Bob Seggerson: Coaching and playing in the sweet spot

When I began my 40-year high school coaching career in the Fall of 1970, I entered a profession that had already witnessed plenty of changes over the years but nothing like what was looming on the horizon for coaches and athletes. And the most impactful transition for both coaches and players over the decades has been in the investment of their time.

In many ways, I believe I was lucky to have played and coached in an era when there were fewer distractions and less scrutiny than what today’s generation of coaches and players confront. I suppose there is some truth to the fact that every generation can look to their past with nostalgia and claim things were better “back in the day,” but when examining the challenges facing coaches and athletes today, I don’t think I would switch places with them.

At the start of my coaching career, the landscape of basketball had a very different look. There was time off between the end of the football season (no playoffs in that era) and the beginning of the basketball season allowing a period of rest for athletes playing both sports. Once the basketball season ended, the OHSAA prohibited contact between coaches and athletes. That meant no open gyms, no summer leagues, no summer camps, no individual skill sessions, and no AAU, all of which are now firmly in place. Back in the day, once the season ended, basketball players were on their own to work on their game. The same was true for all sports.

Throughout my coaching career, the out of season contact with our players grew longer each year. I am not arguing that these changes were all bad for the game. Indeed, it was coaches who lobbied for most of those changes, but eventually it meant coaches were now spending as much time coaching in the off-season as they were during the regular season. The investment of time for coaches and athletes continues to expand.

This is not just an issue for basketball coaches. A recent decision by the OHSAA allows coaches in all sports to now work with “groups” of athletes in the off-season. Except for a one month no-contact period, it basically means that coaches can now conduct practices year-round and no coach wants to fall behind other programs that use it to their advantage. It is also one of the reasons that the number of applications submitted for head coaching positions in all high school sports is dramatically shrinking.

The lengthening seasons have impacted our athletes as well. For many decades, an athlete playing more than one sport was not a rarity. Many of us played a sport in the Fall, in the Winter and in the Spring or a combination of two sports. In the summer we worked on our game but still had time for a family vacation or to attempt to impress girls at Schoonover Pool and Longs Quarry. Basketball players with hoop dreams, invested time improving their game at community playgrounds or driveway courts. Not an adult in sight. I spent hours working on my jump shot and game at the Bradfield outdoor courts and a basket behind a church on High Street. Often it was just me, a basketball, a basket, and my imagination. Many of my fellow athletes from previous generations will identify with that memory.

The off-season demands on athletes today often funnel them into one sport and even their off -season training is performed under the watchful eyes of a coach or a trainer. There is no question that today’s athletes are bigger, stronger, faster, and more skilled than ever before and many are prepared to compete at higher levels at an earlier age than previous generations. But are they paying a price?

Coaches often remind our athletes that hard work, passion, and commitment are essential ingredients in creating successful players and teams. Those values are also important building blocks in forming character. All true, but it does beg the question. When does it become too much? When does a young athlete get a break, especially if he/she wants to play more than one sport? Even the most gifted athlete’s body needs time to recover from the demands placed on it in today’s athletic world.

The OHSAA calendar lists the number of days in a season for each sport. I’ll cite three. Football (125 days) Basketball (142 days) Baseball (130 days). That’s a total of 397 days for practice and games and most of it crammed into a nine-month school calendar. You can see the problem. For multi-sport athletes, there is no off-season, and not enough days in the year as it is. And even the training for a single sport athlete is being stretched out to a twelve-month commitment.

There is often pressure, even at an early age, for athletes to begin specializing in one sport with the vision (mostly by a parent) that it will increase their scholarship opportunities. That may be true for an extremely limited number of athletes, but be careful. I’ve had way too many athletes tell me that, looking back, they wish they had played other sports when they were younger. For every athlete who reaches the goal of attaining scholarship levels, there are too many younger players who burn out early and leave the sport because their reality was not meeting their, or a parent’s, expectations.

The commitment for a young athlete who wants to play more than one sport is heroic in today’s athletic experience and I have great respect for them. We have a lot of multiple sport athletes in our area, especially at smaller enrollment schools who need them to field competitive teams. Give them their due, but give them a break too.

When I was a young athlete and coach, I didn’t have to deal with many of the challenges that today’s players and coaches face. I was lucky. This old timer believes he played and coached in a “sweet spot” of high school athletics.