By Chris Reagan
Staff Writer
Many of the top athletes at Coppell have been committed to multiple sports. In most recent memory that would be Tyler Landis, Nate Hruby, and Brandon Mullins who all excelled at not only football but also lacrosse.
The two-sport athlete is not something new to Coppell. Many athletes choose to participate in sports to not only fill up some time between season but also to help them train for their favorite sport.
“My love is football,” sophomore Killian Bresnahan said. “Wrestling gets me stronger and builds stamina and track keeps me in shape and fast for football.”
Bresnahan is a rare type of athlete involved and excelling in not only football but also wrestling and track. He plans on continuing all those throughout high school, but trying to balance multiple sports and schoolwork is not always easy.
“It takes a lot of time,” Bresnahan said. “I can’t always go to tutoring when I want to and spend time on homework like I know I should.”
Despite being encouraged by football to join other sports, Bresnahan says he still feels pressure to be involved in just one sport. While some coaches encourage participating in a different sport to become a better athlete, to be able to compete at a high level in any sport is a year round job.
With a sport like football and wrestling where success is based in part on memorizing plays and technique taking that time off makes it challenging take time off of a sport and still remember everything it takes to be a success.
“I think that other sports definitely help athletically training a player,” girls soccer coach Chris Stricker said.
The demand is not only on players but also on coaches. Players that come in halfway through the year have to be brought up to speed in the different style of play teammates, and routines that varies from sport to sport.
“Most players in two sports are usually more responsible and better at time management,” Stricker said. “They can come in an pick everything up pretty quickly.
The decision to stick with one sport is not an easy one for an athlete, but for some the demands of school and sport just become two much to handle and a change needs to be made.
“I’m taking three AP classes this year on top of club volleyball and track,” junior Cassidy Pickrell said. “I would not have had time from soccer unless I decided to give up sleep.”
After two years on varsity soccer Pickrell decided to put a focus on volleyball, earning a scholarship to University of California at Irvine.
“I’m sad I couldn’t find a way to make it work and go back this year,” Pickrell said. “I’m really going to miss the girls but juggling all my responsibilities would just be too stressful.”
While coaches may encourage taking part in multiple sports the added stress can take it’s toll on an athlete and often times the ones who stick with one sport have a slight advantage
“This day and age it’s just so difficult two be able to compete in two different varsity sports,” Stricker said. ”But players in fall definitely have an advantage of knowing the routine and having more chemistry with the team.”
