Benefits of a Multisport Athlete

Growing up in a small community in upstate New York, I, like the students at SkyView Academy, attended a K-12 school and had a wonderful and positive experience. For me, a part of that positive experience was the culture of our school and most of its student-athletes played multiple sports. I played soccer, basketball, and baseball, and though I had one sport I was most passionate about, I loved and enjoyed playing them all. This idea of a multisport high school athlete appears to be something of the past when looking at the competitive environment of sports today and an athlete’s perceived need to specialize in one sport in order to excel. I believe that’s not necessarily the case when analyzing the benefits one gets from playing multiple sports as an athlete grows and develops.  

When specializing in one sport, that athlete is typically playing that sport year-round, which means a lot of repetitions, utilizing the same muscles coupled with similar movements. Overuse of the same muscle or muscle groups can lead to serious injury. It is the different movements and the variety of muscles used across the board in different sports that can lead to great improvements in one’s strength and conditioning.

Burnout is another factor when looking at specialized, one-sport athletes compared to multisport athletes. I have seen athletes that burn out and become uninterested in their primary sport due to excess training, pressure and overplay too many times since I’ve been coaching soccer over the last 10 years at SkyView Academy. Many times this happens at the middle school level, before even getting to high school, and the opportunity to develop character, leadership, service and enjoyment of that sport is now lost forever. By participating in multiple sports, burnout is less of a factor and less common due to the changing environment and providing that athlete with different activities, games, teammates, and coaches through a different sport rather than the repetition of the same sport in the same environment over and over again.

There are other benefits of playing multiple sports:

• The exposure to many different sports and activities, which I feel at a young age is a very positive part of being active as these kids try to find their passion and something they enjoy doing.  
• Developing different skills involved in multiple sports can help to complement that of one’s main primary sport.  
• Dealing with adversity from one sport to another through having a different coach or teammates can further help to develop one’s character, such as possibly being a starter in one sport but coming off the bench in another.  

As a former high school and collegiate athlete, I’d suggest to all the younger athletes out there that it’s ok to put in more time in one sport if your love and passion are there, but that doesn't mean you need to give up the others. There’s a huge benefit in continuing to play numerous sports throughout one’s youth, high school career, and life after.

Miles Martin