Did playing multiple sports for as long as possible work for your kids?
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Anonymous
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My son is a 3 sport Varsity athlete. His primary sport is baseball and he plays both school and club. He also plays varsity basketball and varsity golf. But, honestly, he probably won’t be recruited for college in any of the sports.
Still, I’d say it “worked out” for him. He’s had fun, learned to be a competitive teammate, learned to work hard for goals, made great friends, received awards at times, etc… Did he reach his potential? Probably. Who knows? He’s done very well and is a happy kid. |
Anonymous
Don’t have a goal for your kid. Being good in sports at seven years old doesn’t mean much. Let your kids enjoy their games and take it year by year. Lacrosse is easy to learn so there will be a lot of kids starting to play at a later age which will result in more competition. Hopefully they can enjoy playing it in high school or somewhere else if necessary. |
Anonymous
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My son's primary sport is baseball. He did little league and started travel at 13u (later than most of his peers). Made the extremely competitive JV high school team as a freshman this year and actually got to start. He also plays rec basketball in the winter and played freshman football.
I think, in this competitive area, you have to specialize by middle school to be able to make the high school team in any of the major sports. But you can continue to play rec sports in off seasons. I agree that it's better for their bodies to play multiple sports. |
Anonymous
But your kid isn’t specialized if he’s still playing other sports (even *gasp* rec sports). He isn’t specialized if he HAS an off season. Having a primary sport =/= specialization. And yet, he DID make his high school team. So the bolded assertion is wrong according to your own anecdote. |
Anonymous
There has been a ton of science on this and it’s not true as long as you know how to train properly. Most MLB pitchers get injured in March because they didn’t do enough in the off-season to keep their arm healthy and strong…so they go from 40-to-100 and blow something out. |
Anonymous
| It all depends on what your kid wants. My youngest DS is playing a D1 sport in college. He multi-sported all through HS. Through 8th grade, he played baseball (LL and Travel), basketball (Rec and travel) and swam (summer and club) because this is what he wanted. In HS, he played rec for two sports and then travel/ rec for the sport he's playing in college. Multi-sporting prevents overuse injuries, but your kid has to drive the bus and determine if they want to focus or just have fun. My other two kids also played multiple sports, but didn't continue in college. My DD was a three sport varsity athlete and my other DS was a two sport varsity athlete. They didn't want to put the time in to be able to play in college. We let them decide how much and how serious. |
Anonymous
And most youth pitchers get injured due to overuse. |
Anonymous
| Went to high school with a nationally ranked baseball team. Almost every player in the team played football in the fall. My |
Anonymous
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I think this is one of the biggest changes since we were kids. My husband was a three sport varsity athlete in HS, and went on to compete Div 1 in one of those sports as a walk on. (Ironically, it was his worst HS sport, but his best HS sport was incredibly competitive at his college.) He's a lifelong athlete.
I was listening to the Yankees game the other night, and the announcer Paul O'Neal (famous Yankee who played in the 90s) casually mentioned a story from his HS basketball team. Kenny Lofton (another famous MLB player from the 1990s) was a HS basketball player and I think also ran track -- he came to baseball fairly late to have something to do in the spring in HS to stay in shape, and in fact played for the UArizona basketball team that went to the final four, but decided he wanted a career in baseball not basketball, and played 17 years in the MLB. So Lofton was a two sport athlete at least through college! I just think we see that less and less now. I don't know any kids that play multiple sports...my son did a club team his freshman year of HS combined with a very low level travel team in a different sport, but even that was kind of too much because the travel team practices year round. He could do it if he didn't take advanced academic classes, but can't do all three. I have another kid that played varsity for her HS sport, and it was almost impossible to play unless you also did travel team in the off season. She ended up in college playing a different sport, basically as a walk on, that she had learned at summer camp, and that doesn't have the kind of industrial machine feeding kids into it (yet). |
Anonymous
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I would say that playing multiple sports worked well for my kid, but maybe not in the way you want it to work for your kids.
He played multiple sports through middle school. He is a kid who is tall and naturally pretty coordinated, and is a hard worker, and a team player. Coaches loved him and there was a lot of encouragement to pick "their sport". In HS, he picked up cross country, which allowed him to stay healthy, make friends, but still have plenty of time for other interests. He has times that would make recruitable, including at his first choice schools, but doesn't plan to run competitively in college. My guess is that he will run for fitness and fun well into adulthood. I would call that success. |
Anonymous
Can you back this up with links that related to children's bodies? Because the bolded doesn't match anything I've read, and doesn't match what my kid's medical team says. MLB pitchers are over 18, their bodies aren't growing, so they aren't relevant to this conversation. |
Anonymous
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My DS is the best tennis player on a team that won the state championship. He is also the second best player on varsity golf that also won the state championship. In the winter, he swims for a swimming club.
It comes down to much money you're willing to spend on coaching, nutrition, personal trainer, etc... If you have a lot of money to spend, and the kid is willing to work hard, the odd is very high that he is going to have a very healthy and happy life. |
Anonymous
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I think there are some generational differences. Gen X seemed to prioritize multiple sports and good overall fitness for their kids. Whereas younger parents seem fixated on one sport - and the injuries and lack of fitness that go with it.
It's obviously better to do multiple sports for a kids health - both for mental and physical reasons. And resist all the pressure to hyper-focus on a sport at age 9. |
Anonymous
Make JV team |
Anonymous
Because he will play D3 tennis? Big deal |