Multi-Sport Highschool Athletes

[Bullaholic]

How many multi-sport athletes are there in 5A and even 4A schools? I've always heard it is hard in 3A and below for athletes to specialize in a single sport as the talent pool is too small. Further, it is hard for the athletes in the smaller schools to participate on say a select basketball team due to conflict with 7-on-7 football tournaments, etc. I wonder if some re-alignment of the highschool sports seasons would help these conflicts in the smaller classifications.

Also, how many dedicated sport coaches are there in the larger classifications?

[kaorder1999]

we have a LOT of kids at my 4A school that play multiple sports. Our starting QB also plays basketball and soccer.

[Bullaholic]

I wonder how much influence parents have in making their kids decide to play only one sport?

[Bullaholic]

Originally posted by kaorder1999
we have a LOT of kids at my 4A school that play multiple sports. Our starting QB also plays basketball and soccer.

Do you think they would be better as 1-sport only athletes in their chosen sports?

[kaorder1999]

its hard to say. My philosphy is the more they compete the better athlete they become. That being said....we have some football players that also play basketball and prolly would get way more out of offseason then they are sitting on the bench in hoops.

[Bullaholic]

Originally posted by kaorder1999
its hard to say. My philosphy is the more they compete the better athlete they become. That being said....we have some football players that also play basketball and prolly would get way more out of offseason then they are sitting on the bench in hoops.

How hard is it for you coaches to get kids to commit to off-season conditioning? Many programs say they have great off-season programs and participation but I think that most schools have mediocre participation at best, excpt for those players whose parrents and themselves believe are destined to be "stars".

[kaorder1999]

Originally posted by Bullaholic
How hard is it for you coaches to get kids to commit to off-season conditioning? Many programs say they have great off-season programs and participation but I think that most schools have mediocre participation at best, excpt for those players whose parrents and themselves believe are destined to be "stars".

its definitly hard considering the luxuries these kids have away from school and away from athletics. I am in an even tougher situation considering we do NOT have the athletic period everyday. Makes it TOUGH on us

[Keith7]

Originally posted by Bullaholic
How many multi-sport athletes are there in 5A and even 4A schools? I've always heard it is hard in 3A and below for athletes to specialize in a single sport as the talent pool is too small. Further, it is hard for the athletes in the smaller schools to participate on say a select basketball team due to conflict with 7-on-7 football tournaments, etc. I wonder if some re-alignment of the highschool sports seasons would help these conflicts in the smaller classifications.

Also, how many dedicated sport coaches are there in the larger classifications?

Here is a great story about a 4A school with a lot of multisport athletes

http://www.hcnonline.com/articles/2010/01/25/conroe_courier/sports/willishoops0126w.txt

[cookiemonster]

Kids need to compete and have fun in High School in my opinion. They need to be serious regarding the sport that is in season and learn to compete at the highest level they possibly can. The age of specialization is a byproduct of greed by select coaches who figured out that parents were willing to pay large amounts of money in hope that their son would receive a scholarship. These same coaches figured out that if they will pay me this amount for 3 months in the summer they will pay me enough money that I can quite my job and coach these kids for a few hours a day if I can talk them into only playing this sport and only playing on my team year round. It all started with soccer and trickled into all other sports besides Football. The Football Coaches in Texas are fighting to keep the select coaches out of their game.
Specialization is not good for kids because of health reasons and because they lose the ability of experiencing all the sports that they would like to play.

[STANG RED]

I think specializing in one sport is fine once they reach the varsity level, if thats what they want to do. But I dont like seeing it in the lower levels. I think they become a much more rounded athlete by participating in several sports at the sub varsity levels.

[hookandladder]

Originally posted by cookiemonster
Kids need to compete and have fun in High School in my opinion. They need to be serious regarding the sport that is in season and learn to compete at the highest level they possibly can. The age of specialization is a byproduct of greed by select coaches who figured out that parents were willing to pay large amounts of money in hope that their son would receive a scholarship. These same coaches figured out that if they will pay me this amount for 3 months in the summer they will pay me enough money that I can quite my job and coach these kids for a few hours a day if I can talk them into only playing this sport and only playing on my team year round. It all started with soccer and trickled into all other sports besides Football. The Football Coaches in Texas are fighting to keep the select coaches out of their game.
Specialization is not good for kids because of health reasons and because they lose the ability of experiencing all the sports that they would like to play.

You only mention boy's, girl's select teams ( Volleyball & Softball) are out of control in my opinion, yes my son plays select baseball in the summer only. Girls are playing these 2 sports just about year around, Volleyball is the worse. There are girls missing high school Varsity sports to play in select tournament's during the school year, just do not agree with this decision by some parents. Just my opinion but to each his or her own.

[TOPS1435]

I agree concerning the select sports. Around here it has, IMHO, ruined what used to be some really competitive districts by creating two tiers of players, select and non-, and it really shows in district competition. I understand that parents with the money and the time to drive their kids to the events want their kids to become as skilled as possible, but that puts of other players, perhaps with equal talent, at an acute disadvantage.

[XMan]

I think the select sensation has been the product of two things. First, football has monopolized the school athletic period, especially in small schools. Athletes have been told that if they want to work on a sport other than football, they must do it in an alternative setting so they go select. The school coaches can not coach these athletes outside of the school day at any time in the offseason. Therefore, their only choice is to play "select" ball that is coached by a non school person. Some of these athletes are even guided in the select direction by the school coaches since this is the only way to improve their players. Ironically, when the athlete quits football to only play some other sport, the football coach/AD cant understand why and talks bad about the kid. Secondly, you have a lot of people who enjoy sports and would like to coach but cant affort to. These people are making much, much more than teachers/coaches so they arent going to quit their high paying job to go teach at a school. Instead, they "coach" select ball during their off time. They sort of have their cake and eat it too. They can make 3 or 4 times what a school coach makes, and then "coach" select ball after work and on the weekends and still tell people that they are a real coach. By the way, I HATE the whole select ball thing.

[Txbroadcaster]

I think one thing select sport has done is kill summer leagues which are FOR FUN...kids today dont have that league to just enjoy the sport and compete and not worry about everything else.

We played all sports in MArshall a small 5A at the time but the summer was for the local city league baseball and it was for fun..yes we wanted to win, but it was not the end all be all and for those few months we just got to enjoy the sport

[coach]

Originally posted by kaorder1999
we have a LOT of kids at my 4A school that play multiple sports. Our starting QB also plays basketball and soccer.

i love seeing a qb play basketball as well and is the point guard....both positions are so similar and i think it helps the player in both sports

[cookiemonster]

XMan my son plays Football but his best sport is Baseball (He is in the 7th grade). I only allow him to play baseball during the summer and limit him to about 30 games total. I make him play Football and Track and he decides the other sports. I also make him go through the Football offseason because they know how to train him to be an athlete which will help him in everything he wants to do in life. As long as they are working to make my son a better athlete during the Athletic Period I don't have a problem with anything they do.

[STANG RED]

Originally posted by cookiemonster
XMan my son plays Football but his best sport is Baseball (He is in the 7th grade). I only allow him to play baseball during the summer and limit him to about 30 games total. I make him play Football and Track and he decides the other sports. I also make him go through the Football offseason because they know how to train him to be an athlete which will help him in everything he wants to do in life. As long as they are working to make my son a better athlete during the Athletic Period I don't have a problem with anything they do.
nm

[XMan]

and the point is????

[hookandladder]

Originally posted by cookiemonster
XMan my son plays Football but his best sport is Baseball (He is in the 7th grade). I only allow him to play baseball during the summer and limit him to about 30 games total. I make him play Football and Track and he decides the other sports. I also make him go through the Football offseason because they know how to train him to be an athlete which will help him in everything he wants to do in life. As long as they are working to make my son a better athlete during the Athletic Period I don't have a problem with anything they do.

My son plays Football, Basketball and Baseball but I do not make him play anything. It is his decision.

[XMan]

Monster, what im wondering is, when does your son get better in baseball? He plays 30 summer games but what else does he do? Does he hit/field/throw on a regular basis? I hope he does.

[LH Panther Mom]

Originally posted by XMan
Monster, what im wondering is, when does your son get better in baseball? He plays 30 summer games but what else does he do? Does he hit/field/throw on a regular basis? I hope he does.
He's a 7th grader. Are you expecting JH coaches to have baseball practice for a sport their kids do not play at school? :doh: You seem to have a hangup with "non" baseball practice, or is it just football off-season that's the problem?

[NateDawg39]

My parents FORCED me to play football. Golf was my sport though but im glad I played football because it actually taught me respect and teamwork. Most kids who are told as young boys and girls that it is their decision never end up trying out for sports because it looks to hard and it takes away from video games and crap like that. I'm not saying anyone on here has kids like that im just stating what I saw growing up and what I see now most of the time.

[LH Panther Mom]

Originally posted by NateDawg39
My parents FORCED me to play football. Golf was my sport though but im glad I played football because it actually taught me respect and teamwork. Most kids who are told as young boys and girls that it is their decision never end up trying out for sports because it looks to hard and it takes away from video games and crap like that. I'm not saying anyone on here has kids like that im just stating what I saw growing up and what I see now most of the time.
I "forced" my kids to participate in extracurricular activities. They could "choose" band or athletics. (One was in band 5th & 6th, another 5th-7th). I did tell them that if they chose athletics, they would participate in a sport each season (football, basketball, track -one added golf one year lol) in JH, then decide further in HS. Whatever their choice, they were NOT going to be kids that just went to school and came home - they would be involved.

[NateDawg39]

Originally posted by LH Panther Mom
I "forced" my kids to participate in extracurricular activities. They could "choose" band or athletics. (One was in band 5th & 6th, another 5th-7th). I did tell them that if they chose athletics, they would participate in a sport each season (football, basketball, track -one added golf one year lol) in JH, then decide further in HS. Whatever their choice, they were NOT going to be kids that just went to school and came home - they would be involved. Yea I mean, my dad was not around, so my mom kept me busy a lot so i wouldn't end up with the wrong crowds. Football, golf, band until my freshman year, and power lifting for 2 years. But she gave me the choice on if I wanted to do clubs and things like that.

I think when I have children, ill push them to play sports but once they start there is no going back.

[LH Panther Mom]

Originally posted by NateDawg39
I think when I have children, ill push them to play sports but once they start there is no going back.
Definitely no going back! If they started, they weren't allowed to quit - at least not until the season/school year was over - and none ever did.

[NateDawg39]

Originally posted by LH Panther Mom
Definitely no going back! If they started, they weren't allowed to quit - at least not until the season/school year was over - and none ever did. Yup thats what my mom basically did.....I made it sound like she gave me no choices but she did lol.

[bigwood33]

When my oldest son was in middle school he was a "B" team football player and didn't really have a great football experience. Since I played football in college and he knew how much I love it, he really didn't want to disappoint me but he didn't want to play in 9th grade. He was going to "focus on basketball". My wife told me about his feelings a couple of weeks before 2- A- Days started so I was ready when he came to tell me that he didn't want to play. I told him, "that is fine but you are going to march in the band". He said, "I can't believe you are going to make me play" and I told him that I wasn't making him play, I was making him be involved. I was not going to have a teenager with time on his hands. He gave me the really defeated "I guess I will play then". Fast forward to his senior year and he was starting on offense and playing a fair amount on defense and loving it. After the season he talked about how much he missed it and would love to play another year.
He continued to play basketball and baseball through high school and worked very hard to be a contributor in both. I was so very proud of his commitment and effort. He wasn't a gifted athlete but a great teammate. I hope that the lessons he learned while his mother and I stood on the sidelines cheering him on, will serve him well as an adult.

[hookandladder]

Originally posted by NateDawg39
My parents FORCED me to play football. Golf was my sport though but im glad I played football because it actually taught me respect and teamwork. Most kids who are told as young boys and girls that it is their decision never end up trying out for sports because it looks to hard and it takes away from video games and crap like that. I'm not saying anyone on here has kids like that im just stating what I saw growing up and what I see now most of the time.

My point is directed at some parents who push their kids to play sports that are not very talented and just simply do not want to play, then the parents sit up in the stands and bitch that their kid is not getting to play. The parents are trying to relive their high school experience thur their kids, which is just not meant to be. Yes, every kid needs to be involved in some type of school activity
to stay out of trouble but do not force them to do something that they are not capable of doing or willing to put the effort out to be successful. Just my 2 cents.

[TOPS1435]

I am so ancient, there were no girls sports when I was in school--well, maybe volleyball my last year or so, but that was never a sport for me. Wish I could have run track. But I was in the band six years, editor of the annual, one-act play, and from the library club I learned the Dewey Decimal system which served me well as I went to college and beyond. I am a firm believer in involvement and extra curricular activities. I think for some kids they are the reason they stay in school, and some stay long enough to come to enjoy the academics too!!!!!

[XMan]

This has gotten so far off topic that its ridiculus.