Is playing three sports in high school still a thing?

One of the best things about living in a smaller town, or going to a small school, is that often it means more opportunities to do things, especially from an athletic standpoint. A big town/school may provide more opportunity in that it may offer more sports sometimes, but a smaller town/school most likely will have less competition for playing time in the sports that are offered.

In high school, that means a good athlete may be able to play three different varsity sports over the course of a school year, something the best athletes routinely did when I went to school.

But these days, playing three sports in high school is not always easy, and it's often not as glamorous as it sounds.

In our town, the high school football team begins practice the day after the championship games for the spring seasons, meaning practice for the fall season begins before the previous school year is over and runs throughout the summer. By the time the football season ends, the players have been going at it very hard for half the year, and their bodies and minds are tired. The idea of rolling directly from a fall sport right into a winter sport without a break in between can be daunting -- and even more daunting if the athlete knows he or she will later have to roll right from the winter sport into a spring sport.

When is there an opportunity to rest? When is there an opportunity to do something other than play a sport?

My son the freshman just wrapped up a very enjoyable football season and is currently in a one-week dead period before he starts wrestling practice next Monday. A month ago, he wasn't sure he wanted to wrestle; he was thinking he'd just work out over the winter, train and get ready for lacrosse season in the spring. He'd tried boxing a couple years ago and liked it (it was actually more training than real boxing) and he thought he'd like to do that again this winter.

But, of course, the wrestling coach was disappointed to hear that. And the football coaches gave him a hard time about it, too. They all acknowledged that giving maximum effort for three hours a day, six days a week at football practice takes a lot out of a person. None of them suggested wrestling would take up less time, or require less effort.

My wife and I told him we supported whatever decision he made, but both of us figured he'd probably end up wrestling. Last week he decided to take the plunge. He said he had changed his mind and now wanted to do it; he said he thought he'd give it a shot freshman year and see how it goes.

Personally, I kind of wish he would have taken the winter off. As much as I advocate kids playing multiple sports when they're younger, as they get older the commitment level for all of the sports keeps getting higher and higher. At some point, I think giving the necessary commitment to three different sports is too much for most people.

There's much more to life than playing sports. But when you're a three-sport athlete in high school, there isn't enough time for much else.