Multi-Sport Athletes

The Trinity Christian Academy Athletic Department strongly supports multi-sport participation vs. specialization.  Please look through the essays, articles, videos, and blog posts below from doctors, psychologists, trainers, athletes, parents, and coaches to get a sense of why we believe in the multi-sport model.  

• Being a multi-sport athlete (US Lacrosse)

• Promoting multi-sport athletes (Coaches’ Quarterly, 2009)

• Early sport specialization:  roots, effectiveness, risks (Current Sports Medicine Reports, 2010)

• Specialization vs. multi-sport participation (National Association for Sport and PE, 2010)

• The Aspen Institute’s Project Play (Aspen Institute, 2013)

• Sport specialization – a coach’s role (Journal for Physical and Sport Educators, 2013)

• Playing multiple sports builds better athletes (USA Football blog, 2014)

• Changing the game in youth sports – Ted talk (Changing the game in youth sports, 2014)

• NFHS case for multi-sport athletes (NFHS, 2014)

• Responding to specialization (Independent School, 2014)

• Growth of non-school sports leads to fewer multi-sport athletes (NFHS.org, 2015)

• The dangers of specialization (Philly.com, 2015)

• Sport specialization may predict injuries (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2015)

• One sport may be too much (The Way:  Human Performance Institute, 2015)

• Ruining the athlete (The Gazette-Colorado Springs, 2015)

• Generation knife (Vice News, 2015)

• Single sport athletes don’t always win (ESPNW.com, 2015)

• How to destroy your child's athletic future (Sport Factory, 2015)

• World Cup champions show benefits of playing multiple sports (Post and Courier, 2015)

• Encouraging multi-sport participation (New World of Coaching, 2015)

• Cuddyer's Corner (focus on versatility)  (USA Baseball website, 2016)

• Advice on Multi-Sports - Jake Odorizzi  (Positive Coaching Alliance, 2016)

• Encouraging multi-sport participation (NIAAA magazine, 2016)

• Injury rates higher for athletes who specialize in one sport  (NFHS, 2016)

• Highly specialized athletes more likely to be injured (Science Daily, 2016)

• Here's why you shouldn't pressure kids to specialize (Business Insider, 2016)

• Dr. James Andrews:  Don't specialize (Orlando Sentinel, 2016)

• The dangers of sport specialization  (USA Wrestling, 2016)

• Five reasons you want your kids to be a multi sport athlete (ESPN, 2016)

• Benefits of participating in multiple sports  (USA Wrestling, 2017)

• Urban Meyer isn't the only one who prefers multi-Sport Athletes  (Eleven Warriors, 2017)

• Sports specialization a disservice to kids (USA Today High School Sports, 2017)

• Study finds specialization leads to injury (Athletic Business, 2017)

• Students who specialize early are injured more often (NPR, 2017)

• Broader impact (Training and Conditioning, 2017)

• Year-round sports push kids to the limit (Star Tribune, 2017)

• Effects of playing multiple  sports on NBA players’ propensity for injury (American Journal of Sports Medicine, 2017)

• Playing for more than scholarships (Des Moines Register, 2018)

• 5 Reasons Colleges Love Multi-sport Athletes (Stack, 2018)

• Why multi-sport athletes should matter to administrators (NFHS, 2018)

• Over 90% of Super Bowl LIII Players Were Multisport Athletes (Coach & AD, 2019)

• Playing school-based sports a better option (NFHS, 2019)

• Early specialization a crime against youth athletes (Stack, 2019)

• Patrick Mahomes didn't stick to one sport... (Yahoosports, 2019)