Mark Rerick, athletic director shared with the National Federation of State High School Associations his thoughts on:
Single sport specialization:
- Sometimes a push towards single sport specialization comes from adults and not the athlete. Keep in mind that "less than seven percent of high school athletes move on to college sports (and only three percent earn an athletic scholarship)".
- Often students that specialize can burn out sooner for varying reasons. Specialization can also cause serious overuse injuries. Over scheduling may also be a consequence and often impacts the quality of free time, if there is even time for other leisure activities.
Multi-sports participation:
- For the majority of athletes playing multi-sports gives them opportunities to explore and even excel in multiple sports.
- Playing multi-sports even for athletes interested in playing at the college level increases their cross-sports skill levels.
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Read more: The Importance of Multi-sport Participation
Image Credit: Future Stars Camps