Multisport athletes’ savvy handy in the postseason
There was a telling statistic among the many leading to Ferris’ state basketball title, one that may have had as much to do as any with the Saxons bringing home the championship.
Of the team’s eight All-Greater Spokane League athletes, six did so in other sports.
Three – Jared Karstetter, Jeff Minnerly and Erick Cheadle – made it in football, Beau Brett was first team in baseball last spring and track sprinter Andre Jennings and golfer Tyler Lynn twice have been all-league in their respective spring sports.
As Jennings told me prior to making his first state basketball trip, having been there in another sport made traveling to Tacoma less of a big deal.
That, I would submit, is every bit as vital to a team’s athletic success as playing one sport year-round.
It was 30 or more years ago when a fellow sports writer and mentor observed that a local high school always won in league with one-sport basketball athletes, but that it wasn’t until football players found their way into the lineup that the program succeeded in postseason.
The theory that multisport athletes trump specialization has long been discussed. The reasoning goes that it makes an athlete tougher mentally, thus better able to withstand the rigors of pressure situations. It cross-trains muscles thereby reducing the risk of injuries, and in general it keeps a person fresher.
Granted, such evidence is empirical – more observed than scientifically proved – and not everyone is prone to participate in multiple activities. But the fact that nearly all of the Ferris basketball players participate in more than one sport and yet were able to turn in a 29-0 season offers evidence of the value of multisport participation.
Karstetter was not only the league MVP in basketball, but was All-GSL and All-State in football. Minnerly went from backup quarterback to starter and All-GSL. Cheadle was an All-GSL linebacker and defensive leader on a team that lost just twice last fall.
Had three-sport athlete Shawn Stockton not been injured, he, in all likelihood, would have been an All-GSL football candidate.
Brett, a three-sport athlete who also plays football, made first-team All-GSL utility in baseball as a good-hitting sophomore, first baseman and relief pitcher.
Lynn was seventh in state golf as a sophomore, three strokes off the lead and Jennings has four individual state sprint medals and ran on a runner-up relay team at state for Lewis and Clark.
The fact that all performed under pressure in other sports could account for the calm the Saxons exhibited during the rigors of state basketball.
Stockton was the tourney MVP. Lynn hit a critical shot against Franklin and was 11 for 12 shooting free throws during the tourney (perfect with semifinal and final games on the line) while coming off the bench. Jennings’ biggest game came in the championship against Kentridge.
Certainly these are unique individuals. Not all players have the ability to excel in multiple sports. Some have such a passion for one sport that they become consumed by it year-round.
But, I would submit, empirical though it may be, that the athlete who plays multiple sports has an edge. And I would point to Ferris’ 29-0 state basketball championship as an example why.