Well it's that time of year again... early spring. Now that the weather is starting to get nice again, it's time for quarterbacks to grab their football and begin their offseason workouts. Now I do realize that even youth football is rapidly becoming a year round sport, something I'm against, but it's time to start thinking about the fall.
I happen to be a big fan of children playing multiple sports, but all complementing each other. My own children obviously play football in the fall. During the winter months, I like them to wrestle.
Wrestling builds strength and endurance, teaches balance and leverage like no other. They are also avid skiers and snow boarders. Skiing and snow boarding builds leg and core muscle and improves balance. During the spring they will play a sport that emphasizes running, like lacrosse. The continuous starting, stopping and going at a full sprint will do wonders for their endurance and leg explosion for change of direction. All sports will help in footwork.
Basketball, lacrosse and soccer are all free form sports, meaning the kids all read the defense and move to the open space to create the best chance of scoring. This offers multiple opportunities to teach kids the benefit of the current sport to football. Everyone gets to be the quarterback because when he has the ball he has to find the open receiver. This gives everyone the opportunity to look at the game through the quarterback's eyes to see the pressure he is under at the start of every play and hopefully gives them a greater appreciation of just what he does.
Everyone gets to play wide receiver because they need to learn how to read coverage to get open. But what I've really found the most helpful is the understanding of defense. By playing these free form sports the athlete gets a much better feel for a zone defense. This helps everyone because everyone must play defense, not a necessity in football. Playing defense will help the quarterback because he learns what the weak spot in the defense is because he is forced to be aware of the weakness in his own defense to prevent the other team from scoring.
These are just some of the great advantages of playing other sports during the year. Doctor's have recommended for years that children not play one sport year round in order to give certain muscle groups a rest because every sport uses different muscle groups. This approach limits the chance for sport specific injuries not to mention burn out. Keep your children active, show them how each sport will benefit another and hopefully you will be able to keep them interested in a health active lifestyle for the rest of their lives.
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