Specialization In School Sports Is Wrong
Dear Editor,
Specialization in sports at the middle school and high school level is wrong.
There, I said it, and would submit as firsthand evidence my over 40 years of teaching and coaching.
I have sadly seen kids fed a pipe dream of sports specialization that often leads to heartbreak and disappointment. There is absolutely no evidence that speaks to the contrary. Even as there is a mountain of evidence that supports my main point, every once in a while, you start to hear about a group of people pushing for sports specialization at the middle and high school levels.
The mantra has never changed. It goes like this: If you want your son or daughter to get a Division 1 scholarship, then he or she needs to dedicate their life to being a one-sport athlete.
Oh, by the way, there are a number of camps you can send your child to in order to improve their skills. You can also get a special coach who can set up a special program that will get your child that D-1 scholarship.
I understand why this argument can be attractive to parents. The cost of a four-year degree is in the neighborhood of $160,000. However, the facts just don’t line up.
For almost two years now, Hall of Fame Coach Ted Huber and I have been doing a weekly podcast where we talk to football coaches from all over the state. They all support their players to be multiple-sport athletes.
We also have talked to head coaches from Purdue, Indiana, Ball State and Indiana State. All of these head coaches want, recruit and prefer multiple sport athletes. These highly respected coaches at both the high school and college levels basically say the same thing: “Multiple sport athletes are subject to numerous coaches and players that make them better teammates, better leaders and ultimately better coachable athletes.”
Finally, high school is a place where our young people get to go through a variety of experiences as they sort out what they want to do in their future. The sciences, the arts and the vocational trades are just a few of the areas kids get a chance to experience.
This is all part of the process of figuring out their career path. No parent would tell their freshman student in high school that you can only take math or art classes for the next four years. The same philosophy should be true with high school sports.
Dave Baumgartner