Multi-Sport Participation – Page 2

The Old Guard Vs. The New Guard

Posted February 1, 2019January 27, 2022 Glen MulcahyLeave a commentPosted in Athlete, Coach, Early Sport Specialization, Parents

The Old Guard Vs. The New Guard

I am writing this before the 53^rd Superbowl game as I know all the hoopla come the day will be sharing out in our weekly newsletter will be about how the old guard (Bill Belichick and Tom Brady) matched up against the new guard (Sean McVay and Jared Goff).

It will make for another Superbowl gathering at my house with friends and family will be cursing every great play that Tom Brady et al. execute against yet another underdog with the vast majority of the bets on Patriots to win their 2^nd Superbowl in three years and their 6^th since their amazing legacy began in 2002 with the Brady/Belichick Tandem.

The above Tweet is one I came across when checking to see how Vegas et al. were hedging their bets, and having made many trips there over the years for trade shows, it was going as suspected, due to prior success and numerous AFC Championship games, The Patriots are the favorites yet once again.

One would think that father time (Tom Brady) would be showing signs of slowing down now in his 40’s, but as much as I am not a big fan of the Patriots for their run over the last two decades (am always a fan of the underdog), one thing that it does provide me is one of the best reasons why kids should NOT specialize early until their late teens. As I wrote to coincide with last years Superbowl 52, Tom Brady Wins the World Series, he was a draft pick of the only MLB team I followed in my youth and still pissed off they left, the Montreal Expo’s. He was picked in the 6^th round by the Patriots as he was already a MLB Draft Pick.

Had he specialized in football like many kids are doing today as early as 8-9-10 years old, I can guarantee that his Hall Of Fame Career would have ended much sooner or potentially never happened to begin with.

Why ?

Because he would have suffered overuse injuries, potentially multiple serious concussions, ACL tears, perhaps even needing Tommy John Surgery for his throwing arm. He may have burned out as he did not have an OFF season to play other sports and would not have developed fundamental movement skills to transfer to football.

He may have been one of those 70% of kids that quit sports before 13 as a result.

The Patriots potentially would have continued to be in the cellar of the NFL as they had been literally since inception, Bill Belichick potentially would have been fired and hired to lead another team to multiple AFC championships, Superbowl titles and all the records that the Patriots have set under his leadership.

To this day I am still pissed that the Expos had their only potential World Series taken away from them when the strike ended the season in 1994, then a decade later were relocated to Washington (Nationals).

Fast forward to 2019, yet another multi-sport athlete in Baseball and Football has been shared out via Social Media, Kyle Murray, Heisman Trophy winner and QB of the Oklahoma Sooners Final 4 BCS (Bowl Championship Series) #4 Ranked team (who lost to Alabama in the quarter final).

One of those SM posts were done by our good friends at 2 4 1 Sports, as Kyle was also drafted by the Oakland A’s Major League Baseball Team.

Kyle is yet another Multisport athlete to be drafted by the MLB and many are projecting if he enters the NFL draft he will be a 1^st round NFL pick because he is such a great ATHLETE.

Others that you may be familiar with as they were or are “pretty good” include:

Dan Marino

Source: One of my favorite Sports Illustrated Pics, the old guard (Dan Marino) talking to the new guard (Peyton Manning) post Game

One of the best passers of all time, 2005 NFL HOF inductee played 17 years in the NFL but he was initially drafted as a pitcher by the Kansas City Royals.

Colin Kaepernick

In just his rookie season, Colin demonstrated his raw athleticism and lead the 49’ers to their first Superbowl since their glory days with Steve Young and Joe Montana.

He also was a great baseball pitcher, two time all state in high school, and was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 2009 MLB Draft and was drafted 2 years later in the 2011 NFL draft.

Last year he received the support of Nike to become the face of their 30^th anniversary “Just Do It Campaign” with the commercial that lead their sales to surge 31% just after it aired.

“Don’t ask if your dreams are crazy, ask if they are crazy enough”

Brandon Weeden

Current Houston Texans Backup QB was drafted in the 1^st round of the NFL 2006 by the Cleveland Browns draft four years after he had been selected as the second overall 2002 MLB pick by the New York Yankees

Troy Aikman

Hall of Famer NFL QB for the Dallas Cowboys, now Fox NFC Colour Commentator, was the NFL #1 overall pick in 1989 also was a baseball pitcher and shortstop and the NY Mets tried to sign him to a baseball contract but he declined as he opted to focus on football in university.

Patrick Mahomes

Like his father before him who was drafted by the MLB (and went on to play 11 seasons), Patrick was was selected by the Detroit Tigers in the 2014 MLB Draft but was also drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the first round of the 2017 NFL draft. Another member of the potential new guard may be Kyle Murray if opts to enter the NFL draft and play football in lieu of baseball.

Had it not been for a penalty in OT where the Patriots were able to continue a drive that lead to their game-winning touchdown, Patrick could very well have been the new guard playing another new guard counterpart in Jared Goff but Tom Brady et al. were able to weather the storm to score a TD to win the AFC Championship.

In my many years playing and watching both sports I have never seen such raw athleticism of so many ways to throw the football as Patrick demonstrated leading the Chiefs in only his second season in the NFL. His sidearm and no-look passes remind me of another great athlete playing in the NBA, Steph Currey, another multi-sport athlete until he opted to focus on basketball in college.

Russell Wilson

Seattle Seahawks Superbowl winning QB Russell Wilson also played baseball, was drafted by the Colorado Rockies and played two seasons in their minor league affiliate, then traded to the Texas Rangers and then New York Yankees but opted to focus on his career in the NFL in lieu of baseball.

Then there were two that played BOTH sports Professionally

Deion Sanders (AKA Prime Time)

Deion was drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft and played for several teams including playing for the 49’ers and Cowboys Super Bowl Winning Teams and was inducted into the football hall of fame in 2011. He also drafted in the 6^th round of the 1988 MLB draft by the Kansas City Royals and played several years for them moreso on part time basis (NFL took precedence when the seasons overlapped).

Bo Jackson (Bo Knows)

Bo Jackson is the only professional athlete to be named an all-star in two different professional sports, Football and Baseball. Like Kyle Murray, Bo won the Heisman trophy in 1985, he was originally drafted by the Tampa Bay Bucanneers First Overall in the 1986 NFL Draft. He also was the drafted by the Kansas City Royals and played several seasons in both sports.

Not only was Bo a great football and baseball player, in high school AND college, he participated in numerous track and field events including sprinting, hurdling, jumping and throwing.

Just further proof in the pudding to support the benefits of participating in multiple sports growing up so you can become the best ATHLETE you can be.

By not focusing on one sport too early, one of the biggest benefits, is all those that played both sports of the old guard went on to have long careers in their respective sports, Dan Marino, Troy Aikman and now Tom Brady still being one that continues to set the bar playing at the highest level at 42 years of age. Same will hold true for Patrick Mahome, Kyle Murray may be as the new guard as they are great ATHLETES as a result of playing multiple sports.

Let’s all work together to bring the game back to the kids …. Where it belongs.

What (winning at all costs) rep sports are really doing to kids

Posted August 20, 2018January 27, 2022 Glen MulcahyLeave a commentPosted in Athlete, Coach, Early Sport Specialization, Parents

Last week I shared out the article that I contributed to in Today’s Parents Summer Edition, “What rep sports are really doing to kids” that was written by Courtey Shea and digital edition was released on Aug. 10th.

I thought it would be good to share some insight on how the article came to fruition and some of the key takeaways that I thought Courteney did a great job highlighting.

The title itself resonated with me, but as you will note I added: “winning at all costs” to the title of this weeks post as it is that tipping point that is taking the rep or recreational youth sports experience away from kids where it belongs.

Courteney references the terms “professionalism, adultification, specialization” going hand in hand with competitive (rep) sports which is something that I started to see with both my kids that played in the rep streams in Hockey and Softball which completely differed from my rep or club experience in several sports I played. Then it was all about the spirit of the competition, playing with players of like skill level and truly loving what you played, now it is adults competing with other adults thru kids.

This is why the likes of the example she cited to start the article, the U8 AAA baseball team that had 70 kids try out and 58 were released after three days of tryouts.

Really?

Shouldn’t 7-year-old still be playing T-Ball per Baseball Canada’s LTAD model? Then learn to play in Tadpole 8-9 years old with a pitching machine for 1/2 the games, then allowing the kids to pitch with rotating pitchers adhering to max pitch counts with age-appropriate throwing distances thereafter?

Last summer the co-op student that worked with me was one of those AAA caliber baseball players going back to his early childhood, he said the hardest thing that he had to deal with early on was when he was the last release of the Little League World Series team when he was 12 years old. This year, the Whalley Little League program has qualified to represent Canada, a program that I know several kids have moved to for optimal skills and overall development. What many don’t know, is Whalley is the equivalent of New York’s Harlem, it is had the long-term reputation as not being the greatest place to live or work, but year after year their baseball program field very competitive teams.

Even the parent coach of the Leaside Leafs, Jesse Harrison, is quoted:

In terms of my contributions, a couple of clarification points I would like to share;

The reference to Jordan Spieth was a disconnect with myself and Courteney as the interview and subsequent verification coordinator was months back, Jordan did not focus on golf until he graduated from high school, 18 years old, vs. when he entered (at 13). When he was 12 (grade 6) he told his parents he wanted to focus on golf and they refused as both were multi-sport athletes and knew the benefits, so he continued to play golf in addition to football (fall), basketball (winter), baseball (summer) each year. Football he was a quarterback, Baseball he was a pitcher and basketball he was the point guard, the most skilled positions in the respective sports.

The reason Jordan Speith became the 23 Million Man at 22 years old is that is is an amazing ATHLETE, not just a great golfer who won the Fedex Cup and at one point ranked #1 golfer in the world.

2. In terms of the introduction to my background, yes, I played football, in fact I played on a team that won provincials (equivalent to state) while playing receiver/running back, cornerback and on all special teams so I rarely was off the field, but I also won provincials in Hockey, a Gold Medal in Rugby, tournaments in baseball, basketball on the various organized teams I played for. I also self-taught myself to golf, ski, was a member of first aid ski patrol for a few years and numerous other free play activities like biking, running, fishing, beach volleyball, tackle frisbee, British bulldog and so on.

Like Jordan, I was a good overall athlete, and even though I focused on sports in my late teens, I chose two, Football in the fall, Rugby in the Spring and played both into my 20’s until knee injuries and concussions took their toll (albeit the concussions were not from sports, is another story in itself)

This is why I am such an advocate for multi-sport participation, kids should sample as many sports and activities as you can in their youth from 5 to late teens (16-17 yrs old) before they choose the sport THEY LOVE.

Specializing in one sport before that make it work, leads to overuse injuries, and more often than not will lead to hanging up those skates, cleats, shoes or what have you for good vs. being active well beyond high school.

” I would really like to stress the fact that multi-sport athleticism is critical for the development of the child”

It is really difficult when writers, journalists, news anchors reach out to tell the whole story, especially when they are reaching out to numerous others but I thought Courteney nailed it out of the park to give insight to parents of young children to promote being active in as many sports as possible and buck the current trends of specializing too early.

The proof is in the pudding in terms of paybacks if you aspire for your son or daughter to play at the highest level possible, to do so, they must be the best ATHLETE possible, not the best hockey, soccer, baseball, basketball player.

Every high-level coach that I know from AAA youth sports to professional, collegiate will tell you the same thing, they recruit great athletes who are great people with GREAT PARENTS (not the vocal minority who are acting up in the stands). Kids that specialize early are also deprived from being normal kids sampling not only various sports but music, drama, art, dance, literature and learning various group dynamics by being on multiple sports teams with different coaches, players, parents etc.

So as I end every talk that I do when I am talking about specialization;

Do you know what you are going to do in life?

Most of us don’t figure it out until we are in our 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s IF we ever do.

How then can you be the adult either recommending or accepting the recommendation from another to tell a 7-year-old kid they are going to specialize in one sport over 9 months of the year, in most cases 12 months of the year?

Deprive them of a normal childhood of just being a kid, trying as many things as possible before they find what they LOVE later in life.

Please don’t cave into the marketing, recruitment policies and buck the trends.

Say NO to Early Sport Specialization.

Rep sports are not supposed to be year-round sports, the term rep means they are teams to represent their communities to compete with teams in other communities to permit players of like skill, whether it be A, AA, AAA level.

I also could not agree more with Jesse’s quote, we really need to eliminate the word elite when it comes to referencing KIDS.

Elite should only be referenced for Olympians or Accomplished Professional athletes.

Other than that, they are just early bloomers or just good overall athletes continuing to work on their craft.

Let’s all work together to bring the game back to the kids … where it belongs.