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Posted at: 09/04/2009 8:35 AM | WHEC.com Students focusing on one-sport specialization
Local high schools are seeing the trend. Mary Cushman, of Irondequoit says "I'm totally ok with spending every afternoon doing volleyball." Cushman will play volleyball at the University of Maryland next year. Less than one percent of all student athletes get Division 1 scholarships. Mary used to play soccer and run track but decided to just focus on her chosen sport. She says "I like the idea of diversifying to different sports but once I knew I was playing volleyball in college maybe the Olympics I couldn't play I needed to focus on volleyball." Irondequoit athletic director Dave Green sees Cushman as the exception. Green says, "I encourage our athletes to be in as many sports as possible. It's not for everybody there is no cookie cutter answers for this." Rush-Henrietta athletic director Tom Stewart actually studied why more kids don't play multiple sports as often, a trend he says has been growing for the past 20 years. Stewart adds, I believe what's happened is parents believe that if you don't do it your kids are going to be left out." He says 50-percent of his athletes are specializing, the other half still choosing to play multiple sports. Adding girls’ lacrosse is hot right now. More colleges are adding it, and that means more scholarship opportunities. Stewart says it may encourage kids to specialize. The downside? - Burnout and injuries from over-use. R-H's Vicky Smith has always played a number of sports. Last year, she decided to specialize in lacrosse. "I started I knew I wanted to play it for as long as I could." She saw other students in football and wrestling get D-1 scholarships by doing that. But ultimately Smith missed the diversity and is changing her plan this year. Smith says, "I missed basketball and the team I want to pick it back up. I tried just lacrosse in winter leagues but now I'm doing basketball and lacrosse." For more Rochester, N.Y. news go to our website www.whec.com.
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A-Rod, Kobe and Tony Romo all played more than one. Three sport athletes are becoming a thing of the past as more kids are deciding to specialize in a chosen sport.