Do It All

Junior Jessica Lee of Park Hill South and senior Zach Anderson of Park Hill may not know each other, but they find themselves in an ever shrinking class of athletes known for, among other things, their flexibility, talent, and passion: the three-sport athlete. Once a more common title for kids playing for nothing more than love of the game, three-sport athletes are becoming a rare breed among teenagers who are increasingly deciding to specialize and excel in one sport. In fact, it’s become so rare that three-sport participants at Park Hill South receive an award each year to symbolize their unique status.

Many athletes are currently wrapping up a first or second sport this spring to conclude the school year, but athletes like Lee and Anderson are concluding a nine month marathon of practices and games, a path which requires concentration and a huge amount of dedication.

“At times, there are struggles because you want to focus on one thing, but you can’t and have to be thinking about all three at all times,” said Anderson, who played varsity football, basketball, and now baseball for the Trojans.

Young children often dabble and even come to enjoy playing a number of different sports in their early years. As their skills become more developed and their competitive mindset grows stronger, the desire to become better takes priority. More time, more practice, and more specialized training is required. With this added emphasis, it is thought that commitment to other sports needs to be sacrificed, which many times lead to an athlete withdrawing from those sports all together. It’s a difficult choice, one that tends to be influenced by club coaches, parents, and even teammates with their eyes on the future.

“The idea of getting an athletic scholarship to college seems to be the number one goal for everybody,” Reynolds said. “With that in mind, there are more people tugging at athletes at a younger age. It sometimes happens before they even get here (to high school). It could be from an AAU coach, a tournament team baseball coach. It could be a bunch of different people telling you to specialize.”

“I know my coaches have talked to me before about wanting me to specialize in their sport, so it’s hard to tell them I’m still invested in all of them,” said Lee, who plays varsity softball, basketball, and soccer at Park Hill South. “With school, it’s also a big balance.”

Three-sport athletes not only face pressure from coaches to specialize, they also face the challenge of meeting the needs of each sport in order to continue to play at a high level. This especially applies to the summer months when athletes condition the most and make some of their greatest improvements. It continues throughout the school year where only days separate the transition from the end of one season to the beginning of another.

“It’s tough to keep up with the skills everyone else is keeping that do specialize,” Lee said. “In the summer, I have summer leagues where each day of the week is dedicated to a different sport.”

“I just take it day by day like anyone else. It’s all three sports in one day. Football in the morning, basketball in the afternoons, and baseball at night. Just staying in touch with all three every day,” Anderson said. “I’ll come out of basketball practice and maybe go hit baseballs for a little bit or after football go shoot some hoops. You just have to keep it all together.”

Reynolds, who coaches football and baseball, says the decrease in three-sport athletes also comes from the high demands each sport requires of its players. Each sport has their own offseason workouts to keep up with other competing programs in the area.

“As a two-sport coach, I understand that pretty well. At the same time, we’re asking a lot of kids,” Reynolds said. “Baseball is a very difficult sport to be a three-sport athlete in because you have to be playing in the summer if that’s your top sport. But summertime is really important for other sports like football, basketball, and wrestling too though.”

A strong proponent of having athletes participate in multiple sports, Reynolds understands the hardships of meeting each sports’ high demands and believes it comes down to an understanding between coaches and players to make it work for everyone.

“I think good coaches and good programs work with each other to understand three-sport athletes are going to be doing other things sometimes, but at the same time you’re getting pushed so many different ways,” Reynolds said. “Anymore you have to be able to give (as a player and coach) and understand that.”

Lee, who only added her third sport last spring when she took on the goalkeeping duties at Park Hill South, sees her three-sport experience as a positive and proudly deflects anyone trying to influence her otherwise.

“I tell them I’m in high school and I want to try everything. I’m not going to specialize yet. If it happens that I play in college, then so be it, but high school is a time to do what you can,” Lee said. “It’s hard, but you make three times the friends and experience. Plus, sports build so much character you don’t even realize sometimes.”

While Lee has not ruled out any future possibilities with another year of high school left, Anderson will graduate this month and continue his athletic career in college having the opportunity to play baseball and possibly even football, maintaining his multi-sport status at the next level.

“My philosophy is you can get a scholarship in anything or play whatever sport you want to play. It may not be a full-ride, but you can play at the next level,” Reynolds said. “I’ve never had a coach come in to recruit a kid and tell me they need to not have played any other sport. They actually want to see guys that have done more than one thing.”

Proof positive that the commitment, energy, and flexibility of three-sport athletes can overcome the temptation of specialization and put them on a path towards college athletics just the same as any.