Is the female multi-sport HS athlete a thing of the past?

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Apr 20, 2015
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I feel so blessed for my 12u. She plays for one of the best organizations in the midwest and they are very supportive of all our kids playing other sports in the off season. As is her soccer coach and her basketball coach. They all know she works hard in practice and out and they all function on a non punishment premise. Love them all

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Feb 17, 2014
7,152
113
Orlando, FL
Back in the day one season would end just as another was starting up, or at least close to it. Can't speak for other places but down in Florida there is overlap between when Winter sports end and Spring sports start. The Regionals for hoops were last week and the state championship starts this week and ends next week. Softball tryouts were a month ago and many schools have already played 25% of their regular season games. My oldest was a 3 sport athlete and ended up 3rd at the State Finals for wrestling and got nothing but crap from her HS softball coach because she missed tryouts and a good part of the season. Not mention that once she did get on the clay she was pretty rusty and had lots of catching up to do.
 
Jan 22, 2011
1,610
113
Middle-school sports has 4 seasons around me. My DD plays 3 seasons a year. In High School she'll likely wind up playing volleyball in the fall and softball in the spring, taking the winter off. Though I think she'd like to play a winter sport. I think her body needs a break. Hopefully whatever travel team she plays for next fall will be supportive of her playing HS volleyball. She plays volleyball purely for fun and is a decent player.... just probably willn't be taller than 5'7".
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,133
113
Dallas, Texas
But when it came time for her freshman year in college, she decided against it. ... It was getting to the point that she felt competitive softball was becoming a job. It wasn't fun any more. After having a long talk with her mom and dad, she decided to strictly focus on academics in college. She is considering playing club softball because she still loves the sport. She is just tired of the competition aspect of it.

Playing a sport in college is a job. The only difference is that you might like working for the softball coach more than working for the manager at McDonald's.

Your kid has to love to play the sport enough to put up with all the BS that comes with a job. It can be a grind.

A former basketball player at Notre Dame told me that you can work hard academically, have a social life and play a college sport...but you can only do two of those of three.
 
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Nov 18, 2013
2,255
113
... and they go to college and get an education in... softball? :p

More D1 female athletes are in STEM majors than university populations as a whole. Most female athletes regardless of level work as hard off the field as they do on it.
 
Jul 14, 2017
181
28
In my area, softball is a slow dying sport when it comes to rec and school ball. Most girls choose lacrosse and soccer over softball.

At the HS age, very few are willing to try something new, so building ties when they are younger, 5th/6th grade is key.


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panthadad2

fastpitch pops
Jun 27, 2017
144
18
Homework and grades led to DD giving up basketball for just softball early in high school. Kids now have tons more homework than I ever did 30+ years ago. Her wanting to improve her softball skills over winter had role in that decision too.
 
Nov 26, 2010
4,784
113
Michigan
More D1 female athletes are in STEM majors than university populations as a whole. Most female athletes regardless of level work as hard off the field as they do on it.

That's probably a true yet misleading stat. There are over 450 majors in the STEM category and many of them are not what we think of when you say STEM. I don't consider psychology a STEM major, but it is along with a lot of other -ology degrees. Plus you have some schools where the entire team would be in a STEM major just based on what that school teaches. I'll have to ask my dd how many athletes are in the engineering program at her school. We have all heard from past players how they were discouraged from nursing or other tough degrees and pushed toward easier degree tracks by coaches. In some cases the softball scholarship is just that a chance to major in softball.

Not to disparage anyone, because making a D1 team is an accomplishment in itself but I have watched a lot of softball and I don't see many players whose major is nursing, engineering or Computer science or Physics... And to be completely fair half of the kids who go to college with those specific degrees as their goal don't make it past the first year. My dd said they washed out 40% of the engineering students before the first semester of freshman year ended.

Edit to ad: And this is not to pass judgement on the athletes, I'm passing judgement on the universities. I don't think the colleges and coaches as a whole are doing enough for the kids who are putting in so much work toward the sport. They need to better prepare these kids for the next 40 years. I think many schools are not doing their jobs for the athlete and that's my issue with college athletics as a whole.
 
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Feb 17, 2014
7,152
113
Orlando, FL
That's probably a true yet misleading stat. There are over 450 majors in the STEM category and many of them are not what we think of when you say STEM. I don't consider psychology a STEM major, but it is along with a lot of other -ology degrees. Plus you have some schools where the entire team would be in a STEM major just based on what that school teaches. I'll have to ask my dd how many athletes are in the engineering program at her school. We have all heard from past players how they were discouraged from nursing or other tough degrees and pushed toward easier degree tracks by coaches. In some cases the softball scholarship is just that a chance to major in softball.

Not to disparage anyone, because making a D1 team is an accomplishment in itself but I have watched a lot of softball and I don't see many players whose major is nursing, engineering or Computer science or Physics... And to be completely fair half of the kids who go to college with those specific degrees as their goal don't make it past the first year. My dd said they washed out 40% of the engineering students before the first semester of freshman year ended.

Edit to ad: And this is not to pass judgement on the athletes, I'm passing judgement on the universities. I don't think the colleges and coaches as a whole are doing enough for the kids who are putting in so much work toward the sport. They need to better prepare these kids for the next 40 years. I think many schools are not doing their jobs for the athlete and that's my issue with college athletics as a whole.

If playing softball in college was only about getting a degree you would be right. But there is so much more to it. I look at the opportunities afforded my DD while she was in school over other students because she was an athlete and it is a stark contrast. I know quite a few former college athletes that had what were considered "easy degrees" who make significantly more than those with the "tough degrees". Regardless of their degree, athletes just like veterans are much more prepared for life's challenges than the vast majority of graduates. To your point universities should do a better job of preparing all students for the next 40 years, not just athletes. What you learn in the classroom in and of itself does not prepare you for the future, and athletes have a significant advantage over most students in that regard.
 
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