Two Sport Star
July 20th, 2009 - bySpecialization is an issue that is hotly debated amongst sports fans. Does specializing in one sport hurt or help an athlete develop? There is no consensus answer, and both sides have valid arguments. Count Dallas Cowboys Quarterback Tony Romo in the two sport camp. The AP reports how Romo believes playing multiple sports prepared him for the NFL.
“People sometimes today are predominantly putting their kids into one sport,” said Romo, who held the first-round lead and now is tied for third entering Sunday’s final round of the 20th annual American Century Celebrity Golf Championship at Lake Tahoe.
“Age 10, they’re going to do one thing the rest of their life. I have a hard time with that because, shoot, I was like a 
basketball player as a kid. I would have just concentrated on one sport, soccer or something,” he told reporters after shooting a 3-under-par 69 on Friday.
“I never would have been able to do what I’m lucky enough to do — play football,” he said.
“I use the tools that you get mentally on the (golf) course for football,” said Romo, who followed Friday’s 3-under-par 69 with a 72 on Saturday.
“Anytime you’re in a pressure situation or something happens where you have to rely on your mental strength or discipline or all of a sudden you get nervous, blood starts racing, heart starts going, the more you’re in those situations the better off you’re going to be,” he said.
“I think that is exciting to be in those situations on the golf course because then all of a sudden when you’re at the end of a football game, you felt your blood pressure rise, you felt this stuff go through your brain and you have to rely on your fundamentals. … I think my fundamentals are probably a little better at football, but I think that it’s a neat thing to kind of use that in something else.”
Of course this is just his opinion, but I think his words have a lot of value if you are considering making the specialization choice.
