In an age of sport specialization, Huntington High School coaches are working together to encourage students to once again take up the challenge of being a multi or even three-sport athlete, a once relatively common occurrence that has increasingly become rare.
The Section XI Gold Key Award is presented to seniors who have played on the varsity or JV level during eight of nine possible seasons during the course of grades 10-12. There were only 13 members of Huntington’s Class of 2022 that captured the Gold Key Award. Blue Devil coaches hope to see that figure multiply many times over the next few years.
Multi-sport athletes were at one time taken for granted, but as specialization has grown, there have been fewer and fewer of them. While that isn’t the case at every high school in every state or even regionally, it has had an impact on participation levels across the board. The Blue Devil coaching staff wants to change that and there are powerful allies that feel the same way.
“The value of participating in high school activities; sports, speech and debate, music, theatre and other programs are well-documented,” wrote National Federation of High Schools Executive Director Dr. Karissa Niehoff in a column that ran on the NFHS website. “A majority of the 12 million-plus participants in education-based activities have higher grade-point averages, are more disciplined and self-confident. In addition, research indicates that participation in high school activities is often a predictor of later success; in college, a career and becoming a contributing member of society.”
Blue Devil coaches have been meeting informally with athletic department officials and discussing what they can do individually to encourage their team members to participate on additional Huntington teams. The coaches have noticed that at some competing schools there is a much greater prevalence of three sport athletes and have concluded that in order to field the best possible teams, Huntington needs to see three-sport athletes become more common among the Blue Devils.
“If the opportunity to play one sport or activity is a positive step, the chance for involvement in multiple sports or activities throughout the entire school year has untold benefits; for the majority of students who are involved in high school activities to compete with their friends for fun, as well as those who are hoping to play sports at higher levels,” wrote Dr. Niehoff in her column. “For many students, the experience of playing on a high school team may be the most positive aspect of their lives, and the high school coach or director of a speech or music group may be the most positive role model they have.”
In last year’s NFL draft, 27 of the 32 first round picks played at least one sport other than football in high school and 10 played three sports in all. Jaelan Phillips played five – football, basketball, baseball, volleyball and track and field.
Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and a long list of other professionals played multiple sports in high school. Many were offered college scholarships in multiple sports and some were even drafted professionally in multiple sports.
“In an article in High School Today magazine, counselors at a school in Delaware reported that the most successful students applying to college and for scholarships are those involved in multiple sports, band, debate and other activities,” Dr. Niehoff wrote. “In some cases, the opportunity to participate in activities is the chief motivator to attend classes, graduate from high school, obtain a job and begin a career. Playing multiple sports and/or being a part of multiple arts and activities keeps students engaged throughout the school year. Playing multiple sports is also the best direction for the three to five percent of high school athletes who will play at the college level. Many parents believe for their son or daughter to earn a college scholarship, they have to specialize in one sport year-round. This is simply not true. As opposed to playing one sport year-round, playing multiple sports often affords student-athletes a better chance of landing a college athletic scholarship or, for the most elite athletes, having their name called in the NFL or NBA draft.”
Huntington High School has added multiple new sports in the past two years, including girls’ golf, girls’ gymnastics, boys’ and girls’ badminton, co-ed bowling, Unified basketball, Unified bowling and girls’ flag football and discussions are underway about the feasibility of adding girls’ wrestling.
No one should be surprised if the number of Section XI Gold Key Award recipients grows in Huntington in the near future.