From the Sports Desk

with Carey Phillips: 07/05/01

I wasn't interested because Asheville junior Hilary McKay received the honor. Rather it was a couple of issues related to McKay that caught my eye.

The first was a sub-head alluding to her transfer from Enka to Asheville after her freshman season.

The transfer issue has been addressed in this space before. The bottom line is transfers happen as unfortunate as they may be for the school losing the athlete. As long as recruiting is not involved, there's not much that can be done.

I had often wondered what precipitated McKay's transfer. The most likely reason seemed to be Asheville's stance as one of the top soccer programs in the state. Had McKay stayed at Enka and teamed with Corinne Black, who also completed her junior year, the Sugar Jets would have been a team to reckon with.

The article says McKay's decision as a freshman to skip a state track meet for a soccer tournament led to her transfer from Enka. Allegedly, she was told if she didn't run cross country as a sophomore her athletic career at Enka was over.

It's hard to believe that an athlete as talented as McKay would be blackballed. I expect had she stayed at Enka she would have remained an outstanding soccer player.

However, it's easy to understand the frustration of members of the Enka athletic department. Here's a talented athlete ready to represent her school at the state track meet, and she declines the honor.

That brings us to the second issue the article raises. It's the ill-advised movement toward specialization in sports that often starts in the pre-high school years.

I'm not surprised that the player in question is concentrating on soccer. It seems people associated with that sport are more likely than others to push kids toward specialization.

I freely admit that's a generalization. But the need to play a sport year round is mentioned much more from those in the "soccer community" than folks associated with other sports.

A statement in the article from McKay's father is particularly troubling.

"In order to be a great - or good - player, you have to have a passion," he says. "It can't be, 'I like basketball and soccer equally.' No, you've got to love it." Bull.

To say a kid can't like more than one sport and still be a good player is ludicrous. If there is a sport that requires such dedication, it's not worth playing.

Contrast McKay with Black. The latter has committed to play soccer at North Carolina, perhaps the most dominating collegiate sports program in history. Despite her standout skills at soccer, Black found time to be a member of the Sugar Jet basketball team. Her playing time was limited, but she gained respect throughout Western North Carolina by her willingness to play one sport although she excelled in another.

It sure didn't hurt Black as her commitment to UNC indicates. At the same time, McKay acknowledges in the article that she probably wouldn't be good enough to gain playing time early in her college career if she went to Carolina despite her total concentration on soccer.

Everyone pushing specialization isn't associated with soccer. I'm not a big fan of AAU basketball when it comes to interfering with other high school sports. Fall baseball is drawing boys who maybe should be playing football or even soccer.

I realize I'm probably fighting a losing battle as specialization seems to be the wave of the future. I come from the glory days of Sylva-Webster when many of the same players made the Golden Eagles dominant in football, basketball and baseball. In the early to mid 90s, Smoky Mountain was dominant in women's basketball and volleyball with several players taking part in both sports.

If a player is good enough to make a solid contribution in more than one sport, he should be encouraged to do so. He owes it to his school and community. That doesn't mean he can't like one sport more than another.

We often hear kids have to specialize and play a sport all year so they will be able to earn a college scholarship. Don't believe it. If they're good enough to receive a scholarship, the colleges will find them.

There may be rare occasions where an elite athlete will benefit by specialization. That's only going to happen if he ranks in the top 100 nationally in his sport.

With Smoky Mountain being the smallest 3-A school in the state, it's imperative that athletes participate in as many sports as they can impact. Otherwise, the entire athletic program will lose.

Back to Sports: 07/05/01.