Dual Sports Decisions

By Taylor Cole

Everyone has regrets. Some admit them and some don’t. Some people don’t consider them regrets because they were able to learn from them and be better because of that experience.
 
Whatever way we look at it, we can all admit there are things we wish we
would have done differently.
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One of those things for me was not playing basketball all four years of high school.
 
I loved basketball all my life, but even from a young age, it was clear that baseball was what I was going to do at the next level past high school.
 
I don’t know if there was one singular thing that made me decide to not play basketball after my sophomore year,
but I can admit, that I wanted to do everything in my power to get drafted high in the MLB draft and start my professional baseball career.
 
I also feel that I may have had some influence to make that decision that I wish I would not have listened to.
​
I was no slack on the basketball court at Bishop Gorman High School.
 
I was one of two players to be moved up my sophomore year and win a state ring, although I did not get any playing time.
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We would often watch the varsity games after my JV games and I would think how cool it would be to play in front of such an electric crowd.
 
Back then, Bishop Gorman had this small little gym at the old campus and it was loud!
 
It was the high school version of Cameron Indoor at Duke.
 
I never got the chance because I decided that I needed to put 100% focus into baseball. Is that a crime? Not at all, but there are things I wish I would have known.
​
I wish I would have known that my time playing basketball would have not been a
hindrance to my baseball career.
 
In fact, I was so consumed with talking to scouts and other off-the-field things, that playing basketball would have been an outlet for me.
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I also wish I would have known that being a multi-sport athlete is actually something
that can help you be a more well-rounded athlete and recruiters and scouts ironically look at that as a positive.
 
I do admit that I worked hard and even when I was playing basketball I was making sure I stayed on top of the baseball things that would make it
so that I wasn’t behind when I came back.
 
This is not the case for everyone. It’s a big commitment to do multiple things without letting one slide by the wayside.
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With all this being said, I do believe there are some players that need the extra time
only playing one sport to get them over that hump.
 
We do, however, need to be careful that the reason we are doing it is not for some reason that we may regret later.
 
You have to look yourself in the mirror and realize that these opportunities only come so often.
 
What do you want to do?
 
It’s not an easy decision but make sure you are the one making the decision and not someone else.
 
Taylor Cole
MLB Pitcher
BYU, CSN, and Bishop Gorman Alumnus