Important and Informative Articles You Should Read and Useful Links:
*** Please read all the way to the bottom! Thank you. ***
A multi-sport athlete is great but not multiple sports within the same season due to increased injury risks.
Quote from a wise and successful coach in the Tampa area that is worth a read:
"Multiple sports are fine. Multiple sports simultaneously...not so fine as they do not allow the athlete to achieve at their highest levels. Coaches who know what they are doing are constantly trying to manipulate the variables in order to get the athlete to gradually progress and peak at the right time. That is impossible to do when the athlete is concurrently involved in another sport as both coaches of each sport have no idea what the other is doing. The Club sport coach is being paid by the athlete and could care less what the coach at the high school says or is doing (club coach got paid). Could you imagine the athlete doing a 2-mile warm-up, 5 x 1 mile repeats, and a 1 mile cool down....then heading over to the club sport and proceed with the other sport's training? Good luck recovering from that. Now, imagine doing that for 14 consecutive weeks. Performance will suffer, grades will go down, health will deteriorate (sick, injured, etc.), athlete no longer in either sport, frustrations will arise, etc. Not a good situation."
We (your high school cross country coaches) care about you, your health, your well-being, your grades, and your future. We don't get paid much. We do this because we love the sport, enjoy helping you achieve your goals, and hope you will become runners for life. We want to make sure you are doing what is best for you for your long term success and health. You are not paying us thousands of dollars like you pay to play on your club teams. Cross Country is a team sport. We can advance to region and state as a team, not a bunch of individuals. Your teammates need you to be as committed as they are. Please consider that before signing up for a club team during our cross country season that could potentially cause you injury, burnout, and to let down your team. You have winter, spring, and summer to do your club sport. Focus on being great at one sport at a time. At least give yourself the chance to be great...who knows what you can achieve!
Focus on one sport per season and let yourself be your best at that one sport each season.