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: 5/25/21
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
May 25, 2021
Girls Soccer: Division 1 No. 11 Salem clinched its first league title in this sport in 34 years with 3-0 win over No. 20 Livonia Stevenson in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association championship game – Observer & Eccentric
2. Softball: No. 3 Howell continued an awesome run to close the regular season with a 5-3 win over top-ranked Grand Blanc – Livingston Daily Press & Argus
3. Track & Field: The Negaunee girls and Gladstone boys clinched Mid-Peninsula Conference titles, the Miners for the 11th-straight season – Marquette Mining Journal
4. Boys Golf: Warren De La Salle Collegiate – No. 5 in Lower Peninsula Division 1 – ran its Macomb County championship streak to seven shooting a 309 at the county tournament – Macomb Daily
5. Girls Soccer: Traverse City West earned its third-straight Big North Conference title with a 2-0 win over second-place Petoskey – Traverse City Record-Eagle
6. Baseball: Goodrich downed Fenton 2-1 in nine innings to clinch the outright Flint Metro League championship – WJRT
7. Baseball: Division 2 No. 9 Grand Rapids Christian claimed the Ottawa-Kent Conference White title with a 4-3 win over East Grand Rapids – FOX 17
8. Softball: Division 2 No. 8 Chelsea swept Tecumseh to clinch the Southeastern Conference White title, setting a team home run record in the process – Ann Arbor News
9. Baseball: Dexter’s sweep of Pinckney and Chelsea’s win over Tecumseh landed the Dreadnaughts the outright SEC White title – Chelsea Sun Times News
10. Boys Golf: Niles shot a 349 to win the Berrien-Cass-St. Joseph Conference championship in its lone season playing in the league – Niles Daily Star
Also of note …
Softball: Division 1 No. 7 South Lyon East fell to No. 5 Allen Park 8-6 but did hit its 64th home run of the season to set an MHSAA record – Oakland Press
Baseball: Division 2 No. 2 New Boston Huron clinched the Huron League championship with a 6-4 win over Milan – Monroe News
Boys Golf: LPD2 No. 4 Chelsea shot a 319 at the SEC White Tournament to earn the overall league title – Chelsea Sun Times News
Boys Golf: Durand shot a 386 at the Mid-Michigan Activities Conference Tournament to finish first and lock up the overall league title – Owosso Argus-Press
Girls Lacrosse: Jeff Seidel tells a memorable story of why this season’s first-year Detroit Cass Tech team was unforgettable – Detroit Free Press