When does the heat turn up on football kids regarding fall ball

Welcome to the site.  There is a different answer to this question for everyone who asks.  So many variables come into play.  How good is the HS program.  How good is the player.  Is he already showing signs of being a clear D1 early recruit.  How much are the parents and player buying into the Kool-aid.... just to name a few.  Generally, it should surely not be a concern prior to HS and your son is still two years away from that.  This should be the prime time for him to be exploring and enjoying all the sports and activities feasibly possible.  If he (or his friends) is getting pressure at this point, it is false and there is plenty of that out there.

Even when he hits HS and some of the coaches start to hint that he needs to focus, this is not the real heat until he sees others passing him by and that he may not earn playing time in a given HS sport because of it.  I would say, on average, sophomore or junior year in HS is when most will have to make the decision to focus but again, many variables.  

Multisportdad posted:

I have a 2024 who plays on a low majors team and has been one of the better hitters and pitchers.  He is missing a good chunk of fall ball practices and doesn't seem to be taking too much heat for it yet.  There are two other football players, but they have football schedules which do not conflict as much.

I have two nephews who were good baseball and football players who both quit baseball because they were taking heat and not seeing playing time in the spring except for pitching.  They both quit baseball, stuck with football and took up a another spring sport after 13u.

So my question is this, when does the heat really begin and what will it look like? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Several of this year's PG All Americans still play more than one sport. I personally feel that football players generally have more strength from their workouts compared to baseball-only players, just my observation though. Anyone who is applying any heat to a student-athlete either at the high school or club sport level is strictly being selfish if the player is not putting himself in jeopardy of injury unnecessarily. I see players being sought after more by schools if they are a multi-sport varsity athlete.

as a 2024 you have lots of time.  I have a 2023 and he loves football basketball and baseball.  No way would I take those other sports away from him.  They are developing him in ways that just baseball couldn't, including being a good student and teammate.  I would be concerned if my son's coach started giving us a hard time about not playing falling ball.  I would not want to encourage my son to specialize in one sport right now...  just my $.02

At our high school playing baseball and another sport was never an issue as long as players were prepared day one of baseball season. Prepared meant throwing hard and making solid contact in BP. The coach played football and baseball in high school. He was the JV football and baseball coach before becoming the head coach for baseball.

The issue was with the football program. The football coach was not pleased travel baseball players were missing passing drills and bulking up in the summer. There were four baseball players playing football. Three played summer ball and went on to play college baseball. The fourth kid was football first and a backup on the baseball team. He played college football. 

Kids should go as far as they can with each sport and other extra curricular activities. In high school my kids dropped chorus and orchestra. Basketball dropped my son after freshman year for never showing up at off season workouts.

I bet you kept them in debate club, though, eh? Glee club? Future Farmers of America is definitely a keeper. Just imagine the flautist little RJM would have been had you not stopped his pursuit of the arts prematurely. Could have changed the damn world...with a flute no less. 

High school is generally when it happens “IF” the football and baseball coaches can’t work together or “IF” one has an ego. 

It really depends on the program because there are plenty of examples of players doing both w/o issue. Unfortunately, there are plenty of examples of it being an issue as well. 

Speaking from my son’s experience, the summer, not the fall, will be the issue. The football coach is going to want the players working out everyday but you have all the big baseball tournaments at the same time. 

Our HS has several kids who pursue multiple sports and the arts. Once went to a chorus concert that paused halfway through so all the wrestlers at a meet down the hall could come in in their sweats to sing with their classes. Smaller schools make it almost impossible for kids to specialize and that's kind of a good thing.

Son played sport known as "football" in most countries. This limited his fall ball to games only- no practices which were held twice a week. Fall  ball coach wanted son at games because he could help team and players could observe his work ethic.

Wasn't nearly as fast stealing bases as he usually played full 80 minute soccer games as sweeper 2-3 games per week. On the soccer side, he was able to miss try-outs as a senior as he attended a baseball camp for one of his top 4 colleges recruiting him.  Soccer was one of top teams in state--son was only one on varsity that didn't play soccer in summer, due to baseball. Didn't cost him from being named co-captain. They knew he would play baseball in college, but soccer coaches valued his defense on "the pitch." Definitely not a "one size fits all." Depends on the player, the coach, and what the player can bring to the table of the second sport.

If a travel program is pressuring you for missing fall practice for football practice or games find a new travel program.  The HS specialization issue in my experience will largely be determined by your football coach’s background.  If he played baseball he will recognize the value of keeping as many of his best athletes as he can in the football program, if he did not he will say he supports multi sport athletes but his actions will say he supports football/ track athletes.  This becomes especially difficult if 7 on 7 is a big part of summer program which is almost always the case now.   I watched a HS football coach stand a 6.1 180 lb P5 baseball athlete who ran a 6.37 60 at AC tryout on the sideline because he wasn’t “mentally tough enough”  for HS football.  How tough you gotta be to run a go route...not my son so this is not just another sour grapes  whine... The answer to the 2 sport issue at larger schools will always be complex and rarely the same in 2 places..

Coaches say they want multi-sport athletes.  But what most coaches don't say is that they want multi-sport athletes as long as their sport is far and away the highest priority for the athlete.

I agree with what 3and2 said. I also believe coaches make exceptions for the exceptional.  I always tell my son, if you want to be a multi-sport high school athlete, go and be exceptional!

My son played football as a Freshman, but was not on the Varsity roster coming out of summer.  He was selected to play in the PG 14U event in its first year, and was told by the football coach that he was being "selfish" for participating in that event during football season.  He finished that year, and hasn't had any interest in putting on another set of shoulder pads since then.  

I admire guys and schools who are willing to make it work, however with travel baseball taking over the summer, it becomes more and more difficult, IMO.

Depends on coach and in my experience size of school. The bigger schools pay lip service to multi sports but typically put pressure to specialize. The smaller the school the more all coaches rely on multi sport and generally are supportive. 

Agree with others....a lot depends on the school and the success level of the teams involved.  My son's baseball coach didn't teach in our system.  He essentially had no contact with basketball and football coaches....so because of that, baseball kids were kind of on their own in dealing with coaches regarding fall and summer baseball conflicts with AAU basketball and 7 on 7 football.  Both our basketball and football teams were perennial state contenders....missing AAU or 7 on 7 for travel baseball would have almost certainly put you on the bench in both.  My son played baseball and soccer (fall sport here).  Soccer coach knew he was a baseball kid and was ok with him missing all summer as long as he came out in the fall in soccer shape.  It worked out well.  We had a couple guys that could have been D1 baseball guys....but they couldn't play summer due to basketball/football. 

Another school in our league is a "baseball school"....multiple state titles.....multiple pro players.  There, if you are playing baseball, the basketball and football coaches deal with it and work around your baseball....not the other way around.   My son would have loved to be in that situation....instead of the opposite lol

cutfb posted:

Depends on coach and in my experience size of school. The bigger schools pay lip service to multi sports but typically put pressure to specialize. The smaller the school the more all coaches rely on multi sport and generally are supportive. 

I found that at my kids HS just the opposite.  We have about 4,000 kids in our HS and they are encouraged to engage in multiple activities.  

By far the football program is the most overbearing when it comes to off season work, but they made concessions to allow kids to participate in multiple sports.  For instance they instituted an off season weight lifting program.  You gain points for showing up to the weight room or conditioning sessions.  As you accumulate points you "earn" things.  Such as a strip on your helmet, the team logo on your helmet, etc.  In addition you need to earn enough points to be eligible to play the first week.  They have carved out exceptions to the rules for other sports.  For instance if you play basketball you automatically earn the maximum number of points you could have earned for showing up in the weight room every day during the basketball season.  In addition you are given the points for all the "non mandatory" meetings you missed.  Same thing for baseball, you earn the maximum allowable points for the spring sessions if you play baseball.  If you are a three sport athlete you will earn all the allowable points just by playing other sports.  Same thing in the summer.  You are expected to be at all the camps to earn points.  If you are a multi-sport athlete you earn football points for the baseball camp, etc.  The only gotcha is if you are in multiple camps and the baseball camp does not run on Tuesdays you are expected to be at the football camp on Tuesdays.

We had a number of kids who were multi sport athletes on our baseball team.  Mostly football and baseball.  Nothing was ever held agains them for making the other sport their priority.  My son played baseball, basketball and football for his first two years.  Was a starter on the A team in all three sports with nothing held against him as baseball was considered his primary sport.  In fact when he let the coaches know he was dropping down to just baseball they asked him to reconsider.  Both the football coach and basketball coach came to him multiple times letting him know that he can play their sport and they would work with him on his schedule and getting some rest time in as well.

All the above said, most kids will whittle their sports down to one or two based on the time commitment. Its tough on the kids to be going 100% for the entire year.  At some point they need a break and playing multiple sports does not provide this.  Most of the kids will decide on their own to drop a sport or two. 

My son is a 2019 and plays football and recently committed to a D1 for baseball at his dream school (that is a story for another day).  We heard lots of encouraging stuff about multi-sport athletes, but where the rubber hits the road baseball coaches want you to focus on baseball and football coaches want you to focus on football.  That's just the way it is, and you can't blame an intense coach for wanting to win.  So the player needs to be firm in his commitment and tune out the noise when he's missing workouts, etc.  

A couple of observations...

The high school he goes to matters.  My son's high school is small and relies on the better athletes to play multiple sports, so the culture is supportive.  Larger high schools in the area really lean hard on players that try to play multiple sports and it's not pleasant or productive.  You should be able to find out about the high school sports culture before you decide where to go.

Communicate with the coaches early.  My son told his travel coach in the spring that he was playing football starting in August and would not be doing any travel tournaments after that time.  He also told the football coach that he'd be missing 7 on 7 tournaments in the early summer.

Football turned him into a much better baseball player.  The time in the weight room, pushing sleds and going head-to-head on the football field transformed him into a physical beast.

There's a price to pay.  My son missed out on big recruiting events in the summer/fall following his freshman year and I think it hurt, or at least delayed, his recruiting.  Many of his travel teammates were getting offers and committing while he was playing football sophomore year.  My son was not on anyone's radar and wasn't getting any love from PG or AC games.

Know what you want your future to be.  Once he decided that he wanted to play baseball in college, he made a decision that he was not going to play football his junior year so he could focus on baseball recruiting.  For months in the spring of his sophomore year he took pressure from football teammates and coaches but he held his ground.  He had a great summer/fall his junior year and his baseball recruiting activity really picked up.  He showcased at ~20 colleges, went to several school camps, played Jupiter and other high profile tournaments.  He made the best of his time off from football.  This turned out to be good timing since he wanted higher academic schools and the schools he was talking to wanted ACT/SAT scores and junior year transcripts, so it set the table for his rising senior summer where things came together.

His senior year (now) he's gone back to football and is having the time of his life.  Because of what he's done on the baseball field he's one of the most respected kids on the football field.  It's kind of cool to see.  I get nervous that he could get hurt, but on the other hand you only live once, and high school football is a pretty unique experience that I wouldn't want to deprive him of.  He hits and throws a couple times a week after football practice and plays scout ball on Sundays, and taking a bunch of AP classes.  A full life for a high school kid.

Wife is anti-football, I'm of mixed mind but would prefer him not to play.  He made the choice to focus on baseball and academics - he knows the expectations on the latter and realizes he needs to bring it.  He sees this time as a chance to get better relative to his football-playing peers.  Also plays club hoops to shake things up and keep fit outside of strength and conditioning sessions. 

I think it goes back to how good you are in each sport.  Mine played all three until this year and none minded.  The football coach never made him go to summer or even pre-season workouts and he still started because he was good enough.  The other coaches knew he was a baseball player and accepted that but we also showed we cared by trying to work in some summer stuff for football and basketball when he was in town.  They were just willing to get him when they could and knew he would be better than any other option, just saying.  This year he has chosen not to play football and misses it but knows it would not work with Jupiter and several other pro scouted events plus does not want to take a chance of getting hurt and he is qb and line is not very good.  It would have definitely helped the team and the coaches would have taken him but he made the choice and they all support it.  Helps that OC is head baseball.

It truly depends on your situation.  If your son is getting flack now for missing practices for football, I would find a new organization.  Missing games is one thing.  Mine would play football on friday night and then play baseball all weekend and everybody understood.

As some would say, it depends on who holds the cards you or them.  Do they need you or do you need them?  Answer that question and you know the answer to your question.  The best place to be is when everybody needs your son more than you need them.