Don’t Just Stick With One: Why playing multiple sports makes a well-rounded person

My dad pulls up my socks, passes me my cleats and hands me my water bottle on the way out of the door to prepare for the next 90 minutes spent on the field. Soccer has always been a part of my life, but it wasn’t necessarily my choice. 

I have sacrificed the last 14 years for soccer, the one thing that seemed to keep me sane — until high school. Birthday parties, dinners, play dates — they were all skipped for soccer. Soccer came before everything, there was no question about it — thanks to my parents. 

Some days there’s no place I would rather be than on the field, but other times I feel that I have only been playing this long because of my parents. I wondered if I was really playing out of my own enjoyment. Then I realized I wasn’t playing for myself, but for my parents.

My dad and I don’t usually have a lot to talk about, but soccer conversations can last for hours. He played in highschool and started me in the sport before I could even walk. I used to play out of love for the sport, but recently I’ve felt like I only play to still make my dad happy.

Being pushed by parents to be competitive in one sport have caused higher rates of injury and burnout. According to The New York Times, parents specializing their kids by placing them in one sport has caused injuries to rise in recent years. Studies have shown that up to half of the injuries are believed to result from overuse of joints and muscles, all because of specialization in one sport. 

Kids need to experience multiple sports to decide for themselves what they like, not just put all their efforts into the sport their parent happens to love. Parents shouldn’t continue to push their kid to play one sport if it’s not something they are passionate about, to the point of causing them lifelong health problems. They need to do better. 

I stopped playing multiple sports like golf, ballet and basketball in eighth grade and decided to focus on the one that I enjoyed the most — soccer. I felt like I needed to please my parents by playing the sport, so I personally pushed myself to try hard in every practice and play every game with the full intent of winning. I didn’t intend on getting injured however. 

In July, I had my first and last visit to Saginaw, Michigan to compete in Regionals for soccer. After the extensive weekend and intense, competitive games, I came home to horrible pain throughout my back. I had been having back issues on and off for two years, so this was nothing new. I had two months before practices for my club team would start up again, so I decided to finally go to the doctor. After an MRI and days of consultation, they had figured out that it was possible I had a spinal fracture. Their conclusion? Physical therapy for three months. This meant no running, no jumping and absolutely no soccer. 

If I knew that overdoing myself and ignoring my injuries would have led me down the path of going to physical therapy three times a week, I wouldn’t have continued playing. No one should be pushing themselves to the point of long-term injuries, even if they love their sport. Now I get to balance school, physical therapy and soccer, sometimes all in the same day, a problem that could have been avoided had I played multiple sports.

The worst byproduct of being pushed to specialize in one sport? The burnout — a term used for the lack of interest in something. One of the most defeating questions you can ask yourself after investing years of time, money and sweat into a sport is ‘Is this worth it?’ But if your muscles are tired, if you are fatigued, if you have had numerous meltdowns, it’s time to reevaluate why you started to play the sport in the first place. I know I sure have.

The U.S. Olympic Committee and three dozen other leading sporting organizations have already joined together to speak out against early specialization in youth sports. Early specialization is the trend of children under the age of 12 focusing entirely on one sport too intensely excluding all other sports. Organizations like the NFL, MLB and NCAA are very against this, and are urging parents to encourage a multi-sport approach. 

I have started to reevaluate my decision to continue to play soccer — and it feels like I’ve given up on something that’s defined almost all aspects of my life and schedule for the last 14 years. 

Soccer has been my entire life, how could I just stop playing? Before I began high school, quitting never crossed my mind, but after senior year my soccer career will be coming to an end. After weighing the option of continuing to play I’ve realized I want to focus on my schooling in college. And my parents are beginning to realize this too.

Kids shouldn’t just be stuck playing a sport that their parents are pushing them to be in. They should be focusing on what type of person they want to be in the future. Kids must experience all different types of sports of their own choosing and figure out which ones are a fit for them and which ones just don’t work.

Although I’ll never forget the memories I made on the Purple Dinosaurs’ soccer team in preschool, I regret not playing multiple sports when I was younger. Maybe I wouldn’t have so many soccer-related injuries today.