Today I want to look at how a three sports, two sport or one sport athlete can maximize his or her athletic potential in the safest way possible and still carve out a path to playing at the varsity or even collegiate level. Before we look at specific examples remember these things: If you are good enough, they will find you. Very few people ever make a living playing sports; focusing on academics can often be worth as much in scholarship money as athletics and has more long term potential. Regardless of how talented the athlete, they cannot play if they are injured.
Let's start with an easy example, the one sport athletes. By the time they get to high school many kids have discovered they really only enjoy playing one sport and they are good at it! I will use boys soccer as an example. A boy interested only in playing soccer has an opportunity to play high-school varsity and club. In many instances the clubs can be a better path to playing NCAA ball than high school. The varsity season usually runs from late July to October and there is usually then a break until the club season starts up in February or March. Most club seasons then run up to the beginning of the varsity season. The key here, is the break. For the two to three months of break the kid can rest his body a little, start a strength and conditioning program, spend time with friends and generally check out from soccer for several weeks while still working on being a better athlete.
A two sport athlete gets a little more complicated depending on the sports. Let's use the common example of football and baseball. Football runs from late July through October or November and is really only played in high school. Baseball is a different story entirely. It can literally run year around between club and varsity programs. My recommendation is this. Use the time between when football ends and high-school baseball begins as the off-season and get him into a good strength and conditioning program. He should not spend any time on sport specific activities until about two weeks before baseball season begins. At that time he can go to the batting cage and work on fielding and throwing. Find a club baseball program that will let him participate only during the time between the end of high-school baseball and the beginning of football. During the summer continue to do two days, about 30 minutes a day of strength and conditioning activities. The strength gains will be minimal but it will help with maintenance and injury prevention. About 2 weeks before the football season starts he can start focusing on sport specific activities again. During the football season it makes some sense to take a 1/2 hour 1 - 2 days a week to get in the batting cage or throw a few balls. The same could be true with throwing or catching footballs during the baseball seasons.
And now for the three sport athlete, or often the 7 season athlete. I will use girls softball, basketball and soccer as an example if for no other reason I am familiar with them. Because this player is going to be in-season 9 to 10 months out of the year for varsity sports, by default the summer has to be her off-season. Have her focus on the sport that is in season. During the fall when softball is being played (in Colorado, anyway), take about a 1/2 hour a day, three days a week and work on shooting, dribbling, juggling and ball handling. I would recommend doing one sport each day and alternate so one week two basketball and one soccer, then two soccer and one basketball the next week and so on. In the winter focus on basketball and do the same thing a 1/2 hour per day with softball and soccer, and then in the spring focus on soccer. As a coach I would love to have this kid on my team, any team, at any level! During the summer she should be doing a strength and conditioning program. Many club teams are in search of guest players during the summer. Pick one or two tournaments for each sport and contact club teams to find guest spots. Although it is not an ideal off-season it is still better than playing full-on club ball year around, allows her to focus on building strength, speed and agiliy, and still gets her in front of college coaches. Even if seasons are going back to back, I would insist she take a week between sports to decompress.
There are many, many different combinations of sports out there, and these are just common examples. The key is focus on one sport at a time. Perhaps the high school sport is not as competitive as a club sport but at least the kid gets to play with his or her friends and playing on a poor team can often be as valuable an experience as playing on a great one. Anyone looking for more information on how to manage multi-sport athletes please e mail me at tom@canyonptandf.com
No comments:
Post a Comment