Senior Sarah Cantwell starts her day attending morning weight lifting practice, goes to school and quickly wraps up her schoolwork to make afternoon lacrosse practice. At the end of her senior season, she will become a four sport athlete.
The Florida High School Atheletic Association (FHSAA) which controls all sports at Trinity, sets the start and end dates of sport seasons. While most of the time sports are scheduled apart, sometimes seasons overlap as teams advance into districts, creating problems for multi-sport athletes like Cantwell.
“Last year, I missed the first two weeks of lacrosse practice … because I was still doing weightlifting and I went to regionals for weightlifting so my season was basically two weeks longer than it should have been,” Cantwell said.
The overlap of seasons creates stress and overuse, which risks injury. Coming straight out of football season, senior Finn Davidescu was injured in the preseason of basketball due to the stress of football season.
“I decided because it was the first day of basketball tryouts, and I just wanted to play basketball,” Davidescu said. “I was tired of football, and I showed up (and rolled my ankle).”
Due to multiple sport practices, the physical strain between different seasons can cause burnout. This makes the overlap period demanding both physically and mentally. According to American Acadamy of Pediactrics “Overuse injuries, for example, can result from repetitive stress without sufficient recovery that leads to accumulated musculoskeletal damage. Burnout represents one of the primary reasons for attrition in youth sports. …Burnout represents a direct threat to the goal of lifelong physical activity and the wide-ranging health benefits that it provides.”
“You’re used to doing one certain type of practice and one certain type of sport,” Davidescu said. “(It) demands your body so much like (then) you just convert to a different one.”
Coaches cooperation around this transition period is crucial in order to maintain the sports the athletic program offers. Boys lacrosse coach and Assistant Athletic Director Travis Sanders works around this problem with his multi-sport players.
“We just want to make it work for what’s best for you guys as athletes,” Sanders said. “The only thing coaches want to (do is to) make sure that you guys are prepared and healthy and taken care of and managing your workload at school.”
Overlapping seasons create complications among coaches, with some allowing their players to start late and some wanting their sport to be the players’ top priority. This time can cause student athletes to have stress and minimal time for other activities.
“It does get stressful because there’s just no break (while balancing two seasons of sports),” Cantwell said.“I’m always doing a sport.I’m always going to practice and so I never have time to rest. Which I think is hard, but also the preseason (of my spring sport) is important to be better”
Along with the switch between sport seasons, athletes also have to deal with academic stress. When it comes to school and sports, students have to work to find a balance between the two with such small free time.
“(I) get (such) lack of time to do schoolwork because if you’re always doing a sport or you’re always having to choose to do one or the other, it feels like you’re putting half your energy into both things so that’s kind of hard.” Cantwell said.
While being a mulit-sport athlete is sometimes difficult, when it comes to fitness, they have the greatest advantage above everyone else. According to University Hospitals, “Playing different sports makes for a more well-rounded athlete and also reduces risk of psychological stress, burn-out and overuse injuries,” University Hospitals Orthopedic Surgeon Jacob Calcei, MD said.
“I never worry that my basketball kids aren’t going to be in good shape.” Sanders said. “The nice thing is it’s already conditioned so players that are playing this winter sport, it’s never a problem for my team because I know the minute they step on our field, they’re already in good shape (and) they’re ready to go.”
Different teams also means more connections and different skills. Because of this, students opt to play sports all year long, sacrificing their free time for the unique experience of being a multi-sport athlete.
“We love having multi-sport athletes,” Sanders said. “So I encourage it, … I work in the athletic department and so we always encourage (it) if you want to play multiple sports.”
