In 1989, the Harvard men’s ice hockey team won the national championship. The extraordinary amount of hockey-specific preparation allowed the Ivy League university to stand alone above some of the most storied collegiate hockey programs in the country. Harvard head coach Bill Cleary, former three-sport athlete and U.S. Olympic hockey gold medalist, had a unique perspective regarding how his players should train. He believed that by participating in different sports, the athletes would have a better, more diverse understanding of what it took to be successful on the ice. In the off-season, his athletes were forced to take a break from hockey and would instead participate in another sport.

Nowadays, Cleary’s ideas have fallen under the wayside, as the nature of sport has forced athletes to devote all of their energy towards one area of expertise. Many believe if you do not specialize, you will find yourself far behind other athletes who do. Youth hockey seasons push into the summer and baseball players hit up the batting cages during the winter. While it’s understandable that people naturally would want to exert all their energy into a sport they love, dangers come with such a notion.

As a two-sport athlete at Amherst, I am well aware of this phenomenon. The structure of athletics at Amherst and in the NESCAC allows many students to participate in multiple sports. I play both baseball and hockey, and as a result, I have found that I have sharpened instincts and a better understanding of what it takes to be a successful team. With these traits and themes in mind, one can provide more to each of their sports without losing skill for either team.

Dual athletes can take positives from one sport and incorporate them into the other. Although baseball is a team sport, it is very individualized at its core. If you don’t record any hits or strike-out at every at-bat, you’re not directly helping the team win. One player hits, one player fields the ball and another pitches, so there is a sense of separation. On the other hand, hockey is a brotherhood like I’ve never experienced before. A player can score no goals and still be a crucial piece of success.

I have incorporated both of these dynamics into the opposing sports. I pride myself on my individual work during the hockey season because I know if I’m the best I can be as a goaltender, my team will be the best it can be too. During baseball season, I attempt to incorporate the intensity and camaraderie I have learned from hockey to help the team bond, which aids in our goal of winning a championship.

By participating in numerous sports, athletes develop a unique athletic instinct. People who play the same sport day after day tend to become robotic and lack the ability to think outside the box. They are only prepared for a finite number of outcomes, and when a situation does not progress accordingly, the athlete may find themselves unprepared. However, by participating in different sports, you train your body to handle a variety of unrelated circumstances. For example, fielding thousands of softballs at third base will prepare you well for that exact scenario, but if the ball takes a bad hop, your lack of instincts could force you back on your heels. The game will ultimately control you. Dual sport athletes have a tendency to dictate the game, while specialized players have a way of becoming victimized by its unpredictable nature.

The strenuous mental impact of sport can sometimes be too much for an athlete to bear: players often get trapped inside their own heads instead of trusting their abilities during periods of adversity. If you focus on one sport, day in and day out, it becomes very easy to overanalyze. I have regularly seen teammates over-thinking every aspect of their swing, constantly thinking of new ways in which they should change their style, as opposed to staying relaxed, reverting back to the basics and believing in what they know how to do. The break I get from baseball during hockey season allows me to completely remove baseball from my mind, and I am not burdened by the tiring mental aspects of the game. I simply try to focus on the game in the same way I had been taught for many years.

The main knock on two-sport athletes is that their bodies do not hold up. I’m only 21 years old, and my knees and hips are already shot from playing catcher and goalie. However, there is more to gain from playing two sports than there is to lose. When I expressed my concern of injury last year to my high school baseball coach, another former dual sport athlete at Amherst, he chuckled and told me, “You may not be able to walk by the time you are forty. Who cares? We will buy you a cane. Dave, it’s not about possibly getting hurt, or even how well you do in either sport that’s important. It about the memories you will have 30 years from now. You can replace a hip, but you can’t replace the memories you will lose if you only play hockey,”

The friendships and character traits one can develop from participating in different sports are incomparable, and the memories will last a lifetime. The people you meet and places you go are not confined to one group, so your outlook on life is ultimately diversified.

I was devastated when my hockey team lost a 3-2 OT heartbreaker to Bowdoin in the NESCAC Championship this past season. Opportunities like that don’t come around every year. It was disheartening to think that all the work that went into the season was simply not enough.

While the anger from the loss still fuels me, I sometimes wonder if I will get another chance to at NESCAC title. I then laugh to myself and remember I have already accomplished such a goal. I get two chances every year. Good thing I played baseball last season.