by Paul Chandler
Athens Academy
Going into the second semester of school, I often feel jarred choosing between one of the many sports being offered. The question comes to mind, “Why can’t some of these be moved into the fall semester.” Well, being in the south that answer is always football, the most popular sport. This is understandable because it brings in the revenue and all, but shouldn’t there be a way to not make multi sport athletes have to choose between Track and Field, Baseball, Soccer, Tennis, Softball or Golf?
All of these sports are able to be played in the fall semester except for soccer which would invade Football since they play on the same field.
According to Sanford Health, specializing in one sport also poses a higher risk for overuse injuries and burnout. On top of that 30 of the 32 first round picks in the 2017 NFL draft played multiple sports in high school, showing the competitive and health benefits of playing multiple sports.
The window to play multiple enjoyable sports for many athletes is thrown out the window by most sports being crowded into the spring season. Since less than 1% of young athletes will make a career out of playing sports, the focus should be on opportunity to enjoy and play sports. Expanding on that topic, we should allow for multiple spring sports to be played in the fall season.
I obviously understand that football will always be a priority, but restricting athletic potential and forcing kids to play one sport and making them make the hard choice of which sport they need to cut out of their high school life is not worth it just to keep the spotlight focused on football, even when most students don’t play it.
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