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| As a coach, let kids decide which sports they are going to play. Don't make them pick. |
If you are like most coaches, your team
isn't brimming with D1 talent that you can easily recognize in the seventh or
eighth grade. A kid doesn't come into your office, or classroom, and say,
"Coach, I want to dedicate myself only to (insert sport here) because I
know I am that talented or dedicated that it will be my future." While
some of you may have had this happen, most of us can't relate.
The reality is that there are millions of
kids who play ball who don't make it past high school.
Why make kids give up a sport sooner
than they have to?
Don't!
High school and junior high especially are
training grounds. It isn't until then that they can really give it an honest
shot to choose one sport anyone. Just think, a kid playing youth ball that is
voluntarily coached by a dad, you know, the one whose son is actually a guard,
but somehow is the best QB on the team. How many times have you either seen or
heard something like this happening. It's not until kids get an honest coaching
shot, that they should even consider one sport over another.
Let kids play 'em all.
Kids should play everything. Not only does
athletics build many of the character traits they will need for the rest of
their lifetime, but it makes kids better athletes. A certain skill in one
sport, can hone another skill in a different sport. Baseball requires that kids
learn to see the ball and focus on it. Doesn't that help your wide receivers?
Aren't good pitchers usually good QBs? A post player on the basketball team
works one-on-one, using their hands all the time. Don't your defensive ends do
this too?
Have you ever heard a coach say, “I can't
wait for my guys to come into summer camp out of shape? Lying on the couch all
summer will surely give us an edge?" Of course not. Football coaches
should want kids coming into camp that have been playing ball all summer, who
are conditioned, and have been competing. Basketball coaches should want the
same thing when the winter rolls around, right?
The only issue that could arise is
other-sport practices while your sport is in season. Work this out with the
coaches of the other sport. Create a cooperative system that benefits you both.
It will benefit you both.
This shouldn't even apply to junior high.
Let kids go to basketball practice on days when you don't have football. Let
kids be kids and play them all. We have the opportunity to have summer workouts
and conditioning early in the summer. The problem is that's the heart of
baseball season in our area. I will hold off the beginning of my practices
because I know that so many kids are playing baseball. Those that can make it,
will. Those that have practices or games, they are excused as they are still in
season.
Be telling a kid to pick a sport, they may
be deciding between two things, or more, they already love. Let them decide
when it is time to choose. In the mean time, tell them to, "Play 'Em
All!"
