Best Coaches in NW4A

Exactly!!

Yeah exactly... Why not say, "I really don't want to put the time or effort into becoming better in the other sport or I am not the best player in that sport or that coach yells a lot and makes us run wahhhhh!!!!"

I ask a fan at a McDowell High basketball game last year what position in football the big 6-4 240 pound forward played and they told me he doesn't play. (Now, I don't know why he doesn't play. Maybe injury, maybe personality conflicts, maybe he just does not like contact or it could even be his parents choice, I don't know.) What I do know is that he is a solid high school post player in basketball, but he could go to a small college as an offensive tackle or tightend in football and possible get some of his education paid for free. You can just tell by his size and footwork alone in basketball that it probably would translate to success in football. I hate it for the kid, what a waste to miss a free education because you are specializing in one sport.

The Kincaid kid does not specialize in one sport and he looked just fine on the b-ball court last year. As a matter of fact, he logged the most minutes played in the games I went to watch. I wonder if that was because wait a minute...OH YEAH, he was in phenominal shape from football. And maybe his crossover dribble in basketball is so good because of his skills as a running back and maybe he led Western NC in steals because of all his time in the secondary in football. He learned to read peoples' physical actions, their bodies, and eyes in football which translated to success in B-ball. He wouldn't have that if he just played 1000 AAU B-ball games during the fall last year.

What happens when you play several sports is they wind up crossing over into other sports and you become better in everything you play.

 

Otis.............


Why are you so hung up on players focusing on one sport....you said,"It is so stupid and selfish." selfish???.............I guess you think it's stupid but that is YOUR own opinion.........as for selfish.....yeah , thats just terrible that a kid would want to focus on one sport.....( I guess to you).....

 

I would have to say I'm somewhere in the middle on this whole issue. Sometimes a kid is foccused on getting a scholarship for a sport and knows they need to improve, maybe they have injuries that prevent a sport like football but allow them to run, maybe they look great playing one sport and simply aren't good at another, or don't enjoy it, they could have a bad history with a coach. You never know and quites simply it's a kids decision to play or not

 

keep in mind when you say this that just because a kid is good at one thing... does not mean in anyway he is good at another thing... especially if he has never played the sport before... now yes in other cases he may just step in one year and be great at it... but i can tell you right now that ive seen plenty of athletes that succeed in baseball or football that if they picked up a basketball couldnt tell you the difference from the free throw line and the three point line... much less make it... yes i do agree with you about what most your saying just make sure you not saying just because a kid is good at one sport he is automatically good at another.

 

Hello This is a Forum for your opinions

Big John you disagree with my opinion and that is fine, but this a forum. Who the Hell else's opinion am I going to use dude? Of course it MY opinion!! What would be the point of posting if I didn't use my own point of view? I mean gawdalmighty, do I not get to have an opinion.

Sorry, I played three sports all the way through school. A couple of times I wanted to give one up and my parents would tell me that I was not coming home and laying my big fatass on the couch and not doing anything after school. I would be mad for about five minutes, but then I eventually got over it and competed. I am so glad that I played everything in school because it kept me busy and out of trouble.

Listen I am not talking about every highschool athlete that ever lived. I am talking about people that are elite level athletes that would be studs in any sport they chose or at least be a solid player that helped the team. Little Oliver, who is 8th seed on the tennis squad probably is not cracking the linebacking Corps anytime soon, but the 6-5 behemoth in the post could probably play some fuseball.

I can watch a kid play pickup basketball for about ten minutes and tell you what kind of athlete they would be in a lot of sports. Someone's balance, speed, coordination, strength are on display right in front of your eyes. Hello, I'm not psychic, but jeez c'mon some of this stuff is common sense.

 

Otis, your reasons for editing are hilarious.

If you ever saw Stacey Lail's RS Central basketball teams versus the teams they have now, you wouldn't say that. Lail was the best I've ever seen in WNC, and RS hasn't been jack since he left.

 

Bigjon, im gonna have to agree with otis..the brock is a massive piece of man and would be a sick linebacker..we all know this..petey would be a good tight end...brian would be a good wide reciever...buggy would be good at anything he does..o yeah i forgot..he already is!

 

Selfish?????????

I forgot to mention why it is selfish. I can think of a couple of obvious examples of why it is selfish for a big time athlete to focus on one-sport. In the eighties, Freedom had a point guard that went on to play at Furman in basketball. I am not dropping names, but I remember him well and he was a hell of a basketball player. He was also moved up to varsity in tenth grade as the starting quarterback (he was also a stud on the gridiron!!) and played for an entire year. Coaches make plans around a kid like that, they change the offense, they may change some stuff on defense as well. They prepare for what they think is coming out in the fall because of last year's team. When a kid quits a sport to focus on another sport after competing at a high level, he or she let's down the coaches, other players, and fans. By the way, that guy probably could have played at an even higher level in college football.

Just think if the Kincaid kid decided to focus on just football at the highschool. Do you really think the Titans would have made that run as deep in the playoffs. Think of all the kids that team inspired during the season, think of all the people who had a great time watching. I know it sounds like a lot of pressure to be putting on a kid, but it is usually their parents that lead them down this road of "specializing". So, I am really talking about parents that try to persuade a kid to specialize.

I love basketball, but I am a realist. Most kids that are high level high school athletes can go further in other sports than b-ball because their are only five guys on the court in college. the football team has 82 scholarships in football. Baseball has nine positions, it is a simple mathmatical formula. That is why kids should play as many sports as possible. The more sports you play the more possible opportunities a kid may have someday.

Listen, if soccer was in the spring in NC like it is in SC. I would want kids that play football to go out for soccer. Get some exercise, make new friends, get out of your normal athletic bubble and try something different. What is the worst that could happen, you could be in better shape. By the way, your just as likely to get injured playing your same sport as trying another one.

By the way, Stacey was a hell of a coach, but he did have a run of players. If you remember about five different brothers and cousins with the last name Hamilton came through that town and several of them went on to play ball in college. Those genes are strong, one of their nephews plays at McDowell now and he will probably be a stud before it is over.

 

haha are you serious? i could watch a 6'4 kid that could jump play a pick up game of basketball and be athletic... but for most sports it takes more then being athletic to be good at.... do you think a 6'4 kid that jumps 50 inches but wines about everytime he gets touched saying it hurts and its a foul is going to be good at football? no because it takes toughness to play football... if i saw the same kid dunk a basketball... im not automatically gonna say to myself wow i bat that kid can hit a curveball a country mile? just because he can slam a basketball through a net doesnt mean that he can hit a round ball with a round bat squarely when its coming in at 90 mph tailing away from him... in some cases yes it does help to be an athlete but that doesnt mean hes gonna be good at anything... different sports take different traits.

 

haha are you serious? i could watch a 6'4 kid that could jump play a pick up game of basketball and be athletic... but for most sports it takes more then being athletic to be good at.... do you think a 6'4 kid that jumps 50 inches but wines about everytime he gets touched saying it hurts and its a foul is going to be good at football? no because it takes toughness to play football... if i saw the same kid dunk a basketball... im not automatically gonna say to myself wow i bat that kid can hit a curveball a country mile? just because he can slam a basketball through a net doesnt mean that he can hit a round ball with a round bat squarely when its coming in at 90 mph tailing away from him... in some cases yes it does help to be an athlete but that doesnt mean hes gonna be good at anything... different sports take different traits.