The Many Benefits of Multisport For High School Athletes
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by Doria Weiss and Shawn Elwood
Junior triathletes compete in the Mixed Relay at Youth and Junior Nationals.
All athletes know that the hurt of an injury goes well beyond the actual pain involved – a torn muscle, rolled ankle, or other sports-related injury can be devastating. Injuries impact not only the single game/match in which they happen, but can extend well beyond the event to a week, a month, or even a season. The repercussions of missed time can be dramatic, both physically and mentally, and threaten broader performance or playing time.
And yet, aside from basic stretching and strengthening, most athletes don’t take additional steps to prevent injuries.
With the fall season here, it’s time for high school athletes to focus their efforts on their fall sport of choice. However, adjusting that game plan, even slightly, could be the best approach for athletes, regardless of their focus or skill level. Specifically, it might be time to try some cross-training — and there is no better way to do it than with a triathlon.
The sport of triathlon provides an ideal way for athletes to improve their long-term performance, multiple studies reveal. For example, the authors of the article Multi-sport Participation and Athletic Development: A Focus on Triathlon (1) highlight that multi-sport participation can result in:
- Enhanced overall motor development
- Reduced injury rates compared to single-sport athletes
- Better long-term athletic development
- Improved cardiovascular adaptation
- Greater psychological resilience and reduced burnout rates
Ben Pollak, who competed at the national triathlon level throughout both high school and college, points out the many advantages of triathlon that go beyond the pure athletic component.
“Physical fitness first and foremost, but I think that in general, it's beneficial for people to challenge themselves. Challenging yourself is key for personal growth — it builds your resilience and can help you push through any perceived limits you create for yourself, which of course boosts your confidence,” Pollak said. “Triathlons count as a challenge, no matter your level of experience. They never stop hurting, you just get faster!”
Evan Kang, an 18-year-old high school senior in New Jersey who recently won the paratriathlon competition for NJ State, describes his journey.
“I did some short-distance running before, such as a 5k, and it was nice. However, when my dad and the PHS Triathlon club introduced me to multisport events such as triathlons, at first, I was hesitant because I would have to train for multiple sports,” Kang said. “However, I was proven wrong and actually now prefer longer multisport events like triathlons.”
Tyler Cenci, also 18 and a graduating high school senior, says: “I think that cross-training is important for overall health, even if trying to focus your efforts in one discipline. As a cyclist, I have found that swimming over the winter has improved my abilities on and off the bike. Swimming makes me stronger and helps to maintain my fitness over the winter months.”
In fact, looking across the disciplines of a triathlon reveals why it is such a positive experience for athletes: swimming is not only a fundamental life skill, but provides a low-impact foundational approach for athletes. Cycling helps balance, coordination, and spatial awareness, and running builds on cycling fitness while developing different muscle groups.
Cross-training among these disciplines reduces repetitive stress, builds in recovery between disciplines, and enhances seasonal planning. Furthermore, training and competing in multisport can improve mental development as well, through time management, goal setting across multiple disciplines, and problem-solving through transition management. The sport of triathlon also creates a lifetime approach to athletics.
“I have benefited so much from doing triathlons,” Kang said. “Triathlons made me learn that as long as I put in the work, anything is possible, and it made me step out of my comfort zone to try something new that I now love to do.”
As mentioned, some of the benefits of triathlon stem from the cross-training and its contribution to minimizing injury. Evan Raphael, a rising senior in high school and cross-country standout, highlights this impact: “Since I have gotten injured multiple times while running, I am a firm believer that cross-training holds many benefits and can even help one become a better runner. From my experience, cross-training also allows you to improve your overall strength and fitness because it allows you to work different muscles, thereby addressing any weaknesses and imbalances you may have. While I used to be opposed to cross-training for running, I actually now believe that it can be helpful to reach a specific goal in one sport.”
The findings of a recent study on sport specialization in youth athletes specifically corroborate Raphael’s statement, as David R Bell, et. al concluded that specialized youth athletes are 1.8x more likely to experience an injury due to overtraining in comparison with multisport athletes (2).
Whether or not an athlete chooses to engage in a triathlon, it is critical to be acutely aware of the potential limitations of a single-sport focus. For example, one study found that early sports specialization can result in higher levels of psychological burnout, social development limitations, and overuse injuries. Specifically, the authors point out that specializing before age 12 can lead to a 70 percent higher rate of overuse injuries (3).
Rob Elwood, a long-time coach and innovator in the area of youth sports and founder of Atlas Innovators and Ampsona, says, “I think it's fairly straightforward: the more sports an athlete does, the better. There are many reasons for this, including injury prevention, but also other physical and mental considerations. On the physical side, by playing other sports, an athlete can improve the range of motion and strengths that complement each other. Recruiters at the college level can be concerned about athletes who specialize because they are more injury-prone and burn out faster. There are benefits on the mental side as well, which are often overlooked but are of great importance: some of these include burnout, which is so high among one-sport athletes. Additionally, athletes who specialize undergo the same circumstances all the time. Those who are engaging in more than one sport have a multitude of experiences, including new people, new coaches, and new conditions. These help teach the athlete resilience, mental agility, and a different set of skills and mental fortitude that are huge differentiators.”
Studies underscore the importance of multisport training: one reveals that mental health challenges increase quickly when athletes focus on only one sport at a young age (4). And yet another comprehensive review demonstrated that specialization negatively impacts long-term participation, with roughly 70 percent of youth athletes dropping out of their sport by age 13 and showing reduced motor skill development.
Elwood comments on the growing trend of one-sport specialization: “This has changed a lot over the last couple of decades. These days, most kids focus on one sport. It didn't used to be like this; now, fewer kids are engaging in anything but their main sport. There is an overemphasis on specializing in one sport, and I see it starting very early, too, when they are young.”
Sonya Keaney, a high school freshman, agrees, stating, “Cross-training is something that all athletes should do, in my opinion. Just doing one type of exercise can get you only so far, and training other muscle groups can make you a better and more well-rounded athlete.”
PJ Bogle, a former player on a nationally ranked high school lacrosse team before becoming a captain of the University of Michigan men’s lacrosse team, says, “I think there are a lot of transferable skills that multi-sport athletes develop through participating in a variety of challenges. These skills can improve the overall level of fitness, coordination, and general skill set of an individual to help them achieve a high level of performance/success in one sport in particular.”
On training for multisport events, Bogle states: “It required me to build a program that was more balanced instead of focusing on one area of development. It was fun to have a variety of areas to try to improve on.”
Cenci offers some advice: “I’ve seen many of my friends and peers get injured playing sports in high school. I have unfortunately not been spared from injuries myself, having gotten a stress fracture in my leg from too much running. The most important thing that I’ve learned is to listen to your body and not to overwork yourself.”
Doria Weiss is in her last year as an MD candidate at New York Medical College and is a Research Fellow at Columbia University in Orthopedic Medicine. Shawn Elwood is the founder of Princeton Multisport, Princeton High School Triathlon Club, Wave2Wave Triathlon Club, and the first-ever Princeton Triathlon.
1. Multi-sport Participation and Athletic Development: A Focus on Triathlon (Sports Medicine Review, 2022)
2. Sport Specialization and Risk of Overuse Injury: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis (PubMed, 2018)
3. Physical and Social-Emotional Impact of Early Sport Specialization in Youth Athletics (Sports Medicine, 2023)
4. The Cost of Achievement: Rising Rates of Mental Health Challenges in Youth Sport Specialists (Journal of Athletic Training, 2022)
