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: 3/22/21
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 22, 2021
The first of four consecutive jam-packed high school sports weekends to finish the winter saw postseason and regular season championships as most basketball teams played their final games before playoffs and the rest of remaining MHSAA sports advanced through another round of their tournaments – with the state’s top female wrestlers celebrating statewide championships Sunday as well.
1. Wrestling: Bullock Creek’s Sydney Kutzke reached 100 career wins Saturday at her Division 3 Individual District, then won her weight at the Michigan Wrestling Association state finals Sunday – Midland Daily News
2. Hockey: No. 5 Novi downed No. 4 Livonia Stevenson 2-1 in a Division 2 Regional Final – State Champs Sports Network
3. Hockey: Top-ranked Calumet downed No. 6 Houghton 3-1 to claim a Division 3 Regional title – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette
4. Boys Basketball: Detroit Martin Luther King defeated Detroit Pershing 56-48 to claim the Detroit Public School League Tournament title – Detroit News
5. Bowling: Tecumseh swept girls and boys team and individual Division 2 Regional championships – Adrian Daily Telegram
6. Girls Basketball: Bloomingdale clinched its first Southwest 10 Conference championship in this sport, downing Centreville 59-38 – Sturgis Journal
7. Boys Basketball: Grand Ledge downed Holt 75-65 to clinch the Capital Area Activities Conference Blue title, its first league title since 2003 – Lansing State Journal
8. Girls Basketball: Haslett clinched the CAAC Red title with a 46-32 win over Williamston – WILX
9. Boys Basketball: Eaton Rapids won a title-clinching matchup of first-place teams in the CAAC White, defeating former co-leader Lansing Catholic 62-48 – WILX
10. Competitive Cheer: Reigning Division 2 champion Allen Park claimed its fourth-straight District title – Southgate News-Herald
Also of note …
Boys Basketball: Detroit U-D Jesuit edged Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice 64-62 to claim the Detroit Catholic League Tournament title – Detroit News
Girls Basketball: East Lansing downed Grand Ledge 79-43 to finish a perfect run through the CAAC Blue – Lansing State Journal
Boys Basketball: Ubly clinched its first league title since 2011 with a 35-33 win over Harbor Beach in the Greater Thumb Conference East – Huron Daily Tribune
Boys Basketball: Charlevoix clinched the Lake Michigan Conference outright championship with a 49-45 win over Elk Rapids – Petoskey News-Review
Boys Basketball: Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart finished an outright title run in the Mid-State Activities Conference with a 63-26 win over Coleman – Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart
Girls/Boys Basketball: The Big Bay de Noc girls and Kinross Maplewood Baptist boys clinched Northern Lights League championships – Escanaba Daily Press