For many people, the nostalgia of high school is intertwined with athletics. Traditionally, high school athletes participated in different sports year-round. Due to the social nature of team sports, combined with staying fit and healthy, playing multiple sports in high school was very common in high school culture.
As time has progressed, there has been a decrease in multi-sport athletes. This is caused by the rise of club sports. Over the past couple of decades, club sports have dominated the athletic field. With club sports comes earlier exposure to competitive athletics, along with increased pressure of success.
Shishonee Hughes (she/her), a science teacher, played a total of four sports in high school: volleyball, basketball, track and softball. She thinks the loss of multi-sport athletes is caused by a shift in the perspective of athletics.
“Society’s pressure to get ahead of the game really pushes parents to put their kids into club sports from an early age,” Hughes stated. “Now as they get older and they keep playing these sports, they start to get burnt out.”
Although it is practically expected to participate in club sports now, it hasn’t always been this way. When Hughes was in high school, club sports were just starting to gain traction.
“Hardly any people did it (club sports). It wasn’t really a thing. It was just starting up and volleyball was one of the first sports to have it. And ever since then, I’ve only heard of more kids doing it,” Hughes shared.
The size of a high school can also affect the increase of athletic specialization. Commonly, smaller high schools are more likely to have multi-sport athletes, while larger high schools see greater numbers of one-sport athletes. Due to the competitive nature of athletics at larger schools, it is seen as necessary to specialize in singular sports to see playing time.
Jerimiah Washpun, 11 (he/him), reflects on his high school career in athletics. Being a one-sport athlete, Washpun is only involved in school and Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) basketball.
“I only play basketball because I want to make a career out of it one day and get a scholarship to college to do what I love most,” Washpun explained.
The value in high school athletics lies beyond athletic abilities. Cultivating reliability, leadership skills and teamwork are vital traits that high school sports can initiate. Washpun feels compelled to expand his horizons outside of basketball, but reality holds him back.
“I’ve been thinking about playing football and getting back into track, but I can’t do track because I’m always away at AAU competitions, and I can’t do football because I’m scared of risking an injury for basketball season,” Washpun said.
AAU basketball is a huge time commitment for Washpun. Along with academic responsibilities, Washpun keeps a busy schedule. Washpun plays school basketball from Dec. to March. and then plays his AAU season from March to the end of Aug. Playing basketball almost year-round leaves little time for him to participate in other sports.
