In a time of pushy parents, specialization, athletic scholarships and club teams, the high school three-sport athlete seems to be a thing of the past. Athletes tend to focus on one sport for a chance at playing the sport collegiately, among many other reasons.

“I think there is much more ‘specialization’ for sports than there used to be,” Activities Director Mark Linneman said. “I like the idea of encouraging multi-sport athletes, however, if they feel they can handle it, because you can’t teach competition any better way.”

MHS still does have a few athletes that fit the three-sport athlete billing. Juniors Jordan Singer and Mattie Eversole and Kelly Dunlap, sophomore, all play a sport in the fall, winter and spring seasons.

Singer plays varsity soccer, varsity basketball and track and field. He has lettered in soccer and basketball all three years. This spring will be his first season running track.

Singer said it takes a lot of commitment and time management to play a sport every season.

“It’s hard never being able to go home after school,” Singer said. “It is a big time commitment.”

And while it is an accomplishment in itself to make a team at a school of more than 2,500 students, Singer has managed to be very successful in each sport.

On the soccer field, Singer, a forward, had six goals and six assists, good for third and fourth on the team respectably. This earned him All-Conference honorable mention honors. In basketball, Singer was a key part in leading MHS to its first district title in 15 years. With fewer than 35 seconds to play, he stole and then laid in the ball to tie the game against Parkway South. Overall, he averaged 4.8 points per game, draining 29 three pointers and dishing out 46 assists.

Singer said he is running track this year mostly to stay in shape for soccer and basketball. However, he is hoping to be a very strong runner for the team.

And after having really only four or five days to go home after school this year, don’t think Singer will take a break over the summer.

“I’ll have basketball workouts and soccer camps mostly,” Singer said. “So basically my whole summer will

be spent playing sports.”

Mattie Eversole plays tennis, swimming and water polo. She has competed in all three since her freshmen year. This year, Eversole played varsity tennis as well as varsity swimming. For water polo, she will be playing with the junior varsity.

Playing a sport every season has been very time consuming, but Eversole said she does it because she truly loves playing each sport.

“Swimming is definitely my favorite sport, but I really like them all,” Eversole said.

Eversole said she really only gets about a month off in between tennis and swimming during the school year. She, along with Singer, also said that being disciplined is key in being able to get things done outside of sports such as school work.

“It’s tough, but once I get home I just have to tell myself to sit down and do it right away,” Eversole said.

Kelly Dunlap, sophomore, also competes in three sports. She plays field hockey, basketball, and soccer.

And even as sophomore, she has been able to get playing time at the varsity level in all three.

Dunlap helped the field hockey team reach the final four as a defender. In basketball, she swung between varsity and junior varsity, but was still able to total 2.3 points per game in her limited varsity action. She also scored one goal and had one assist in her freshman soccer season.

Dunlap said she chooses to play three sports to always keep everything fresh.

“I really love all of the sports, but switching to different sports keeps me rejuvenated,” Dunlap said. “I have different friends on each of the teams so it’s nice to see them.”

And while playing three sports has been a great experience, Dunlap said there are some challenges. She said because each sport requires different fitness levels, it is hard to get up speed due to the lack of off-season training a three-sport athlete will be able to get.

Dunlap said she also has to manage her time very well for fitting in school work and other things.

“I do a lot of my homework on the weekends,” Dunlap said. ” But the positives definitely outweigh the negatives.”