Hello, my name is Josh Strobl, and this is the first of several blogs that I will be contributing to share some of my competitive sports experience and knowledge. The reality about making the transition from youth to high school to college sports is that there are an infinite number of questions, and many of them go unanswered. My goal is to shed light on the process and provide you some valuable insight and answers to frequently asked questions.
A little bit about myself, I grew u
p in San Diego, California where almost all sports are played year round. My parents were not former athletes but they enjoyed sports and gave me every opportunity to play any sport I choose. I grew up playing baseball, soccer, tennis, and basketball as a youth. Prior to high school I found myself playing baseball most of year for a San Diego based traveling team. In high school I ran track & field, played football, basketball, and baseball. Eventually I would play collegiate baseball as a catcher and third baseman, but I did experience a sports burnout at a young age and opted not to play baseball as a high school freshman. This leads me to the first topic: choosing a sport and playing as many as possible.
Sport specialization was starting to become a trend when I was in high school, but it has become much more prevalent in the last 10 years. There are obviously positive and negatives to specializing in a specific sport. Below are a few relevant articles discussing sports specialization that I found online. Each article addresses some of the key topics discussed by experts in the field of competitive sports.
http://lincolnnewsmessenger.com/detail/111330.html
There are many different opinions regarding the pros and cons for sports specialization. It really comes down to a personal decision and commitment that should be made by the student-athlete, not parents, coaches or trainers.
The positive results allow young athletes to focus on a specific sport and the skills related to that sport. This makes for better player at an earlier age, but at what cost? The downside to sport specialization is a lack of broad athletic skills, experiences, and the possibility of burnout or performance anxiety issues. I feel very fortunate that my parents afforded me the ability to play multiple sports and make my own decisions when it came to sports. My personal advice to any athlete and/or parent is to play every sport that you want as an athlete, especially at a young age. I realized as I matured and grew, my skills were best suited to play baseball, but my athletic ability was a result of many combined competitive sports playing experiences.
Playing multiple sports was positive on many levels, all of which helped me at the collegiate level. Playing soccer as a youth ensured that my footwork and foot-eye coordination was above average. I was not blessed with great speed, but good instinct and footwork made up for a lack of speed and definitely helped my abilities as a high school and college catcher. Some of my fondest memories of sport came as a youth soccer player. My experience playing basketball was great for leg strength, endurance, and agility. The jump drills, sprints and constant running made sure I was in good condition going into the baseball season. As an undersized center, I also learned how to play big and tough against bigger athletes. The last sport I took up in school was football. The camaraderie while playing football was unmatched by any other sport I have ever played. An entire week of practice for one game wasn’t my favorite, but the friendships made resulted in many of my closest friends to date. Football two-a-days pushed you to the limits physically and mentally, and scoring a touchdown is one of the greatest feelings and accomplishments I have ever experienced.
I mentioned burnout a couple of times earlier in this entry because I have experienced the sensation and know it’s real. One of the best coaches I had growing up was my high school Varsity Football and Junior Varsity Baseball coach. I had grown up an All-Star baseball player, but playing the normal season and on a traveling team as an early teen became overwhelming. When I showed up for baseball tryouts as a freshman, Coach Griffith pulled me aside the last day when he was making the final cut for the team and asked me if I wanted to play baseball. He pointed out that there was no doubt I should make the team but it appeared that I was going through the motions. The answer surprised me and the result was my running track & field as a freshman. I earned varsity points in high jump and also compete in long jump, discus, and shot put. It was a great experience and I found a renewed desire to play baseball after taking a year off.
The lesson learned is that athletic skills can be cultivated by playing multiple sports. I was fortunate enough to play baseball as a collegiate athlete despite the fact that I didn’t even play my college sport all four years in high school. I have also noticed that young athletes who specialize in one sport early as a youth seem to lack a more complete set of athletic skills. This is something that I took for granted growing up playing multiple sports. I would like to give my parents a huge thank you for encouraging me to play multiple sports and enabling me to pick the sport that I became most passionate about. In the future I will share my thoughts and experiences regarding college preparation, academics, coaching, and more.
