Good alternatives to ball and stick sports

When it comes to glamorizing sports, many times we get hung up on the traditional
“ball and stick” sports.

True, football Friday nights are fun because those events are as much social as they
are sporting. Since football is generally not competing with other sports at that particular
time frame, the social aspect that comes into the equation is that some people that attend
the games might not be football fans per se. They are there because it is the thing to do.

However, when you take into account the non-revenue sports like cross country, track and
field and wrestling to name a few, those sports can indirectly have an impact for those who
compete in football, basketball or soccer.

The “specialize vs. diversify” argument usually generates a lot of passion.

There are those who espouse that there is no way a kid will get better at a sport unless he or
she plays year-round. I say nonsense. And I will continue to say nonsense to these schnooks.

Look at any random NFL or NBA media guide and you’ll see plenty of guys that played more
than one sport in high school.

I have always been of the belief that whether a kid plays one sport or three, I have no problem
as long as the kid makes the choice. Of course, there are times a youngster plays one sport and
they will say it is his or her choice but the shmuck adult in their life pressures them to play one
sport.

When a youngster gets pressured from an adult to go either direction, I have issue with that
approach.

I do, however, believe that for example if a kid is only passionate about football or soccer, he or
she should consider wrestling in the winter and running track in the spring or cross country in
the fall. I believe the coaches should similarly endorse such.

If a kid is solely passionate about basketball or wrestling, he or she should consider running
cross country in the fall or track in the spring.

Why? No. 1, there is technique overlap in football, soccer and wrestling, soccer to a lesser
degree. Also, with the possible exception of golf, every sport involves running and aerobic
conditioning, therefore it only makes sense to try cross country or track.

Now don’t get the wrong idea — if you have a kid that plays what is known as the traditional
“Big Three” by all means he should continue on that path if he so chooses.

Besides conditioning, there is also technique involved with running. It is true that there is more
technique involved with field events, and some people are more blessed with more God-given
speed than others, but improper running technique can make seconds tick away from your
stopwatch time.

Having competed in track when I was in high school, my coach was always driving the point
home the importance of 1) Looking ahead, 2) Keeping your shoulders relaxed, 3) Pumping
arms forward and backward — not laterally, 4) Push off with the balls of your feet and 5) Lift
your legs.

Competing in those sports will also sharpen an athlete’s competitive edge. With sports like cross
country and track and field, worrying about lack of potential success should not be a deterrent for
a youngster. Based on my experience, I have discovered maybe one or two kids out of every 10
where track and/or cross country is their first love.

Perhaps the best example I can give is a former Vallejo High wrestler I covered 15 years ago
named Bobby Gonzalez (135 pounds).

Gonzalez’s first love was wrestling. He placed fourth at the CIF state meet in 2002 as a junior.
When his senior year began, Gonzalez opted to compete in cross country as well as wrestling.
He did not decide to make this move because he was going to kick butt in cross country.

He did it because would have done a lot of running on his own anyhow so why not do it in a
competitive environment? Gonzalez went on to become a state champion wrestler as a senior.

True, he won the state title because he is a great wrestler, but I also am inclined to believe that
competing in cross country helped him not only from a conditioning perspective but also in
sharpening his competitive edge.