The long-debated subject of whether high school athletes are best served by specializing in one sport or seeking variety in such co-curricular pursuits came up anew in at least two different conversations this week.
In one circumstance, an athlete with experience on both sides of the issue discussed his decision to return to a second sport as a senior after spending the last two years specializing in his favorite sport year-round.
In the second instance, a coach lamented having barely enough players to field a team because several of the better athletes at the school had opted to skip the fall sports season to spend more time getting ready for basketball season.
So who’s right, the specialist or the generalist?
It’s really an individual decision, to be sure, a matter of choice to be made by each athlete, most likely in conjunction with parents and/or other influential adults — i.e. coaches.
But the reality is the vast majority of high school athletes can only dream of having sufficient athletic prowess in a particular sport to reach the conclusion that specialization is the quickest route to the greatest end, be it an athletic scholarship or a professional career.
Clearly there are exceptions, such as the single-minded devotion to basketball that led Cindy Blodgett from Clinton and Lawrence High School to an All-America career at the University of Maine and a stint in the WNBA.
Yet there also are those other exceptions that suggest athletic stardom isn’t directly related to specialization during the high school years, that it’s just one of several options.
Take Matt Mulligan, a former tight end at Husson University and the University of Maine, who’s now on the New York Jets’ practice squad.
The Penobscot Valley of Howland graduate never played high school football — the Howlers don’t field a team — and he was known more for his basketball ability until his college days.
Take Olympic rowing gold medalist Anna Goodale, who played soccer and basketball during her high school days at Camden Hills of Rockport but didn’t discover her competitive calling on the water until she began attending Syracuse University.
Surely there was a point during each of their athletic careers when both Mulligan and Goodale began concentrating on their current sport — but it wasn’t in high school.
Personal experience from way back in the day — admittedly of the mediocre variety in cross country, basketball and tennis —and years of observation since then ultimately provide the belief that the vast majority of high school athletes probably gain more from competing in a variety of athletic settings.
There’s still the chance to star athletically and attract the interest of college programs.
But there’s also the chance to display some different athletic skills, as well as the diversity of experiences, such as having different roles on different teams.
There may be even the chance to experience a little humility in one’s second- or third-best sport.
The truth is we never really know whether specialization or variety is best in anyone’s high school athletic career until long after they have graduated.
For high school, whether it’s academics or athletics or music or the arts, is about helping to prepare kids to become productive adults.
Only then do we learn if the schools are doing a good job, or if the students have taken fullest advantage of those opportunities.
