Multisport Athlete - Are they really wanted?

[3'sDad]

DD does one club(travel) sport - softball, which is a 10 month commitment. In Fall she plays varsity field hockey and the club softball team gets her when she done with Saturday practice or games. The Winter months (November-March 1), she is at the stable, practicing her riding and jumping to compete at shows with her horse.

The horse stuff is a very expensive sport/hobby. You woul not believe the amount of $$ spent. The DD will be riding in a show in a few weeks with one of Bill Gates' kids.

 

[chinamigarden]

Wait a minute. I thought it was a given that HS won't allow you to play 2 sports at one time....This is the school system's idiocy.

Why is this allowed?

I am talking about multi-sport across different seasons.

Our school system allows 2 sports in the same season. Under some specific rules. Can't be a freshman, must maintain a higher GPA (I don't know what it is, but its higher then whats required to play) must have both coaches agree, and you must sign a form with your parents picking a primary sport. The primary is the team you must play with if there is a schedule conflict.

Lots of kids play a sport and run cross county in the fall. Since CC is usually run on Saturday morning there is little chance of conflict and the kids are in great shape.

 

[SoCalSoftballdad]

DD attended local D1 softball summer camp run by current and former college players. At camper orientation, D1 coach made a point to ask each one of these players (camp coaches) how many sports did they play in high school. The vast majority played at least 2 varsity sports and several played 3 or more sports in high school. The takeaway was that you didn't have to play only one specific sport 24-7 to get accepted into this D1 program and being a well-rounded athlete was a plus.

 

[chinamigarden]

The way I look at it is this. If a D1 coach has 2 girls to chose between. Both with similar or identical skills and performance. If 1 has played softball 11 months of the year and has dedicated all of her sports time to softball, and the other played softball, volleyball and basketball and didn't put in nearly as much time to softball. I would pick the second girl. If she is as good as the one who only played softball, I would see a much higher upside to her. If she got good enough on half the practice, imagine how much better she will be with the dedication required of a D1 program.

 

[amanda_cake]

My dd is being recruited to play soccer and softball in college. It can be done , but mainly at the D3 level.

I play softball at D3 school and we have several multi-sport athletes. The biggest problem is the overlap of seasons.

 

[JAD]

At 10U and 12U my DD played travel SB and BB. I tried to control the schedule as an assistant coach on both teams. My DD was the #1 pitcher on the SB team, so the head coach pretty much asked "when is your daughter available?", and that is when we scheduled tournaments. At 14U our travel SB has begun playing A ball so I no longer have the ability to control the schedule (ASA qualifiers are already set), but my DD found a VB league to play in. It is not as intense as travel VB (not as much $ either!), and games are on Monday nights instead of weekends, so we are still able to do both. Unfortunately for us, SB and VB are both Fall sports in high school here, so she will not be able to do both. It is tough on our family trying to get her to all of her practices and games, but I do not want to make choose as long as she enjoys doing both and she does not get burnt out.

 

[softballdad22]

You can pull off multiple sports at the D3 level where there is more of a balance. However, at D1 once you recieve a scholarship you are expected to be 100 percent dedicated to that sport. Rightfully so too, tuition these days is so high that your really getting paid up to 50 thousand dollars a year to play a sport.