Playing more than One Sport

I know my son is still being pressured by the Football coaches to play. He gave it up after his freshman year but still gets an earful every now and then.

My sons experience was an easy decision, he wasn't going to play college football no matter how good he was at it. He knew his chance to play a sport in college was limited to baseball and it's why he made the choice.

Two words..........

Austin Knight.

He is a good one. QB in the fall and stud SS in the spring.

quote:

Originally posted by SWAC:
He is a good one. QB in the fall and stud SS in the spring.

You forgot point gaurd for BB too.

Here is another:

Dave Winfield

Why you always got to throw in a brother?

Oh no, I was not even thinking about that. That will be another topic. "Always throwing in a brother"

Bo Jackson
Deon Sanders

My son will be an 8th grader and will be faced with this dilemna soon. If you play football, and you are a back or receiver, you are expected to play 7-on-7 football in the summer. I am told that there is a lot of pressure from the football coaches to play 7-on-7, rather than club baseball once school lets out.

I have a player on my team that does 7 on 7 but he works that around his summer baseball schedule.

Dennis Quaid.

Baseball and football.

Do it all. There is nothing like looking back on your high school days and remembering all the fun you had playingsports and competition. You only go to HS once so make it memorable. Any coach that makes a player play one sport and only one should get fired! Its not about the pro or college ramifications. Its about enjoying what should be the most important time of your teenage years. Have fun and help ALL the teams you play on win!

Athletics are so specialized these days because so much emphasis is put on it by the parents due to the financial investment with lessons, select teams, show cases, etc. Back in the day, I played football, basketball, left baseball practice and went to a track meet. Swingbuilder, it was more about getting the girls. They liked the guys involved in all sports especially the cheer leaders.

SWAC,

Back when you played did you really look like this..............

The hair was longer. Had a tough time getting the cap on.

quote:

Originally posted by SWAC:
The hair was longer. Had a tough time getting the cap on.

What? No Doo-rag?

Hell no, my dad was old school. He would have killed me. I had a tough time with him letting me have long hair.

Good for him. You probably needed a little discipline.

My boy played JV basketball and JV baseball as a freshman and so far the coaches have worked together.

He saw more PT as a basketball player but by the end of the baseball season he was getting a good look.

The basketball really got him in great shape for baseball. The leg work he gets in basketball is good for baseball because he is a pitcher.

The time commitment does get a little crazy he played 47 baseball games and 23 basketball games in 60 days this summer. Twice we played a baseball doubleheader and then played a basketball game. This summer the gas money killed us.

I think playing the two sports makes him better at both. He did mention that he is thinking about cutting it down to one sport after he Junior year, we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

Coach English and Coach Chasteen allowed him to move back and forth from one athletic period to the other depending on the season and events. That was while he was a freshman, it will be interesting to see how well they continue to work together in the kid's best interest as he moves towards being able to help them on Varsity.

Both are good Christian men and I don't expect things to change.

This topic has hit these boards before....maybe not under Texas....but you may want to do a search and see what pops up....

I am a big believer in allowing kids to experience multiple activities....not just sports. They should explore what they have an interest in because HS is gone before you know it.

Mine only played one sport once he hit HS since he knew baseball was the one he intended to pursue into college; however, he also did choir and theatre. There was only one time I had to go to the athletic director to resolve an issue (they wanted him to skip a final graded performance and get a "0" in order to ride the bus to game where he wasn't even the starter) but we worked it out. I drove him and he didn't even miss the first pitch. Most departments allowed some flexibility and he had great success in all the programs he participated in.

Let them do it all if they can keep their grades up.....they may find a love in someting they didn't know existed.

Good Advice Blue Sky!!!!!
Blue Sky son going back to Midland?

Colt Dad:
Yes, he is returning and under new management
The new coach has called a couple of times and appears to be getting things started in a positive way. One of the assistants from last year will be back as well.
Now that he has a spiffy new shoulder, he is very much looking forward to throwing again soon.
I know the Colt colt must be excited about joining the D1 ranks this fall.

If any interest, the band has one more show this Friday before they have to shut it down and go back to school....one of the Tech guys is a RA so goes back early. It's in lower Greenville somewhere....show is at 9. (Have E give T a call if he's free or come along if you like alt-rock. We'll be there.)

My son is an incoming freshman. Met with HS baseball coach prior to school ending this year, he made it very clear that my son should stick to one sport. Then he resigned hmmmm. New coach coming in from west Texas, not sure what we'll do. He's played basketball since age of 6 and baseball since age of 4.

add: should possibility of playing Varsity baseball as a freshman be the determining factor NOT to play dual sports???

quote:

Originally posted by 2010DAD:
add: should possibility of playing Varsity baseball as a freshman be the determining factor NOT to play dual sports???

If baseball is his primary sport and you get the basketball coach to understand that going in then you shouldn't limit what your son does his freshman year.

That seems to be the general opinion of posts in this topic so far. I agree with them.

Since this is in the Texas forum I have to say that every Texas HS boy should experience the thrill of running out onto the field on Friday night. In Texas there is nothing else like it.

Now, regardless if you live in Texas or not football did nothing but help my son in baseball. Football in and of itself is much more physically demanding - it develops an attitude and toughness that when brought to the baseball diamond does nothing but help a baseball player.

It might be noted that the DMN did a feature story about this a couple of years ago. It was a story that specifically was about the large number of top pitchers in the DFW area who were also their football team's QB's.

Injuries?? Yes, of course they are a concern. But so is allowing your son to drive on the DFW freeways on Friday and Saturday nights.

I spoke with the Brewers scout in our area this past weekend on this exact topic. His opinion was that playing 2 sports in high school was a good thing. He was of the opinion that it made the players that play two sports more "athletic" and it also gave the players a few months away from baseball. The main thing that this gentlemen said that caught my attention was if a two sport athlete can be as good or even close to as good as the year around player they will really imporve when they foucus on baseball.

Thanks MeatsDad! My son is very excited about the opportunity to play Varsity baseball his freshman year. This alone made him give up basketball.

2010Dad -- before I begin let me say that I am not trying to promote my son in any way -- I am just sharing our experience.

PantherSon played basketball and football in Junior High (no baseball there). His basketball team was 26-0 with two City Championships (whoopee). He had an opportunity to play varsity baseball as a freshman, so he decided to play football in 9th grade, but gave up basketball (too much of an overlap in the seasons). He had a nice freshman baseball season, so he gave up football in 10th grade to concentrate on baseball. The coaches kept after him and he decided to return to football in 11th grade and will play both sports. In my opinion, football and baseball are manageable together, although it gets tough in the spring when off-season football becomes important and in the summer with 7 on 7 conflicts. Also, he will be sacrificing some of the fall showcase baseball season for football activities. It is a challenge.

In looking at the possibility of playing 3 sports, I know it is possible....it has been done....and is probably more common at smaller schools. But basketball overlaps both football and baseball --- it seems virtually impossible to fit it in at Plano East.

I hope your son has success with his opportunity.

-PD

Pather DAD thanks for sharing. I value anybody's comments, opinions, and suggestions regarding experiences we've yet to face.

Your son must be a heck of an athelete, I'm sure you are very proud and fortunate that he can play multiple sports. I think a part of my son wanted to continue with basketball but when he found out that he might be playing varsity ball, he was ok with giving it up.

Also, you are correct, basketball season overlaps too much especially in this big basketball program.

PD, PESH needs him in three sports if they are going to be competitive in anyone of the three.

I thought the #1 Varsity Sport at PESH was Bowling. Where was Panther Son when Bowling tryouts were held?

Correct me if I'm wrong but I heard that at Southlake Carroll and Denton Ryan when the last football game is played they go straight to baseball full time. They win a few games in both sports at these two schools don't they?
I'm just asking

If you play baseball at our school and any other
sport then you will never be in the baseball
class.
All other sports, ie, football and basketball are 1st period, while baseball is last period, so if you sign up for any sport other than baseball you get 1st period athletics all year long. So no baseball class, Off season Football or Basketball all year.
That makes most of or guys have to pick which
sport they want to do.

quote:

Originally posted by 2010DAD:
Thanks MeatsDad! My son is very excited about the opportunity to play Varsity baseball his freshman year. This alone made him give up basketball.

2010 - Don't thank me. I think your son is making a mistake if he gives up on basketball in his freshman year.

If he is good enough to start Varsity baseball as freshman then I think the coach might be very understanding. He might want to reconsider his decision.


"every Texas HS boy should experience the thrill of running out onto the field on Friday night."

CRD - I would love nothing more than to see my boy play football but he decided that he didn't want to play three sports...I still hold out hope that by senior year he might change his mind

My son was both a varsity letter winner in both basketball (3 years) and baseball (2 years) and I personally don't think it's a matter of being manageable. It was a blast and I wouldn't change a thing. It's a question of priorities.

The overlap between baseball and basketball is so severe that it will negatively impact your son's ability to play to his true potential in either of the sports. That is, not being in baseball class severly impacts his ability to hit the ground running in the spring. Conversely, not being in the gym in the summer even more dramitically impacts his ability to grow in that sport.

Bottom line: If you're truly interested in seeing your son grow to his true potential in any one sport, focus on that sport. If you're looking for great memories, let 'em play everything they can. Just my opinion.

JABO

SWAC......I got the girls because I was the TICKET. Didn't matter if I played sports or not!

One more 2nd sport to consider is wrestling. My son's school started a wrestling team a couple of years ago and he wanted to try out for it.

I was a little worried about it - the "pile drivers" and sleeper holds looked dangerous to me.

He bought some tights and a mask but in the end decided not to go out for the team.

Meats Dad/Justabidoutside: THANKS! Great input, I truly appreciate it. I would love to see him continue with baskeball but his goal is to play college baseball. He's taking all A/P courses and has maintained excellent grades, so the plan is to focus on baseball in order to have greater chances of playing college ball.