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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What’s your goal?[/quote]

To reach their potential in sport. [/quote]

That's too wishy-washy.  [b]If you don't care at all about college recruitment, then play three sports.
[/b]
Some incredible athletes like Patrick Mahomes could have gone pro in either football or baseball...most professional or even college athletes had to specialize.

I don't think you will ever hear of a top professional soccer player ever seriously playing another sport.

The Dominican Republic has the most per capita players in the MLB, and those kids don't do anything else.[/quote]

That's wrong.  I have two kids who played three sports, one each season.  Both ended up playing D1 in one sport, one of them after only having started to play it as a sophomore.  If you're trying to develop your athlete's general skill, they can excel at most any sport.  Of course you can't take up ice hockey as a 16 yr old, but you can switch from hockey to lacrosse or football or whatever.[/quote]

Must be a joke sport [/quote]

No, dude. The intense craziness is to get mediocre athletes to be good at a particular sport. I say this who has one mediocre athlete who is very driven and has become great at his preferred sport. But he’ll never be as good as the gifted athletes who don’t need all the intense training to be great.

Those are the Pat Mahomes, Caitlyn Clark, LeBron athletes, and it’s not most of our children. Athletic ability can be learned but we all have a ceiling and a floor.

For most average athletes, it’s probably better to play multiple sports at a lower level, and save your money and time. They’re never going pro.[/quote]

100% accurate.  Elite athletes (think major D1 revenue sports) are able to play 3 sports with ease.  They are that much more physically gifted than the average athlete.  Most kids aren’t able to do so and need to specialize in order to make a varsity roster.  This being said, No kid should specialize until 8th or 9th grade.  Kids that specialize young often peak prior to HS because their sport specific skills are more developed.  Athletes that didn’t specialize young fall behind on sport specific skills but often develop stronger physical and mental athletic talent.  Then around HS they begin to close the gap on sport specific skills and in turn become much more successful HS athletes because their other talents are further along.
Parents struggle to realize that their child is much more likely to be average than special athletically.  The best way for an average athlete to compete is to be a tremendous competitor.  That is best developed by competing in all types of activities.  Both those you excel at and those that challenge you.[/quote]

Thanks. I'm OP.  I don't think my kid is "elite," but they are above average in terms of pure athleticism, and sports are a huge source of their personal development, so I want to keep them on a good path.  I think it's through sports that they've found their best role models and learned about what work ethic and habits it takes to succeed.  None of the kids on any of their teams are purely physically gifted; they all put in a lot of work, and that's a good lesson.  My kid doesn't want to give up any of their 3 team sports.  I'm hopeful that they can make the high school team in all or maybe 2 of them, although lacrosse is where they are most behind in skills, but ahead in athleticism, specifically in speed and hitting.  Hopefully, they can close the gap as we approach HS, as you've suggested.   [/quote]

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