Trend of Specialization Isn’t So Special

In a matter of weeks, high school athletes who play more than one sport are going to face their annual summer challenge of trying to avoid mental and physical exhaustion.

Almost every day, they will have a workout or event scheduled. Almost every day, they will have to make decisions that could alienate one coach or empower another.

Sometimes they will have to be as elusive as Spider-Man. They’ll change uniforms in their cars or bolt in the middle of one competition to participate in another.

“It beat me up,” said Brad Boyer, a three-sport athlete at Oxnard Camarillo High, of his experience last summer. “It was a lot of days of coming home and taking a nap. I’d love to be at the beach with all the girls, but I’d sacrifice and be in the scorching heat, running sprints.”

Multiple-sport athletes are fading away in this era of specialization and year-round single-sport commitments, but they can exist if coaches will compromise and athletes can set priorities during the hectic eight-week summer season.

Boyer is an example of an athlete who refused to listen to skeptics. Adults and teenagers told him to cut back if he wanted to receive a college scholarship.

“It almost came to the point I was [hearing] from everyone,” he said. “I told myself I’m going to live my own life. High school is once in a lifetime. I’ve been playing basketball my whole life and wasn’t going to give it up. Football was for the adrenaline rush.”

Boyer earned a baseball scholarship to Arizona while also starting as a wide receiver and point guard in high school. The cooperation of Camarillo’s coaches was critical. On one summer day, Boyer had a basketball workout in the morning, a football workout in the afternoon and an American Legion baseball game in the evening. But he loved it.

“If I didn’t do it, I’d be bored and lazy and probably end up more tired,” he said.

There are basketball coaches who punish their players for playing football. There are baseball coaches who become annoyed when players miss Legion games because of football or basketball commitments.

Those coaches unwilling to encourage multiple-sport athletes are doing a disservice to their schools, programs and students.

“You have to give and take,” said Thousand Oaks High football Coach Mike Sanders. “We’re better off with the kids than without them. I think kids gain mental toughness from competition.”

For all the talk that focusing on one sport enhances a teenager’s chances of gaining a scholarship, there’s evidence that multiple-sport athletes benefit from picking up physical and mental skills from sports that aren’t their specialty.

Quarterback Ben Olson of Thousand Oaks could start at Brigham Young this fall, and he’s grateful for his basketball experiences that taught him how to focus in pressure situations, when fans were screaming and victory or defeat depended on whether he made a shot or a free throw.

This past season, Thousand Oaks won Marmonte League championships in basketball and football because Sanders and basketball Coach Rich Endres worked together to create a positive environment for multiple-sport athletes. Four of the five starting basketball players were football players.

“What we tell the kids is as long as we know where they’re at, it’s not a problem,” Endres said of missing summer games. “They’re not going to be able to attend all my events or [Sanders’], and it’s worked out.”

Female athletes have a more difficult time than males participating in multiple sports during the summer because of club commitments. Every summer weekend is booked with club softball games. Ditto for soccer players and volleyball players. Most club coaches refuse to compromise when it comes to missing practices or games.

In the end, it’s up to the athletes to decide whether they have the stamina and mental toughness to spend their summers jumping from sport to sport.

Steve Smith of Woodland Hills Taft is one of the top two-sport athletes in California. He’s a heavily recruited receiver in football and a two-time All-City basketball player. Starting with the L.A. Watts Summer Games on June 15, he’ll be playing both sports in the summer.

“You’re always tired, always on the way to doing something,” he said. “You never really get a day off. Everybody wants me to go to a camp or combine.”

Making good choices, being organized and working with his coaches will be the key to whether Smith’s summer is productive and enjoyable.

Tommy Grady, a 6-foot-6 senior at Huntington Beach Edison High, is considered among the top quarterbacks in California. Football is the sport he’ll play in college, but he has wisely refused to give up basketball and baseball in high school.

Basketball is helping him gain mobility and agility. As a pitcher, he has the size that could still make him a professional prospect. He has whittled his college choices in football to Miami, Florida, Tennessee, Oklahoma and UCLA.

His summer schedule will include daily football workouts from 8 to 10 a.m., basketball from 10 to noon and baseball from 1 to 3 p.m., plus passing leagues in the evening.

No one doubts the importance of summer workouts in developing individual and team skills.

An average player can become an all-star and a team can take the first steps to becoming a champion. Let’s hope that wise decisions are made, and teenagers are given the chance to succeed based on ability and commitment and not on calendar choices.

*

Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.