Tag Archive for 'multi-sport'

Relevance of multi-sport practice for young athletes

In 2015, Urban Meyer, Ohio State University head football coach, wrote a chart about the recruiting preferences. It showed that the coach overwhelmingly recruited multi-sport athlete.

“Last month, USA Baseball, the national governing body for amateur baseball, published an article on its website titled “Saving the Multi-Sport Athlete from Extinction.” In it, Darren Fenster, current manager of a Boston Red Sox affiliate, encourages student-athletes to wait as long as possible to specialize in a sport.

These recent pronouncements go against the popular current practice of having student-athletes focus on one sport at a young age. The idea is that specializing provides young student-athletes with early successes and access to elite clubs and top coaches, which could better position them for college scholarships.

So, why are so many outlets coming out in favor of student-athletes competing in multiple sports? As more and more research is published, it’s becoming clearer that being a two-or-more sport student-athlete is beneficial in terms of both skill development and overall health.”

(From UsaToday)