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: 2/23/26
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 23, 2026
1. GIRLS SWIMMING & DIVING Marquette won its fifth-straight MHSAA Final behind four first places from Kaytlin Roell – MHSAA.com
2. BOYS SWIMMING & DIVING The Sentinels ran their Finals championship streak to seven – MHSAA.com
3. BOWLING The Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central girls won their first Regional championship in this sport and also had the singles champion at their Division 4 events – Monroe News
4. BOYS BASKETBALL Flint Elite downed Flint Hamady 55-51 in the Genesee Area Conference championship game – WJRT
5. BOYS BASKETBALL St. Joseph Michigan Lutheran clinched the Berrien-Cass-St. Joseph Conference championship with a 55-54 win over St. Joseph Our Lady of the Lake – St. Joseph Herald-Palladium
6. INDIVIDUAL WRESTLING Gavin Woodcox set a Mancelona wins record in advancing from his Division 4 Regional – Traverse City Record-Eagle
7. BOWLING The Division 1 No. 2 Macomb Dakota girls made a late move to get past No. 5 Macomb L’Anse Creuse North and win their Division 1 Team Regional – Macomb Daily
8. COMPETITIVE CHEER Allen Park Cabrini advanced to Regionals for the first time during Division 4 District competition – Southgate News-Herald
9. ICE HOCKEY No. 5 Calumet advanced to a Division 3 Regional Final with a 4-3 win over No. 10 Painesdale Jeffers – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette
10. BOWLING Twins Delaney Vanier and Jameson Vanier won Regional titles in Division 2 – Flint Journal
Also of note …
BASKETBALL Petoskey’s girls defeated Alpena to win the Big North Conference title outright, and Harbor Springs Harbor Light Christian’s boys won the Northern Lakes Conference with a 63-60 win over Burt Lake Northern Michigan Christian – Petoskey News-Review
BOYS BASKETBALL Central Montcalm downed White Cloud to clinch the outright title in the Central State Activities Association White – Greenville Daily News
BOYS BASKETBALL Fruitport capped a repeat Ottawa-Kent Conference Silver title run with a 65-42 win over Grandville Calvin Christian – Grand Haven Tribune
BOYS BASKETBALL Hillman clinched the North Star League Little Dipper co-championship with Posen with a win over Au Gres-Sims – Alpena News
GIRLS BASKETBALL Reed City’s Morgan Hammond reached 1,000 career points during a win over Howard City Tri County – Big Rapids Pioneer