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To truly excel at the highest level, more and more athletes are focusing on just one sport for their entire high school careers. We were wondering if factors, such as scholarships and the addition of new sports, means the three- and four-sport athletes will slowly become dinosaurs?
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To truly excel at the highest level, more and more athletes are focusing on just one sport for their entire high school careers. We were wondering if factors, such as scholarships and the addition of new sports, means the three- and four-sport athletes will slowly become dinosaurs?
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Dr. Tom Woodruff
Rogers baseball
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It depends on the circumstances of a player. For example, if a parent comes to me and says we want our son to play college ball and we think he is good enough to play college ball, so what do we need to do to prepare for that? I would talk about what other players are doing to prepare for college ball, so it depends on what the athlete has in mind for his future. If they’re not necessarily concerned about playing ball after high school then they can play all the different sports and just participate. And also a lot of it depends of where they are at in that sport. For example, if a coach comes to me and wants to know if this player could start in baseball and I say, ‘Yes.’ And he says, ‘Well, he is just a JV player in my sport so let’s talk to him and encourage him to maybe focus on just one sport. And I’ve done that with other sports, I have done that to baseball players if I don’t think that is their specialty and they maybe had a chance to be a starter in varsity in another sport. Then, I would talk to that coach and then together we would talk to that player and say, ‘Hey what are your plans? This is how we see you at the present time in our sport and we want the best for you.’ I think any coach wants the best for their player and I think what is important.
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Rick Henline
Springdale soccer, football
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I’ve always told every kid I have been associated with that they need to wait until they are at least a junior to specialize in one sport. Because there are so many opportunities that are out there that if you don’t open every door that is available to you, sometimes that door will never open again and the door you may want to go through won’t be open. A case in point for basketball players, there are only a limited number of scholarships for those cats and a lot of times in football, they have four times as many. A player may not truly love football, but can play football and then can walk in the back door to play basketball or baseball. But if you shut your door completely with one sport, a lot of times you’re left out in the cold when scholarships are handed out. If an athlete is truly an gifted athlete, then a lot of times it doesn’t matter the sport if he wants to continue into college, he can usually find a way to do so.
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Danny Abshier
Prairie Grove football
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We have athletes who can still do that, but it’s all up to the athlete’s desires. If he wants to excel in more than one, he can. I have kids that drop off for a season and then they can still come back and play. Every school will have guys who play multiple sports. Organized softball and baseball in high school has put a big dent in the participation for track. That is, unless your favorite thing is running and how many really have a favorite thing of running? I’ve had a son who was an all-star three sports. The kid still has to do a lot of specializing on his own in a sport to excel. There may be more competition for the multi-sport athlete to excel in the larger schools and the higher levels. But you don’t individualize right now just to get a scholarship if that’s the goal. If you’re that good of athlete, they’ll get a scholarship no matter what.
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Lynn Lawson
Springdale Har-Ber softball
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I’ve got a pitcher who was playing four sports, but this year dropped off into three sports. Last year we had Erin Wright and she was an exceptional athlete who played multiple sports and it worked out for her. Then we have our shortstop, Ashton Long, who wants to play in college so she is only focusing on softball. It does seem like more and more girls are making that decision. A lot of the better players you see at schools like Fayetteville and Farmington only play softball, and you can see how well they do. They’re overpower everybody because they’ve got a group of kids dedicated to the game 110 percent.
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