The Benefits of Being a Multi-Sport Athlete
One or More?
Parents are often faced with the question as to whether or not they should put their children into multiple sports or if they should have them focus on just one sport. Because all athletes develop differently, the success of athletes that play multiple sports is greater long term. As kids get closer to high school, many begin to narrow their participation in their sports and begin to specialize in one sport. By specializing in a single sport, studies have shown that kids are at greater risk of injury, burnout, and emotional dissatisfaction. There are a number of good reasons to remain a multi-sport athlete.
Advantages for Multi-Sport Athletes
1. Social Exposure and Development of Roles/Responsibilities. Kids have a greater opportunity to meet and be involved with a larger variety of other people. Playing a number of sports allows kids to make memories with many peer groups. Learning to work cooperatively, having many coaching influences, and developing in different roles as a team player allows athletes to broaden their experiences and advance as a more competitive player. Why sit the bench on just one team when you could start on another?
2. Minimal Burnout. Young athletes may experience burnout, not wanting to continue playing sports and continue their athletic careers. By playing multiple sports the players tend to stay more interested and do not tire of doing the same thing all of the time. Multiple sport participation allows athletes to continue to work and acquire needed skill sets toward achieving their athletic goals. Specialized athletes can be more at risk for hitting a plateau, finding themselves unable to increase their skill sets early in their athletic careers. Whereas an adolescent who partakes in various seasonal sports has a better chance to continue to make gains in both knowledge and individual skills for the sports they are playing.
3. Developing Skills Sets. Athletes who are involved in multiple sports use different skills and attributes from each sport to help them be successful and become a more well-rounded athlete. Many attributes of an athlete come from playing multiple sports such as stamina, hand eye coordination, physicality, and balance. Playing multiple sports gives an athlete a chance to hone in all of these attributes to become the best at whatever sport they choose to continue at the conclusion of youth sports.
4. Limit Overuse Injuries. Overuse injuries occur when a specialized athlete commits so much time and practice into a single skill set that they end up becoming injured from the overuse of a certain body part. Another reason as to why a young athlete should be involved in multiple sports while their bodies continue to grow and develop physically. Kids who play multiple sports have the potential to obtain greater muscle development, motor skills, balance, speed, and agility. It is good to give your body a chance to rest muscles and ligaments that may be injured if overused.
5. Long-term Success. Studies show that the long-term success of an athlete can be dictated by his or her commitments to expand upon the multiple skill sets achieved by partaking in multiple sports at a young age. College coaches also tend to recruit based on an athlete’s athleticism and ability to excel in many fields. If you look at the numbers from the 2017 NFL draft, 30 of 32 picks in the first round were multi-sport athletes (Eytel). Also 87% of D1 female runners and 91% of D1 male runners partook in multiple sports prior to their specialization in running (Duffek). People involved in athletics at a young age tend to also be more active later in life.
Should kids play one sport or multiple sports?
No matter the path they choose to take while playing youth sports, an athlete knows that no two situations are exactly the same. Whichever path is chosen, the fact is that the data leans towards the extended careers of athletes that have participated in multiple sports. There are clear benefits of playing multiple sports in high school. Since apparently some of the most talented professional athletes competed in other sports in their off seasons (Eytel). Having all of the advantages such as social exposure, the roles each athlete plays on a team, minimal burn, developing various skill sets, reduction of overuse injuries, and the overall long-term success rates of multiple sport competitors, outweighs the focus of the athletes specializing in individual sports. All in all, the success of multi-sport athletes is greater than that of one who specialized in their sport at a young age.
References
Beese, Mark, et al. “Landing Error Scoring System Differences Between Single-Sport and Multi-Sport Female High School–Aged Athletes.” Journal of Athletic Training, vol. 50, no. 8, August 2015, pp. 806–811, http://content.ebscohost.com/ContentServer.asp?EbscoContent=dGJyMNLe80Sep7M4zOX0OLCmr1Cep7VSrqe4TbKWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMOPX4Xu549%2BB7LH1i9%2Fm5wAA&T=P&P=AN&S=R&D=eue&K=109118776. Accessed 14 Nov. 2018 (FSW Database)
“Notebook: Gundy encourages multi-sport athletes.” UWIRE Text, 1 Feb. 2017, p. 1. Academic OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A479698444/AONE?u=lincclin_ecc&sid=AONE&xid=b89a5f4a. Accessed 14 Nov. 2018. (FSW Database)
Duffek, Jaimie. “A few surprises in the data behind single-sport and multisport athletes.” USA Today Sports. 28 March 2017, https://usatodayhss.com/2017/a-few-surprises-in-the-data-behind-single-sport-and-multisport-athletes. Accessed 14 Nov. 2018.
Eytel, Chelsea. “Multi-sport Athletes vs. Single Sports Athletes- The Pros and Cons.” NSR: National Scouting Report. 20 June 2017, https://www.nsr-inc.com/scouting-news/multi-sport-athletes-vs-single-sport-athletes/. Accessed 15 Nov. 2018.
Smith, Michelle. “5 reasons you want your kid to be a multi-sport athlete.” ESPN W. 19 Oct. 2016, http://www.espn.com/espnw/voices/article/17831948/5-reasons-want-your-kid-multi-sport-athlete. Accessed 15 Nov. 2018.