Going from the basketball court to the softball field is one way to hit a college coach’s radar.
Senior Melanie Golubski, who plans to play softball at the collegiate level, knows the feeling. She has already committed to play softball at Johnson County Community College.
Senior Travis Hayes wants to continue to play basketball after high school, but isn’t being scouted by college coaches. Hayes tries to get better in the offseason by playing on two traveling teams and by playing as much as possible, but still said he feels a little out of sync when the season starts.
“I might be better at basketball if I had continued to do multiple-sports because I would be in better shape,” said Hayes.
Girls basketball coach Stuart Ross said multiple sport athletes have a couple of advantages.
“Multiple sport athletes are better with adversity because they are good in some sports but not all,” he said.
Students who quit one sport to focus more on another aren’t helping their bid for a college sports career, according to former University of Southern California football coach Pete Carroll.
“I hate kids that don’t play three sports in high school. I think that they should play year-round and get every bit of experience they can through it,” Carroll said.
Golubski said doing multiple sports keeps athletes in shape for the next sport.
“Playing more than one sport can be stressful but I love playing multiple sports and being involved,” Golubski said.
Spending more time working on your skills or on your weaknesses may not be more beneficial if it means you have to quit another sport.
“Just working harder with the time you have will help you to get better,” said Ross.