Athlete's are just easy pickins for low level coach's.
Interesting blog on multi-sport athletes.
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I have read and seen articles similar to this both on this site and another I follow...I have also read articles lamenting the drop in participation numbers for softball and other sports and the cause in my mind is Sports Specialization. Organizations are feeding parents a bill of goods telling them their kid will not be good enough if they do not participate in their Fall Ball/AAU program and work out all winter/summer. They also tell them that if they do not, they will never get that one in a thousand college scholarship... The parents are the ones paying the bills and they need to put a stop to this kind of thinking. Travel ball/AAU organizations are businesses and have one goal...make money so they can continue to exist. I am not saying that kids should not lift weights, do conditioning or throw once in a while in the off season but this 24/7 one sport all year round stuff is just nuts. It is not good for the athlete (Overuse Injury, mental fatigue) and as we are starting to see not good for the sports.
Riseball...we do not see to many 5'05 basketball players so being tall certainly gives one an advantage 
I respectfully disagree that sports participation is dropping solely or mostly due to specialization.
In today's society, our average wages, as adjusted for inflation, are within pennies of what was made in the 1950's. Yet the cost of living, cost of goods, government taxes and college costs/tuitions have grown exponentially. Where, in the 1950's, a single family could live on 1 income rather comfortably it now takes 2 incomes just to live the same way and many, or even most, will be hard pressed to pay for their kids college tuition. Obviously, we have had to become a society that is chasing the almighty dollar. Since most parents don't want to saddle our children with possibly 100's of thousands of dollars in school loans, there are those families that will play a form of lottery i.e. TB sports for an athletic scholarship. Other, (IMO) more practical families will opt for making their child study more for better grades going for as much academic scholarship money as they can get. IMO, this is one of many factors that lead to the drop in sports participation. Kids are being forced to study more.
Another is simply that there are too many distractions for kids in today's world; Cell phones to text, Video on Demand live streaming, Home Video game consoles, 200+ channels on satellite TV and thousands more. These couch potatoes no longer have to get off the couch because Mom and Dad aren't home to make him go outside to play something. They're too busy working, trying to pay bills and hopefully, put a few dollars aside for the kids college tuition since the scholarships probably won't cover it all. Thus, these kids never get the chance to fall in love with a sport let alone the parents having the time to take them to some form of formal training/organizational playing.
While we're at it, how many single parent/multi-child homes are there now? These parents are having a hard enough time just keeping food on the table. Do you think they can afford the extra costs associated with sports even at the rec level?
Don't forget all of the other things which require time. In the hopes of getting our kids past the college selection process, we are trying to make our kids more "well rounded" socially. Many choirs and theatrical groups practice after hours. How about music lessons or Band practice? I could go on. So what has to give when we all know that our kids will have to depend on a good college education to have a career and make a living...the sports which 95% or so students will never play in college and won't, for the most part, help them get in or studying and the various outside social interests which will?
Sports specialization may have an adverse affect on any one particular sport due to players quitting that sport, however, that doesn't mean that those players have given sports up altogether. Many times it is to specialize in their own sport that they love so that they can be good and compete for a starting spot on a team.
I do agree with you on your points about injuries, mental fatigue, etc. and it being bad for the various athletes themselves.
In today's society, our average wages, as adjusted for inflation, are within pennies of what was made in the 1950's. Yet the cost of living, cost of goods, government taxes and college costs/tuitions have grown exponentially. Where, in the 1950's, a single family could live on 1 income rather comfortably it now takes 2 incomes just to live the same way and many, or even most, will be hard pressed to pay for their kids college tuition. Obviously, we have had to become a society that is chasing the almighty dollar. Since most parents don't want to saddle our children with possibly 100's of thousands of dollars in school loans, there are those families that will play a form of lottery i.e. TB sports for an athletic scholarship. Other, (IMO) more practical families will opt for making their child study more for better grades going for as much academic scholarship money as they can get. IMO, this is one of many factors that lead to the drop in sports participation. Kids are being forced to study more.
Another is simply that there are too many distractions for kids in today's world; Cell phones to text, Video on Demand live streaming, Home Video game consoles, 200+ channels on satellite TV and thousands more. These couch potatoes no longer have to get off the couch because Mom and Dad aren't home to make him go outside to play something. They're too busy working, trying to pay bills and hopefully, put a few dollars aside for the kids college tuition since the scholarships probably won't cover it all. Thus, these kids never get the chance to fall in love with a sport let alone the parents having the time to take them to some form of formal training/organizational playing.
While we're at it, how many single parent/multi-child homes are there now? These parents are having a hard enough time just keeping food on the table. Do you think they can afford the extra costs associated with sports even at the rec level?
Don't forget all of the other things which require time. In the hopes of getting our kids past the college selection process, we are trying to make our kids more "well rounded" socially. Many choirs and theatrical groups practice after hours. How about music lessons or Band practice? I could go on. So what has to give when we all know that our kids will have to depend on a good college education to have a career and make a living...the sports which 95% or so students will never play in college and won't, for the most part, help them get in or studying and the various outside social interests which will?
Sports specialization may have an adverse affect on any one particular sport due to players quitting that sport, however, that doesn't mean that those players have given sports up altogether. Many times it is to specialize in their own sport that they love so that they can be good and compete for a starting spot on a team.
I do agree with you on your points about injuries, mental fatigue, etc. and it being bad for the various athletes themselves.
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Note that I didn't claim that playing multiple sports made you an athlete, I only asked if playing multiple sports made you a better athlete. To utterly ignore the idea that playing different sports improves your athleticism is a little close-minded, IMO, unless there's some sort of study or studies that can be pointed at to definitively answer the question.
I'd say coaches recruit players in their sport who also happen to be all around athletes far more often than they recruit an all around athlete and try to turn them into the next Bo Jackson or Renaldo Nehemiah.
I see an AD and multi sport coach who is responsible for recruiting multiple sports showing his preference as its easier to fulfill recruiting with multi sport athletes. As in his jobs on the line if he doesn't recruit and recruiting a multi sport athlete fills multiple roster spots with reduced scholarships needed.
Conflict of interest using him as a source IMHO
Riseball...we do not see to many 5'05 basketball players so being tall certainly gives one an advantage
And this white boy cant jump.
Funny how all of the kids, whose parents are making less, and can't afford things all have the newest cell phone, Xbox, 62" television and on and on. Parents are using these things to placate and babysit their kids and don't care to take them to practice or play catch with them.
Choir, AP courses, dance etc. are not new to peoples lives and getting a college education is not new either (I had student loans to pay back 25 years ago) but what is new is the thought that these kids have to put all of their eggs in one basket to get ahead and that the parents think that they do not have to participate in their kids lives.
I can only comment on what I see in the school I work at and the program I am part of but I do not think things are all that different elsewhere. I also know that there are still parents out there that are involved and do spend time with their kids.
Choir, AP courses, dance etc. are not new to peoples lives and getting a college education is not new either (I had student loans to pay back 25 years ago) but what is new is the thought that these kids have to put all of their eggs in one basket to get ahead and that the parents think that they do not have to participate in their kids lives.
I can only comment on what I see in the school I work at and the program I am part of but I do not think things are all that different elsewhere. I also know that there are still parents out there that are involved and do spend time with their kids.
How is recruiting going to be impacted with the govt paying for your first two years of school? If a scholarship towards your education is the goal is it easier to take the free school (and cheaper) than to pursue the scholarship?
We talk about distractions and so many things taking kids out of sports. is this another?
We talk about distractions and so many things taking kids out of sports. is this another?
KCPRK,
How many D1 and D2 scholarship athletes play more than one sport? I do not know the numbers but I would bet that it is way less than 1%. D3 may have more than 1% but not much more. The first thing out of my DD's college coach was "What other sports do you play".
How many D1 and D2 scholarship athletes play more than one sport? I do not know the numbers but I would bet that it is way less than 1%. D3 may have more than 1% but not much more. The first thing out of my DD's college coach was "What other sports do you play".
