Multiple Sports - Multiple Advantages

While reading the MHSAA's "Second Half" website, I came across a blog written by Chris Kennedy.  The title of the entry was "The Multi-Sport High School Athlete".  You can read it in full here: The Multi-Sport High School Athlete

Mr. Kennedy brings up some very interesting points that really go along with my overall philosophy of educational athletics.

1.  Cross training and participation in multiple sports does not hurt you in one or the other.  It only helps you become a more "well-rounded" student athlete.

2.  Year round paid "club" coaches like working with your kids.  They like your money even more.  They don't have to worry about if a student athlete is going to be eligible from week to week.  They don't deal with the unique dynamic that exists between classmates.  Rarely do they care about the kid who talks trash on Twitter.  They take the "best" kids from each school and dangles the hottest gear and swag in front of them.  They are more focused on the product, rather than the process.

3.  He states that "development" is a current buzzword in sports.  I agree.  We also hear the phrase "next level" on a daily basis.  But if we slow down, take a step out of the grind and look at the "next level", we should be looking beyond college and the all mighty and mythical athletic scholarship.  Instead of focusing on developing our kids to excel at a specific sport, we need to be focused on developing them into productive citizens of society.  We need to focus on building people of tremendous character who understand commitment, trust, loyalty and integrity.  We need to focus on developing outstanding husbands and wives, fathers and mothers.

We have a teacher/coach in our school who was a Division 1 scholarship athlete.  He was a multi-sport athlete in high school.  We have a current senior who will be attending one of the best academic institutions in the country next fall.  He will be accepting a full athletic scholarship.  He is a current high school multi-sport athlete.

I say play as many sports as you can.  I say play them to the best of your ability.  I say have as much fun as you possibly can.