Young Athletes Must Ignore The Pull To Be One Dimensional.
The multi-skilled young athlete has yielded to one of specialization in recent years. A new trend of multi-sport is coming back, for that to continue athletes & families must chart their own course.
The Tokyo2020 Olympics continue to inspire past their due date (2020 Olympics in 2021). Regardless of the year, and its inherent flaws (will not be explored here), the Olympics do give us a glimpse of how accomplishment comes primarily from a long-term approach.
We live in an immediate gratification short term world, and the Olympics fly right in the face of that. There are no short-term wins in Olympic competition. One does not decide one morning to be an Olympian and get results the next day or week or year.
Within this excellence at the highest level, we are witnessing athletes who are multi-skilled. The physical skills are one thing we will explore here, but they are also well developed on the mental side of the ledger.
Damian Warner is a 31 year old athlete from London, Ontario. I say “athlete” in the truest sense of the word, because this past week he came out on top in one of the truest of athletic competitions.
The decathlon is 10 event track and field competition over 2 days. Currently, there are 10 events over 2 days. Decathlon events are: (first day) 100-metre dash, running long (broad) jump, shot put, high jump, and 400-metre run; (second day) 110-metre hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin throw, and 1,500-metre run.
To excel at the decathlon, the athlete must be very proficient in multiple skills. Speed, power, endurance, explosiveness, agility, strength, and those are just the physical skills. Mentally, this event requires grit, determination, focus, perseverance, discipline, resiliency, can-do positive attitude and high pain tolerance.
Just to compete in this event means you agree you are ready to exude all the above. When you add in 40-degree temperatures, and training over the last 16 months in a variety of ways just to prepare during a pandemic, all competitors should be deemed Olympic champions!
Damien Warner makes me think of the inspiration of the multi-sport athlete.
Years ago the North American sports world were wowed by Bo Jackson (one of only athletes to appear in all-star games in 2 different professional sports) and Deion Sanders (only athlete to play in Super Bowl and World Series). These two high profile athletes excelled in professional baseball and football. The older generation of course thinks of a time when an athlete’s offseason was spent playing a different sport.
When I think of multi-sport athletes, my first thought is to Doug Harvey. In the community where I grew up in Montreal, Doug Harvey’s exploits were legendary. One of the greatest hockey players to ever play, who changed the way the game was played from his position. He opened the door for the Bobby Orr’s, Paul Coffey’s and others in a radically different way of attacking on the ice rink. Mr. Harvey was also a professional baseball player and played a high level of football as well. In addition, he served the Royal Canadian Navy. A true definition of multi-talented.
When I think of great multi-sport athletes, I think of Clara Hughes. The Canadian Olympian is the only athlete to win multiple medals in the winter Olympics AND multiple medals in the summer Olympics. Only 6 athletes have medaled in the summer and winter Olympics and 147 only have participated in both.
Eddy Alvarez is an American athlete who became the 6th Olympian to win a medal in summer AND winter Olympics. Winning a medal in speed skating in 2014, Alvarez pivoted to baseball shortly thereafter, and as recently as 2020 was in Major League Baseball with the Miami Marlins. In Tokyo2020, Alvarez won the silver with USA in baseball. A speed skater from Miami, Florida with Cuban heritage ? A cool story.
This past April The Physical Movement covered the topic of Early Sports Specialization, why it is occurring, how it is hurting our youth and explored some solutions.
ESS has become an unfortunate norm in the me-too world of keeping up with the Joneses. One of my theories is that ESS has only become a thing because it is modelled by others and encouraged by youth sports organizations as a necessary if not wanting to “fall behind”.
Yet, inspiration is all around us.
Don’t Believe The Hype – A Changing Trend?
Doug Harvey from Montreal was one of many of his era (1940’s-1960’s) who played multiple sports. It was a norm dating back hundreds of years.
Today, we have Olympians in winter and summer games excelling. They never believed that they could only participate in one sport at the expense of everything else.
It has become increasingly standard to having youth baseball players specialize in 1 position. No better example is the concept of PO (Pitcher only). This is more about adding revenue to the team coffers (more players needed = more registration revenue) than it does development of the player.
Shohei Otani’s an athlete with the LA Angels in MLB, pitches regularly and is a very valuable hitter. Not since Babe Ruth has major league baseball welcomed a player who can do both. Perhaps this will help change the standard of having athletes only develop one set of skills.
Sports at the youth level have fallen into the specialization trap.
Shohei Otani would NOT have come through the North American youth baseball system as a pitcher and hitter.
He would have been converted to one or the other and told both were NOT possible!
Damian Warner, Shohei Otani, Clara Hughes, Doug Harvey, Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders, Eddy Alvarez are all examples of the standard we can aspire to. Our youth are better served with a multitude of experiences and developing across multiple skills and sports.
As coaches and parents, we can open up the idea of excelling at more than 1 sport or set of skills as the new standard with inspiration from the above.
Don’t fall for the narrative of specialization is best. “Pitchers only” and designated hitters at a young age are not the standard for athletic development. Neither is 1 sport year-round at 10 years old, or 60 games of soccer in a season.
Like most things in the modern world, it is critical today to filter and question. To become advocates for what is best long term, and not just believe the world according to so and so because he runs a travel team.
Playing multiple sports will mean saying no to some opportunities, in order to say yes to others. Maybe less hockey in the summer, yields to playing baseball or golf or soccer? Maybe music or art or photography could be integrated???
By taking a 360 degree view, we can see there are multiple ways of doing things and that applies to youth sports, competition and development.
As one of my best coaches used to say: “Head on a Swivel”.
In February, I posted a feature on the great Christine Sinclair. For over 20 years, Christine has been a reluctant hero and inspiration to thousands. It was one of the great stories of this past week to see her and her teammates rewarded with a Gold Medal in Women’s Soccer!
Great article Greg! I couldn't agree more. I'm not a dissenting vote when it comes to specialization in general. I think it is right for some kids...sometimes. However, the degree to which it has blossomed (IMO) is due to overzealous parents with unrealistic expectations, led by dream-chasing coaches. In other words, adults are the problem...not kids. Over the past two or three years, I've seen multiple interviews with major college coaches describing how they prefer to recruit multi-sport athletes. They describe the benefits of cross-over training and how skills from one sport contribute to success in another. The greatest benefit I've seen as a coach and trainer is a young athlete discovering they have natural gifts in a different sport than they traditionally play. The joy and satisfaction is unmistakable on a kid's face when they excel! We need to continue to work together (all of us) to promote what you described as "saying no to some opportunities" and help kids discover the joy and satisfaction of being "well rounded!"