By: Dresden Wilson @dreswilson22

Studies have shown that playing multiple sports will benefit you more than only specializing in one sport. The head coach for the Ohio State Buckeyes’ football team, Urban Meyer, doesn’t recruit players who specialize in just one sport. After taking the time to graph all of the players he recruits, he discovered that 42 of them played multiple sports in high school, and only fives of them only participated in high school football.
“It is important that kids don’t specialize in one sport early because kids develop at different ages. It’s also a poor decision to decide who the elite athletes are at a young age,” said the Strength and Conditioning Coach at Boone High, Charlie Eastlund. He also went on to say that, “You learn how to compete, win, lose, battle through adversity, and learn to play together as a team. You don’t get bored always playing one sport.”
There has been research about single sport athletes, according to Changing The Game Project, an organization focused on sports, children who specialize in one sport account for 50% of overuse injuries. Even when specialization is for the athlete, twenty percent of training time should be spent on a non-specialized sport. The study also says that if you play multiple sports, you’ll have better overall skills and ability.
College athletes took a survey made by the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, and 88% of them said that they had participated in more than one sport as a child.
As facts and coaches in Boone High School say, it’s better to play multiple sports than just specialize in one.
“It is important that kids don’t specialize in one sport early because kids develop at different ages. It’s also a poor decision to decide who the elite athletes are at a young age,” said the Strength and Conditioning Coach at Boone High, Charlie Eastlund. He also went on to say that, “You learn how to compete, win, lose, battle through adversity, and learn to play together as a team. You don’t get bored always playing one sport.”
There has been research about single sport athletes, according to Changing The Game Project, an organization focused on sports, children who specialize in one sport account for 50% of overuse injuries. Even when specialization is for the athlete, twenty percent of training time should be spent on a non-specialized sport. The study also says that if you play multiple sports, you’ll have better overall skills and ability.
College athletes took a survey made by the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, and 88% of them said that they had participated in more than one sport as a child.
As facts and coaches in Boone High School say, it’s better to play multiple sports than just specialize in one.