Its also depends on the coaches at that school. Some basketball coaches frown on their star players playing football and vice versa.

I know his AAU coach has expressed to him that he should go with basketball. I want him to hear several viewpoints and make up his mind for himself. I don't want him to have all of his eggs in one basket and then regret it later. He is very good in football too--among the top few backs in the area. I was an allstate football player, but I don't want any one person to make the decision for him, including his Dad.

 

Of course I'm biased, but he came out on top in every PG matchup in head to head competition in our region during the three years of middle school ball (points, assists, defense) and made the all conference team and all tournament teams at the BCI and KBA state middle school tournaments. He has been ranked among the top few point guards at a couple AAU statewide camps. Several high school coaches and ex-college players have come up to me this year and said that they think he is one of the best point guards they have seen in his class and that his court awareness and decision making is very good and that if he continues to grow and improve, he could end up playing college somewhere.

 

There are a lot more football scholarships than basketball scholarships out there.

I know his AAU coach has expressed to him that he should go with basketball. .

 

 

Theres a real source of unbiased opinion :rolleyes:

 

Woody Jr

I think any missing time on the court regardless of what he is doing will hurt him especially if there is some tight competition. It shouldnt mean he has to choose, it just means he should expect it to take some time to get into basketball playing shape. Its much more coordination and much different than the physical sport of football. If he is a true All Star than it may not matter....he may jump right in and be that much better that the coach has to play him right away.

I agree. Sure missing 6 weeks of practice is not going to help. The question may be how much is missed in the summer. Football has become quite a commitment at most schools. Since he is an incoming frosh, I would encourage him to participate in both to the fullest. He will himself realize a true sense of what he can do and what he wants to do. A lot freshman will do this and make the decision. There are usually a lot more freshman than sophomores on these teams. Its sort of a self weeding out process. And if he is physically and mentally capable of both, then play both and have fun.

Injuries are just as likely in basketball as in football. Broken ankles and torn ACL's happen a lot when people leave the ground.

 

I believe we can say injuries are common in any sport.

I know his AAU coach has expressed to him that he should go with basketball. I want him to hear several viewpoints and make up his mind for himself. I don't want him to have all of his eggs in one basket and then regret it later. He is very good in football too--among the top few backs in the area. I was an allstate football player, but I don't want any one person to make the decision for him, including his Dad.

 

Of course I'm biased, but he came out on top in every PG matchup in head to head competition in our region during the three years of middle school ball (points, assists, defense) and made the all conference team and all tournament teams at the BCI and KBA state middle school tournaments. He has been ranked among the top few point guards at a couple AAU statewide camps. Several high school coaches and ex-college players have come up to me this year and said that they think he is one of the best point guards they have seen in his class and that his court awareness and decision making is very good and that if he continues to grow and improve, he could end up playing college somewhere.

 

If your son is the kid playing with HMS...(I am assuming it is) .I would not worry about football setting him back. His skills appear to be good enough to where it shouldnt set him back. However, he is a smaller kid so the injury factor may come into play in the football arena....just like it would for any kid but he may be more prone due to size. I could be totally out in left field here but if its who I think you are referring to.....this would be my opinion. Good luck....glad to hear he is getting the rec in basketball.

There are a lot more football scholarships than basketball scholarships out there.

 

I'm definitely aware of that. My son is projected to grow anywhere from 5'10" to 6'1". He is currently 5'9". I think he needs to reach at least 6'0" to be big enough to have a chance to play at least D2 ball in college.

If your son is the kid playing with HMS...(I am assuming it is) .I would not worry about football setting him back. His skills appear to be good enough to where it shouldnt set him back. However, he is a smaller kid so the injury factor may come into play in the football arena....just like it would for any kid but he may be more prone due to size. I could be totally out in left field here but if its who I think you are referring to.....this would be my opinion. Good luck....glad to hear he is getting the rec in basketball.

 

No, although I know who you are talking about.

I can speak to this personally. Does not mean that I am right, however, I can share with you my experience. First, I played baseball until my sophomore year at which time my basketball coach encouraged me to concentrate on basketball only. I had a good sophomore basketball season making all district. This was before AAU tourneys every weekend. My parents were divided on the choice to play only sport, however, they let me make the choice. I concentrated on basketball year round, made all state my junior and senior year and played 4 years of college basketball on a full ride.

 

My son just graduated from high school. At the end of his freshman year he had good seasons in two sports. He considered dropping one and concentrating on one. I explained to him my choice and actually advised against it. He made the choice to play two sports. At the end of his senior year he made all state in one and is the all time leading goal scorer and was named one of the top five players in the region by the coaches in the other scoring more than one thousand points in his career. Offers to play college sports came to him. Once again my wife and I allowed him to make a choice. He decided to attend college with his friends and just be a student. I respect his decision because I know how tough playing college sports can be.

 

As a former player and a dad that has seen his son be successful I would advise you to let your son make the choice. Do not impose your will upon him. If he loves to play he will play both and play them well. Please do not try to live your glory through your son. High school athletics should not be the highlight of his life. It is friendship, being a good citizen and a good student. If you push him into one thing and it does not work out (remember there are hundreds of middle school all stars that never pan out - that is the subject of a different thread) then he will resent it in the long run.

I can speak to this personally. Does not mean that I am right, however, I can share with you my experience. First, I played baseball until my sophomore year at which time my basketball coach encouraged me to concentrate on basketball only. I had a good sophomore basketball season making all district. This was before AAU tourneys every weekend. My parents were divided on the choice to play only sport, however, they let me make the choice. I concentrated on basketball year round, made all state my junior and senior year and played 4 years of college basketball on a full ride.

 

My son just graduated from high school. At the end of his freshman year he had good seasons in two sports. He considered dropping one and concentrating on one. I explained to him my choice and actually advised against it. He made the choice to play two sports. At the end of his senior year he made all state in one and is the all time leading goal scorer and was named one of the top five players in the region by the coaches in the other scoring more than one thousand points in his career. Offers to play college sports came to him. Once again my wife and I allowed him to make a choice. He decided to attend college with his friends and just be a student. I respect his decision because I know how tough playing college sports can be.

 

As a former player and a dad that has seen his son be successful I would advise you to let your son make the choice. Do not impose your will upon him. If he loves to play he will play both and play them well. Please do not try to live your glory through your son. High school athletics should not be the highlight of his life. It is friendship, being a good citizen and a good student. If you push him into one thing and it does not work out (remember there are hundreds of middle school all stars that never pan out - that is the subject of a different thread) then he will resent it in the long run.

 

 

Fantastic post Chuck,

 

Hopefully more parents will see your post besides just bbfan.

Ive had parents ask me about 7th graders focusing on 1 sport b/c some coach talked to them - it just infuriates me. Let them be kids.

 

Woody Jr

i have seen several scenarios where playing two sports can help you more than only playing one. Being able to be a top player in each sport gets you more recognition amongst college coaches and shows to them that you are an athlete who they can maybe stick at several positions which helps your recruiting stock go up. i know Duran Jefferson of Holmes for example as gotten a lot of looks for both football and basketball and from elite colleges for both sports because of his athleticism. Like I stated in my previous post, you can take your attributes from one sport and contribute them to another. For example football can help you get bigger and stronger and raise your awarness for basketball and basketball can increase your speed and mobility on the football field. It's a win win situation.

 

IMO you should encourage your son to do both because it will get him more recognition. I played all three sports (baseball football and basketball) in high school up until my sophomore year when i quit basketball to focus on baseball and football. I worked hard every winter for baseball and every summer for football and earned a scholarship as a two sport athlete in college. i played 4 years of both and it was a great experience.

As a former player and a dad that has seen his son be successful I would advise you to let your son make the choice. Do not impose your will upon him. If he loves to play he will play both and play them well. Please do not try to live your glory through your son. High school athletics should not be the highlight of his life. It is friendship, being a good citizen and a good student. If you push him into one thing and it does not work out (remember there are hundreds of middle school all stars that never pan out - that is the subject of a different thread) then he will resent it in the long run.

 

This paragraph says everything that I was thinking, but was not able to put into words. Excellent post, one of the best I've read on here in quite some time.

I can speak to this personally. Does not mean that I am right, however, I can share with you my experience. First, I played baseball until my sophomore year at which time my basketball coach encouraged me to concentrate on basketball only. I had a good sophomore basketball season making all district. This was before AAU tourneys every weekend. My parents were divided on the choice to play only sport, however, they let me make the choice. I concentrated on basketball year round, made all state my junior and senior year and played 4 years of college basketball on a full ride.

 

My son just graduated from high school. At the end of his freshman year he had good seasons in two sports. He considered dropping one and concentrating on one. I explained to him my choice and actually advised against it. He made the choice to play two sports. At the end of his senior year he made all state in one and is the all time leading goal scorer and was named one of the top five players in the region by the coaches in the other scoring more than one thousand points in his career. Offers to play college sports came to him. Once again my wife and I allowed him to make a choice. He decided to attend college with his friends and just be a student. I respect his decision because I know how tough playing college sports can be.

 

As a former player and a dad that has seen his son be successful I would advise you to let your son make the choice. Do not impose your will upon him. If he loves to play he will play both and play them well. Please do not try to live your glory through your son. High school athletics should not be the highlight of his life. It is friendship, being a good citizen and a good student. If you push him into one thing and it does not work out (remember there are hundreds of middle school all stars that never pan out - that is the subject of a different thread) then he will resent it in the long run.

Believe me, as much as I love football, I recognize his ability in other sports, and I would never want to make the decision for him. Soccer was actually his best sport, but he chose to give that up. I was never much into soccer, but I appreciated his skill. He has always been successful in football too, and when he chose not to play the year before last, I let him make the decision by himself. When he saw his friends playing, he regretted it and played the following season.

I can speak to this personally. Does not mean that I am right, however, I can share with you my experience. First, I played baseball until my sophomore year at which time my basketball coach encouraged me to concentrate on basketball only. I had a good sophomore basketball season making all district. This was before AAU tourneys every weekend. My parents were divided on the choice to play only sport, however, they let me make the choice. I concentrated on basketball year round, made all state my junior and senior year and played 4 years of college basketball on a full ride.

 

My son just graduated from high school. At the end of his freshman year he had good seasons in two sports. He considered dropping one and concentrating on one. I explained to him my choice and actually advised against it. He made the choice to play two sports. At the end of his senior year he made all state in one and is the all time leading goal scorer and was named one of the top five players in the region by the coaches in the other scoring more than one thousand points in his career. Offers to play college sports came to him. Once again my wife and I allowed him to make a choice. He decided to attend college with his friends and just be a student. I respect his decision because I know how tough playing college sports can be.

 

As a former player and a dad that has seen his son be successful I would advise you to let your son make the choice. Do not impose your will upon him. If he loves to play he will play both and play them well. Please do not try to live your glory through your son. High school athletics should not be the highlight of his life. It is friendship, being a good citizen and a good student. If you push him into one thing and it does not work out (remember there are hundreds of middle school all stars that never pan out - that is the subject of a different thread) then he will resent it in the long run.

 

Great post! The problem is that the coaches will begin to pressure, even if they do it with little comments and not direct pressure (which some do that as well). I have seen it here for years and years and it still continues. If I had told my son which sport to pick based on his chances to play anything in college, it would not have been the sport he picked. However, it was HIS choice and I supported him when HE made it. You nailed it, ...if I had made the choice or pressured him into one or the other, he would have resented it later. My father always encouraged me to play any sport I wanted to try out for, even those I was terrible at (eg. basketball). And then he supported me in that sport, regardless. I appreciate that more today than I did back then, and I got to participate in collegiate athletics on scholarship.

 

It is the kids choice and HIS/HERS alone. I would tell the coaches that they need to allow him to make his decision and not put any pressure on him to specialize or give up a sport he really loves because they think he has a better chance to play a sport in college. Tell them they you will not tolerate any undue pressures being put on him. Kids at that age are looking for guidance, and the guidance they should get from a REAL coach is to play what you enjoy playing. You only get the HS experience once and he should enjoy it!

 

:thumb:

 

BTW, the BEST coaches I have ever had the good fortune to know well and see in action in my area (Roy Bowling - 4 girls basketball state titles, Tom Larkey - successful Rockcastle football coach, etc) ENCOURAGED their student athletes to play other sports as well. They even coached and/or started new sports at their respective schools. They believed there were many crossover skills they learned in the different sports that would benefit them AND that it kept the kids from burning out by focusing on one thing year round. These are kids we are talking about and the REAL coaches understand that! Once they hit college, it is a different ballgame, but this is high school!

 

LET THEM PLAY, .... LET THEM PLAY, ... LET THEM PLAY!!!

This paragraph says everything that I was thinking, but was not able to put into words. Excellent post, one of the best I've read on here in quite some time.

 

AMEN!