When to specialize in a single sport

I think the personal development and growth from playing multiple sports was immense and yet, I do think kids can experience great growth in themselves from specializing.  

I personally believe that my experience in other sports helped me relate and transfer skills from other sports into baseball when I started specializing in baseball.  Playing basketball helped me relate and transfer some skills to my defense.  Playing football as a safety, RB, and WR helped me track down balls over my head, understand angles on balls, and how rhythm, timing, and anticipation works in athletics.  There were many skills in baseball that I didn't have to figure out because I bought them from other sports into the baseball context.

Additionally, playing multiple sports gave me a break from baseball and always got me burning to train and play ball when the spring came around.  

I think it's always helpful to know what the end goal is.  I want my kids to develop their global athleticism, find something they love, and allow them to discover what they love so they pursue it with all they have. 

I wouldn't want my son to specialize too soon and prevent him from potentially discovering a passion for something else because he was never exposed to it.  

Up until my sophomore year, I played 3 sports.  After sophomore year, I quit basketball because my vision for baseball was to play at the highest level and I wanted to train for baseball during the winter.  I still played football but I'm very grateful for the opportunity to discover that desire and passion on my own, as well as be in a position to know that I didn't love basketball the same way I loved baseball.  

Because of that exposure, I knew baseball was what I wanted to invest my time, energy, and resources into and gladly woke up early before school to hit in the cage and gladly stayed late after games to hit or train in the gym while others were going home.  It was a not a sacrifice at that point but a joyful pursuit.

Again, just my personal experience.

Appreciate everyone's 2 cents on this too as I'm raising a couple youngsters!

So, I played the big three in high school but didn’t love basketball and only played too hang out with my friends. I went on to play football and baseball in college.

My son played all three up until 8th grade when he decided not to play basketball because he said he wanted to devote that winter to strength training. He currently plays two in high school. 

His goal is to play baseball/football in college. We’ve talked about the cons of doing so but he’s adamant that he wants to do. He loves both sports but said that if he’s forced to choose, he’ll give up football. It doesn’t look like he’ll be forced to give up one as he has a couple dual offers (expecting others), which are basically football (Bear Bryant rule) offers. 

People often ask me if he’ll continue to play football like it’s my decision. My parents gave me the power to make my own decision and I give my son the same power. As long as his grades meet my standards and he’s enjoying himself, I fully encourage playing both. 

Most importantly, I think kids should have the power to choose and there is no right or wrong choice. 

S.Young, That's an excellent, well balanced perspective IMO and the detail of some of the specific cross-over benefits are nicely articulated.

When we are talking about young athletes (Pre- HS), sure it is plausible that they can learn the skill sets you refer to by other means (combination of drills, instruction and lots more baseball) but at that age, would they rather do a whole lot of drills and instruction during baseball off-season or play other sports, other games?  

Of course there are exceptions.  Some just flat out love one sport much more than others.  (That doesn't mean it wouldn't still be advantageous to continue introducing them to new sports/activities.)  But many of those exceptions fall under the category of those who's parents feel the pressure or have the preference to coax them into believing that focusing on one sport and doing a bunch of drills and instruction will help them go far.  

I believe, as you do, that they should be offered the opportunity (and encouraged) to try lots of different sports to truly find what they have passion for.   Balance and options are a good thing.  Cross-over benefits are real.  I see this with the HS kids I coach ALL THE TIME.  I can observe the new group coming out each year and take a really good guess which kids have played which sports based on skill strengths and physical strengths/build.   If they want to do more of one than another, fine.  If they want some extra instruction in one more than another, fine.   But, to specialize before HS just isn't necessary.  There are so many things they can be introduced to... and in some cases, re-introduced to.  The sports my kids liked most at age 15, 16 were often different than the sports they liked most at 10 and 11.  

If it's all baseball from an early age, what happens when baseball ends when they are 16, 18, 24?  No other sports that they enjoy or were introduce to that they can fall back on.

Like I said in previous post...  now when they get to HS, that's when many might need to make some tough decisions, or have them made for them.  I see plenty of kids on both sides of the coin at that time.  Some should continue with multiple sports.  Some should start to focus more.  Of course, the desire of the kid should be the first and primary consideration.  And a kid shouldn't be made to feel like he should play a sport he really doesn't want to.

He loves both sports but said that if he’s forced to choose, he’ll give up football.

That background noise is a collective sigh of relief from pro baseball scouts.

RJM posted:

He loves both sports but said that if he’s forced to choose, he’ll give up football.

That background noise is a collective sigh of relief from pro baseball scouts.

Although he loves football and the team is doing well at 8-1, he will occasionally say “I can’t wait for baseball season.”

Looking back at when I was in high school I played three sports (football, basketball, baseball). Baseball was the favorite. But I never did anything baseball when it wasn’t baseball season. I put equal effort into each sport outside baseball was also the summer sport. 

As a kid, when I wasn’t with friends playing a pickup game of the sport in season I spent hours throwing a rubber ball against the steps or side of the house. I shot hoops until my hands cracked from the cold. I beat up the lawn furniture threading the needle to a double teamed lawn chair and ended up an option QB/WR/DB. The lawn chair failed to tell me I wasn’t a QB. The other lawn chairs never cut in front of the intended lawn chair for a pick. I threw baseballs and footballs up on the roof and caught them over my shoulder when they came down. 

But in the end (college) it was baseball. I knew what being 6’1” meant (very little) in terms of college basketball. In college football I knew the guys chasing me would be as fast as I. However, I hit some outfield walls as hard as any football player could have laid me out. 

My father played Big Ten football. His career ended in two years after a back injury. He transferred to a NESCAC (legacy) and played baseball. His long term encouragement focus for me was always baseball.

In (large classification) high school my daughter was encouraged to play three sports. The high school had some very talented female athletes. But there weren’t as many as the boys.

My son was cut from basketball for playing two other sports. Actually for missing all the offseason workouts and not playing in a summer league.  The baseball coach encouraged multiple sports. It was more about his past (played two) than a  coaching philosophy. The soccer coach drove my son nuts about not playing for an elite team in the summer. Everyone else did. He was playing baseball and going to goalie camp. My son’s response to the coach was playing goal was just like baseball. The ball outside the 18 yard line is like playing short. Inside the 18 is like playing third. My son laughed. The coach gnashed his teeth. 

This was the very first question I asked here.  Every time is comes up I think of Mary Ann Shapi (futurebackmom) miss her.   Simple and perfect answer. 

 "play both sports until the competition tells you otherwise" 

BOF posted:

This was the very first question I asked here.  Every time is comes up I think of Mary Ann Shapi (futurebackmom) miss her.   Simple and perfect answer. 

 "play both sports until the competition tells you otherwise" 

However I think this misses the point somewhat.  There are plenty of kids who could play all three through high school.  But the cost of doing so ma be high.  May not excel enough in any of them to get to their collegiate goals. Our football season ended sadly Friday in the quarter finals. The very next day he was at baseball practice and today he starts his off season lifting.  No time for basketball if he wants to be running out a tunnel to 80,000 fans in a few years.  He could easily play four years of basketball.  The sport would not tell him no. But he is making the smart move telling himself no so he can excel and succeed in what gives him his best chance. 

I don't know the entire population of my son's high school.  Texas 6A (largest class), pretty well funded, supported.  Good athletics.  Won district in football last year, went several rounds in playoffs. Won (tied) for first in baseball, went to fourth round of state.  Basketball was 2nd or 3rd in district.  Lost early round of playoffs.

I doubt there is more than three kids that could go out this year and be on varsity for Baseball, Basketball, Football.  And the athletes are encouraged to play multiple sports from the coaches.  There are none that do it now.  There were three football/baseball players and two football/basketball players last year at the varsity level.  No basketball/baseball.

Not trying to address "should/when/why".  Just the facts.

Oh, by the way.  Check out my logo and tagline.  Humble brag, made it myself.

2020dad posted:

BOF posted:

This was the very first question I asked here.  Every time is comes up I think of Mary Ann Shapi (futurebackmom) miss her.   Simple and perfect answer. 

 "play both sports until the competition tells you otherwise" 

However I think this misses the point somewhat.  There are plenty of kids who could play all three through high school.  But the cost of doing so ma be high.  May not excel enough in any of them to get to their collegiate goals. Our football season ended sadly Friday in the quarter finals. The very next day he was at baseball practice and today he starts his off season lifting.  No time for basketball if he wants to be running out a tunnel to 80,000 fans in a few years.  He could easily play four years of basketball.  The sport would not tell him no. But he is making the smart move telling himself no so he can excel and succeed in what gives him his best chance. 

This is a great point. It may be different at Go44dad's school, but in general if a kid is a good athlete the competition may not tell him otherwise until college. The majority of my son's baseball team could play football -- some of them would be stars I think -- but they have chosen not to, and I don't see anything wrong with that. Our 6'3" 220 lbs third baseman who can run a bit (and who is a D1 baseball commit) is constantly being asked why he doesn't play football. We had a kid a couple of years ago who was 6'4" 215 lbs and his PG profile lists his 60 time as 6.37. Of course he could've played football. Right now in the sophomore - senior classes I think there is only one multi-sport kid on the baseball team. And I don't see anything wrong with that, because it's their choice.

2019Dad posted:

2020dad posted:

BOF posted:

This was the very first question I asked here.  Every time is comes up I think of Mary Ann Shapi (futurebackmom) miss her.   Simple and perfect answer. 

 "play both sports until the competition tells you otherwise" 

However I think this misses the point somewhat.  There are plenty of kids who could play all three through high school.  But the cost of doing so ma be high.  May not excel enough in any of them to get to their collegiate goals. Our football season ended sadly Friday in the quarter finals. The very next day he was at baseball practice and today he starts his off season lifting.  No time for basketball if he wants to be running out a tunnel to 80,000 fans in a few years.  He could easily play four years of basketball.  The sport would not tell him no. But he is making the smart move telling himself no so he can excel and succeed in what gives him his best chance. 

This is a great point. It may be different at Go44dad's school, but in general if a kid is a good athlete the competition may not tell him otherwise until college. The majority of my son's baseball team could play football -- some of them would be stars I think -- but they have chosen not to, and I don't see anything wrong with that. Our 6'3" 220 lbs third baseman who can run a bit (and who is a D1 baseball commit) is constantly being asked why he doesn't play football. We had a kid a couple of years ago who was 6'4" 215 lbs and his PG profile lists his 60 time as 6.37. Of course he could've played football. Right now in the sophomore - senior classes I think there is only one multi-sport kid on the baseball team. And I don't see anything wrong with that, because it's their choice.

My take is this.  There are many high school and younger athletes who have the talent and drive to play multiple sports extremely well and may even receive some looks at multiple sports.  There will always be a debate as to whether if they concentrated in only 1 sport vs played multiple sports and how it affected their college scholarship/pro opportunities.  Assume they turned out to be another Royce Lewis (drafted 2017 #1 pick) and for argument sake played 2 or 3 other sports during high school.  If this player concentrated on 1 sport  instead of multiple would he be leaving HS with the same talent as Altuve ?  On the other hand what if he gave up other sports to concentrate solely on baseball and for various reasons didn't get a college scholarship?  Point is nobody knows.  Thus I think the biggest decision is whether the athlete envision himself playing at the next level, willing to spend several years (if fortunate enough) trying to reach that goal,  and has the talent and physical body to not hinder his journey.  Let them play as many sports as the family and player can handle while keeping grades up.  They player will know when it is time to concentrate on a single sport to help him choose his life direction.

I have said this many times... There is nothing wrong with playing multiple sports and there is nothing wrong with concentrating on one sport.  Both ways have many examples of producing successful players, even the very most successful players.

I love football and basketball, but IMO basketball is the sport that has created the most year-round specialization.  Many football and basketball coaches want their players to specialize, for obvious reasons.  Baseball seems to be the one sport that many leaders promote playing the other sports.  Once again, it is those other sports that often want kids to specialize and because of that sometimes baseball loses them.

I am a baseball person and even though I love some of the other sports, I hate to see young kids quit playing baseball.  I would much rather they specialize than quit playing the game.  I'm pretty sure that everyone here has seen that young kid that was very talented give up baseball to concentrate on something else.  So to me it is great if someone wants to play multiple sports, if they enjoy that.  After all, that is what about half the players in the Major Leagues did.  Then again the other half did just concentrate on baseball.  There is no right or wrong way IMO.

Are there plus's and minus's involved in playing multiple sports?  Yep

Are there plus's and minus's involved in just playing one sport?  Yep

BTW, I'm talking about HS age kids.  Young kids should have fun playing all the sports they enjoy.

This thread keeps coming back to defending specialization. I agree with PG and several others who recognize that either can work if the athlete is making the choice. However, in my experience, it is rare that an athlete is choosing without advice from a parent or coach. In reading some of the posts that support 1-sport (baseball), I cannot help but think you are trying to sell sport specialization. If you are expressing those thoughts to your child or player, you are influencing their decision, plain and simple. With that said, I have definitely coached or known of HS athletes who are just incredibly passionate about a specific sport (baseball, football, basketball, wrestling, etc.). Nothing wrong with that and I support 100%. I have talked about my son's experience several times but just to provide a little more detail. Most of the D1 coaches who talked with my son were big fans of his multi-sport experience and were willing to cut him some slack in regards to his baseball development because he has never committed full-time to baseball. The key was finding programs that were looking for talent and have a coaching staff that is confident in their ability to develop the skills to play at a high level. They are out there, you just have to weed through the programs where coaches are less confident in their ability to develop and want a finished product.