Con: Specialization has a purpose

It was the noise that Andy Nussbaum heard every day in a side gym during Naperville Central girls basketball practice.

Thwack ... thwack ... thwack!

That repetition was Natalie Wunderlich preparing for softball season.

While the competition was busy on the basketball court, Wunderlich was getting better. One need only watch a Redhawks game this spring to see that a pitcher already one of the best in the area has improved.

The ideal of the multisport athlete has been romanticized over the years, from Jim Brown to Bo Jackson. I admire three-sport high school players like Fenton's Samantha Rubright.

The reality, though, is that much can be gained by specializing in one sport.

First, the obvious.

Time spent concentrating on one sport, your "A" game if you will, is time well spent. Fine-tuning a jump shot. Taking hundreds of grounders in the gym or working to develop a second or third pitch.

Just like a Major League Baseball prospect honing his craft in the Arizona Fall League, a high school athlete intent on taking his or her skills to the next level is well-served maximizing their potential. Much like you cannot improve your foreign language skills by speaking solely English, you cannot get better at say, basketball, by running track in the spring.

Those athletes who choose to specialize in one sport clearly have sights set on playing in college. With that in mind, there is merit to focusing on that one sport year-round from an exposure standpoint. Collegiate volleyball coaches examine their recruits during club season, baskeball at AAU tournaments and softball and baseball coaches likely do so at travel games or "exposure" events.

The notion of a college coach "finding" players at high school games is more and more a thing of the past. College coaches sing the praises of multisport athletes. Part of me thinks they are just paying lip service to a kid and the ideal.

Is playing three sports really what's best for a kid?

I have to wonder if the progression of one sport to the next, with barely a breath in between, wears down an 18-year-old. One three-sport coach I know won't play a softball game during spring break, guarding against the inevitable burnout in the final months of a long athletic school year.

For the precious few, playing three sports is an enjoyable aspect of the high school experience. Of course talent-hungry coaches intent on winning are not going to turn away the best and brightest in the hallways.

But specializing in one sport, honing one's craft in the game that they are best at, is an option not to be frowned upon.

Specialization has become the equivalent of a four-letter word in some circles around high school sports. It shouldn't.