Multi-Sport Athletes

Recently, I did a paper in my LA class about the benefits of being a multi-sport athlete. This is something that I am very passionate about, and I guarantee that if you were to argue me on this, I would win every time. There are very clear benefits to being a multi-sport athlete, for example, it makes you so much stronger. I play three sports, and I am 10 pounds away from breaking the hang clean record at my school. If you think about it, a multi-sport athlete is using different muscles in very different ways. For me, track makes my legs strong and fast for softball and volleyball, volleyball improves my vertical to help with long jump, and softball helps hand eye coordination for volleyball. It all works in a big circle.
Another reason to be a multi-sport athlete is to prevent yourself from getting a overuse injury. Way too many young people are becoming injured because they spend too much time participating in one sport. Torn rotator cuffs and torn ACLs are ruining young athletes. If you focus on just one sport, it puts the strain on one part of your body. For example, athletes who only play softball are more likely to tear their rotator cuff. A girl on my team has a lot of little tears cause all she does is softball. Playing multiple sports spreads out the strain.
Lastly, it prevents an athlete from burning out. There are many young kids who get tired of the sports they are participating in because it's all they do. Take a break from your favorite sport, and when you come back to it, you'll be more ready than ever and you can be excited for what's to come.

A lot of high level coaches agree with this philosophy. Gayle Blevins, my hitting coach and fourth most winning record in NCAA Softball history, would rather have multi-sport athletes. She agrees that it makes them even more strong and it makes them diverse. Another example is Urban Meyer, the football coach at Ohio State. Out of all of his football players, two of them were one sport athletes. Obviously he proved that multi-sport athletes are better because they won the championship. If that doesn't convince you, I don't know what will.

Word Count: 381 words