Playing other sports to help value

dad1954,

Finally someone with a reasonalble question. I think at the College level most, but not all coaches,don't care either way. I have never heard one say to me that it will hurt the players chances to go on. I have however heard coaches speak highly of the 2 or 3 sport athlete. It tells them exactly that, they are a good athlete, and thats what they want...Keep in mind that a lot of these guys havent started to work yet. They will find out what it is to work when they get to school.(college)
I have found that often , not always , the football player in my dugout is the leader. Maybe its the makeup. Not saying that only football guys are like this, not true, but from experience that is something I have picked up on.
My Nephew is at NIU and was a hooper at West Aurora. I for one thought he should concentrate on his best sport and give the others up after his JR yr. What he chose to do was play basketball and as I look back on the experience he had as a kid (playing down state on a nationally ranked hoop team) was something you can never get again. It has changed my prospective on the 2 sport guys. He learned from the experience, maybe not how to throw , but he took something from it.
Keep things real. If he has the ablity to play he most likley will, regardless. The fact is most guys get strong in college because A) They are becoming men B) They will find out what it is to work.
My new found advise, be a high school athlete and let time run its course. On the flip side, he threw for me last Summer at 165 and after a couple early morning weights and running programs,(AT NIU) 190 pds and almost ready , if not ready to give them some innings. It has its pros and cons but I am for the kid be a high school student athlete first. Mike Bowden did ok for a 2 sport guy!

duecedoc:

Nice post.

I agree with deucedoc that excelling at more than one sport will garner that athlete additional exposure and buzz.

If I were a college coach I may be impressed with a multi-sport standout and the assets that he would bring to my program but I would be ultimately interested in what this athlete could do for me, baseball wise.

All four of our children concentrate on baseball or softball all year round. It's working for them.

Anyone else?

Great Thoughts..
We had a sit down about 3 years ago with Harold Baines. Set up by a mutual friend in a very relaxed setting. It was a terrific opportunity for my players to talk baseball and ask any questions they wanted. The questions varied greatly from or about major leaguers to minor leaguers.

Then someone asked about playing multiple sports in HS. Harolds response was; He played s****r in the fall to get in running shape (endourance)for basketball. He played basketball to work on speed on footwork and agility. All for baseball. The one point he made that he insisted all the boys understand. He was a BASEBALL player first and at no time during these other seasons did he stop hitting or working on his baseball skills.

One school that was heavily recruiting my son would not talk about him catching. They would only say he would have the opportunity to compete at first base, left field and behind the plate,. "They wanted him because he was athletic". He plays 3 sports in HS...

I think there are exceptions too. Harold had a little God given ability. Same with many kids, its the one that are the borderline college guy who I think might need to stay a little more focused in and intense year round.
If you ask a hundred people your going to get 50/50 answer.

Coach , thats a real good example of what a lot of the College coaches feel.
Thanks

This goes back to one of my earlier points about practice vs. competition...

I think some college guys like 2-3 sport guys because they are competing year round. Competition (no matter in what sport) builds character and toughness...something that hitting off a tee doesn't offer.

Yes it is important to keep working on your baseball skills in the off-season but that competition you can get from football, basketball, wrestling, or hockey is invaluable to you as a young athlete.

It teaches you how to deal with adversity, how to win, how to lose, and how to lay it all on the line.

It tells that college coach that, "I'm not going to fold when it gets hard because I've been in these situations before. (in basketball, etc.)

College baseball is a big step up from HS, and coaches know that young players will struggle. Guys who are 2-3 sport athletes often give a coach some reassurance that they have the "stones" to get it done when it gets hard.

I believe that kids should play as many sports as they enjoy playing for as long as they can. There are so many reasons to continue playing other sports during high school, many are the reasons some of you have already mentioned.

In all my years as a college coach I had many players tell me that they wished they would have continued playing their 'other' sports longer. I have never had a guy tell me that he wished he would have stopped playing another sport earlier than he did.

Thank you for your comments. There seems to be a concensus on this. I'll pass the information to my son. This is an example of how well this board can work in order to help others with legitimate questions. If anyone else has some input, it is certainly welcomed.

I too believe that kids should play other sports during high school for many of the reasons stated. I encouraged my son to play tennis during the fall (which he lettered in as a soph) - which helped improved his agility and overall fitness

While I don't know about other states, in Nebraska, the Nebraska Coaches Assoication give out $500 scholarships to eight student-athletes a year who have an ACT of 24, top 25% of class, lettered in 2 varsity sports, participated for 2 years, in 2 sports with a letter of recommendation from high school coach.

I agree, they should have the opportunity in high school to participate in multiple sports.

While it is good to think that most players should continue to play multiple sports, I disagree.

I know of a bunch of kids that try to be multiple sport athletes, only to be left behind in baseball. By the end of the summer baseball season, they finally get their timing back.....just in time for football.

Some very talented kids at my son's High School will either sit the bench or worse yet, not make the team, because of this.

Here in Texas we have a different situation than you do up north. Most kids play baseball from Jan 29th thru the second week of November.

You have to be very disiplined and a very good athlete to be able to pull it off, in my opinion.

And that doesn't even account for an injury.

My son said it best when the HS Football coach asked him yet again to play this past year. "I'm not going to take the risk of messing up baseball by playing football"

And to tell you the truth, even though I loved to watch him play football, and he quite possibly could have been the starting running back this year, I sleep a whole lot better in the fall now.

I agree Kellerdad My son injured himself in basketball and missed a month of ball practice. He still went to practice but hobbled around and cold not pitch.
Not a serious injury but one friend who plays basketball at Pepperdine just broke his leg.

Pitchers can't find anything better than Cross Country...

4 years of it helped me out a heck of a lot with speed (increased muscle mass) and control (incrased balance)

Not to mention it strengthened me tremendously on the mental side.

I would think pitchers could find many things better than x-county. I would be concerned with too much slow twitch muscle fiber work running the long distance. I would rather have them working sprint work, proper lifting, long toss and plyo work. I do like players doing as many sports as they like and can handle but cros country isn't one that comes to mind. Just one persons opinion however.

I've heard more than one baseball coach say that they like kids who play multiple sports. But then when summer comes, it's hard to manage more than one. Summer baseball, basketball and 7 on 7 camps all happen at once. Any physical activity should help you in another, and maybe if you are a pitcher and need to work on your endurance X Country may help, but I'm not so sure what it would do to your explosiveness. If you want to, play another sport but if you want to improve your baseball game you are better off working on that directly.

KellerDad....

I understand the differences between the Texas situation and the northern situation, and I really think that it is unfortunate for the kids. They are missing out on some fabulous athletic experiences if they are discouraged from playing multiple sports.

If a kid only wants to play one sport, then obviously he is not missing out on anything.

The bottom line is that there is such a small percentage of student-athletes who continue to compete in college and pro ball, that in my opinion it isn't worth giving up such a great part of adolescence.

grateful,

up until my son's sophomore year, he played football, basketball and ran track, mixed into that was a fall and spring/summer baseball seasons.

To tell you the truth, I was worried about him. He was beat up, tired and his injuries were healing slower and slower.

He enjoys the laid back atmosphere of just competing in one sport now. My pickup truck thanks him, as it doesn't get so many miles on it any more.

Plus, at my son's school, I don't know if there will be one starter on Varsity Baseball that plays more than one sport.

My son, is a freshman in high school, and has played travel baseball since he was ten. Baseball, is definitely his best sport. Back in October, he came to his mom and me and said that he was going to try-out for basketball. I didn't want him to because I wanted him to focus on baseball. Of course, I gave him the speech that he may be able to play college baseball at some level if he works hard on his game, and would probably never play college basketball (he is 5"10" and probably only has a couple more inches left to grow if any). He told us he thought he was good enough to make the team, liked the game, and was going to try-out. We told him OK as long as his grades didn't slip, and he continued to attend baseball practices a couple times per week. Well my son made the team, and after only one game and the day before Thanksgiving during basketball practice, he broke his leg, a fractured tibia. Boy was I torqued-off at him. But after a few days of watching and hearing his disappointment that he was no longer playing basketball, I realized how selfish I was.

KellerDad.....your son was doing a lot, and now he is happy with what he is doing, which is all we really want for our kids anyway.

Tuzigoot........man, I feel bad for your boy....I'll keep him in my prayers.....hoping he is at 100% in the spring.

i played baseball in football in high school.... i got hurt my senior year in football and my injury took time out of my baseball season and i had months of grueling therapy and at the time i was really mad that i did not quit football to just play baseball considering that i was going on to play at the next level.... after i thought about it a little more i never regreting playing football even if it took away from my baseball abilities.... its not about being an athlete for most players its about the game they love, if they are succesful players they are not looking to play a sport to help them in another sport that is a secondary characteristic of the sport(footwork, quickness, etc..), they will play the sport because they love the sport... so when i hear that players are playing sports to help them in other sports this may be true but it is not the main reason they play the sport, because there are many drills that will accomplish the same goal that they are trying to accomplish while playing that sport. an athlete to me is multi talented in many sports who will play the game because they love the game and will do anything to help themselves in that sport and their team

tuzigoot, been there in the past and I hope your son turns out like many that have something like this happen. That is chance are it will make him stronger after he gets over the initial disappointment. Should have plenty of time to recover and rehab for baseball. Keep his spirits and attitude up this is when he need you the most. Good thoughts towards your son.

Tuzigoot:

Couldn't say it any better than lineshot...I wholeheartedly agree...your boy needs you now more than ever.

Here's to your son's speedy and complete recovery.

lineshot-
Legs actually house the majority of fast twitch muscle fiber. The larger muscles in the leg hold more slow twitch muscles, stabilizing the body and aiding balance. Cross Country involves a fair amount of sprint and interval work, and most schools (including Downers South) lift from 3 to 4 days per week (including upper body work that can easily be adapted to a baseball workout). Longtoss in the offseason is a given regardless of involvement in other sports. I'm posting this for the sake of pitchers, not to throw this back at you. Running is certainly a central part of professional pitching workouts.

agallan, yes I agree with you in regards to running being valualble, however if you do it as you say where you are involvine sprint workouts and lifting. Long disstance doesn't do most pitchers much good. The sprint interval training would be great. I also undersatnd most schools lift for x-country just wasn;t sure how it pertained to lifting for baseball.

Sorry about the spelling on that last post, it is way too early.

I disagree lineshot. Ask any college pitcher, they'll tell you that they think they are on the cross country team with as much long distance running they do.

I disagree keller as I think long distance running is usually a waste of time for most pitchers. I know that for many years pitchers have run and run and run, does that make it right or helpful for most of them . There are programs that completly disagree with that idea. But hey, different stroke for different folks.

I must respectfully disagree Lineshot. IMHO while distance running is far from the best way to build leg strength, it is fantastic for building endurance. Nothing like not being gassed in the bottom of the 7th. Pitchers and catchers are the only players in baseball who have this concern.

Sounds like the old school way of thinking fastball just like we did back in the day. i think there are better ways to do things. I am not saying to not do any running, I just think distance is used way too much for pitchers because they have ALWAYS done it that way. But this won't be the first thing I disagree with on this board.

I believe in running long distance , even more the days following a long outing. (not that I had that many) Not a MD by any means but there is acid build up in the muscles and the long run and blood flow is supposed to bring you back quicker. At least thats what I was brainwashed with.
As much as anything I spent many a days in seasons pushing myself past the point of hurt, and while running i would visualize myself throwing late in the game , I would actually try to feel the hurt so when bottom of nine came I it wasnt near as hard.
Long distance runners are mentally tough, your best pitchers are the same. Might not work for everyone but did me.
Not sure about which and what was twitching but I it was a tool for me.

deuce, same philosophy that Nolan Ryan used after a start on his bike, always said it was to help clear out the acid build-up. have always tried to do that with pitchers after a game or outing.

it depends what you consist of a long distance running? 1 mile, 2 mile,3 miles? i think a good program will mix some distance with some sprints.