One sport vs playing multiple sports?

[Slappers]

Older DD just plays softball. Younger DD plays softball and volleyball. She practiced her overhand serve so much it has messed up her overhand throwing. Luckily she throws underhand most of the time.....

 

[SBFAMILY]

Talk to any college coach and they are looking for kids that are well rounded and play other sports. They frown on those that only play one sport.

 

[riseball]

Talk to any college coach and they are looking for kids that are well rounded and play other sports. They frown on those that only play one sport.

Well you got it half right. They absolutely want players that are well rounded. One sport or ten sports as long as you have the goods to contribute to their program they could care less how you got there.

 

[maddball44]

Talk to any college coach and they are looking for kids that are well rounded and play other sports. They frown on those that only play one sport.

I guess my 13 yr olds dreams are being shot down the toilet then. She only plays softball.

I'm curious though, if she's playing for an organization that pretty much demands a full year softball commitment, then how is it every 18U player gets scholarships?

Anyone?

 

[Greenmonsters]

The article MK37 references in the linked post (Avatar Parents...) provides an interesting perspective

http://www.discussfastpitch.com/being-softball-parent/19434-avatar-parents-their-kid-athlete.html

Here's an excerpt from the article referenced in that thread.

"...In many cases, this is a façade. It’s more about the grown ups than the kids. As a result, the roles the children play… are the victims.

They burn out. They become emotionally scarred. They quit sports and they don’t get to see what a healthy, well-adjusted adult looks like. With all the intensity and pressure, it’s no wonder these kids still act like kids when they are 26 years old. Many of them never got to be children when they were young. What’s more, they never got to “own” their own life. A parent was always projecting their life upon them. Any sports psychologist will tell you that in order to pursue an achievement or activity for the long term, children need ownership, enjoyment and intrinsic motivation. Without these three things, an athlete is very likely to quit...."

I couldn't agree more with the part in bold!!!

 

[MK37]

The article MK37 references in the linked post (Avatar Parents...) provides an interesting perspective

http://www.discussfastpitch.com/being-softball-parent/19434-avatar-parents-their-kid-athlete.html

Here's an excerpt from the article referenced in that thread.

"...In many cases, this is a façade. It’s more about the grown ups than the kids. As a result, the roles the children play… are the victims.

They burn out. They become emotionally scarred. They quit sports and they don’t get to see what a healthy, well-adjusted adult looks like. With all the intensity and pressure, it’s no wonder these kids still act like kids when they are 26 years old. Many of them never got to be children when they were young. What’s more, they never got to “own” their own life. A parent was always projecting their life upon them. Any sports psychologist will tell you that in order to pursue an achievement or activity for the long term, children need ownership, enjoyment and intrinsic motivation. Without these three things, an athlete is very likely to quit...."

I couldn't agree more with the part in bold!!!

Exactly why DD just informed us that this is her last year of softball. Her motivation is gone and it's not fun. JV1 was not challenging enough, politics and TB is every weekend in June and July. She wants to do other things and get a job.

 

[marriard]

I'm curious though, if she's playing for an organization that pretty much demands a full year softball commitment, then how is it every 18U player gets scholarships?

Anyone?

Well... they don't ALL get scholarships - or at least not full athletic scholarships. When you hear so and so is going to college X, no one ever tells you it is a 10% scholarship or they are going as a preferred walk-on or that the scholarship money they are getting is all academically based or is some grant based on some endowment the university offers. Full athletic scholarships are reserved for a #1 pitcher, a power hitting catcher and your elite speed/slapper/CF/SS - and even then they prefer you bring some other funding to the table as well so they have more flexibility in recruiting.

Maybe they all play in college, but that is about it. That actually isn't as hard as it sounds - there are a LOT of colleges fielding teams and while some are great some are not so great - even in D1. I saw a D2 team this year I thought our 12U team wouldn't look out of place playing (their #1 pitcher was being gunned at 47mph max). Getting on a good team - that is a challenge in any of the levels of college play

Everyone sees the top D1 programs this time of year - but people forget there are D1 softball teams going 8 and whatever....(Rankings | NCAA.com)

If you go out to the NFCA site (https://nfca.org/) you can see all the college softball programs they are aware of... they list about 1000 in NCAA, another 200+ in NAIA, another 1,000 or so in NJCAA and another 100 or so in CAL JC.

And I can see a few that are missing just looking through the list an there are some other random colleges playing outside these orgs as well.

So lets call the average college roster 16. Because of attrition, injuries, etc, teams probably average about 6 freshman per year (plus a transfer or two). That is a LOT of needed new players for rosters. If you WANT to play - and that is important to you - then there is a spot for you.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

High SATs and lots of activities, no matter what they are, gets you a long way, too.

 

[RubberBiscuit]

They quit sports and they don’t get to see what a healthy, well-adjusted adult looks like. With all the intensity and pressure, it’s no wonder these kids still act like kids when they are 26 years old. Many of them never got to be children when they were young.

I feel this part of the article is all out of whack. With a country full of "wussies" that do nothing the risk of the opposite for our children should be WAY more of a concern than the smaller percentage of burn-outs due to overzealous parents. The implication here that the pressured sports kid should look at any slackard sitting there playing Xbox or tapping on a smart phone 8 hours a day (what is more like the "norm" these days) and should see them as "well-adjusted" sickens me. The suggestion that pressured sports kids sort of devolve back to being an irresponsible juvenile is ridiculous.

What’s more, they never got to “own” their own life. A parent was always projecting their life upon them. Any sports psychologist will tell you that in order to pursue an achievement or activity for the long term, children need ownership, enjoyment and intrinsic motivation. Without these three things, an athlete is very likely to quit...."

Then this author has this next stream of thought. Which IS incredibly accurate. Almost like the author plagiarized this paragraph in a rare moment of clear thought....


Overall -
This article actually annoyed me more in the end because it was all over the board and missed the most important warning of all - which is the BADNESS of not urging your children into pressing and working themselves through accomplishment. This article suggests that we should all just let our kids wake up in the morning and every day just let them jump and run through meadows catching butterflies and somehow this is fulfilling childhood and adjusting them for adulthood. What crap.

In addition it suggests that "college coaches" are looking for well-rounded athletes as any kind of top priority. Again bull-crap. Sure a college coach will take this multi-sport history over another that does not have it but in the end, in the recruiting camp, if Sally just a softball pitcher, but can throw a few pitches over 65 mph do you think the coach has ANY care if she broadened her experiences by playing Lacrosse as a high-schooler? Na.....

 

[CoogansBluff]

High SATs and lots of activities, no matter what they are, gets you a long way, too.

Problem that I have with this is that kids now can find activities just to fulfill the requirement, just to look good on paper. There are so many 'unofficial' activities that a child might do that makes her more college-ready than volunteering at a food bank.

What about an inquisitive child who has traveled to New York City, Washington DC, or the Outer Banks, or to Memphis to see Graceland and the Civil Rights Museum, or Orlando just to have fun, or to play in a World Series. Is there not value in those experiences?

Or what about hiking or fishing or bike riding? Going to church? How about kids who clean their rooms and work in the yard vs. those who don't? How about kids who love and care for pets? Can you put those things on a college application?

The quality and variety in a child's relationships with family members, friends and even boy/girlfriends is significant in how college-ready a child might be.

Or maybe this is the sort of stuff that goes in your essay. I don't know.

Just seems like there are a lot of subjective judgments about the quality of one's life as a child that may or may not predict how they'll do as college students and adults.