Recruiting: 10 reasons to be a multisport athlete

There’s seemingly constant debate about whether athletes should play multiple sports or simply focus on one sport year-round. This debate has particular relevance for baseball players in New England, where weather and other considerations have a big impact on our decision.

Although the correct answer to this debate depends on the individual player and his interest in other sports, I will try to make my case for the multisport baseball player in 10 short reasons:

1 Variety is fun.
I love pizza — by far my favorite food. I could eat it a lot. I could eat it three times a day. But if I ate it every day or three times a day, I’d likely quickly get sick of it, miss out on lots of other tasty foods, and of course, have to buy bigger pants. Being a one-sport athlete, you lose your variety and your one sport can get stale and not be as fun as it could be.

2 Playing other sports will help develop your baseball skills.
Yes, playing soccer can make you a much better baseball player. How? Why, you ask? Well, soccer is great for endurance, vision, footwork and a multitude of other skills that will help you improve in many aspects of baseball. In fact, as a college baseball coach, I often have my guys play hockey, basketball, football, soccer, do yoga, etc., so that it’s not only fun but also builds conditioning and skills you can’t get just playing baseball.

3 New coaches, new teammates.
When you get out of your one-sport mentality, you get the chance to be on a variety of other teams, with different coaches and coaching styles. You get to meet new people and make friendships you likely would not have made it you simply played baseball 24/7/365.

4 Competing beats practice.
Sure, we all need practice to develop our skills, but nothing really takes the place of competition. You can go to the batting cage all day, every day and get a lot done, but if you don’t take it out on the field in game conditions, you really don’t know where your game is. To simply continue to practice all season, when you could have been on a team that competes on a regular schedule, is to miss out on your chance to grow as a person as lessons are learned in every game, match or event.

5 The big boys all did it.
If you have some time, look up the bio on your top 10 favorites players in any sport. You will see that most were multisport athletes, many still follow and love other sports, and the majority of them specialized in their primary sport only later in childhood. The best example I can think of is Tom Glavine (Billerica, Mass.), one of my all-time favorite New England players. The left-handed pitcher is going into the Hall of Fame shortly. What else did he do growing up besides baseball? Hockey! He was a tremendous all-around athlete — which showed on the baseball field, where he also was a good hitter and fielder — and I am sure that he would credit hockey for his growth in baseball.

6 There is still time for baseball.
If you really love baseball as your main sport, there is plenty of time to work on it during the year. Whether it be in the summer season or another season, you can still make time for what you love most.

7 It doesn’t have to be varsity.
You could play other sports on a rec league, pick-up games, YMCA league, town league, after school, intramurals, etc. It doesn’t matter. Just the idea of mixing it up will be exciting to your body and mind.

8 You will specialize soon enough.
If you are a talented high school athlete, chances are you will play at some level of college. While some can and do play two sports in college, it is rare. Just based on the time commitment and talent level, and often a scholarship demanding your dedication, one sport is the route nearly all college athletes take. So the point is, if you are going to specialize at 17 or 18, why rush it at 9 or 10?

9 College coaches like multisport players.
Speaking of college, you will find that most college coaches love to recruit multisport players. First off, multisport athletes are less likely to be physically or mentally burnt out in that sport. In addition, it often means the athlete hasn’t really peaked yet due to their pursuit of other interests. This is great. We’d like you to peak in college, not 10th grade.

10 Lifelong experiences.
If you are focusing on football, for example, my guess is that after college (assuming you don’t go to the NFL), your football days will be numbered. You might play some pick-up or flag games here and there, but you probably are not going to be on an office team in pads on weekends. However, you might be playing softball, bowling, tennis or golf, or swimming or biking, etc. It certainly doesn’t hurt to learn these things at a younger age as opposed to picking up your first golf club at age 27.

Wayne Mazzoni is the pitching coach at Sacred Heart and the author of “You vs. You: Sports Psychology for Life.” As a thank you for reading this column, use code COACHMAZZ and receive 20 percent off the Get Recruited Baseball package at BaseballRecruitOnline.com.

Source: http://baseballjournal.com/news/players/recruiting/Recruiting_10_reasons_to_be_a_multisport_athlete