Fazio's Corner-- Sports.... Take Your Pick

If your dream is to play at the college level, you should seriously consider focusing on just one sport. Pick the sport that will give you the best chance of playing in college and completely devote your time and effort to that one sport.

That thought never even crossed my mind growing up. In my head, the measure of a great athlete was someone who could do it all. By my senior year of high school, I was competing in football in the fall, basketball in the winter, and baseball in the spring. I stayed real busy and I had a lot of fun, but one thing I didn't do was maximize my potential in any one of those sports. I made the teams, even started on some of them, but I never got as good as I would have liked. When the basketball season ended in late February, I grabbed my glove and bat and headed outdoors, I didn't shoot another jumper until eight months later. I don't regret my high school career, in fact I came away with tons of great memories, a lot of satisfaction, and even several awards and honors. But I didn't leave high school with a realistic chance of playing at the next level.

Nowadays, however, because of the nature of my job, I run into many kids who have dedicated themselves solely to basketball. The kids who are now head and shoulders above their peers are typically one-sport athletes. With things like AAU, club teams, select teams, personal trainers, and year-round development programs, there are enough opportunities for people to enhance their skills all year long.

This stirs up the debate: Should children choose just one sport to compete in or should they try to be well-rounded in athletics playing in as many sports as possible?

The answer is...it depends. It depends on what the athlete wants. If your goal and dream is to compete at the next level, if you want to be a college player or even a pro, then I say go for one sport. In rare cases, when athletes are freakishly talented, they may play several sports and then get to take their pick in college, but usually that's not the case. Use some discretion here, I'm not saying you absolutely cannot play two sports, you may be able to take a season off of your top choice or even continue to work on your top while still playing your second favorite. But generally speaking, there needs to be a year-round focus.

Maybe that's not your motivation. Perhaps all you've ever wanted is to simply have fun, stay in shape, and build friendships with those on your teams. By all means then, go out for every sport, take on the challenge of trying to be a three or four sport letterman. That's the avenue I followed, and it was great for me. Don't be disappointed though, when it's all said and done, if you are not at the level you need to be to play in college. Think about it, while you spent several months out of the year jumping from sport to sport, the other guys were fine-tuning their skills, training specifically to be the best they could be at that single sport.

Now, I'm hoping there is not a huge wave of people quitting their extra sports next season...I'll have coaches all over the Northwest coming after me. I'm just encouraging athletes to seriously consider their long term goals, determine what they are shooting for athletically, and then decide what is the best route is to get there.

And remember above all to make the most out of your high school sports career, you only get to do it once.