I looking through another NH blog to read up on football happenings and I see post about should a player specialize or play multiple sports. There is a link to a re-broadcast of a interview. So click on it and they are interviewing my kid!! - he never told us about it!!

Anyway, I think this is great subject, should an athlete concentrate on baseball or play multiple sports. This was a real hot topic in our house this summer; what's your opinion?

Growing up a kid should play as many sports as possible. By high school, if the school is sizable it may be difficult to play three. Coaches want some off season dedication to their sport. The only reason to specialize in one sport is if other sports are getting in the way of getting to the next level in the preferred sport.

My son played three through freshman year. He's lettering in two varsity sports now (junior year). He'll play two to the end unless he needs fall of his senior year to finish up college baseball business.

Other than multiple track seasons I don't think any male is lettering in three sports at our high school. Only five baseball players letter in another sport (three football, s****r and hockey). Three of them are in the top four baseball players and should play college ball.

quote:

should an athlete concentrate on baseball or play multiple sports

Tough question and really depends a lot on the individual and his goals.

It's a trade off of sorts. Play only one sport and the player tends to become more proficient at that one sport and increases his odds of playing that sport at the next level. Play two or more sports and most will agree that his overall athleticism may increase but the "tools" of a the "off season sport" remain the same or could decline. High school sports can be the most rewarding time for many players and multiple sport athletes tend to be more popular and have an opportunity to create great memories. However if the goal is to play high level college baseball (or another sport) it might behoove the player to forgo the "secondary" sports and focus on his primary sport. While my son appeared destined to play college baseball while in high school and was going to focus only on baseball, the football coach asked him to play his junior and senior year of high school. After much discussions with the baseball and football coach and with the understanding that baseball was his primary sport, he agreed to play football. The outcome was great even though that was not the plan going in. Bottom line I tend to think if a player is serious about his primary sport, one sport in HS is enough to keep him busy and will improve his odds of reaching a higher level after high school.
Fungo

I think if you want to play at the next level, college, you have to work more at the sport you intend to play in college. My son has made the choice to stop playing football. His 9th and 10th grade years he played three sports, football, ice hockey, and baseball. Baseball being his best sport. He stopped playing football for two reason, put more time in baseball, he played fall ball this year, he didn't to risk injury. One of our very good baseball players broke his none throwing arm early in the football season and last week broke his leg. But the choice is up to the athlete and what their goals are, where they want to be in college. Just a side note, Jeff Locke only played baseball in high school, although he is a talented athlete, his father didn't want him to get hurt. He was drafted by the Braves in the 2nd round.

Son is a freshman this year. He is playing freshman football this season and is considering going out for basketball as well (6' 1"). He will obviously go out for baseball in the spring. I think football helped him this fall. He certainly thinned out more and put on on muscle mass that should translate to the diamond (core strength). As a pitcher it has let him rest his arm for a while but kept him active. If he plays hoops it will keep him in shape and work on his running and agility. We will start winter workouts on the weekends to get ready for the upcoming baseball season.

Here in the Northeast I think it is more common to have multi sport athletes, especially in the first couple of years of High School. Now come junior and senior season it may be time to drop football and concentrate on fall ball and playing in showcases etc...

Great question and this subject has been debated before on this website. At the end of the day it comes down to a personal choice.

My family and I were having the same discussion regarding my son. He plays Baseball, Basketball and Football. He starts in all three sports. However he made the decision to give up basketball so he could use those months to get ready for baseball.

Many of our baseball frineds have tried to talk him out of the Football thing. They site injury as main reason. They are correct. However he had the chance to sart for his Varsity football team as the QB and he did not want to miss that experience. Also I can tell you the conditioning and weight training has helped with his baseball. So for him it has been a good decision. In fact he is starting to attract some college interest ( he is Junior) from football coaches. Not at the level that he is getting from baseball but still it is some interest. You never know where the road will take you.

So you are going to hear many difernt POV's here....and thing is none of them are wrong...becasue it really gets down to a personal decision.

I can tell you I attend a baseball game on the West coast last year and got there real early. They were flashing up the players high school and college experiences and I was suprised by the number of MLB players that played football in high school.

First the parameters are my son attends a large classification high school. At smaller schools kids often play three sports.

My son was cut from basketball (the third sport) soph year after being the starting point guard on the freshman team. We were stunned. The coach said it was because he didn't play summer basketball or attend any fall workouts. Not one basketball player plays another sport. He was playing s0ccer and fall ball. Not playing basketball last winter was the best thing that ever happened to his baseball. Instead of running his weight down, he worked out and put on twenty-five pounds in four months. While part was growing two inches there's no way he would have put on the bulk playing basketball.

It is possible to play two sports. My son works out year round in baseball whether it's baseball or physical training. His fall is busy with high school s0ccer, travel baseball and academics. He does three baseball workouts a week in the early evening, lifts weights three mornings a week before school and plays on the weekends (when it isn't raining).

It is "possible" to play four sports in High school. I know of kids that play s****r and aslo kick for the football team.

The decision comes in is how competetive do you want to be in each sport. Since more and more kids are down to one/maybe two sports they are able to focus and get better in the sports where they specialize.

as always there are the rare kids that have the god given talent that may not need to reduce the number to focus and still be a stud in mutiple sports.

Like I said earlier....it all comes down to ones own POV and what is best for them.

RJM,

Your post hit a memory for me that I can relate too. My first head coaching job was a freshman team up in Maine after a good spring I would be offered the position of the senior babe ruth head coach position for the town's team.

2 of the better players on the freshman team did not come out for Senior Babe Ruth, I asked them why and they said they had to play summer basketball. I tried to tell them that Summer is baseball season and basketball was still two seasons away but they told me it was "mandatory". I checked on this and it obviously was not mandatory but the varsity basketball coach had told them basically in not so many words, if they don't play don't bother coming out in the winter. So they played summer basketball, football, and eventually quit baseball.

I remember having the phone up to my ear talking to one of them thinking "you're a 5' 11" stalky white boy from Maine and you're giving up baseball to play hoops?"

Son is only a Freshman at one of the larger high schools in the state. Pretty much everyone makes the freshman football team. As far as hoops will go he has never played anything above park & Rec but he is fairly tall within his class and athletic. So maybe he plays one or two years. I figure if he can play multiple sports his first tow years in school it will be good for him and then going into his junior and senior years he can start focusing totally on baseball. The different workouts for the different sports should help shape his body and get him ready to become baseball specific in two years.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by dad43:
It is "possible" to play four sports in High school. I know of kids that play s****r and aslo kick for the football team.

QUOTE]

So this would make that kid a two sport athlete right?

Come on my Class I pitching joke is no good if you take you post down.

while baseball is my passion, i think baseball players that play football have that bulldog mentality. maybe it's just a coincidence......or maybe it comes from taking a pounding all week for the friday game.

i also think any time you can represent your school, you should. you only get 4 years high school.

quote:

Originally posted by shipbuilder2:
I remember having the phone up to my ear talking to one of them thinking "you're a 5' 11" stalky white boy from Maine and you're giving up baseball to play hoops?"

When my son was little he said he wanted to play basketball at North Carolina or Duke. I warned him he was going to grow up to be a 6'2" white kid. I did expect him to play high school basketball. He was just as good at basketball as baseball relative to his level of play (freshman ball) until not playing last year. But this years basketball team has six college prospects all taller than he (6'1"). Now if he had been 6'6" it might have been a different story. He could have been a back up forward. The starting front line is 6'8", 6'6" and 6'4" (jumps better than the other two).

quote:

So this would make that kid a two sport athlete right?

ShipBuilder very good...glad to see your math skills are good....I should have been clearer....I assumed that people would know that I meant the kid also played Baseball and Basketball.

By playing Football and s****r at the same time a student could play 4 sports in one year without to many conflicts.

Thanks for the help

43-

I did include basketball and baseball in my math... combine that with kicking field goals and playing s****r that sounds like... 2 sports.

We're finding out this is a tough question. My son is a high school freshman who plans to play football all four years in h.s., for a small, but decent program. But baseball is his first love.

He's a 6-3 lefthanded-hitting catcher that had very positive experiences at two Div. I showcases this summer. He wants to play college baseball in the South, and I'm afraid that playing football (particularly his junior and senior years) will limit his ability to play fall ball or go to camps, etc.

That said, the coaches we talked to this summer (unless they were blowing smoke), seemed to prefer that he play more than one sport - makes 'em a better all-around athlete, they said.

So he's going to play football in high school and cross his fingers that he doesn't get hurt!

I have always been a strong believer that playing multiple sports only makes you a better athlete. Growing up we played s****r (town didn’t have football) in the fall basketball in the winter and baseball during the spring. Don’t get me wrong I was still working out for baseball most of the winter but still played hoop to stay in shape and to be part of your school team. I see to many one sport athletes getting burnt out or having sever injuries when they are 17-18 years old. Your body is not ment to throw a ball 12 months out of the year.

I personally believe that at younger ages kids should participate in different activities. However I have had kids who were literally involved in 3 and 4 sports/activities per season. I no lie had a player one time tell me they could only play in one of the games of a double header because he had a scuba lesson later in the day. He was also missing games and practices for golf and basketball, add in baseball and thats four different activites. To me this is a parent pushing their child into too many activities, how many 12 year olds are actively persuing scuba careers while playing hoops and golf and baseball. What was too bad was the kid was decent at baseball and lacked actual innings on the diamond. I believe that the player themselves should be making this decision not parents, thats when I believe you get players who get burned out.