Multisport athletes are proving their worth in a one-sport world
There are more than 20 pairs of shoes scattered in Charlie Rocca’s closet. Around the bedroom are aluminum bats, hats, thigh pads, footballs, baseballs and mouth guards. The Verdugo Hills senior has enough used sports equipment to hold a garage sale. It comes with being a two-sport athlete.
They might be disappearing in the high school ranks amid pressure to pursue one sport year round, but multisport athletes still exist and lots of coaches appreciate their sacrifice.
“We are always looking for two-sport guys,” UCLA baseball coach John Savage said. “They just appear to be able to adapt to situations a little quicker.
“The toughness they can bring is always a boost to the team concept. We have had some really good high school football-baseball players in our program.”
Rocca was a receiver and defensive back for the Verdugo Hills football team, which lost in the City Section Division III championship game. Now he’s an All-City outfielder who has hit a school-record 10 home runs while batting .522 with 32 RBIs.
Many believe it is beneficial to use different sets of muscles in different sports. Rocca agrees.
“Those drills we do in football helps with strength,” he said. “Growing up, I played basketball, baseball and football. You’re an athlete if you do that. It feels good being able to play all those sports.”
Coaches clearly have a history of pressuring multisport athletes. “If you’re not with the team, you will fall behind,” they might say. Or, “If you don’t participate in offseason practices, you’ll be at a disadvantage.” But plenty of schools have coaches who cooperate with other coaches. They figure out schedules and reassure multisport athletes and their parents that they will be supported.
At Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, where Giancarlo Stanton of the New York Yankees once played football, basketball and baseball in the same school year, baseball coach Tom Dill has two football standouts in his starting lineup: quarterback Noah Taylor and linebacker Michael Whiteside. The team also has two water polo players and a cross-country runner.
Dill and football coach Kevin Rooney came up with a plan years ago. They’d create schedules for multisport athletes so they wouldn’t feel guilty when missing a practice or game. No one has ever complained. Players appreciate the organization and simplification.
“We don’t let kids vote,” Dill said. “We tell them where to go . ... We share our guys.”
There are some very good multisport athletes this season.
Hayden Winters, a linebacker for Anaheim Esperanza, is batting .491. Chris Wilson, a linebacker in the fall, is 5-0 as a pitcher for unbeaten Arcadia. Alex Jemel, a starting safety at Mission Viejo, is headed to Oregon State for baseball and has three home runs. Nathan Manning, a standout quarterback for Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley, is batting .385. He also plays basketball. All-league football player Justin Simpson of Orange El Modena is a standout shortstop hitting .459. Another El Modena player, A.J. Esperanza, the football team’s quarterback, is hitting .350 as the starting catcher.
Perhaps the most impressive multisport performance came from the girls’ ranks last week. Kelli Godin of Santa Ana Mater Dei won the 100- and 200-meter titles at the Orange County track and field championships while also starting at third base for the softball team. She’s headed to UCLA for softball.
Verdugo Hills baseball coach Angel Espindola is just happy Rocca insisted on playing football and baseball.
“I think it has made him a better and more diverse player,” he said. “He knows how to compete and does not shy away from a challenge. It would be easy to tell Charlie that he should just focus on one sport but then he wouldn’t have become such a great competitor.”
eric.sondheimer@latimes.com Twitter: @latsondheimer