Invest in Athletic Diversification
January 7, 2013
By Scott Westfall
MSU Institute for the Study of Youth Sports
As part of my duties at Michigan State University, I have recently conducted extended research in the area of sport specialization. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, sport specialization is focusing on one sport year-round while eliminating all other sports or activities.
According to Dr. K. Anders Ericsson, in order for a person to achieve expertise in a sport or activity, he or she must invest approximately 10 years or 10,000 hours of practice. Thus, children, parents, and coaches might see specializing in one sport as a fast track to gaining the expertise needed to win starting positions, state championships, and even college scholarships.
However, these remarkable accomplishments (if they are actually reached) can come with some nasty baggage including social isolation, mental burnout, psychological stress, and overuse injuries such as stress fractures, Osgood-Schlatter & Sever’s Diseases. Often what remains is a kid with some very polished skills, but no love for the sport and a body that has had enough!
To combat these problems, young athletes should participate in numerous sports until at least the age of 14 or 15. When young athletes diversify their sports experiences, they reduce the physical impact by spreading it across different parts of the body, thereby allowing for a faster and more thorough recovery.
Furthermore, sport diversification allows kids to learn transferrable physical skills to other sports, not to mention introducing them to a larger group of active peers, along with more coaches and role models to assist with the tribulations of adolescence.
As a former coach, I can attest to the excitement I felt when I had a group of players that were gung-ho and fully committed to my sport. I would become outwardly excited when they would ask, “What can I do this offseason to get better?”
While I was tempted to respond selfishly with answers specific to my sport (which most likely would make our team better), I would try to think of the “whole child,” causing me to reply with the question, “What other sports are you going to try this year?
The cultures in high school athletic departments can be somewhat ambivalent. While coaches would like to believe that their colleagues always support them and their program, there is adequate reason for them to be skeptical. After all, with the trend of sport specialization, coaches at the same school can end up competing with each other for athletes – even when their seasons do not overlap.
Often I have heard coaches say, “I don’t discourage kids from going out for another sport.” Even if they do not outwardly deter athletes from joining other sports, a coach’s personal interests, reactions, and body language can be felt and heard sometimes even louder than his or her words.
Coaches need to begin supporting, collaborating with, and trusting the expertise of their colleagues – believing they will improve student-athletes on many levels (maybe even in ways that original coach cannot). Coaches must work together and encourage young athletes to diversify by participating in additional sports.
The culture of the athletic department starts with the athletic director. Athletic directors must build a department and coaching staff that is conceived in collaboration, trust, and support for the high school’s entire athletic program. True collaboration cannot exist among coaches if competition for athletes is ongoing – coaches must share the pool of athletes by supporting and even encouraging participation in other sports.
Athletic Directors may be thinking “easier said than done.” So here are a few tips:
- Hold pre-season meetings with all head coaches at the beginnings of each of the three major sports seasons (fall, winter & spring).
- At these meetings, create buy-in with open communication. With the help of your coaches, make a list of the ways sport diversification can help the overall athletic program. Record the many transferrable skills that are seen between two sports (cross country gets wrestlers in shape during the fall season; basketball produces more athleticism for volleyball; track creates faster football players, etc.)
- List fears or myths that each other’s sports or training regimens might present (heavy lifting on game days slows players down; football players lose bulk during wrestling season, coaches not wanting their best player to get hurt playing “other” sports, etc.). Once these fears are brought into the open and effectively addressed, coaches will be much more open to supporting each other’s programs.
- Make a policy for offseason training (weight room, speed training, fall baseball, etc.). Establish that these are supplemental and should be held at different times of the day than practices or games. Example: Mandatory weight training sessions should take place before or during school – not during another team’s practice. This will eliminate athletes from having to prioritize between participating in Sport A and training for Sport B.
- Create a huge master schedule to map-out and plan all summer sports camps so they do not overlap. This will allow athletes to participate in multiple camps and reduce the competition coaches have for athletes’ time during the summer.
- Encourage (politely demand) all coaches to work in the weight room during the offseason and summer. This will boost cooperation among coaching staffs. No longer will the weight room be seen as belonging only to the football team. Conversely, football coaches will not feel they are babysitting athletes from other sports when they come to train.
- Encourage (politely demand) all head coaches keep the scorebook and/or run the clock at the home games for other sports events. When athletes and parents see head coaches supporting other programs, the tone will be set that the athletic department is diversified and supportive of all teams.
Athletic Directors: If you are met with some hesitation, know you are creating change. If you receive backlash or resentment from your coaches, sit down with them and hear them out. However, stay true to your vision that collaboration, trust, and support are the new culture you want for your athletic department. To paraphrase Jim Collins from his book Good to Great, “You are trying to get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people sitting in the right seats!”
Coaches: This change might take some getting used to, but in the end sport specialization will be better understood and allowed as the exception rather than the norm. Kids will participate in multiple sports and you will be a member of a high school coaching staff built on collaboration and trust. These will combine to create a richer athletic culture at your school.
However, the greatest improvement will be for your student-athletes’ individual experiences; they will be healthier physically, socially and psychologically.
Scott Westfall has spent the last 10 years as a teacher, coach, and athletic director in Fort Collins, Colo. He currently is working on his Doctorate at Michigan State University, with an emphasis in Sport Psychology and Athletic Administration, and assisting the MHSAA with its student leadership programs. Westfall is a former athlete who participated in football, wrestling, tennis and cross country at the high school level, and rugby at the collegiate level. He can be reached at [email protected].
Century of School Sports: Upper Peninsula Helps Makes Michigan's School Sports Story Unique
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
May 27, 2025
From the parking lot of the MHSAA office in East Lansing, it’s a shorter drive to Kentucky than to Crystal Falls Forest Park High School on the far western border of the Upper Peninsula.
That little fun fact illustrates just a bit of what makes Michigan – made up of two large peninsulas surrounded by four of the world’s largest freshwater lakes and connected by one of its longest bridges – a fascinating place to live and serve as a statewide athletic association.
It also provides a little bit of context in explaining how Upper Peninsula athletics have occupied their own unique space both literally and figuratively in that statewide landscape dating back to well before the creation of the MHSAA in December 1924.
With time and technology, the world indeed has become smaller – and Michigan with it. And over the MHSAA’s 100-year history – with help from achievements like the Mackinac Bridge – the Upper and Lower Peninsulas have come to a place of competing together in most sports, during most of the same seasons, but still with some exceptions to accommodate notable differences that remain.
Consider first these two:
• There are 53 MHSAA-member high schools in the Upper Peninsula, located across roughly 16,000 square miles of land. That’s compared to 701 Lower Peninsula member high schools spread over about 40,000 square miles.
• There is only one high school with more than 1,000 students in the Upper Peninsula – Marquette, with an enrollment of 1,021 this school year to rank as the state’s 127th-largest overall. Escanaba, Sault Ste. Marie and Kingsford are the only other high schools with at least 500 students.
With those comparisons as conversation starters, it’s easy to understand how schools above the Bridge face increased travel time, distance and expenses compared to most of their downstate friends – during both the regular season and MHSAA postseason – and not to mention frequently shorter fall and spring outdoor sport seasons because of winters that start sooner and end later.
To make competition as equitable and worthwhile as possible amid those challenges, the MHSAA has settled on a mix of statewide and U.P.-only championships – and with the Upper Peninsula taking the lead on devising its championship schedules.
This week alone will see Boys Tennis, Girls & Boys Golf and Girls & Boys Track & Field Finals competed in U.P.-only divisions. Upper Peninsula girls tennis, girls and boys cross country, and girls and boys swimming & diving programs also operate their postseason tournaments separately from the Lower Peninsula.
Among other sports, boys basketball played separate tournaments by peninsula from 1932-47, wrestling was contended in separate tournaments from 1967-87, girls volleyball was separate from its first season of 1975-76 until unifying in 1999-2000, and girls gymnastics also was separated by peninsula from 1972-73 until unification in 2003-04.
The Upper Peninsula’s voice in these matters goes back to the MHSAA’s predecessor organizations – beginning in 1904 when Ironwood’s first superintendent Luther L. Wright served on the Michigan State Teacher’s Association’s Committee on High School Athletics. Howard S. Doolittle – formerly representing Saginaw Eastern before becoming principal of Calumet High School – played a major role in bringing Upper Peninsula schools (and the then-Upper Peninsula Association) into the fold with the Lower Peninsula schools under the MHSAA’s predecessor Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Association.
With the creation of the MHSAA and its Representative Council in 1924 came an elected member representing the Upper Peninsula – Escanaba superintendent R.E. Cheney during that first school year. A second representative was added a short time later so both the largest and smallest schools from that region had a vote. Gwinn’s Leo P. McDonald (1930-52) and Escanaba’s Dan Flynn (1988-2010) are among 11 Council members who have served at least 20 years, and as recently as 2014 the Council president hailed from just south of Lake Superior’s shores as Negaunee superintendent Jim Derocher finished his final term. Kingsford’s Chris Hartman and Calumet’s Sean Jacques currently serve as the U.P. reps.
The Upper Peninsula Association ceased when the MHSAA was created, but in 1933 the Council authorized the formation of the Upper Peninsula Athletic Committee, which from the start has taken a leading role in organizing the U.P.-only championships and continues as well to serve as an advisory board providing U.P. input on statewide topics of the day. Among its most memorable actions, the U.P. Athletic Committee played a large role in Upper Peninsula schools’ return to a statewide boys basketball tournament after 15 seasons of separation.
The most recent U.P. Athletic Committee meeting occurred April 24 and included members Hartman, Jacques, Mike Berutti (West Iron County), Vince Gross (Paradise Whitefish Township), Jack Kumpula (Lake Linden-Hubbell), Sam Larson (Menominee) and Paul Jacobson (Negaunee) along with Jim Bobula (Ontonagon), Don Gustafson (St. Ignace) and Dale Hongisto (Gladstone) in advisory roles.
They recommended and/or confirmed tournament sites for this spring’s Upper Peninsula Regional and Finals championships, some 2025-26 U.P. Finals and hosts for the U.P.’s Districts, Regionals and Quarterfinals in both girls volleyball this fall and girls and boys basketball for next winter. Committee members also discussed coaches education opportunities for this fall and the possibility of further U.P. involvement in future L.P.-only tournaments, among other topics.
Previous "Century of School Sports" Spotlights
May 20: From Nearly A to Z, Schools Repped by 221 Nicknames - Read
May 13: These Record-Setters were Nearly Impossible to Defeat - Read
May 6: 200+ Representatives Fill All-Time Council Roster - Read
April 29: MHSAA Programs Prioritize Health & Safety - Read
April 23: Patches Signify Registered Officials' Role in MHSAA Story - Read
April 16: Student Advisory Council Gives Voice to Athletes - Read
April 9: State's Storytellers Share Spring Memories - Read
April 2: Sharp Leadership Synonymous with MHSAA Success - Read
March 25: Athletic Directors Indispensable to Mission of School Sports - Read
March 18: 2025 Finals Begin Next Half-Century of Girls Hoops Championships - Read
March 11: Boys Basketball's Best 1st to Earn MHSAA Finals Titles - Read
March 5: Everything We Do Begins with Participation - Read
Feb. 25: Slogans & Logos Remain Unforgettable Parts of MHSAA History - Read
Feb. 19: MHSAA Tickets Continue to Provide Fan-Friendly Value - Read
Feb. 11: We Recognize Those Who Make Our Games Go - Read
Feb. 4: WISL Conference Continues to Inspire Aspiring Leaders - Read
Jan. 28: Michigan's National Impact Begins at NFHS' Start - Read
Jan. 21: Awards Celebrate Well-Rounded Educational Experience - Read
Jan. 14: Predecessors Laid Foundation for MHSAA's Formation - Read
Jan. 9: MHSAA Blazes Trail Into Cyberspace - Read
Dec. 31: State's Storytellers Share Winter Memories - Read
Dec. 17: MHSAA Over Time - Read
Dec. 10: On This Day, December 13, We Will Celebrate - Read
Dec. 3: MHSAA Work Guided by Representative Council - Read
Nov. 26: Finals Provide Future Pros Early Ford Field Glory - Read
Nov. 19: Connection at Heart of Coaches Advancement Program - Read
Nov. 12: Good Sports are Winners Then, Now & Always - Read
Nov. 5: MHSAA's Home Sweet Home - Read
Oct. 29: MHSAA Summits Draw Thousands to Promote Sportsmanship - Read
Oct. 23: Cross Country Finals Among MHSAA's Longest Running - Read
Oct. 15: State's Storytellers Share Fall Memories - Read
Oct. 8: Guided by 4 S's of Educational Athletics - Read
Oct. 1: Michigan Sends 10 to National Hall of Fame - Read
Sept. 25: MHSAA Record Books Filled with 1000s of Achievements - Read
Sept. 18: Why Does the MHSAA Have These Rules? - Read
Sept. 10: Special Medals, Patches to Commemorate Special Year - Read
Sept. 4: Fall to Finish with 50th Football Championships - Read
Aug. 28: Let the Celebration Begin - Read