Let's Play 2 (or 3, or 4)
February 16, 2012
A few conversations I had at last week's Women In Sports Leadership conference further affirmed a point I've been making for years -- high school athletes, if they'd like, shouldn't hesitate to play multiple sports.
Doing so does not hurt, but might just help their chances at landing that prized college scholarship -- on top of adding another layer to the high school sports experience.
Reaffirming this for me last week was Michigan State softball coach Jacquie Joseph, who spoke on that subject at the WISL conference. She's heading into her 24th season as a head coach at the Division I college level -- so she's been around for some of the evolution of both high school sports specialization and college recruiting. Plus, she coaches a sport that sees its share of athletes playing just that one.
Later, I spoke with a high school coach who leads teams in three sports and also played one at the Division I college level. She's a believer in this as well.
Some of the things I've been told over the years about playing more than one sport:
- It allows an athlete to learn more skills and hone more parts of his or her athleticism.
- Using another range of movement further helps condition an athlete's body and make it more resistant to injury.
- It's hardly rare to see a college football coach watching a prospect's basketball game -- coaches like to see how athleticism transfers across sports, and sometimes will see something from an athlete playing basketball that he didn't show on the football field. (Football and basketball are used in this example, but the same applies to a number of similar situations.)
- Athletes get an opportunity to play whatever they'd like only this once (unless they turn out to be that rare college athlete who takes on more than one sport at that level).
These are hardly new arguments. But they are always worth repeating -- especially when the people frequently making them (college coaches) are the ones single-sport athletes often are trying to impress.
Today in the MHSAA: 2/17/25
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 17, 2025
1. GIRLS SWIMMING & DIVING Marquette's girls claimed their fourth-straight Upper Peninsula Finals championship – MHSAA.com
2. BOYS SWIMMING & DIVING The Sentinels ran their boys Finals championship streak to six – MHSAA.com
3. BASKETBALL Detroit Renaissance swept Detroit Public School League Tournament titles, the girls defeating Mumford 55-51 and the boys defeating King 69-64 – Detroit News
4. BASKETBALL Orchard Lake St. Mary’s boys edged Detroit U-D Jesuit 58-57 to win a Catholic High School League Bishop championship, and Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard’s girls defeated Toledo Notre Dame Academy 48-31 to clinch a title – Detroit News
5. COMPETITIVE CHEER Top-ranked Sanford Meridian continued its undefeated season with a Division 4 District title – Midland Daily News
6. BOYS BASKETBALL Grass Lake downed Brooklyn Columbia Central in the Cascades Conference to win its first league title since 1971, and Mason clinched a three-peat in the Capital Area Activities Conference Red – WILX
7. GIRLS WRESTLING Mason’s Cecilia Williams remained undefeated in girls competition this season in winning her Regional bracket – Lansing State Journal
8. BOYS WRESTLING Roseville’s Jay’Den Williams was among Macomb County standouts advancing with Division 1 Regional titles – Macomb Daily
9. COMPETITIVE CHEER No. 10 Wyandotte Roosevelt in Division 1, No. 2 Gibraltar Carlson in Division 2 and No. 3 Grosse Ile in Division 3 were among District title winners from the Downriver area – Southgate News-Herald
10. BOYS BASKETBALL Bridgman clinched the Southwestern Athletic Conference Lakeshore title with a 66-58 win over South Haven – St. Joseph Herald-Palladium
Also of note …
BOYS BASKETBALL Riverview Gabriel Richard downed Jackson Lumen Christi 82-48 to clinch the CHSL Cardinal Tournament title – Southgate News-Herald
BOYS BASKETBALL Battle Creek St. Philip downed Athens to clinch the Southern Central Athletic Association West title, its first since 2013-14 – Battle Creek Enquirer
GIRLS BASKETBALL Traverse City Central downed West 55-39 to clinch the Big North Conference title – Traverse City Record-Eagle
BOYS BASKETBALL Kinross Maplewood Baptist won the Northern Lights League Tournament title with a 104-94 overtime victory over Hannahville Nah Tah Wahsh – Escanaba Daily Press
GIRLS BASKETBALL Big Bay de Noc defeated Beaver Island to clinch the Northern Lights League Tournament title – Escanaba Daily Press
BOWLING Boyne City’s girls claimed the Northern Michigan Bowling Conference championship – Traverse City Record-Eagle
BOYS BASKETBALL Elk Rapids clinched a share of the Northern Shores Conference title with a 53-49 win over Charlevoix – Traverse City Record-Eagle
GIRLS BOWLING Ishpeming Westwood's Olivia Letson claimed the Upper Peninsula individual championship – Upper Michigan's Source
BOYS BASKETBALL Thomas Maier reached 1,000 career points for Hillsdale Will Carleton Academy during a loss to Pittsford – Hillsdale Daily News