Subscribe to the NCSA BlogA Couple Quick Thoughts on the Value of Playing Multiple Sports
February 24th, 2009 - byKatie Trainor coaches women’s lacrosse at Goucher College in Maryland. She had some valuable things to say to the Baltimore Sun in an interview, including the role of Camps and the importance of playing multiple sports in high school.
Coach, how many camps should a kid play in during the summer if she wants to play in college?
Katie Trainor: I think that is a decision that a player should make with her parents. Obviously camps are expensive and you need to do your research as to what is the purpose of the camp. If you want to be seen by a certain coach or spend time on a specific campus, then you should go to a camp at that specific college if it is offered. I do not think that players need to be participating in camps all summer — that is an expensive choice and I am a firm believer that the students these days need a bit more free time and fun in the summer. Too many are spending every waking minute of the summer being shuffled to and from lacrosse tournaments and camps, causing burnout.
Coach, are you a fan of multi-sport athletes when recruiting?
Katie Trainor: Absolutely. I think that multi-sport high school athletes have a lot to offer. It’s important not to specialize too early as it promotes a higher burnout rate and also creates situations of muscle overuse. Single-sport athletes can get sick of the sport when they get to college. Participating in multiple sports in high school is a great way to increase one’s overall athleticism in an organized, competitive environment.
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When I delivered College Recruiting Simplified at Warsaw High in Warsaw, IN (alma mater of former Laker Rick Fox), I had a long talk with athletic director Joe Santa. Joe had recently delivered a presentation on the value of multiple sports at a conference in San Diego.
He used current Chris Kramer as an example. Chris is currently a key player for Purdue Basketball. Many families might think, “Well, to get my kid to D1 Basketball in the Big Ten, we have to do basketball year round – nothing else!” Chris Kramer and his family didn’t think that way. When Chris played at Huntington North (IN) High School, he played football, basketball and baseball. He earned eleven varsity letters over four years and set fifteen different school records in three sports. He had D1 offers in three sports.
You know why he played three sports? He said, “Because my friends are playing!”
-Charlie Adams, NCSA Educational Speaker
March 3rd, 2009 at 12:49 pm
The only comment I have about a multi sport player is that you have to go to a high school where the “coaches” support this idea. A lot of them want the athlete for themselves and often times don’t allow a player to do several sports because of the fear of getting hurt in another sport. This is what we are running into at our high school.
March 3rd, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Terri Adams, the situation at your high school is a sad one. Out here in California, many travel and club programs pressure student-athletes to play only one sport the entire year. I’m sure the problem is nation-wide. As a high school coach, I would never pressure my students to focus on only one sport. I encourage all my students to explore different sports, work hard and have fun. In the long run, your child AND the high school athletics program will benefit from having well-rounded student-athletes.
March 3rd, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Thank you for printing this article. My husband and I continually have this conversation with other parents and my husband has them with high school coaches. My son would like to be a 3 sport athlete (football, baseball and basketball) but is discouraged by some of his high school coaches.
March 3rd, 2009 at 3:09 pm
We have talked to several college coaches in Indiana and Ohio about our daughter playing 3 sports (volleyball, basketball, track, and club volleyball) and all of them liked to hear it. They indicated that the different sports made her more athletic and less prone to injury. Coming from a small school if a student didn’t play more than one sport the school’s team would be hurting. She will now be playing college volleyball (her dream) and running track. Plus, thank you Charlie Adams for the advice about the smaller/private (NAIA, D3 and D2 colleges.
March 3rd, 2009 at 5:23 pm
My son and daughter played basketball, Soccer and baseball year round. And I think they have a tendency to burn out more than one sport. They played competitively every summer, spring break and every holiday. My son did not have a summer vacation or spring break for over 8-9 years due to him entering AAU basketball tournaments and playing summer baseball and summer tournaments. Same with my daughter who did USYSA state, regionals and ODP. High school schedule is fine, it is the club play that will put a stop to multi sport athlete and force the child to choose (getting younger and younger). On the flipside, I think it is also unfair to HS students who have to sit on the side when a good athlete who does not practice off season to come in and play because he is athletic, but does not understand the game totally and gets playing time over more polished less athletic kids. A team that has multisport athletes do well but never do well enough to reward the all year round athlete, because they are not as sharp as all year round athletes and they hurt the team in critical and close games.
March 4th, 2009 at 11:11 am
Well, I’m a 3 sport athlete! I honestly, don’t know how I would have made it thus far in High School without it. I play volleyball during Summer and Fall which helps me stay in shape for basketball which I go straight into after Volleyball, basketball required a lot of runing so it isn’t too awful hard for me to get in shape really quit, then as soon as basketball is over, I literlity mean soon as, the next week I go straight into softball which is my main sport, the one I’m hoping to go to college and play. Well, my team has usually always got 3 weeks of pratice on me so playing basketball I’m done in shape and ready to get out on the field and start that them i repet this for another year =)!
May 17th, 2009 at 10:44 am
My son plays basketball, football, soccer, and baseball. He would also like to run track. Needless to say he is a very fast runner. He has been discouraged to play 4 sports not 3. He is at a small high school so they understand. He continues start on all varsity teams since his freshman year. My problem now is that he is going to be a junior and he still does not want to specialize in one sport. As his mother I want to plan a summer that suits him. It is a balacing act that will be a fulltime job for me. I am now starting to get some parents whose children only play one sport upset with my son and me. They want him to pick a sport. The coaches love him and want him to put their sport first. I want my son happy, Where can I get help with this type of problem? I do not want people to dislike my child for his ability. I also don’t want to listen to the main stream. I would like to find a multisport advocate to guide us.
May 17th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
Alison –
Forgive my question, but why do you care what other parents think? It sounds like your son is happy playing all the sports he does. Let him continue to play all that he can and still earn good grades. If you want him to be recruited, get a realistic evaluation of what sport or sports he’s more likely to be recruited for. A number of NCSA ex-college athletes who are now recruiting coaches were multi-sport athletes in high school. They can guide your son better than anyone.