re: 28 of 31 1st round picks played multiple sports in high school

Probably has something to do with natural ability. These guys just have it, and likely would have had success almost no matter what sport they chose. No matter how much you train your son odds are that he doesn't have that freakish natural athletic ability that is necessary to make it to college let alone the pros.

Again, these guys aren't good because they played multiple sports, it's that they were such athletes they were good at anything they tried in high school. Duh.

quote:

---

In the 80's and 90's...everyone who played football played basketball.

---

Way too general of a statement. Where I grew up most football players wrestled in the winter and ran track in the spring. The three sports compliment each other very well.

If we are going to talk about elite, let's talk Odell Beckham. He says he had to give up soccer at 13-14. Now if he would have played it part time with football through high school and then gone full bore with soccer you think it would have been too late? Just because soccer teaches this from the crib all year mantra, doesn't mean it is necessary. If we got our elite athletes to stay out on the soccer field in addition to football, we would prove that.

What's the point of saying this? It's not as though these guys are good football players who were able to get scholarships and get drafted because they played another sport in high school. They weren't varsity golf or tennis players--sports where specialized training is a must. They went out for basketball or track--the two sports where a freak athlete can be very good at the high school level without much practice time.

More likely, these guys showed up for basketball once football was done and their athletic ability allowed them to contribute without doing much specialized training. Or they showed up for the track team a couple of weeks before the district meet and were able to score a lot of points in sprints/jumps/throws because they were bigger, faster, and stronger than everyone else.

Participating in multiple sports did not make them freak athletes; they were able to do well in other sports while focusing primarily on football because of their incredible genetic gifts.