Jeff Kessinger

STRAFFORD – If it was in season, Jacob Wade was playing it. Football, basketball, baseball. Wade did it all at Strafford High School.

As he prepares to embark on a college football career, he has no second thoughts about it.

"It was a lot of fun and I would do it all over again," said Wade, who could quarterback the Evangel Crusaders this fall. "That's how I got really close with the little clique we had at Strafford. That's why I'm where I am now, was playing three sports."

Think conventional wisdom says single-sport specialization is the best route to college opportunity? You might want to reconsider.

Local college and high school coaches, along with a former scout-turned-manager of the Springfield Cardinals, say multi-sport athletes benefit in a number of ways — right down to learning how to be a good teammate in a sport that's not their No. 1.

They aren't alone.

Changing the Game Project tackles the issue of specialization. It is the effort of former soccer player and coach, Oregon-based John O'Sullivan.

O'Sullivan also recently published a book titled "Changing the Game: The Parent's Guide to Raising Happy, High-Performing Athletes and Giving Youth Sports Back to Our Kids."

Among the project's research is early burnout and a line to this nugget: Specialization in youth sports may lead to reduced motor skill development, as your athletes focus on the motor skill needed for their sport but ignore the motor skills developed by playing a variety of sports.

The information was from a 2013 editorial in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, directed by the MD of the Department of Internal Medicine at Ohio State University.

"The science says: Do more sports," O'Sullivan said. "Our culture says ... throw all your eggs in one basket."

Coaches in the Springfield area concur.

"Sometimes their parents think that will help them," said Evangel football coach Brenton Illum, who recruited Wade, an All-USA Ozarks selection in football last year. "The kids like to be a part of a team. But I think parents — being competitive and wanting their kid to get that scholarship to college — think, 'If I specialize my son or daughter, then it's more likely to happen. I don't think that's the right choice."

And Illum is not alone. Missouri State baseball coach Keith Guttin has had his share of Bears that played more than just baseball in high school. Scott Carroll, former Bears pitcher and now a pitcher with the Chicago White Sox, was the quarterback of the MSU football team at one point.

"I've always liked guys that play other sports, in particular guys who play football, wrestle, or play hockey because of the physical toughness involved," Guttin said in an interview this spring. "With it usually comes mental toughness."

Coaches and athletes alike speak highly of the multi-sport experience as a way to get the whole athlete ready for college athletics. One of the biggest benefits is the added strength, flexibility and overall athleticism.

"I think you should cross-train. It's definitely a good thing," said Ivy Reynolds, a 2014 Ozark High School graduate who played volleyball and basketball and also ran track. She is now at Lindenwood University on a volleyball scholarship. "If you just play one sport, you don't gain strength and athleticism in other ways."

Reynolds played three sports with the blessing of Becky Justis, her volleyball coach at Ozark.

Justis, who guided the Lady Tigers to five consecutive state semifinal appearances before stepping aside this year, encourages her players to get involved in other sports.

"We know overall it makes them a better, stronger athlete," Justis said. "They're focusing on their whole body. When you only play one sport, your muscles only train to work that one way. When you crossover sports, you're only making yourself better for the sport that you love."

And it's not just general athleticism that helps. Some skills from one sport carry over nicely to another.

"If you're looking at bringing in a cornerback or safety, you hope they played basketball because they're used to playing man-to-man," Illum said. "You hope he's played center field because he's used to tracking the ball. All of those skills cross over into football.

"If he's a speed guy, you hope he's been properly taught how to run, by a high school track coach. All of that stuff we look at as a positive."

There's mental carryover as well.

"If you've got a guy that's been a quarterback and been in a lot of high-pressure situations, there's no question that there's carry-over into other sports," Guttin said.

Pro baseball scouts have told the News-Leader that they want young athletes just to be on teams of any kind. They want them to enjoy sports overall and just be kids.

Scouts also see value there: Top players on a baseball team experience humbleness in another sport, plus learn to be good, supportive teammates and become educated in why teammates have limitations.

Springfield Cardinals manager Mike Shildt was a scout before going into minor league coaching.

"Sports teaches you a lot of life lessons, and different sports teach you different skill sets, different movements, different competition thoughts," Shildt said. "At some point, you've got to get to a baseball setting, to get the reps. But there may be more of a ceiling for a guy that was in another sport, based on the fact you appreciate his athleticism."

The multi-sport life also helps athletes learn to manage their time, coaches said, a crucial skill in college, where sports become something like a full-time job and grades must be kept up to maintain eligibility.

"College coaches love the multi-sports athletes," said Justis, whose daughters Brianna and Bridget played two sports at Ozark before moving on to college volleyball at Lindenwood and Drury, respectively. "I've talked to some of the top coaches in the country, and they love the multi-sport athletes because they know the kids are having to work on their responsibility and time management because they're doing more than just one sport during the school year."

Added Illum, "It's funny how our guys' grades are usually better when they're busier. Our fall GPA is always better than our spring GPA. You think it would be the opposite. But when you're in the middle of that structure, when you're having to cut out the non-essentials in your life because you have football and class and you've got very little time for much else, then it makes you do better."

Kary Booher contributed to this report.