Cross Training in Other Sports

[Big]

Seriously, high school sports emphasize winning more than anything. No coach ever says we don't have to win. We are just here to enrich ourselves. And yet, after 3-4 months go do whatever other sport you like. Its a system wrong to its core!

Why would you give 110% for 3-4 months and then let the skills waste for another 8 months? You can never win anything doing it only for 3-4 months, so why go 110% with little results? Why not go 70% and enjoy?

[Big]

Your typical high school kid that plays 3 sports will be in his 20s and older telling people how he sucked in all 3 sports and nobody will care that he is well rounded.

[Spider]

Seriously, high school sports emphasize winning more than anything. No coach ever says we don't have to win. We are just here to enrich ourselves. And yet, after 3-4 months go do whatever other sport you like. Its a system wrong to its core!

Why would you give 110% for 3-4 months and then let the skills waste for another 8 months? You can never win anything doing it only for 3-4 months, so why go 110% with little results? Why not go 70% and enjoy?

It may be a system that's wrong for producing international champions, but it works (at least in theory) for producing well rounded individuals. I gave 110% for four months, then did other things for the rest of the year, and saw nothing wrong with it. I would have been a better wrestler if I trained all year round, but I probably would have come to hate it.

Sports are a means to an end, not an end in themselves. That end is making each person a better individual. Medals are nice, but they are ancillary, not paramount.

[Spider]

Your typical high school kid that plays 3 sports will be in his 20s and older telling people how he sucked in all 3 sports and nobody will care that he is well rounded.

I don't value the opinion of anyone who cares more about how I did in sports than about what kind of person I am.

[Big]

If you are not super talented, even being a state place winner requires more than 3 months of training in wrestling. High school sports teach mediocre to stay mediocre instead of working as hard as you can to become great.

[Kyle N.]

If you are not super talented, even being a state place winner requires more than 3 months of training in wrestling. High school sports teach mediocre to stay mediocre instead of working as hard as you can to become great.

My friend does football, wrestling, and track. He was one of the top linemen in the league. He was one of the top 16 heavyweight wrestlers in the state of California, and he was only a decent thrower. He is now going to play football and only football in college. He did three sports and excelled in two of them. Yes he is going to play football in college, but his life goals do not include professional sports. If you asked him he would say that he was happy he did three sports. He is an incredibly hard worker who was also a great scholar. One of the few football players or wrestlers in calculus and anatomy. High school sports do not teach you to be mediocore. If your life aspirations are not in professional sports, play as many sports as you want. Sports do not dictate your success in life or your income.

[Big]

Being great at a sport is not for income and has nothing to do with professional sports. You should strive to be the best in sports even if you become a brain surgeon. Its what makes you, the competitor in sports and in life!

[Proudpatriot]

You need to pick one main sport and get as good as you can at it. This prepares you for the real world! Nobody in the real world has 3 different professions each for 3-4 months a year.

I don't buy into the theory that a 14 year old needs to start preparing for the real world. There is plenty of time in the future for him to learn about the real world.

True, if your objective is to be the best that you can be in a certain sport, you need to focus on that sport. But if sports are simply another form of enrichment/recreation, then it is more important to enjoy it than to be a fanatic about success.

Bottom line is no high school coach wants a kid on his team who is simply looking for recreation. Would you want a kid starting on your wrestling team who says he just wants enrichment/recreation?

Spider and Big-you are both right but I propose there is a middle ground. There are tons of kids like my son who THRIVE on competition and bettering themselves. Kids like that view sports as a form of recreation. However, that doesn't mean that they aren't intense and interested in becoming the best at their sport. My son is the kind of kid every coach loves because to him the competition itself is recreational.

[Kyle N.]

Being great at a sport is not for income and has nothing to do with professional sports. You should strive to be the best in sports even if you become a brain surgeon. Its what makes you, the competitor in sports and in life!

Ok, that's true but I do try my hardest in every sport. I leave everything out on the mat and course and track and court and whatever. I'm just not the absolute best at these sports. I take difficult classes that have a lot of homework so I don't have a lot of time to spend in the gym or out running on the streets. My true calling is academics. I still do sports though because I want to stay in shape and I like to compete. You can ask all my coaches and they would tell you I'm one of the hardest workers and fiercest competitors. If you are planning to play sports in college at a high level, then yes, just do that sport. But if you aren't, there's no problem doing three sports. You'll be just as successful in life.