I'd like to think at 27 years old that I am not too far removed from youth sports, but they have dramatically changed since I was a member of the Boston RedSox for the better half of my little league career. Now I ask kids what team they play for and they reply with names unfamiliar to me. These aren't names like the Yankees, Dodgers, and Giants. They have their own teams. Club teams and super league teams that travel and play year around. Baseball overlaps with football which overlaps with basketball. These kids go from one competitive season to the next without a break year after year after year.
"John what are you saying? My athlete should choose 1 sport and drop the rest???"
Well... It depends on the age of the athlete.
From a very young age it is very important for kids to do as many activities as they possibly can. Baseball, basketball, football, tennis, swimming, gymnastics, wrestling, etc. The more the better. Each sport has its own skill set that will add to the overall coordination of your child. The hand-eye coordination your son will get as he learns how to hit a baseball will carry over to football when he learns how to watch the ball all the way into his hands. There is a ton of good that will come about playing as many sports as possible, non more important than keeping the amount of time sitting on the couch playing video games as low as possible. It is sad when you see a young kid at 10 years old who cannot do a body weight walking lunge without falling down. The most coordinated young athletes are always the ones who are busy with many different athletic activities.
It is in the best interest of the young athletes to continue competing in different sports throughout their youth. The skills they get from a variety of sports will benefit them greatly as they transition into high school sports. In fact, there has been many studies about good athletes who specialize in one sport at young ages. From these studies it has been proven that these young athletes reach their "peak" much sooner than athletes who are involved in many sports. These "specialized" athletes will be all-stars in middle school but fizzle out by the time their senior year rolls around. Of course this is all ok if your daughter is Maria Sharapova and tennis was decided for you at an incredibly young age due to the fact that female tennis players turn professional at ages 16 and 17. If your dream is to play in the NFL this is not the case. It is physically impossible to play professionally until you are in your 20's. It would not be wise to specialize and reach your "peak" at age 16 when you should still be improving all the way up to your mid 20's.
Fast forward a couple of years to the beginning of high school. Lets look at two examples of two athletes similar in athleticism and build. Athlete number 1, Billy, plays basketball, baseball, and football and is good enough to make each team. Like I mentioned earlier there is no breaks in between sports anymore. As soon as basketball is done baseball starts and so-on and so-forth. Billy will probably be a little above average in all three of his sports for the rest of his high school career and will undoubtedly battle a few injuries along the way. College ball in any of the three sports probably will not become a reality because he wasn't exceptional in any one of his sports.
Meet athlete number 2, Tommy. Tommy is similar to Billy in every way and has played the big 3 sports his entire life. When he gets to high school he realizes that baseball and football are his two best sports and he decides to drop basketball even though he is good enough to play on the team. Now he has an off-season in which he can rest and get ready for his other two sports. During this off-season Tommy realizes that it is his dream to play college baseball. For a good three months he is dedicated to become bigger, faster, and stronger. He goes from a 155 lb skinny kid to 175 lbs during his first offseason and his fastball went from 82 mph to 85 mph. He repeats this cycle every year while Billy is still busy playing basketball. By the time Tommy is a senior he weighs 205 lbs and can throw 90 mph. He has many offers from many different schools and playing college ball is not a dream but a reality.
While these are two hypothetical stories you see these examples all the time in real life. Specializing at the high school level is very much recommended. At the max athletes should choose 2 varsity sports unless they are a freak of nature and will get a scholarship regardless. These athletes are few and far between. The off-season is a time to rest from your sport while you attack every weakness in your game. Your body should be priority number 1. Athletes need to get into the gym and become bigger, faster, stronger, and more explosive by the time their sport rolls around again. In doing so they can relax their minds for a little while, rehab nagging injuries, and turn their bodies into an indestructible machine.
If the athlete's goal is just to enjoy high school and college is something that is not important, then by all means play every sport possible. But if your dream is to play at the next level you better think about your whole body of work. Your game has to be real nice and so does your body. Athletes cannot get continually better when they are playing in competitive seasons year around at the high school age. They will burn out, get injured, or stay average.
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