SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums SCHSSCA Multi-sport athletes

I saw this article posted on the basketball forum, and thought that some of the folks over here would appreciate it . . . multi-sport athletes.

I found the percentages of kids playing high school that go on to play in college to be very interesting. Football, baseball and boys' soccer seem to be represented at a significantly higher level than basketball. Given that there are even more girls' soccer programs than boys - you could conclude that they are represented at an even higher level than the boys. With the discussions on this forum about the opportunities for kids to play football versus those for boys' soccer, I found it interesting that those percentages were much closer to equal.

P.S. Kyle, Kevin, Don't let the folks from the club soccer forum read this. A lot of them seem to think that every kid involved in soccer should do nothing but soccer!

Some good points in the article. I, too, think that kids should be more well-rounded and be exposed to multiple sports but, if every kid was a great athlete and chose to play three sports, we would probably be crying about the lack of athletic opportunities for kids in high school because the same "studs" are on all three teams.

Specializing in a sport gives an average (or marginal) athlete the opportunity to make a varsity team or earn a starting position. I don't think most parents are specializing their kids in order for them to earn a college scholarship. I think most parents are OK with specialization because their kid seems to like the sport, and this affords them the opportunity to earn a spot on a college roster (most likely D2 or D3). I think most parents are realistic and certainly aware by now that full-rides are very rare.....but it certainly makes sense to aim for a combination of academic and athletic aid (more academic dollars than athletic dollars) if their child is a competitive player, a good student and interested in playing college soccer.

The burn out factor certainly has to be taken into consideration. After playing competitve soccer, year-round for 10 years, many young ladies are no longer interested in playing in college......no matter how great an athlete they are.

There are 55 recent three sport letter winners listed. Of those, only 9 play soccer. There are 13 "notable past three-sport stars." None played soccer. Is soccer that exclusive a sport that the majority of players do nothing else?

My sons are addicted to soccer. Club soccer in the fall, high school in the spring, pick-up soccer and camps in the summer. We all referee when we get the chance. My older boy is a second string kicker on the football team, but it's more of a social thing. He doesn't get much playing time, but it's cool to be on the team.

I know of a few soccer players who run cross country or play basketball, and even one who's a swimmer, but what keeps these great athletes from playing other sports? Is it a mindset of "specialization," or is this just that great a game that once you try it, nothing else matters?

I guess I'll just let them decide.

I think it is not so much the kids don't want to be 3 sport players, but do not have opportunity--especially at the larger schools which all the article quotes come from. Basketball teams have small rosters, soccer teams give preference to club players, and baseball and football coaches try to bring players up through other programs, so there is rarely room on a roster for the player who decides he or she would like to just try another sport unless he or she is the rare super athlete (Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders type). A more accurate picture would be to see how many athletes try out for multiple sports only to be cut somewhere on the way forcing him or her to focus on one sport.

Do you want to be great (or at least attempt to be great)? Then you MUST specialized (except for 0.00000000001% of people). And start in the womb. Tiger Woods, Mia Hamm. . .

Do you simply LOVE being athletic and enjoy sport—but have no urge to be the very best? Then play all the sports you can.

In other words, there is no one answer. If a child is gifted early enough to notice, and some (reasonable) adults can see that talent, I believe in focusing, specializing for the potential of greatest few people reach. But it all depends on what you want to achieve.

I think soccer requires such high skill to excel that it is more likely NOT to have multi-sport athletes.

I guess I somewhat second Kickman.

Three sport stars are going by the wayside because of various issues. However you cannot overlook certain requirements to play a sport.
1- any sport you must be an athlete.
2- to play american football you must be a certain size
3- to play basketball you must be a certain size

Therefore the 3 sport star (which by the way is ussually referred to as Football/basketball/baseball) can only particpate if he has the athleticism and the size.

Some people I worked with have sons who played football...right height, wrong weight or speed or whatever. Problem is the kid went to all the practices and in 3 years of HS played a total of 15 minutes of game time...one quarter(and I understand some did not even play that much).

He quit...

Some sports are contradictory.... i.e. a swimmer must be long & lean (long muscles) and a wrestler must be powerful (short muscles) so you can't do both.

So the choices are limited to 95% of the population.

The playing of games is predicated on how serious an athlete is about the game... what are the longer term expectations?.. If I am 5'9" and 155lbs and would like to play a sport after HS my choices are limited.

Throw in demographics and I think you will find that athletes will gravitate to the sport they are most succesful in. Coaches will then make the final decision for him/her based on his "commitment" to the sport

All this to say this is an extremely small % of the population today and would guess (although bigger) was a small % back then.

So what is all the fuss about? As Hurst said let them try when they are young and see what they pick. Problem is you can't really play football and basketball when you are little because that is not the real game

BTW I was a 2 sport athlete in HS...