Multi-sport Athletes

[strongx]

16 hours ago, Swipes said:

Not saying it's right or it's wrong but most coaches don't care as long as you are in season for another sport that is in season at the High School. (Travel Baseball or Summer Ball isn't associated with the high school).  What a lot of coaches don't like is missing practice for teams that aren't associated with the school.  I played three sports in high school and had season run over because of play-offs but couldn't use a travel team or team not associated with the school as a reason to miss practice for that season.

I can see that ...but....it depends on the kids situation in other sports. The challenge is when the school sports overlap a few weeks and one Coach does not want to share a kid. I’m sure if I was the coach, I would not want a kid leaking to another sport to start shooting or throwing or whatever. But what I “want” may be best for me instead of the kid.

[Hamblin]

1 hour ago, strongx said:

I can see that ...but....it depends on the kids situation in other sports. The challenge is when the school sports overlap a few weeks and one Coach does not want to share a kid. I’m sure if I was the coach, I would not want a kid leaking to another sport to start shooting or throwing or whatever. But what I “want” may be best for me instead of the kid.

What does it mean “to share” the athlete. Does it mean while one team is in season and the other is not? Or, does it mean two different teams at the same time? 
 

Regardless the situation as a coach I will give you my perspective. When you are ‘in season’ you do not want to share your athlete for fear your athlete will get hurt doing something else and then you no longer have that athlete. This one athlete could make the difference between the team making the playoffs and not. For that matter you don’t want that athlete to even participate in gym class or lift weights on the day of a match. It sounds a little selfish but I have seen so many kids over the years get hurt and then cannot compete. Once your teams season is completed regardless of the reason you can no longer hold that athlete and they should be free to do whatever. In addition, I tell my athletes playing fall sports that as soon as the summer dead period is completed they can no longer work out with us because their obligation is to fall sports. Until then they are free to do as they choose. I go to camp in June and I take football/track/cross country/whatever sport  kids with me. 

Once our season is completed (mid Feb) my kids are free to move on to the next sport if they choose to or they are welcome to start back in the weight room with us and those who do not play spring sports.

Once fall sports are completed I allow the kids to take a few days off to decompress and then they are expected in the room. If the fall sport makes the playoffs I wait longer. As a wrestling coach I could find myself waiting until mid November for kids if football goes deep into the playoffs. I will wait for them. Beech is a perfect example of this. 

On the other hand if a coach tells an athlete they cannot play another sport outside his season and uses the threat of not playing them then I say that Coach is selfish and he hurts himself. Is that Coach gonna hold out a great athlete the next season because that kids wants to play another sport? I think not especially if that kid is a stand out player.
 

I am a firm believer in cross training athletes and I believe that certain sports do compliment each other. An example is football and wrestling. I get beat up every time I say it but it’s true and nobody can give me a valid reason why it isn’t outside of silly and sometimes outright stupid remarks. 
I have wrestlers running track and playing soccer right now. I also have wrestlers working out with football. They aren’t learning wrestling but they are developing skills like foot speed and agility and a football tackle looks very similar to a double leg takedown. For that matter every time the ball is snapped there are several 5-10 second wrestling matches taking place on the line of scrimmage.  

There are some very special kids out there and they are good at whatever they do. If they choose one sport only then let them. If they want to try other things let them do that as well. A great athlete will compliment any team and why hold them and that team back? Just be reasonable, after all we are teaching them more than a sport. 


 

[strongx]

11 hours ago, Hamblin said:

What does it mean “to share” the athlete. Does it mean while one team is in season and the other is not? Or, does it mean two different teams at the same time? 
 

Regardless the situation as a coach I will give you my perspective. When you are ‘in season’ you do not want to share your athlete for fear your athlete will get hurt doing something else and then you no longer have that athlete. This one athlete could make the difference between the team making the playoffs and not. For that matter you don’t want that athlete to even participate in gym class or lift weights on the day of a match. It sounds a little selfish but I have seen so many kids over the years get hurt and then cannot compete. Once your teams season is completed regardless of the reason you can no longer hold that athlete and they should be free to do whatever. In addition, I tell my athletes playing fall sports that as soon as the summer dead period is completed they can no longer work out with us because their obligation is to fall sports. Until then they are free to do as they choose. I go to camp in June and I take football/track/cross country/whatever sport  kids with me. 

Once our season is completed (mid Feb) my kids are free to move on to the next sport if they choose to or they are welcome to start back in the weight room with us and those who do not play spring sports.

Once fall sports are completed I allow the kids to take a few days off to decompress and then they are expected in the room. If the fall sport makes the playoffs I wait longer. As a wrestling coach I could find myself waiting until mid November for kids if football goes deep into the playoffs. I will wait for them. Beech is a perfect example of this. 

On the other hand if a coach tells an athlete they cannot play another sport outside his season and uses the threat of not playing them then I say that Coach is selfish and he hurts himself. Is that Coach gonna hold out a great athlete the next season because that kids wants to play another sport? I think not especially if that kid is a stand out player.
 

I am a firm believer in cross training athletes and I believe that certain sports do compliment each other. An example is football and wrestling. I get beat up every time I say it but it’s true and nobody can give me a valid reason why it isn’t outside of silly and sometimes outright stupid remarks. 
I have wrestlers running track and playing soccer right now. I also have wrestlers working out with football. They aren’t learning wrestling but they are developing skills like foot speed and agility and a football tackle looks very similar to a double leg takedown. For that matter every time the ball is snapped there are several 5-10 second wrestling matches taking place on the line of scrimmage.  

There are some very special kids out there and they are good at whatever they do. If they choose one sport only then let them. If they want to try other things let them do that as well. A great athlete will compliment any team and why hold them and that team back? Just be reasonable, after all we are teaching them more than a sport. 


 

Great post. The sharing I am talking about is shooting on the weekends with the basketball team before football is over or long tossing with the baseball team before basketball ends. I also agree on the great athletes playing whatever they want, but most multi sport players are just above avg. Since I have never been a hs coach, I hadn’t even considered injuries-don’t want to think about them.

[Hamblin]

1 hour ago, strongx said:

Great post. The sharing I am talking about is shooting on the weekends with the basketball team before football is over or long tossing with the baseball team before basketball ends. I also agree on the great athletes playing whatever they want, but most multi sport players are just above avg. Since I have never been a hs coach, I hadn’t even considered injuries-don’t want to think about them.

They could twist an ankle walking down the sidewalk which is unavoidable. They can avoid a twisted ankle by not playing in that pick up basketball game on the playground. So it’s six of one and half dozen of the other. Could the gym teacher fail a great athlete because he isn’t participating? Probably. Would he/she do it? That’s a whole other animal. 
Something else to consider but not as common is skin funk. When the official season begins I don’t want my athletes around anybody else because a case of ringworm unnoticed can infect a number of kids. If it’s on the scalp they cannot have contact for 14 days. In fact, they don’t even have to touch each other, it can be spread by the object they are sharing which could include a ball, bat or the sharing of a sweaty towel. Ringworm is not as big a deal in a lot of sports but in wrestling with the amount of skin to skin contact it can be devastating to a program. 
Not to mention the havoc it wreaks in your home when that nasty sweaty towel lands in the same laundry basket with your skivies.