Steve Christilaw: Multisport variety spices things up

I like to tell people that I was once a well-rounded athlete.

Well, I was a rounded athlete, at least. More rounded than athlete, really. I’m still rounded.

But I do have a healthy appreciation for actual well-rounded athletes.

I’ve always felt there is a distinction to be made between a good athlete and an athlete who’s good at a sport.

That distinction, I’ve always felt, was best delineated by former Philadelphia Phillies first baseman John Kruk. A fan once spotted him doing something unathletelike, probably guzzling beers and eating hot dogs, and she chided him, reminding him that he was an athlete.

“I ain’t an athlete, lady,” he told her. “I’m a professional baseball player.”

He was very good at it, to be sure. A three-time All-Star, in fact. He just wasn’t overly athletic in the process.

If John Kruk had played a second sport, it would most likely have been checkers.

I identify with the John Kruks of the world.

But I marvel at the multisport athlete.

Perhaps it’s the legends I grew up with. Stories about Jim Thorpe are part of my foundation as a sports fan. No, I did not witness him. Let’s not get carried away.

Nor did I see Jackie Robinson play college football before revolutionizing baseball.

But I do remember watching the New York Knicks great Dave DeBusschere playing alongside Bill Bradley, Walt Frazier and Willis Reed on some great teams and staring at his baseball card as a former pitcher for the Chicago White Sox.

DeBusschere and Bo Jackson are rare – professional athletes in multiple sports.

It’s still relatively rare to see that in college.

But in high school, college recruiters are drawn to athletes who play several sports.

And that tends to carry over to the professional ranks. Last year, 30 of the 32 first-round picks in the NFL Draft were multisport athletes.

There are any number of factors recruiters at all levels look at athletes who play a range of sports. For starters, different sports require different skill sets to excel.

Football coaches have always loved athletes who double as wrestlers, for example. The reasoning there is pretty obvious.

The list of great football players who were also great wrestlers is long and distinguished. Baltimore Ravens Hall of Famer Ray Lewis was a two-time Florida high school wrestling champion. Chargers great Lorenzo Neal was an NCAA champion. Former Pittsburgh Steeler Carlton Haselrig was a three-time NCAA champ.

And at the risk of pointing out that he was ridiculously athletic, Bo Jackson was a champion wrestler in high school as well.

A pole vault coach once confided that he recruited athletes off the wrestling team as well.

“If for no other reason than they’re used to being upside down and it doesn’t scare them,” he said.

Football coaches also love to see athletes turn out for track – speed players learning how to get even faster, learning how to hurdle and learning how to jump makes for an even better football player.

Aside from the skill sets, an athlete gets an extra lesson in discipline and dedication. In short, they learn valuable leadership skills.

Yes, there is a risk of injury by playing more than one sport. There is also an injury risk when they add a bit too much wax to the floor in the school hallways.

There are sports that lend themselves to young athletes specializing. Gymnastics and soccer, hockey and tennis see it most often.

But even there, you see crossover athletes.

When Seattle Storm standout Jewell Loyd was playing women’s basketball at Notre Dame, she attributed her well-developed footwork to having played doubles tennis.

The high school force that encourages athletes to play multiple sports has reasserted itself in recent years, and that’s good to see.

At schools like Central Valley, coaches have long been big fans of the sports they don’t coach and they encourage their kids to soak up all the high school experience they can every season.

At Class 2A schools, like West Valley and East Valley, it would be difficult to have a year like the Eagles are just now finishing up without multisport athletes. West Valley has been in the postseason in football, basketball and baseball this season.

And at schools like Freeman at the Class B-level, it would be almost impossible to field teams in every sport if kids specialized.

Besides, trying out different things is part of what being a kid is all about.

Like my mother used to say about broccoli: Try it, you might like it.

Didn’t work with broccoli. But you never know.