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: 2/5/24
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 5, 2024
1. WRESTLING Division 2 No. 6 Three Rivers won the Wolverine Conference championship, its first league title in this sport since 2004 – Sturgis Journal
2. WRESTLING Division 4 No. 3 Union City edged No. 5 Bronson to finish a Big 8 Conference championship run – Coldwater Daily Reporter
3. WRESTLING Division 3 No. 9 Otisville LakeVille Memorial dominated in claiming the Mid-Michigan Activities Conference championship – Owosso Argus-Press
4. WRESTLING Gaylord claimed its 16th-straight Big North Conference championship – Traverse City Record-Eagle
5. WRESTLING Division 2 No. 7 Hamilton won the Ottawa-Kent Conference Blue championship, its first since 2013 – Holland Sentinel
6. WRESTLING Laingsburg earned its first Central Michigan Athletic Conference championship on the mat – Owosso Argus-Press
7. WRESTLING Division 2 No. 4 Mason won the overall Capital Area Activities Conference title – Lansing State Journal
8. BOYS SWIMMING & DIVING Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood – ranked No. 1 in Lower Peninsula Division 3 – won its first Oakland County championship – Oakland Press
9. WRESTLING Division 1 No. 2 Hartland won its third-straight Kensington Lakes Activities Association West championship – Livingston Daily Press & Argus
10. WRESTLING Jackson Northwest had four individual champions in claiming the Interstate 8 Athletic Conference team title – Jackson Citizen Patriot
Also of note …
WRESTLING Division 4 No 8 Climax-Scotts/Martin had six individual champions in claiming a Southwestern Athletic Conference team title – Battle Creek Enquirer
WRESTLING Gibraltar Carlson didn’t win the Downriver League Tournament, but clinched the overall league title – Southgate News-Herald
WRESTLING Division 2 No. 5 Monroe Jefferson, Division 3 No. 1 Dundee and Division 1 No. 3 Temperance Bedford all locked up league championships – Monroe News
WRESTLING Division 4 No. 2 St. Louis and Remus Chippewa Hills clinched outright league titles, and Clare earned a share – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun
BOYS SWIMMING & DIVING St. Clair Shores Lakeview edged 2023 champion Fraser to win the Macomb County title – Macomb Daily
HOCKEY Division 1 No. 1 Detroit Catholic Central edged Division 3 top-ranked Houghton 2-1 in the headlining matchup from the MIHL Showcase – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette
WRESTLING LeRoy Pine River won the Highland/Mid Michigan Conference Tournament – Cadillac News
BOYS BASKETBALL Benton Harbor clinched a share of the Lakeland Conference title with a 74-36 win over Dowagiac – St. Joseph Herald-Palladium
BOYS BASKETBALL Cass City clinched a share of the Greater Thumb Conference West title with a 62-60 win over Caro – Bay City Times
BOYS BOWLING/WRESTLING The Bay City Western boys bowling team and Division 2 No. 3 Bay City John Glenn wrestling team also were among the weekend’s league champions – Bay City Times
WRESTLNG Division 3 No. 2 Whitehall and No. 7 Hart were West Michigan Conference champions in their respective divisions – CatchMark SportsNet
BOYS BASKETBALL Greg Lawson II went over 1,000 career points in Davison’s 66-57 win over Grand Blanc – Mid-Michigan Now