A Balancing Act:
Multiple Reasons for Multiple Sports
By Jonathan Sigal
“There are a lot of different skills you can pick up playing different sports that can apply to lacrosse. Playing great defense in basketball, having teamwork in hockey, and the commitment required in football comes together really well with lacrosse.”
That is Matt James, a Mass Bay Youth Lacrosse League (MBYLL) coach and head coach of the Melrose High School lacrosse team, using sports that require a hoop, ice skates, and pigskin to describe how a young athlete can succeed in the fastest game on two feet. While it may seem unconnected and slightly confusing to hear other sports described in that context, James’ poignant thoughts bring to the forefront a pressing modern issue: multi-sport athletes.
In a society full of all different kinds of organized sports, it is easy to get lost in the maze of options available. There are so many moving parts and pathways in the world of sports that it nearly seems impossible to settle on one. But one doesn’t have to necessarily limit their life’s choices or avert a different activity all for the sake of focusing on another.
In fact, MBYLL firmly believes that young athletes should opt for a lifestyle that is full of diverse and positive experiences, rather than a singular and repetitive one. After all, what matters at the end of the day is cultivating an enriching experience for the kids, parents, and coaches. A versatile athletic background can enhance this experience for everyone involved.
Given that lacrosse is a spring sport and MBYLL mainly operates from April until June, the league as a whole is cognizant of the fact that lacrosse is just one piece of the broader puzzle. As MBYLL
president Tom Spangenberg expresses, leaving room for sports outside of lacrosse is essential in fostering more inclusive and positive experiences.
“In the season, we don’t really want the player on the field more than five days of the week so there can be some downtime in there,” he said. “As far as the rest of the year goes, we would like them to hang up the lacrosse stick and do something different in the summer, fall, and winter, and then pick it back up
again. Essentially, it’s trying to do as many activities as possible in the other seasons, and then leaving lacrosse for the spring.”
While it may seem counter-intuitive for MBYLL to encourage participation in other things, the opposite is true. League directors feel a multi-sport athlete who perhaps puts on his soccer cleats in the fall, takes to
the indoor track in the winter, picks up his lacrosse stick
come springtime, and uses the summer to relax, enjoys a far healthier lifestyle.
From a purely physical standpoint there are rewards, as one works on different muscle groups in different sports and in the process becomes more fit. Lacrosse may focus on endurance and quickness, whereas football is geared towards strength and explosive speed. Phil Buttafuoco, the Director of the Intercollegiate Men's Lacrosse Coaches Association, highlights how multi-sport athletes can reap innumerable dividends from testing the waters of different games.
"I believe that there are immense benefits from the physical side of things,” he said. “You can immediately tell in the springtime when kids have been active through other sports such as hockey, basketball, or soccer. They are in better shape, are more ready to play, and really enjoy the different things lacrosse has to offer. Really it’s just a win-win scenario.”
One of the main reasons kids play sports is to remain fit—to learn how fruitful an active lifestyle
can be—but the benefits of playing multiple sports are in no way limited to the physical side of things. Coaches value versatile athletes because of the different strategic skills and intangibles they possess.
“Having multi-sport athletes is definitely beneficial,” says Brian McLaughlin, the varsity lacrosse coach at Dover-Sherborn High School. “If a kid plays basketball and learns how to help in defense, that translates over to the lacrosse field. From my perspective, I love coaching multi-sport athletes because they usually come to us in better shape and the transition from different things they’ve learned to the lacrosse field is pretty seamless.”
Branching out of the physical and athletic side of the issue, versatile athletes better comprehend the essential nature of teamwork. Lacrosse, as well as many other sports, requires multiple players to be on
the same page to accomplish a collective goal. This level of unification is applicable to many places outside of a playing field.
“From a larger perspective, being on a team causes one to learn chemistry and work with different characters,” Spangenberg said. “There are huge benefits in the sport of lacrosse, but also in the real
Multi-sport athletes become more balanced from a physical and mental standpoint and, in turn, learn a litany of life skills.
20 The Scoop / Spring '15