The Journal News published a special report today in the news section on a trend that has affected the landscape of high school sports: The age of specialization.
Coaches and administrators see a vast decline in the number of multisport athletes. The three-sport athlete is all but dead as student-athletes chase scholarships and success because of personal and parental pressure and the demands of high school and club coaches. Sports like football, basketball, soccer and baseball have become year-round pursuits.
In one of the money quotes from my report, North Rockland AD Joe Casarella said specialization has been “the ruination of high school sports.” Casarella is not alone. I interviewed a couple dozen people and had casual conversations with dozens more. Everyone agreed with the shift, why it occurred and drew a similar conclusion.
There are several athletes and a handful of topics highlighted. Here are a few:
• Former Pelham star Matt Landis (pictured above) was the rare three-sport standout in football, hockey and lacrosse. But in the middle of an award-winning junior season as Pelham’s middle linebacker, Landis committed to play lacrosse at Notre Dame. Against his heart, Landis did not play football as a senior despite his success as a junior. It was a crushing loss for Pelham, which lost a Super 11 caliber player.
• Iona Prep’s Jordon Bronner (pictured right) faced a similar decision, but he came to it with fewer reservations. Despite playing a major role in Iona Prep’s 2008 CHSFL championship, Bronner quit football to focus on basketball. His focus was rewarded; Bronner earned a scholarship to New Hampshire, where he is now the starting point guard.
• At some schools, athletes are encouraged to participate in multiple sports because of the culture inside the school. Unlike many of the section’s other top programs, North Rockland football coaches have allowed athletes to miss spring and summer workouts for baseball and lacrosse tournaments without penalty. Lakeland is another strong example. The girls sports program in particular have been successful thanks to talented two and three-sport athletes like Melissa Gonzalez, who was an all-American field hockey and lacrosse player and who just participated on the U.S. field hockey team at the London Olympics.
• Irvington football coach Mike Oliva was a three-sport athlete at Iona Prep who went on to play football and baseball at Albany. He had one of the strongest quotes of the piece, summing up the thoughts of coaches in participation sports like football, where numbers continue to decline around the section:
“I think it’s a lot of parental pressure for their kids to get scholarships in college,” Oliva said. “They have coaches at the youth level who tell them their kid has potential. The parents then say, ‘OK, let’s just focus on baseball,’ or, ‘Let’s just focus on soccer.’ ”
• For athletes who want to continue playing multiple sports in college, Division III sports provide them a chance. The piece includes a section on two of the many multisport athletes at the College of New Rochelle, where 21 students played two sports or more in 2011-12. That included Yonkers High School grad Kristina Nilaj, who said she was the only person in her graduating class who played 12 sports in her 12 high school seasons. She now plays softball, volleyball and basketball in college while juggling multiple jobs and a heavy workload.
• As you read here a couple weeks ago, Rye Country Day’s Tyler Fernandez nearly gave up football. But the junior from Mount Vernon returned for practice and is a rare three-sport athlete. He also plays basketball and baseball and, despite his desire for balance, Fernandez recently decided his future sport — at just 16.
“It’s almost not fair when you think about it to make him have to focus in on a specific sport,” said his dad, also Tyler Fernandez, who is a former Hamilton assistant basketball coach. “But that’s the way it is nowadays.”
14 Comments
GRADES FIRST;
IF THE ATHLETE IS GREAT IN DIFFERENT SPORTS,HE MAKES THE DECISION WITH HIS PARENTS IF HE WANTS TO PLAY MORE THAN ONE SPORT AS LONG AS THE GRADES ARE GOOD AND THE ATHLETE IS EXCEPTIONAL IN HIS SPORTS THE COACHES CAN’T DO MUCH
Great article. I have coached for over 20 years and have always encouraged my players to play other sports. What I am afraid of in some cases is when non hs coaches are padding their own wallets by telling kids to specialize in their sport. I know of many aau programs that play year round with kids who have no shot at scholarships yet these athletes and their parents keep paying and stop playing other sports. Its unfortunate, but I can see why. College costs are so high that parents hope to offset those costs.
Its a different story when a kid who has been playing multiple sports stops AFTER securing that scholarship. I understand that.
Alabama is scary good. They would give my jets a hard time.
is that you Rex?
The problem is, many varsity coaches coach their sport out of season. Off Season in the weight room for football players, Summer and fall baseball leagues that players are expected to play. Hockey travel teams going from September to April. Spring Hockey leagues etc. Basketball all summer etc. So now kids are pressured to stay with that one coach, and one sport. It is not to benefit the kids, it is so the coach of that sport can enhance his chances of winning if he can work these kids 10 – 12 months of the year. It is ridiculous. What happened to the rule that you could not coach your players out of season?
Good point cookie and jets,
Also college Coachs do not want kids playing 1 sport all year round because of burn out. They want these kids to have fun and not make there sport a job because when the kid comes to them it has tobe a job
cookie,
when I began coaching in 1989-90 you could not coach your own players out of season. Then with the aau explosion in the mid 90’s the state changed the rule. There is good and bad to both ways.
NY
you are correct about burnout.
And the AAU needs to make their $$$$$. Hey I have no problem if a kid wants to play a sport 12 months a year… however, he will probably get burned out. But for Varsity coaches to put pressure on kids to work out and play with them out of season… thats the problem. Some kids will feel they won’t start or won’t make the team if they don’t play year around with the varsity coaches.
I think the word “scholarship” is what we need to pay attention too. You can spend 200K these days or settle for SUNY school for 100. If it takes playing a sport for 13 months a year to help get that money, then I say go for it. The old days of playing mutiple sports is almost gone.
Great article, hope Gannett run this nationally in all papers as schools should send this to all their parents in sports programs. Too many kids specialize at early age but do not realize how other sports help them. Footwork especially carries over in all sports as does conditioning and competing and playing multiple sports also prevents repetitive use injuries as muscles are used differently in the various sports. As a parent I have seen plenty of kids who specialize in a sport going into high school or younger and not have the high school careers in that sport as an equal player who did not specialize and seem plenty of one sports kids quit as they burnout from the grind. Also you never know you might end up better and getting more opportunity in your second sport as happened to couple of kids in article.
Only exception to specialize is if you are senior and have received scholarship or at cusp of scholarship in a sport or freshman/sophomore who is an elite player in area (not just your school) and are invited to play at top travel teams in area which has track record of sending kids on to college as that does require more commitment in that sport.
The coach of Lakeland Field Hockey says it best: “I do think the better coaches see the whole picture,” Sarsen said. “They’re not just looking out for themselves. They’re looking at the big picture of what’s best for the kids. Too many ego-centric incompetent coaches make it impossible for kids to play multiple sports by intimidation and by creating draconian and wholly inappropriate attendance requirements. They would rather put their team i.e short rosters, and programs i.e discouraging participation, in jeopardy rather than let an athlete leave practice a few minutes early so that they can get to a club practice. They think that they are coaching an NCAA Final Four team, and that all of the kids should kneel and kiss their ring. They have forgotten or ignore the educational, social and developmental purposes of HS sports. They place themselves above everything else.
So why don’t the nys ADs do something and make rules about when you can have team activities so kids aren’t so pressured to choose?
There are rules in the NYSPHSAA handbook. It’s up to the coach of his and her respective sports to follow them.
Very important article for today’s student athletes. This is my philosophy I have learned over my career of coaching.
First- take care of your grades, most college coaches don’t want to deal with an academic problem. Second- play 2 sports at least, you can specialize in one but you are human. You body needs a change and this should help reduce the chance of over use injury. Your should also enjoy less pressure in the secondary sport which may help you keep things in perspective, you know, it is supposed to be fun.
Third- be a good sport. If you are so good you just crush high school competition do it with class. Don’t become the thug everyone wants to see beaten.
Where I coach there are 2 types that make up our team. The ones that will work in the offseason because it is what they want to do, the minority. The majority, the ones that want to be an in season only athlete. I let them know that our program needs both types to be strong and they are all important to build a strong team. I reinforce that the in season commitment has to be 100 percent. I hope this helps someone somewhere!
Parents lighten up. Don’t try to live through your kid. If your child is exceptional we will all see it. Superior athletes cannot be manufactured because you pay some club big bucks. Burn out is real and 99% of the time it is irreversible.
specialization is not bad , just overused. This generation of children have been raised with everyone gets a trophy by participating and until HS varsity everyone is told how great they are. Parents who are mostly uneducated when it comes to understanding how talented you have to be to land a scholarship feed into the problem by supporting specialization when typically the child does not have the passion or talent land a scholarship. i am in the minority , but the 3 sport athlete is overated in my opinion. 3 sport athletes tend(not all but most) to be blessed where God made them physically advanced at an early age. Ive seen many hit puberty earlier than their peers. all of a sudden around 17 everyone else catches up and it becomes more about talent, work ethic and passion to see who can go to the next level. The 3 sport athlete than has an “awakening” and sees the physical advantage most of them enjoyed has disappeared and other individuals have passed them by due to specialization or simply catching up physically. Specialization when used properly can teach an athlete how to improve, commit, and gives more of an opportunity for success for landing a scholarship. I recently was asked to evaluate a terrific 3 sport athlete who wants to play at a D1 school. I told him he needed to spend an hour a day working on one aspect of his game. he turned to me and said he had no clue on what drills to do bc hes always been a 3 sport athlete who besides lifting weights never had enough time to work on his skills. He obviously has a up hill climb bc of his choice to be a 3 sport athlete
Two things really struck when reading Josh’s piece.
1) maybe Josh should focus on how many section 1 athletes actually play college football, basketball, and baseball. its time for parents to face reality
2)its sad when a player picks a sport to specialize in that he truly doesnt love bc he’s been advised too. without passion for a sport it will be a struggle long term