Question for coaches and parents on the decline of multi sport youth athletes.

[Coondog Hog]

Is there still a place in youth sports for just a ball player?   If your a coach on the Jr. High level or higher would you prefer a player that has specialized in a sport? Or if you are the parent of a player that has played baseball, basketball or football at any collegiate level what was your experience with this.  How do you feel about it? Is a multi sport player at a disadvantage or are youth players still better off to become a well rounded athlete.  My son is currently a 3 sport athlete his best two sports are baseball and football.  The longer he plays travel baseball the more the issue of commitment to baseball comes into play.  I get that baseball is becoming a year round game, but there are lots of kids good at lots of sports.  Are these players taking a risk at falling behind or will the cream eventually rise to the top regardless.  Just something I've been pondering on.

[PorkRinds]

If you're doing travel ball and multiple teams, I'd say two sports is enough.  Baseball especially is becoming all consuming. Lots of the kids I coach In football play multiple sports on little league, but it gets more unusual as they get older if they are going to try and play college sports. A a kid, I say let them play as much as they can, but as they get older encourage them to focus on that sport they are better at, or what they want to try and continue playing.  That's just me though.

[ricepig]

Let him play what he wants to, if he's good enough for a scholarship, then you can cut back one when he is offered, otherwise, he's missing out on the fun.

[H&D]

As travel ball (baseball and basketball) and 7on7 age groups keep getting younger and younger, it's only natural that kids are going to start picking one sport. My nephew plays baseball. He's on the high school team, fall ball and travel ball teams. He wouldn't have time to play another sport even if he wanted.

I'm not saying it's right (I actually hate it) but it's just the way it is.

I played baseball, football, basketball and ran track all the way into high school. I may have never had an "off season" but at least I was wearing out different parts of my body. Kids like my nephew, I don't know how their arms don't fall off.

[ricepig]

Baseball and football usually work out as they don't overlap as far as seasons. My oldest played both and was very successful at both, but our coaches didn't have a problem with it. We would have 5-8 starters in baseball who also started in football, and this was at a 6A school.

[Russ22]

Let him play what he wants to, if he's good enough for a scholarship, then you can cut back one when he is offered, otherwise, he's missing out on the fun.

This is the best advice out there.

[Coondog Hog]

This is the best advice out there.

And that's what I plan to do, but I do have concerns that It may cost him opportunities.

[ricepig]

And that's what I plan to do, but I do have concerns that It may cost him opportunities.

Opportunities where? High school, travel team?

[PorkRinds]

And that's what I plan to do, but I do have concerns that It may cost him opportunities.

It might.  But it's worth the risk.  Most kids aren't going to play sports higher than the high school level.  Let him enjoy it when he's a kid, and get serious if he becomes a star in high school.

[thirrdegreetusker]

Here is another way to look at it:

Say you are a college football coach, with one scholarship left. You need another offensive tackle to round out your recruiting class. You have narrowed it down to two kids. Both are about the same height, same weight, same speed, and look really good in the games tapes you have seen. 

One devoted himself to football, year round. Weight lifting, spring ball, lineman clinics/camps...the works.

The other was a power forward on his high school basketball team, and played first base for the baseball team.

The college coach is looking for upside, for potential. The "football only" kid may be very near as good as he will ever be. The other kid has room to improve, based on the fact that he has NOT concentrated on football, yet looks as good as the other kid. 



The other downsides to concentrating year-round on one sport are:
* Each sports places unique demands on the human body. A kid need time off to heal,
recover, grow. I saw an interview with a Southern California youth swim coach (they take swimming/diving VERY serious out there). He said he MAKES his youth swimmers get completely out of the pool at least one month a year. He said most hate it but, when they return, they often have grown an inch or two, and gained weight. Plus, some injuries are linked to certain sports. Arm trouble in baseball; concussions in football. Year-round just makes it more likely.

* What if the kid LOVES football, but his best sports potential is clearly baseball? NFL all-pro Ed "Too Tall" Jones loved basketball. But I read once that his older brother, a football coach said "Hey, 6 foot 7 basketball players are a dime a dozen. But how many 6'7" football players can you name?" Bottom line, if kids are encouraged to concentrate on one sport, they could choose the one that is not best for the genetically-dictated physical gifts they have.

* Let the kid have fun. Play everything, play under different coaches. There are still lots of multi-sports athletes getting D-1 schollies. Matter of fact, I would not be surprised if the MAJORITY of D-1 athletes were not multi-sport in HS.

[PorkRyan]

The cream will rise to the top, especially in football and basketball.  Baseball and Soccer are more skill games so a kid could fall behind in those sports IF he took an extended period of time off.  A normal season vs good competition in baseball is sufficient to stay up to speed.  Once you hit high school, it will be tougher to play 2-3 sports.  Only the very athletic kids are going to be able to pull that off with much success.  This also varies by school.  A large 7A school will be much tougher to play multiple sports vs a 3A school.

I went round and round with some posters on the Rivals board about youth football.  I was told my kid and others like him, would fall behind by not playing youth football.  I have 10 kids on my travel baseball team and only 1 played youth football.  Now every kid is playing Jr High football and we have 3 starting QB's, 1 starting RB, and 6 starting WR's.  Most of those kids also start on defense.  So much for them never catching up.  In fact, about half of the starters on my sons team never played football until 7th grade.  The athletes catch up, and they will do it quickly.  You would be surprised at how many youth coaches want kids to play year round.  I'm talking about 8u-12u kids.  It is really bad in girls sports.  A lot of those softball girls play 120 games a year as 10 year olds. 

Bielema has been on record that they look for kids who have played multiple sports.  Right in line with the post above this, he looks for potential and how much growth the athlete has left. 

[Dr. Starcs]

Basketball is just as much a skill sport as baseball.

[PorkRyan]

Basketball is just as much a skill sport as baseball.

How many times have you heard of someone picking up baseball without ever playing and becoming successful?  I can name numerous NBA players who picked up the game very late.

[Dr. Starcs]

I'll wait for your list before making my point.

[clutch]

I'll wait for your list before making my point.

I'm interested in hearing your point. I agree that it is a skill sport, but not nearly as much so as baseball. You can athlete your way around certain skill sets in basketball. In baseball, that's hard to do.