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.
Greenhills, Cranbrook Singles Ace Finish Championship Climbs
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
October 15, 2022
MASON — Just like he had the last two years, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood senior Owen DeMuth advanced to the No. 1 singles championship match Saturday at the Lower Peninsula Division 3 Finals, where on the opposite side was the top seed from Ann Arbor Greenhills.
The only difference is that this time it was a different top seed.
Instead of current University of Michigan player and last year’s Mr. Tennis Award winner Mert Oral, this time the opponent was Greenhills senior Chakor Rajendra.
DeMuth had lost to Oral the last two years, but didn’t want to think about those defeats against Rajendra as he tried to make the third time the charm.
“I wanted to stay in the moment and enjoy it,” DeMuth said. “This being my last high school tennis match ever, I just try to stay in the moment and not think about that.”
Not only did DeMuth stay in the moment during the match, but he got to celebrate a championship moment when it was over after beating Rajendra 6-1, 6-4.
DeMuth was seeded second after losing two of three matches to Rajendra during the regular season, which created a bit of motivation.
“Just played with an underdog mentality,” said DeMuth, who will play in college at Georgia Tech. “Knowing I was going to have to work for it, and it wasn’t going to be handed to me.”
Cranbrook coach Steve Herdoiza said DeMuth did a good job of making suggested adjustments for what was the fourth meeting of the season with Rajendra, but he didn’t want to get too much into specifics as to what those adjustments were.
“I can’t give away all the secrets,” Herdoiza said. “But I think he just got very clear and decisive on the strategy he wanted to use.”
While DeMuth celebrated the individual title at No. 1 singles, Rajendra and the rest of Greenhills did get the final laugh in the team portion.
Greenhills won its first Finals championship since 2019 by scoring 35 points, finishing two points ahead of runner-up Cranbrook. Detroit Country Day was third with 23 points.
After winning it all in 2019, Greenhills was second in 2020 and third last year, and those experiences helped beyond measure for a team with seven seniors.
“This felt good,” Greenhills coach Eric Gajar said. “We’ve been there in that situation, so this time when they got in a similar situation, they were icy and ready to go. They pulled through and got it done.”
Greenhills showcased its depth in winning the title, having finalists in seven of the eight flights.
Rishi Verma at No. 2 singles, the team of Ismael Metwally and Lucas Nor at No. 1 doubles, the tandem of Arjun Prabhakar and Dylan Carvette at No. 3 doubles, and the team of Charles Branch and Ajay Purohit at No. 4 doubles all won flight championships for the Gryphons.
“That’s what it takes to beat good teams,” Gajar said. “It’s to have a complete lineup. We did, and they all delivered. Every point mattered, and we got what we needed from them.”
The other flight winners were Clay Hartje of Detroit Country Day at No. 3 singles, Amaan Khan of Cranbrook at No. 4 singles, and Cranbrook’s team of Andrew Fink and Jace Bernard at No. 1 doubles.
PHOTOS by High School Sports Scene.