Three sport athletes

Mine did 3 up until after sophomore year, then he concentrated on baseball. My observations tell me you have to do off season single sport specific conditioning and workouts to continue to improve every single year. Some of his team mates continued doing 2 or 3 sports, now it's senior year and not one of them has improved enough in any sport to play in college. those that specified in a particular sport seem to be getting college interest or have already received offers. I am sure there is a rare kid who can continue to improve or are just that athletic who can play in college without the specific training but I have not seen them around here. Also high school coaches here are not flexible about kids who see there future in another sport, 100% commitment or quit which is their perogative.
I do believe you should encourage multiple sports until the shaving begins however. It's too hard to tell where the kids passion is and things like s****r help baseball players tremendously

My son graduated from High School in 2007. He played football each fall, basketball each winter and baseball in the spring as a freshman, sophomore, junior and senior.

FOOTBALL: He lettered in football three years, started varsity on both sides of the ball 2 years and was choosen by his teamates as Team MVP and by the coaches of the teams he played against co-conference defensive player of the year his senior year. More important *to him* than any of that, his senior class lead their football team to the West Virginia State AA playoffs for the first time in school history.
BASKETBALL; He lettered in basketball three years, was sixth man his sophomore year and stated varsity his junior and senior year. He was choosen by his team mates as Team MVP his senior year. More important than that, his senior class lead their basketball team to a win in the West Virginia AA sectionals for the first time in school history.
BASEBALL: I am not going to say any more here than he was choosen first team AA all state infield his senior year.

Now to the point of it all. After his freshman year I tried to talk him out of football the next year. i told him it would distract him from baseball AND IT DID. I told him that if he wanted to play competitive baseball at the next level he had to quit at lest one sport. He would not. And I think he was right. What memories he will have of those years and what life long friends his team mates have become. The basketball team had 7 seniors and 5 of them were starters on the that playoff-bound football team.

RJM: Let him play. He will catch up in college. My son is already proving that.

Good luck.

tw344-
Does he continue to play any sport in college?

iheartbb:

Only one. BASEBALL.

TW344

My son played three sports through high school - football, basketball, baseball. But, he worked on baseball all year and his schedule was brutal. He did not lift the football program (he is a pitcher). And in the summer he mostly just played baseball. The summers were the hardest time - the other coaches wanted more of his time, but he managed to make it work.

He is now in his soph year in college - playing D1 baseball. He is actually on a team with many multi-sport athletes. Seems to be something his coaches look for when recruiting. There were many times when we wondered if he might need to specialize and join a fall team. But he knew that he wanted and enjoyed different things about each sport.

Bum, Jr. was undersized and just not athletic enough to play football or basketball so he concentrated on baseball. He has now signed a NLI as a D1 LHP and his athleticism has exploded.. so in his case concentrating on one sport has really paid off. But I also know nearly every one of the other kids (on his college team) played multiple sports. It just depends on the kid, his maturity, and his personal goals. There is no right or wrong way to go.

your only a kid once,but as my wife says it can last fifty years.
you can never play sports for your community again. play all three as long as you can. as some one said on another post you'll never regret playing,but you may have some regrets for not playing.

3-sports is demanding. Especially if football is one due to off-season mandatory workouts. If any kid can AND WANTS to play 3 sports, maintain his grades and manages his time, then he should go for it. If they can handle it, it'll only make them better prepared when they get older on time management and responsibility.

The only reasons not to is if they can't manage it and can't keep their grades up and they don't want to play 3 sports.

Mine plays 2 sports in high school. He thinks that's enough and it gives him an off-season to shut it down for a bit.

quote:

Originally posted by smalltown:
Mine did 3 up until after sophomore year, then he concentrated on baseball. My observations tell me you have to do off season single sport specific conditioning and workouts to continue to improve every single year. Some of his team mates continued doing 2 or 3 sports, now it's senior year and not one of them has improved enough in any sport to play in college. those that specified in a particular sport seem to be getting college interest or have already received offers. I am sure there is a rare kid who can continue to improve or are just that athletic who can play in college without the specific training but I have not seen them around here. Also high school coaches here are not flexible about kids who see there future in another sport, 100% commitment or quit which is their perogative.
I do believe you should encourage multiple sports until the shaving begins however. It's too hard to tell where the kids passion is and things like s****r help baseball players tremendously

This is what we experienced in our HS.
I think alot depends on priorities and goals. In middle school my son played two sports and baseball outside of school(we don't have baseball in middle school) but by HS too much of a risk of getting hurt and he felt that baseball would bring him the most rewards and that is what he wanted to concentrate on. He considered track, cross country, but that only a passing thought.

I think alot depends on the sport, I heard on ESPN last night that the kicker played on the s****r team, now that makes a lot of sense to me.

A lot of it depends on the size of your high school... good gracious I'd be sunk if it were not for the 3 sport guys. (we have about 70 kids per graduating class)
I do get the ocasional guy who says he is "burned out" by doing sports by the baseball rolls around... but we don't get too many

My son tried to play basketball his freshman year but got hurt. This year as a sophomore he has chosen to concentrate just on baseball. I tried to convince him otherwise. He knows that the basketball coaches would not let him go to any of the baseball workouts. Which is his first love by far.
I do know the coaches look for mutli-sport athletes, which I can understand if a kid is otherwise playing video games. Two weeks after fall ball my son started with weight lifting and core training. I do see a big difference in his improvemet in baseball compared to those who play other sports as far as arm strength and hitting.
Kids that sit around waiting for baseball to start get hurt because they are not getting stronger and faster. One of his coaches that sees him workout is impressed with the commitment and effort. He even said to him that kids will come to him 2 weeks before tryouts and want to know what they can do to get better and be ready. Sorry, there's not enough time.
The size of the school really does matter and his this year I believe went over 3000 kids. There are many who try and play 2 sports but only a few that play 3. Grades are a big issue to me and he knows that is what comes first. I only hope he doesn't regret not playing later on in life. Those memories are priceless.

It is a dang shame that when these boys get to college, they basically play the one sport................which is baseball.

Can some of them play other college sports......yes

It is hard to think of a 18-20 year old "retiring" from a sport they played for so many years.

Do I know of a group of kids(All-State in 2-3 sports in HS) who sneak out to the college Rec Center and go ballin''????YES

They feel it too.

Do they want to play other sports? If so then fine. My son loves baseball and liked football. I left it up to him it was his decision to make. He decided to play just baseball in HS. He did not want to miss fall baseball and he didnt want anything to take away from the time he wanted to spend working on baseball. The kids will decide what they want to play. Coaches are always trying to get kids out for their sport. But the kid has to want to play. It is their decision to make. It always works itself out.

I think you have to let your children do what they want to do, if they seem to be handling it well and their grades aren't being hurt. I think it keeps them fresh and loving each sport and many sports complement each other. I'm sure my boy's badminton made them the best conditioned basketball players and it made them more agile fielding in baseball and helped their hand eye coordination for hitting.
In college, they only had time for baseball and they wanted to make that transition. (they are still playing and loving baseball)

A huge problem with playing multiple sports, in our area, are the coaches. My son isn't in HS yet but many of our friends kids are in HS. They keep saying the same thing. When you are a freshman you can play 3 sports if you want. But by sophmore year the COACHES are making them pick a sport, especially if you are varsity material. It is really strange to me but the coaches seem to be very jealous of each other and heaven help if you have to miss an off season workout to play a different sport. Coming from a small town it is very bizarre to me. But I will admit it makes the kids very good in their individual sport and it makes it very difficult for a kid to make another team, let alone play, when you compare skill levels.