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: 2/16/26
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 16, 2026
1. BOYS BASKETBALL Brooklyn Columbia Central clinched its first league title in boys basketball since 1983, downing Michigan Center 59-56 in the Cascades Conference finale – WLNS
2. BOYS BASKETBALL Gobles clinched its first championship in 25 years with a 54-46 win over Galesburg-Augusta in the Southwestern Athletic Conference Central – Kalamazoo Gazette
3. BOYS BASKETBALL Detroit Martin Luther King finished a perfect run through the Detroit Public School League with a city championship-clinching 68-63 win over Detroit Cass Tech – Detroit News
4. GIRLS BASKETBALL Saline avenged its lone Southeastern Conference Red loss by defeating Temperance Bedford to clinch the league title – Saline Post
5. BOYS BASKETBALL Auburn Hills Avondale clinched its first Oakland Activities Association title with a 58-44 win over Clarkston – Oakland Press
6. GIRLS BASKETBALL Jackson Lumen Christi held on for a 48-36 win over Orchard Lake St. Mary’s to claim the Catholic High School League Bishop title – Oakland Press
7. BOYS BASKETBALL Onsted downed Ida 46-35 to wrap up a fifth-straight Lenawee County Athletic Association title – Adrian Daily Telegram
8. GIRLS BASKETBALL Holt defeated East Lansing 50-35 to secure the outright title in the Capital Area Activities Conference Blue – Lansing State Journal
9. BOWLING Wyandotte Roosevelt’s girls and boys teams finished perfect championship runs in the Downriver League – Southgate News-Herald
10. BOYS WRESTLING Holland’s Andreas Valkema reached 150 career wins on the way to a second-place finish at his Division 2 District – Holland Sentinel
Also of note …
GIRLS BASKETBALL Detroit Renaissance downed Mumford 63-37 to win the Detroit Public School League city championship – Detroit Free Press
GIRLS BASKETBALL Rockford, Grand Rapids South Christian, Grand Rapids Catholic Central and Holland Christian all clinched shares or outright titles in the O-K Conference – Grand Rapids Press
GIRLS BASKETBALL Morenci’s Emersyn Bachelder and Adrian’s Ella Salenbien both reached 1,000 career points – Adrian Daily Telegram
BOYS BASKETBALL East Lansing downed Holt 71-36 to clinch the outright Capital Area Activities Conference Blue championship – Lansing State Journal
BOYS BASKETBALL Saginaw Heritage downed Mount Pleasant 58-29 to clinch the Saginaw Valley League North title – Saginaw News
BOYS BASKETBALL Center Line defeated Warren Mott, and a Marine City win helped the Panthers claim the Macomb Area Conference Silver title outright – Macomb Daily
BOYS BASKETBALL Royal Oak Shrine downed Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes 41-28 to clinch the Catholic High School League St. Anne championship – Oakland Press
BOYS BASKETBALL Isaiah Theodile scored his 1,000th career point during Kalamazoo Central’s 85-46 win over Battle Creek Central – Kalamazoo Gazette
BOWLING The Division 2 No. 10 Fruitport boys finished a championship run in the Ottawa-Kent Conference Silver – MuskegonSports.com