Max DiTondo

One of the most tiresome debates in sports is the multi-sport athletes in high school debacle. I’ll preface it by saying a kid should play whatever he wants and it’s the families choice. If your goal is to play college sports then your goal should be really good at the sport you want to play, regardless of the other sports you play. I played basketball in middle school and was going to play in high school but I realized I stunk at basketball and while i thoroughly enjoyed playing I knew being a bad basketball player was not going to help me achieve my goals despite people telling me it was a great sport to develop athleticism that will help me with baseball. So I stopped playing. A college coach’s job is to win. They are not recruiting athletes who they believe will not help their program. No one is looking at a pitcher and saying this junior is topping at 78 but he is on the football, basketball, and soccer team so let’s recruit him. What they are saying is if this kid throws 90+ and is on the football, basketball, and soccer team we are getting a good athlete in addition to a great arm. But the only reason he is being recruited is because he is talented at the sport they recruit. Bottomline is very simple: You want to be a college athlete be very good at the sport you want to play in college. If you can be very good at it and balance other sports, that is magnificent and should continue to do what you want. If you want to play a college sport and are mediocre at it and play other sports in the different seasons instead of prioritizing training or developing in the sport you want to play then you are limiting your chances of success. I once had a coach in pro-ball make a tongue in cheek statement to a teammate after he was bragging about his HS football days: “Those 11 touchdowns certainly didn’t help you hit an inside fastball.” Results are all that matter.