By Samantha Keller ‘19 and Samuel Lawler ‘19, Sports Editors

There comes a point in every athlete’s life where the purpose of sports transitions from being exclusively about enjoyment and recreation to being a more serious, structured commitment. Not only has the age in which this transition occurs become younger and younger, but youth sports have evolved to emphasize excelling over having fun. One contributor to this evolution is the concept of specialization. Sports specialization refers to intense training in one sport, while specifically excluding others. The debate regarding the effects of sports specialization, as opposed to exposure to a variety of sports, has repeatedly resurfaced in the athletic world. While some argue that early sports specialization contributes to athletes burning out, there is opposing, concrete evidence that increased practice time in one sport corresponds to elevated performance in competition. Either way, one thing is for sure: sports specialization creates challenges for athletic programs in small private schools, like Newark Academy, which are forced to fill rosters with fewer numbers. In order to capture some perspective on the difference between athletes who specialize and those who don’t, we interviewed three-sport athlete Giulia Socolof (Soccer, Track, and Hockey), and specialized lacrosse player Jack Snyder.

Giulia Socolof ‘19:

Have you always played three sports in high school at NA/in general?
Yeah I have been on the varsity soccer and track teams at Newark Academy since I was a freshman. I think I have been a been a pretty big contributor and I will be a captain of the track team this Spring. In addition to that, I play on a pretty competitive club hockey team outside of school which runs from the middle of September to about early April.

What is the main difference between playing three sports and taking a season off?
I would say it just gets difficult to manage work because while other students are in the offseason they might have more time to hang out with friends, get home, and be done with their homework by 6 o’clock, but I’ve never really experienced that. I definitely have to do a lot more work budgeting my time and especially during the fall, when soccer and hockey have a lot of overlap, running around from practice to practice and occasionally when there are conflicts I have to make a sacrifice.

How do you balance the tough NA workload with being a 3-sport athlete? What have you learned throughout the years?
It’s pretty difficult. One thing I’ve learned is how to get a lot of homework done in school and as efficiently as possible. And I also know that some assignments are going to require a lot more effort and pay more attention to those, versus if there is a class where I know I can do the assignments quickly I may give them less focus. And then I also keep in mind that NA teachers are there to help me and do a pretty good job of asking for extensions when I need it.

What are the pros of playing three sports at NA?
I love all the sports that I do and I have a lot of fun doing them. As much as it forces me to manage my time a lot better or takes away time during the week/weekends that I could be social, I generally think that keeping busy is a lot better for my health than spending a lot of time idle. It also keeps me in shape as well as mentally healthy.

What are the cons of playing three sports at NA?
The cons go hand in hand with pros. It stinks that on the weekends if I have to spend one day in Pennsylvania for hockey and spend the next day up near Boston, I can’t hang out with my friends as much, but I guess I counter that by enjoying the time I spend with my teammates.

Do you ever wish you had a season off?
Well, funny story… when I was a freshman I spent one week on the varsity basketball team here at NA because I played basketball in middle school and had fun with it and wanted to see if I could continue that in high school. Because hockey practices are usually later at night, I was thinking “ok maybe can I try and manage this” but after only a week it became very clear to me that the intense schedule of basketball at Newark Academy during the winter, which is definitely the biggest and busiest season for Hockey, was just not going to work out so I unfortunately had to quit. But yes, there are times when I do kind of wish I had an offseason. It is definitely frustrating when my friends will ask me to do something or everyone else gets to spend a lot of time working on a project that I don’t, but I think in general I value keeping busy and doing these things a lot more than I’d value an offseason.

Was there ever a time that you wanted to specialize in one of your three sports?
Yeah, when I was younger and I was playing hockey, I had these big dreams because hockey is a sport that not that many girls play, so I thought maybe this is a sport that I could take further and get better at. I definitely work pretty hard at it, but when I was 12 I did not make the team that I wanted and that kind of crushed those dreams. I didn’t really think about the possibility of getting recruited to play division 3 hockey in college until it was too late.
Also, I started running track in middle school because I didn’t have a spring sport at Newark Academy. I really loved it and then when I came into high school, I was a fair hurdler, but I was always kind of “Newark Academy good,” not really competitive on the state level, so I never thought about trying to get some private coaching.

Do you ever feel that you lack skill in one sport because of the time you spent practicing another?
Yeah, I would say I feel the biggest deficiency in soccer because the majority of the varsity soccer team at NA plays club soccer all year round. I think by the time we get into the postseason in soccer I’ve gotten my soccer-feet back under me, but I really feel in preseason and through most of September I am very behind skill-wise and I notice it on the field too. While I think I am a pretty aggressive and smart player, I just don’t have the foot skills to always carry out what I want to do and a lot of other players can.

In your opinion, what are the benefits of playing more than one sport?
One thing I really enjoy about it is that I am able to take a lot of the things I learn in one sport and apply them to another sport. So I’ve been thinking a lot about this in hockey lately because my team this year doesn’t quite know how to work together well yet and a lot of times we try to make really complicated passes that don’t work out a lot. I always think back to soccer and how much you have to move off the ball to get open and can’t have the ball for more than two seconds because somebody is going to come at you. So I think a lot about that and learning how to make similar passes on the ice.

Jack Snyder III ‘19:

Why did you choose to play just lacrosse?
I chose lacrosse over every other sport because it is the perfect mix of IQ, athleticism, and technical skill. Although I’m probably the 24th biggest player on the team (which is pretty good considering we have 24 kids on the team) size is something I can work around in order to succeed in the sport. Not only is lacrosse easily the most superior sport in the world, it’s fun. I love playing every second. I don’t train every day of the year out of obligation, but out of genuine passion for the game. I couldn’t tell you exactly what it is, but something just clicked a few years ago and ever since then I haven’t been able to get lacrosse off of my mind.

Have you ever played a different sport in your life? Did you ever play more than one sport at NA?
Freshman year, I was a 3-sport athlete. I ran cross-country and winter track as well as played my main sport: lacrosse. My mom made me run cross country because she wanted me to meet kids at NA before school started. I didn’t know running 6 miles a day was the only way to make friends but it worked. Although I made Varsity freshman year and I loved the team, I had to prioritize. Since NA is academically demanding and lacrosse was my main sport I quit winter track. Even being a 2-sport athlete sophomore year was tough, but manageable. What forced me to be a 1-sport athlete was when I tore my meniscus the summer before junior year. Between surgery and recovery, I couldn’t run XC junior year.

Have you ever been interested in playing another sport?
I’m very interested in playing other sports. I used to play tennis and baseball as a kid and loved both. I’ve also always wanted to play basketball and golf. I would’ve played tennis if the team wasn’t so mediocre, but unfortunately the team didn’t live up to my standards. I always say that if baseball was a fall sport I would absolutely play; not only to make friends without running shirtless down Eisenhower Parkway, but because baseball was my main sport for most of my life and I wish it wasn’t the same season as lacrosse—I loved it. Although I was always picked last when I played pick-up games with grown men at the YMCA in middle school, I can touch bottom of the net now so I feel like I’d be a major contributor on the basketball team here at school. I know since I stand at 6ft. 12in. when standing on a very tall table that everyone I talk to is very confused that I don’t play basketball for NA, but maybe I’ll make an appearance during March Madness during my college career. Looking back on it, I don’t think I’m missing much by not playing golf, I’m honestly pretty content playing mini golf every once in a while.

How do you balance the NA workload when you’re in-season, compared to when you are not playing a sport?
Attending NA and not playing a sport is challenging enough. I honestly still don’t know what IB is but whatever it is, it’s hard. But if I’m being frank, I work more efficiently during the season. Since I’m forced to do such a large amount of work in such little time, I have no choice but to be productive. While being productive is counter-intuitive to the average teenager, it actually feels nice to get work done before 4 AM.

Do you ever feel that your commitment to your one sport is a burden?
Not at all. #laxislyfe

Because you are specifically talented in this one sport, do you ever feel pressure to excel more than individuals who are multi-sport athletes?
Honestly, that has never really crossed my mind. Maybe it’s because I used to be a multi-sport athlete, but I never felt better than anyone else because of it and I definitely didn’t let me think that it was okay to be a little bit worse than someone on the team because it was their only sport. Every sport I played I worked for like it was my only sport. Basically, I don’t really feel any pressure because of anyone else, I kind of just focus on myself.