My 2024 quit playing basketball after his freshman year.  He says it was of the best decision he's made.  He was able to keep putting on weight and working out without running for 2-3 hours every day.   I was not happy about it but he looked at me and said, "Im going to play D1 baseball in college...not basketball."

Needless to say the basketball coach was NOT pleased, as my son is 6'5"

@Somewhere in the USA my son broke a finger leaning back in his chair in class. LOL He also broke one playing in a charity basketball game so there's some truth to both...

@Master P you do make a good point. My son had a hard time keeping weight on during basketball season. That is definitely something that is personal. Could be a good thing or a bad thing. For mine the extra weight was beneficial.

One thing my son tells kids when he talks to them is to not forget to keep things fun. He had some friends who gave into the pressure of the coach and stopped playing basketball after their freshman year. It didn't magically make them college baseball player stars and they missed out on the fun of playing basketball and regret it. If it is something your kid loves to do, please take that into consideration. You don't get those years back.

Final question, does your son's college coach have an opinion (my son's college coach liked it and even has a football player roaming his LF)?

Sons played football,  basketball, and baseball.  Interestingly, on son's podcast, where we interview the players at Tennessee, almost all of them played 2 sports in HS and several played 3.  It takes away from lifting but it gives back many things.  Chance of injury is probably no higher than anything else.

@Somewhere in the USA posted:

The interesting point about the unfortunate incident of this player is offseason lifting and speed training could lead to the same injury as we all likely know. I understand being a college baseball recruit and stopping with football - the goal there is to punish the opponent. But soccer or basketball I think would have more upside than the possible downside of injury. I’m sure there are plenty of torn muscles in the weight room - those just don’t get shared or talked about as much as an injury during a sporting event.

Chances of an injury playing hoops is far greater than lifting or speed training. The training is done in a controlled environment and likely with some sort of trainer guiding the exercises. A hoops game is full of unpredictable movements at 100% effort. No way the two are in the same category for injury risk.

@Master P on my son’s recruiting trips all the college coaches said they liked their pitching recruits to play basketball - helps taller Ps stay athletic. Also, all of those coaches ironically were former HS basketball players and tall themselves.

The point about keeping weight on during all the running of basketball is what concerns me. My son’s basketball coach has them running a ton and he needs to put on weight not lose it.

To help this, his trainer has him taking Creatine and upping the carbs. Hope that helps.

if your son is already committed I would say play away, he will gain more then he gives away. If he is draftable might be a different conversation. 

  There is really only one answer to the question posed by the OP. And that answer is : it depends on what is most important to your son.
  The pros and cons have been pretty well identified. Personally I fall on the side of playing basketball b/c I can relate. I was in the exact same situation as your son when I was in HS. And I gained a lot of athleticism from playing basketball that really helped me on the baseball field. I also got injured more playing basketball than any other activity I ever participated in. But in my case the pros outweighed the cons. And I like baseball players that also play basketball b/c they tend to be better overall athletes - which is important as you advance to college ball as position changes are common and versatility can get you on the field.
  So IMO it boils down to what your son gets out of playing basketball vs what he loses if he doesn’t. You can (and should) help guide him but only he knows what is in his heart.

Brett Baty's dad is the HS basketball coach at our local HS.  He quit basketball after freshman year I believe.  He played again senior year because some of the scouts were questioning his athleticism.  He was the top scorer in quite a few of the games (on a really good team that made it into playoffs)  and was drafted (for baseball) number 12 overall in 2019.  Already made his major league debut and is projected to start this coming season.  If he enjoys it, play.

My son played football and basketball. He didn't get as much play time in basketball  and he felt he could better use the winter to weight train for baseball. He decided he could play in a drop-in basketball Saturday program in the winter to keep playing. He stopped playing football when he realized politics and daddy football was more a priority over putting the best team on the field. Figured fall ball would be more fun, so that's what he does. Still throws a football regularly. Played QB in PE this fall and the school's starting QB was on the opposing team. Exposed to his peers and the PE staff that maybe the current starting QB isn't the best choice.

Mom;

In California, the Pro Scouts during the "off season" will scout the track team, basketball teams evaluating baseball players also playing 2-3 Sports. Sports Illustrated did a great article on the psychology of the football player and alternate sport.

Bob

My son stayed a 3-sport athlete before and after he committed to a DI mid-major.  He played football, was a wrestler (took 2nd place at State Championships) and of course, baseball.  He wouldn't have changed his path for the world.  He also lifted multiple times a week (during wrestling and football practices it is a requirement) and still went to baseball practice 2x a week during football and wrestling season.  He will tell you that wrestling was by far the best sport that also helped him in baseball.  Wrestlers are a whole different level of athletes!  He is a catcher and he said the flexibility in wrestling helped him as a catcher.  He did quit wrestling his freshman year and was miserable.  The following year he went to talk to the wrestling coach to ask him about coming back and explained that he might have to miss a couple of matches for some baseball tournaments.  His coach told him that they would rather have him there most of the time than not at all.  He has a friend that quit hockey his senior year to concentrate on baseball and 5 years later he said he still regrets it.  You can't ever get back those high school moments and the bonding with teammates/classmates.  It's always ultimately your son's choice, but IMO, if you can make it work...do it. 

Knock on wood...never had any major injuries and I do attest that to the multiple different muscles he used in each sport. 

Since he's already committed (and even if he wasn't) I'd say play basketball and have a great time with his friends.  Playing two sports or more in high school is a great thing. College, not so much

This is always an interesting topic to me as people have strong opinions both ways.  We had lots of baseball people advise us that our son should not play basketball past sophomore year.  (For all the reasons listed above; injury risk, weight, not enough time to train for baseball.) We had to think long and hard about it, and ultimately deferred to the kid, who wanted to play.  (Again all the reasons above; athleticism, FUN, competition.) Now when people hear that he is playing basketball they only have positive things to say about it.  What happened to all of the extreme naysayers?  Or do they now only say it behind our backs?

First, I played football, basketball and baseball in high school. I also skied on my own. I grew up in an era of play the sport in season. When the kids were little (daughter five years older than son) they were introduced to as many team and individual sports as possible based on the season.

By high school my daughter (played college softball) played volleyball, basketball, ran second team 200m and 400m relays on Saturday nights for indoor track without practicing and softball. Because there tend to less number ot athletic girls they were encouraged to play multiple sports. Even a girl who made Team USA at sixteen and js now considered the greatest American in her sport played a second sport.

My son had played travel soccer since he was eight. When he got to middle school he switched to football. He also played basketball and baseball. Heading into high school he decided he didn't want to risk football injury and missing any basketball or baseball. He returned to soccer. As a whole the boys coaches didn't like varsity athletes playing a second sport. It was a large classification, very athletically competitive high school. My son was playing three sports.

The soccer coach was very unhappy with my son playing other sports and not playing for an elite summer soccer program. He appeased the coach by attending an elite summer goalie camp on weekdays.

My son was the starting  point guard on the JV basketball team freshman year. There was a lot of speculation he would start varsity soph year. He was the ideal point guard. He was in search of the perfect pass on a team full of gunners.

I came hope from work one evening to find my son slumped on the coach. He was cut from the basketball program. Not even returned to JV, cut. By happenstance later that night I ran into the coach that night at the grocery store. He explained he cut my son because he was on varsity soccer freshman year, expected to start at short in basebal soph spring and never showed up for one optional basketball workout all year. In the years my kids were at the high school only two basketball players played two sports. Both were 6'7". One went on to play for Man U and in the MLS. The others tonight to be an NFL edge rusher.

My son continued playing basketball in our town's very strong youth basketball program. Jv, freshman and varsity bench players not getting minutes were allowed to play. An all star team probably could have competed as a 3A (of 6A) high school team. A former NBA player/dad would siting the stands at the high school games screaming at the basketball coach his best point guard was sitting in the stands. My son eventually thanked him and politely asked him to stop.

Not playing school basketball allowed for two positives things. 1) It allowed time to workout and bulk up. 2) He stopped running of a bunch of weight in basketball practice. The baseball coach had been a two sport high school athlete. His attitude was play any sport you want. But you better show up day one in mid-season form. Freshman year my son was at baseball training at 5:45am because he had basketball practice in the afternoon.

Back to football ... My son stopped playing football after middle school out of fear of getting hurt for other sports. He tore his MCL and PCL the first weekend of post junior year playing travel baseball. He spent months on crutches. All the hot onhis trail college basebal programs disappeared (it all worked out). Then he fell and separated his shoulder, requiring surgery doing rehab on his knee. Before getting injured the football coach saw him punt a soccer ball and recruited him to punt for the football team.

To net it all out it's a matter of balancing the situation. Do what you love. Play hard. Don't think about getting injured. If you fear injury, don't play.

Add note: College coaches say they like multi sport athletes. The reality is they like the best baseball players even more regardless of multi sport or not.

My 2024 LHP/1B is now playing basketball and baseball - basketball helps with his athleticism (very important for a big guy).  In middle school he was playing four sometimes five different sports a year including travel baseball, AAU basketball, and ice hockey (essentially another travel sport).  He gave up ice hockey to play school tackle football.  Gave up football after two years because football related injuries to hands and ankles forced him out of fall baseball seasons.  Played AAU basketball last two springs while also playing varsity hs baseball.  I think he is done with AAU basketball and will use the newly found available time to immerse himself into S&C and more baseball specific skill development (private instruction).  He is verbally committed to a college now, otherwise I think he would have dropped out of hs basketball to focus on the late fall college camps and  winter recruiting/showcase events.

The 3-sport kids in my local area are a dying breed.  Every sport wants the kids 6 days a week in season, and 3 days a week in the offseason.  My son will likely miss nearly all winter "voluntary" hs baseball winter workouts due to schedule conflicts ... to say that his hs baseball coach is not happy, is an understatement. 

Sounds like some crappy coaches!  My son's football coach did not want to work with him so, yes, he was "sick" on a lot of Saturday morning film days (as we were driving to a baseball tournament) but can't give enough praise to his wrestling coach.  Since he agreed to work with his schedule, my son worked extra hard for him and made it work for his practices and matches every chance he could get.  The coach knew baseball was his #1 sport and that he was going to play in college, but he also knew he was an athlete and wanted him on his team as well.

Talk to your coaches.  Some might work with you more than you think.

My 2023 played basketball and baseball youth till middle school.  We allowed him to play football middle school so he played all 3 sports for several years.  When he got to HS, he dropped basketball as it's hard for him to keep up with the tall kids and basketball overlaps too much with baseball.  He was the starting QB and punter for his HS football team his senior year.  He does go to a small private school so that allowed him to play multiple sports.  The coaches are happy to get whoever can play so the HS coaches were very supportive of multi sports athletes.  The baseball and FB coach coordinate with each other to make sure there are no conflicts.  The coaches watches each other's game.  I do see the baseball coach cringe though whenever the football coach calls a QB run.

I do think that while most college coaches say they appreciate multi sports athlete (and I think most of them genuinely do), it did hurt my son's recruitment when he missed the crucial baseball recruiting period during the fall of his junior year when he dislocated his finger from football.  No matter how much college coaches appreciate multi sports athlete, not playing in some of the fall tournaments (the big ones at Jupiter and Ft Myers) limited his exposure.  He's the type of baseball player that won't impress college coaches with his numbers, they need to see him play.

As an uncommitted senior, a lot of baseball people were telling my son that he should skip football, focus on baseball during fall of his senior year and hit the fall tournaments, camps and showcases.  He still played football and had fun.  During football season, he committed fully to football.  The same baseball people that urged him to not play football told him to skip on one of his football games against one of the weakest teams in their region during PG Jupiter tournament weekend.  He said he has to meet his commitment and will not let his teammates down.  He played football Fri night, we went straight to the airport after his game, showered in the airport lounge, arrived at the hotel in Jupiter at 1 AM, and he made it to his team's last final pool play game at 8 AM Sat (thankfully, they made it out of pool play so he got to play more games Sun).  The 8 AM Sat game is when the college coach saw him that he eventually committed to.

I did admire his commitment and I have to believe that the character he showed playing multiple sports, the hard work, and commitment to the team and not just thinking about what's best for himself, will pay off in the future (even if it did hurt him in the short term from baseball recruiting standpoint).

Here is the first advice I received at this site many many  years ago from someone I wished I had met and who is no longer with us: Mary Ann Shappi @futurebackmom in 2007. Advice is the same today...

"Play both sports until the competition tells you otherwise"

Blessing to her family and best of luck to your son.

BOF;

Great "statement"!  During our MSU Rose Bowl and College World Series, we had all 3 QB and one Hockey player on the Baseball Team.

The result of cooperation with the Athletic Dept.

Bob

Coaches at all levels seem to give lip service to the pros of being a multi-sport athlete. However very few I’ve been around actually endorse or accommodate it with their scheduling  

Back when us the parents were in HS, maybe coaches back then weren’t keen on it (unless they coached different sports) but had to be open to it since it was the norm  

Now that it isn’t the norm coaches have reacted differently.

The amount of time and requirements both travel and HS coaches ask for make it difficult to entertain multiple sports - especially at the crossover points of the season.

Thats why I always find it ironic when a coach says “yes go play another sport when the season is over “ then he schedules 4 practices/workouts per week during the offseason.

Son played basketball and baseball since he was 5.  They won the JV conference (good group of players).  Played freshman year for the HS JV team.  But working out, playing basketball, and keeping up with school work proved challenging.  Plus, he lost weight with all the running in basketball.  However, he loved it.

He stopped playing HS basketball going into his sophomore year.  Worked out really hard with the "big boys" to make varsity.  He did.  Committed right after his sophomore season.

He went back to playing basketball but at a rec league.  No practices and two games a week.  They wound up playing some teams of "baseball players" at other schools.  He had a blast!  Less time and pressure.  They won the championship his jr and sr years.

(He was a mid-infielder). 

Son played football and baseball through High School.   We had a firm stopping point in Summer baseball and the only overlap were a couple of Summer football team camps where we prioritized the team camps and drove to baseball as soon as they were done.  Our showcase director was fantastic about working with kids who played football and finding fill ins if you had to miss or moving your pitching schedule around.  Son was a QB so missing football was just not something that was possible.

For my son, high school football was a far greater experience than high school baseball.  He learned so many valuable lessons and had great leaders up and down the staff.  Baseball was pretty much the opposite of that in high school.

My advice is to let your kid do what he wants.  We all have this dream of playing college sports, but a lot of kids get to that level and realize it's not for them.  We tend to focus too much on the future instead of enjoying the moment.   I wouldn't let adults (coaches, parents, friends) dictate what your son does.  It's his life and you only get to play high school sports once. 

As in most things, it depends on how good you are as to what they’re willing to let you do. Both sons played football on Friday nights and travel baseball on Saturdays. Travel ball coaches worked with them and allowed them to miss early games most weeks. but again it’s according to who needs who. Middle son played a complete game on Friday night in the rain, we drove to showcase tournament at University of North Carolina, could not find motel. Literally slept in the parking lot on the ground. Made a great impression on the pitching coach who drove up that morning and son was sleeping in the parking lot and then pitched  an 8 AM game.   When it came to Jupiter, both times we drove down, they pitched the first game and we drove back through the night so they could be at school on Friday to be eligible to play Friday night since both were quarterbacks.    When it came to summer workouts, both sons lost their starting role for the first week as quarterback because they were not at summer stuff due to summer baseball and then won it back normally halfway through first game.    I must admit in both cases I did feel sorry for the other kid that was starting quarterback all summer and worked really hard and did all the 7on7 and workouts then got beat out when season started. Basketball was never a problem because we did individual stuff and through getting ready for the first scrimmages, which would never until after basketball was over.   They both did go straight from basketball playoffs and literally stopped on the baseball field the next day and normally pitched.  

Perfectly said, Dmac....couldnt agree with you more on everything you said.  Grow where your planted.  Looking back, I fell for it too.  Colby's entire hs career I had college in mind without stopping to smell the roses as much as I should have as a parent.  Luckily I think he did though.  Now, college is going even faster than high school did.

My son played HS basketball through his junior year. He was terrible. His best friend told me he had never seen anyone work so hard and be so bad. He was very good at hammering the other team's scorers, though, so he usually played until he fouled out. :-)

I know his college coaches called the basketball coach for a reference on him — questions like, how does he react when he doesn't play much?

He also played a year of rec soccer with his HS friends his sophomore year, ran two years of cross country in middle school because his youth coach said he needed to play a fall sport and he wouldn't play football. We all credit cross country with helping develop tremendous leg strength.

He's had two players on his college team who played a second sport at a P5. One basketball, one football. Everything you read about them says _______ will be really good at __________ when he decides which sport to focus on.

@Somewhere in the USA posted:

Coaches at all levels seem to give lip service to the pros of being a multi-sport athlete. However very few I’ve been around actually endorse or accommodate it with their scheduling 

The amount of time and requirements both travel and HS coaches ask for make it difficult to entertain multiple sports - especially at the crossover points of the season.

Thats why I always find it ironic when a coach says “yes go play another sport when the season is over “ then he schedules 4 practices/workouts per week during the offseason.

This is what my baseball / basketball '25 is currently experiencing.

Coaches have been verbally supportive, but then critical for missing time for their team.

My son goes to a large public school with approximately 3500 kids. I was stunned to find out how few multi-sport athletes there are. He is currently the only player in the baseball and basketball programs that plays more than one sport. And he is no Bo Jackson. Football / track is the only other male multi-sport athletes he's aware of.

Obviously school size and quality of available athletes plays a huge role , but in our situation the coaches actions don't often line up with their words.

@DaddyBaller posted:

This is what my baseball / basketball '25 is currently experiencing.

Coaches have been verbally supportive, but then critical for missing time for their team.

My son goes to a large public school with approximately 3500 kids. I was stunned to find out how few multi-sport athletes there are. He is currently the only player in the baseball and basketball programs that plays more than one sport. And he is no Bo Jackson. Football / track is the only other male multi-sport athletes he's aware of.

Obviously school size and quality of available athletes plays a huge role , but in our situation the coaches actions don't often line up with their words.

This makes me so sad. 

I’ve seen it first hand in emails and in person from coaches - the travel or HS baseball coach says to the players “ok, who here also plays basketball?”

It sounds almost like “ok, who here has been convicted of a crime ?”

To answer the OP, all of my kids played multiple sports, including the one that went on to play college ball.  I coached HS during some of those years so was able to see it from both the parent and the coach perspective. 

To those of you critical of coaches' position, it isn't easy having players come into the program late (after their previous season sport ends) when others have already faithfully committed several weeks to earning their spots and honing their skills - definitely a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.

Son's talent level as compared to his HS peers was such that he could afford to have overlapping seasons and not suffer too much setback to missed time.  That is not always the case, particularly at larger and/or more competitive programs.

All things previously discussed in this thread are factors that have to be weighed.  At the end of the day, for my wife and I, we leaned heavily on making sure our kids experienced their HS days to the fullest, participating in as many sports and activities and developing as many interests as reasonably possible.  Seeing them today as well-balanced adults, we don't regret taking that approach at all.   

As usual @cabbagedad is right on the money. The level of cooperation with HS coaches is directly in proportion to how good of a player a kid is. Especially in his secondary sport. If a kid can really help both coaches it’s much more likely that they will work with each other.

@adbono posted:

As usual @cabbagedad is right on the money. The level of cooperation with HS coaches is directly in proportion to how good of a player a kid is. Especially in his secondary sport. If a kid can really help both coaches it’s much more likely that they will work with each other.

Facts!

@adbono posted:

As usual @cabbagedad is right on the money. The level of cooperation with HS coaches is directly in proportion to how good of a player a kid is. Especially in his secondary sport. If a kid can really help both coaches it’s much more likely that they will work with each other.

The couple of two sport athletes our high school basketball coach accommodated were both 6’7”. Go figure! They were good players. Basketball was not their best sport. But size can’t be taught. One played for Man U and in the MLS. One is an NFL edge rusher.

@adbono posted:

As usual @cabbagedad is right on the money. The level of cooperation with HS coaches is directly in proportion to how good of a player a kid is. Especially in his secondary sport. If a kid can really help both coaches it’s much more likely that they will work with each other.

There is always that one complete jerk of a coach who wants to make an example out of your kid no matter how talented they are. You just gotta trust me on this one.

@PTWood posted:

There is always that one complete jerk of a coach who wants to make an example out of your kid no matter how talented they are. You just gotta trust me on this one.

I don’t doubt you even a bit. I was a 2 sport athlete (basketball & baseball) in a (now) 6A HS in west Texas. My junior year we were state champions in baseball and state runner up in basketball. Baseball was a flash in the pan but the basketball program was a regular in the state rankings. I was the only guy on both of those teams but a lot of my classmates played more than one sport. Our football team, however, was not good at all. We had a young gung ho asst. football coach that had just finished playing QB for TCU. He used to hound me in the halls of the HS for not playing football. He would belittle me in front of my friends anytime he got the chance. What he said to me would be a fireable offense today. But not back then. For some reason this same coach ended up umpiring some our intrasquad baseball scrimmages during my senior year. In one particular scrimmage I was on the mound and this coach was the home plate umpire. Every pitch I threw was called a ball. Didn’t matter where it was. Apparently he had decided that he was going to teach me a lesson and for some reason our HC was not at the field that day to straighten things out. After “walking” 6 hitters in a row I let Ted know in no uncertain terms what I thought about him. To this day I still hate that guy.

Adbono

outstanding experience. Key is the coaching cooperating with each other to a common goal. “The players improvement to his next level”, Enjoy your memories.

Bob

Youngest son's senior year he went to the basketball coach before season.  He was considering not playing basketball even though he loved it because he didn't want to risk getting hurt.  He told the basketball coach that he would play would change his playing styes.  Until that year he was full blast drive to the goal almost recklessly at times.  He said I will play tough defense and I will shoot but will not attack the rim like I have.  I'm truly fine with whatever you choose.  I would love to play but I understand if you don't want me to play with those qualifiers.  Coach said I want you on my court no matter what.  I figured it was lip service.  Son played the style he told the coach he would.  He shot really well from outside the arc.  He led the team in scoring and was second in voting for Conference player of the year.  I really expected the basketball to coach to say they did not want him.  Baseball coach did not complain because he also knew son would walk into baseball ready to pitch full blast the first day and would have already been hitting more than any other player on the team.  I think that is the key.  If the coaches of the multiple sports know that the player will be ready when he gets to them.  But that is not always the case.

When I was HC in Missouri, our students could play multiple sports and we could not hold it against them.  I had several who ran track during baseball season.  They were not there for team workout stuff a lot of times when season started.   It hurt a couple but two others stayed late and put in the work so they were fine.  The others accused both myself and the track coach of not giving them a fair chance because they were dual sport athletes.  It was dropped because both of us had the other 2 starting in both sports.