Wide variety of sports versus year round specialization?

[Anonymous]

I was a D-1 athlete and I specialized but only to an extent. I grew up playing little league softball (softball was my college sport) so I did have a long history with it. I never played any other sports as a child but when I got to be middle school and junior high age, I was allowed to do a different fall sport (I did cross country) and I also did indoor track because we only practiced a few times a week. My dad wanted me to at least be practicing softball three seasons of the year. In the winter we would practice softball indoors 2-3 times per week. In the fall I did not do softball at all and the the spring and summer were regular high school ball and travel ball.

I think doing something else is good. I am a fan of anything that improves overall strength and aerobic conditioning because you need those two basic components for any sport. Swimming and running and great complements to any sport.

I don't know a lot, specifically, about soccer. My general feeling is that the market is saturated. If I or my kid were equally as great at another sport I'd probably choose the other sport as my focus.