ESPN: Jake Plummer
The former Denvor Bronco's quarterback is passionate about another sport...can you guess it?
This article touches on a lot of sport psychology concepts (e.g. retirement, life-long sport participation, specialization, etc.). Most interesting is this athlete's goal to encourage participating in a variety of sports. There is controversy over when to start children in sports, and where the line is for dedication, and when it is too early to specialize, but most generally agree that by adolescence attention should be on just one or two (if they are related) sports in order to excel, and then the arguement goes to how much a teen athlete should specialize within the sport. For example, some high school swim coaches specialize their swimmers in certain distances or sprints and in certain strokes, while others encourage competing in a variety of events. But most swim coaches see other sports as competing with excellence in the water because an athlete only has so much time, focus, and energy, and at some point, sacrifices have to be made in one or the other. Jake Plummer doesn't agree.
"Jake says his larger goal is to popularize youth handball nationwidewhile encouraging teen athletes not to focus too intensely on a single sport. 'My ultimate goal is to get coaches to stop specializing their athletes, telling them they can't play other sports because it'll hurt their football,' Plummer says. 'I played all three sports and handball whenever I could. That's why I made it in the NFL -- that rounded me out as an athlete'."
Perhaps this is more feasible in sports that have a definite on and off season, so the sports can be played in each other's off seasons. This is not possible in swimming, which has 2-3 seasons over the year, and no off season adequately long enough to foster another sport.
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Specialization hurts athletes, period. So many athletes and coaches think the athlete has to put so much time in to training for that particular sport the athlete has no time to do other things. However, if one looks at ANY well-rounded training program for ANY sport, it can be argued any program cross-trains. There isn't any good athlete who can train in one particular sport and NOT cross-train to stay on top of their sport. Look at what Dara Torres did...and then look at all the stretching, pilattes, yoga, and weights she does. So many collegiate and professional athletes know the value of cross-training (in other words, participating in other sport and workout routines!). If the athlete is weightlifting, running, doing agility drills, core body strength, pilattes, yoga, stretching, etc., outside of their sport, they are cross-training. What is the value? Beside the obvious of more complete physical fitness, flexibility, and muscle control, it is KINESTHETIC SENSE. How do you teach a basketball player to do the minor adjustments that may be needed at full speed in the lane to weave in and out and make a layup while in the air...kind of like Michael Jordan or LeBron James? How did Dara Torres make adjustments in the Olympic Trials from Semi's to Finals in her start that gave her the win in the 50 free? These muscular adjustments happen in fractions of seconds. How do you teach someone this? Quick answer, you don't. You explain it to them and they conceptualize it, visualize it, and then DO IT. This is kinesthetic sense. ALL the better athletes have this. You can have a top level athlete that specializes in a sport be on top if they have talent and train, but for longevity, you need to cross-train and enhance your kinesthetic sense. How does that quarterback sense a backside blitz and escape? It isn't through training for it...it is through developing a muscular sense for movement and where the body is in space. EVERY good athlete has this and it can be enhance by cross-training and doing other sports. Just because one is good in a sport does not meet one is a good athlete. Can a great swimmer catch a frisbee and throw it or spike a volleyball without thinking? Can a gymnast or football player jump into the pool and swim with a feel for the water and move their body horizontally through space? If one wishes to be a good athlete, it starts when the child is a baby, moving him from the TV and making him chase a ball, crawl around the room, learn space, distance, muscular control, gravity, etc. Let the kid climb trees, jump on beds, wrestle, etc. That is cross-training in its earliest form.
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