PROFILE 2014 3-SPORT ATHLETES
k hasn’t become a major issue, he said. “In a high school like Faribault, . we’re kind of in the middle as far s as (high school) sizes,” Hubert said. I “With the number of sports that , we have, having 23 different sports e at the high school level, we really d need kids who want to be multipleh sport athletes. We need kids who - are two- and three-sport athletes if o we’re going to have a chance to be e successful.” e That’s why Hubert, who also is e the coach of the girls swimming and u diving team, encourages his swimt mers and divers at their end-of-theyear banquet to stay active, and in 6 some cases that means competing 7 in another sport. - Hubert also noted that athletic l scholarships are not as abundant as n the public may think. Many coaches, , in fact, are looking for multiples sport athletes, he said. - “(Playing multiple sports) doesn’t n make them worse at any particular t sport, to be quite honest,” Hubert
said. “If they’re an athlete, they’re going to be successful no matter what. They don’t have to focus on just one sport all the time.” Both FHS and Bethlehem Academy recognize threesport athletes each year. Those who have competed in three sports for all four years at FHS are honored. It’s an Clark accolade that has been given out less through the years, though, Hubert said. At BA, Athletic Director Ed Friesen recognizes seniors who have lettered in three varsity sports each year. He started the award in 1993 to promote and encourage underclassmen to join three sports, he said. Most years he’s handed the award to three to six seniors, but the past couple of years, eight to 10 seniors have earned it. BA, which has an MSHSL-adjusted enrollment of 193, has a total of 29 athletes — eight seniors, three
juniors, seven sophomores and 11 freshmen — who are in three sports this school year. That’s more now than, say, in the 1990s, Friesen said. “Last year’s graduating class, they were a very sports-interested class,” Friesen said. “This year’s seniors are very much a sports-oriented class, and so you’ve got a lot of kids from those two classes who are doing three sports.” Friesen said he sees a pattern of attrition at BA: Fewer upperclassmen, for a variety of reasons, tend to compete in multiple sports than freshmen and sophomores. He’s also seen more interest in football since the surging success of BA’s program, which played in the Class A Prep Bowl in 2012 and made it back to state in 2013. Pete Clark is one of the three BA juniors enrolled in three sports (football, basketball and baseball).
For Clark, it’s a family affair: Clark’s older brother, Adam, played the same three sports at BA before graduating in 2013. His two younger brothers also are involved in three sports. “It influenced me a lot, it gave me motivation,” Clark said. “Always looking up to your older siblings, you want to be just like them.” While three-sport athletes have their own set of challenges — juggling schoolwork and other extracurriculars, finding time to work a part-time job, being stretched too thin, etc. — Clark has found certain life lessons through his time in athletics. “A lot of what we learn about in sports is (about) being responsible,” Clark said. “It helps with your responsibility, and it helps with your respect of the game and of yourself, and of other people, too.”
3-SPORT ATHLETES AT FHS, BA Faribault High School Seniors: 9 Juniors: 8 Sophomores: 8 Freshmen: 11 Bethlehem Academy Seniors: 8 Juniors: 3 Sophomores: 7 Freshmen: 11
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