Patrick Mahomes didn't stick to one sport, making him a prime example for multisport youths

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:yeah, I mean you can just play football, baseball, and basketball, and then become a great center midfielder at the college level just b/c of your well rounded athletic ability.

Ah, you misunderstand. No one is saying that either (unless you’re Bo Jackson). Soccer is no more difficult to learn than basketball or hockey or lacrosse or football etc. that was my actual point.

Not true.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, but your multi-sport “athlete” is still going to be full pay at a mediocre-plus SLAC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:yeah, I mean you can just play football, baseball, and basketball, and then become a great center midfielder at the college level just b/c of your well rounded athletic ability.

Ah, you misunderstand. No one is saying that either (unless you’re Bo Jackson). Soccer is no more difficult to learn than basketball or hockey or lacrosse or football etc. that was my actual point.

LOL. No, you can’t decide in 9th grade to pick up soccer and become elite at it. And for you to lump hockey into a sport that can just be picked up makes you laughable. Making the Varsity soccer team with little experience is not the same as making an elite club team or even a average quality club team.

[Anonymous]

Hockey is as skills-based as soccer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:yeah, I mean you can just play football, baseball, and basketball, and then become a great center midfielder at the college level just b/c of your well rounded athletic ability.

Ah, you misunderstand. No one is saying that either (unless you’re Bo Jackson). Soccer is no more difficult to learn than basketball or hockey or lacrosse or football etc. that was my actual point.

LOL. No, you can’t decide in 9th grade to pick up soccer and become elite at it. And for you to lump hockey into a sport that can just be picked up makes you laughable. Making the Varsity soccer team with little experience is not the same as making an elite club team or even a average quality club team.

You can if you’re talented, sorry your kid is not

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:yeah, I mean you can just play football, baseball, and basketball, and then become a great center midfielder at the college level just b/c of your well rounded athletic ability.

Ah, you misunderstand. No one is saying that either (unless you’re Bo Jackson). Soccer is no more difficult to learn than basketball or hockey or lacrosse or football etc. that was my actual point.

LOL. No, you can’t decide in 9th grade to pick up soccer and become elite at it. And for you to lump hockey into a sport that can just be picked up makes you laughable. Making the Varsity soccer team with little experience is not the same as making an elite club team or even a average quality club team.

Danny Cruz did and things seemed to work out for him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:yeah, I mean you can just play football, baseball, and basketball, and then become a great center midfielder at the college level just b/c of your well rounded athletic ability.

Ah, you misunderstand. No one is saying that either (unless you’re Bo Jackson). Soccer is no more difficult to learn than basketball or hockey or lacrosse or football etc. that was my actual point.

LOL. No, you can’t decide in 9th grade to pick up soccer and become elite at it. And for you to lump hockey into a sport that can just be picked up makes you laughable. Making the Varsity soccer team with little experience is not the same as making an elite club team or even a average quality club team.

Danny Cruz did and things seemed to work out for him.

Never heard of him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:yeah, I mean you can just play football, baseball, and basketball, and then become a great center midfielder at the college level just b/c of your well rounded athletic ability.

Ah, you misunderstand. No one is saying that either (unless you’re Bo Jackson). Soccer is no more difficult to learn than basketball or hockey or lacrosse or football etc. that was my actual point.

LOL. No, you can’t decide in 9th grade to pick up soccer and become elite at it. And for you to lump hockey into a sport that can just be picked up makes you laughable. Making the Varsity soccer team with little experience is not the same as making an elite club team or even a average quality club team.

Danny Cruz did and things seemed to work out for him.

Never heard of him.

And neither did they before they typed “professional soccer players who started playing soccer in high school” into Google

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The guy in some State Farm commercials, oh and also the best QB in the NFL.

Ahhh! So this isn't a soccer player. I think some sports can cross apply better than others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:yeah, I mean you can just play football, baseball, and basketball, and then become a great center midfielder at the college level just b/c of your well rounded athletic ability.

Ah, you misunderstand. No one is saying that either (unless you’re Bo Jackson). Soccer is no more difficult to learn than basketball or hockey or lacrosse or football etc. that was my actual point.

LOL. No, you can’t decide in 9th grade to pick up soccer and become elite at it. And for you to lump hockey into a sport that can just be picked up makes you laughable. Making the Varsity soccer team with little experience is not the same as making an elite club team or even a average quality club team.

Danny Cruz did and things seemed to work out for him.

Never heard of him.

And neither did they before they typed “professional soccer players who started playing soccer in high school” into Google

Or maybe if they followed DC United. Pretty clear y’all don’t have a clue about the ‘elite’ side of this game.

[Anonymous]

And lets not forget that high school football is not a ten month commitment. There is lots of time built in to play other sports during winter and spring.

It isn't a miracle that a kid who plays football has the winter and spring available to play other sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And lets not forget that high school football is not a ten month commitment. There is lots of time built in to play other sports during winter and spring.

It isn't a miracle that a kid who plays football has the winter and spring available to play other sports.

depends on the level, a top recruit in our area spends his weeeknds going to florida, for 7's tournamnets, las vegas for others, texas for others. all sponsiored by gatroade, under armour, us army etc.

if you are that good, you get the invites otherwise you go play basketball etc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And lets not forget that high school football is not a ten month commitment. There is lots of time built in to play other sports during winter and spring.

It isn't a miracle that a kid who plays football has the winter and spring available to play other sports.

depends on the level, a top recruit in our area spends his weeeknds going to florida, for 7's tournamnets, las vegas for others, texas for others. all sponsiored by gatroade, under armour, us army etc.

if you are that good, you get the invites otherwise you go play basketball etc

LOL, ok, so 15 kids per state make it ten months. GTF outta here with that. Football is not a ten month sport. It is not a miracle that kids play winter and spring sports. And even if they did do a all star gatorade game im sure the school will overlook their BB absense because football is king.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:yeah, I mean you can just play football, baseball, and basketball, and then become a great center midfielder at the college level just b/c of your well rounded athletic ability.

Ah, you misunderstand. No one is saying that either (unless you’re Bo Jackson). Soccer is no more difficult to learn than basketball or hockey or lacrosse or football etc. that was my actual point.

Do you actually think manipulating an object using feet is as easy as using hands?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And football isn't soccer either.

We always tend to view soccer through the prism of American sports. When a kid is 13 you have no idea what position he will play in football later on. If they play baseball and are a pitcher then QB is possible but if a growth spurt never happens then that is off the table.

Our sports require certain attributes in order to be successful so it is best to be generalized before your sport is basically selected for you based on how you grow.

Soccer doesn't really work that way. the only position that can limit based on size or attributes is keeper. Because size simply does not matter in soccer skill development does. Time spent developing skills specific to soccer are more helpful to soccer than playing shortstop, unless you are a keeper.

There are not many multi sport world class figure skaters or gymnasts either.

Playing multiple sports is fun and has benefits but our popular sports tend to self select based more on god given attributes than they do skill development.

A kid can play many sports and in 9th grade pick up football and excel depending upon their athleticism. A kid can not pick up soccer in 9th grade and excel.

I agree with you, but still think that a kid could play basketball or some other complimentary sport while focusing on soccer.

Can everyone post how many kids are one their son's roster and how many of them they believe specialize (no other sports. Zero. Just soccer year round). My son has 16 kids on his team and I would say 7 play no other organized sports, but I don't think it's about specializing in soccer as much as it's about money and the other more available sports not being culturally interesting to them.

I'd say about 95% of the roster of my kids' soccer teams have, at a minimum, played multiple years of rec sports in addition to serious soccer for most of their childhoods. Basketball is the most common, but kids have also swam, played flag football, baseball, lacrosse, and done wrestling. I agree with the PP above that soccer is a sport that pretty much requires early specialization for kids to succeed, unlike football, but that doesn't mean you can't play one or more other sports casually and get the benefits from that.

In general, I think rec sports are a great complement to almost all travel sports.

That is probably true of my son's soccer team too, having played other sports in addition to serious soccer, but once we got to the seniors, that changed. My DS last year (U16) tried to play just on his HS JV basketball team, in addition to keeping up with club soccer, and it was tough. He was constantly sacrificing one for the other. I can't think of another one of his teammates who are playing another sport seriously, maybe something in a rec league. To his teammates it's soccer, soccer, soccer.

This year the HS varsity basketball coach wanted DS on the team, but DS knew at that level it wouldn't work out with U17 club soccer. And with soccer being the sport he has the better shot at playing in college*, he didn't play basketball.

*note: we aren't trying for athletic scholarships, and with his planned major, D1 soccer would be insanely tough to manage. He'd just like to keep playing.