Just saw this article from a tweet, though it does happen to come from our local paper.. I was curious in anyone's thoughts on it as applies to soccer (even if more volleyball focused) or your experiences with it. I thought it was interesting as my soccer players aren't in HS yet (our football player is and our volleyball, likely ex-volleyball, is in HS next year).
As noted above--you forgot the link. I'm curious to read what you posted. I know you're a VB parent as well as a soccer parent. (My oldest nephew plays college VB by the way).
Wow...I messed that up, didn't I? LOL...had to go to parent teacher conferences after I sent it... http://www.omaha.com/sports/singula...cle_b6567114-b9b1-11e7-bff5-978524fb0ada.html
Olympic sports show us pretty conclusively that focus on one sport brings greater success. Soccer and hockey, in particular ,indicate that the advantages goes to those who start soonest. The multi-sport athlete is a holdover from the era of smaller schools where there maybe were only 20 athletes in the school. While its certainly important for downtime and cross training to do other activities, there really isn't any way to play more that one sport at a high competitive level without risking injury (see Bo Jackson).
I'd also argue that the multi-sport athlete phenomenon was also partly a consequence of the particular team sports which were traditionally popular in the US. While baseball, basketball, and American football certainly aren't the same and require different skill sets, there's some real crossover as well (not so much at the elite level, but at the HS level for sure). The athletic requirements for any one of the three translate to the other two better than any would translate to, say, soccer. Hand-eye coordination, upper body strength, lateral quickness, an explosive first step--none of those things would be BAD in soccer (the first, of course, GREAT for keepers) but they're less crucial than other qualities and traits than they are in the former three, IMHO. Growing up in a small town--the jocks played Football in the Fall, Basketball in the Winter, some ran track & field in the Spring, and many played baseball in the summer. Not all of them played all 3/4, and of course most were better at one than the other two, but still the overlap was the rule rather than the exception.
Although the counter-point would be--HS sports shouldn't be focused on producing Olympic-level athletes. Just to play devil's advocate.
When Europeans shake their head at our use of the secondary/tertiary education system as a development scheme for pro sports,even the biggest Eurosnobs in this board start going all 'Murica! on them.
It does seem to work for football, basketball, and baseball. It would be interesting if a major league team was able to essentially start training kids at that secondary and up directly. Is the issue Europeans have really with soccer specifically?
No ,not at all- it applies to the entire landscape of sport. Mind you,youth sport in Europe receives public funding to a far greater degree than the US. The one US sport where a team could take a teenage kid and teach him the sport is football,largely because success is so much based on size and speed.You take that naturally gifted prospect and drill position specific techniques,and you can get a pro player. Baseball,won't work.Basketball,only for a 7 footer you're teaching to be in the post.
From the article: "As a club director, Bennett doesn’t discourage participation in other sports. “If we start to force decisions, they’re going to end up hating our sport.” However, Bennett tells parents that if a girl takes three months off to play AAU basketball, she’s going to fall behind." This is what the problem is. Scare the kids and families into thinking that they can never take time away (It also seems to be common in the work place).
Having been around a number of legit d-1 prospects (not just soccer), 3 months won't make a bit of difference in their development. The talent is that evident. These coaches love to show off their prize ponies. If you aren't there he can't show you off.
Plenty of athletes (pro, college, amateur, youth) get hurt and take 3 months off. They come back into form pretty quickly when they return.