Creek football players talk about the benefits of playing multiple sports

Transitioning from sport to sport can be a laborious task to most, but for many Coahulla Creek football players it is a great advantage in physicality and skill sets. As a result, The Creek has had many multiple-sport athletes go on to play at the collegiate level, with the Colt football program producing several of those college athletes. 

Many of the football players that have advanced to the next level were involved in more than just their main sport: football. While the majority of them committed to playing football, they had their successes in their neighboring sports. 

A perfect example of this is Chase Ward and his historic senior season at The Creek, winning Region 6-3A Player of the Year in both football and basketball. Ward is a versatile player who has shown his outstanding talents on the hardwood and the gridiron. However, it is not as easy as it looks to go from sport to sport. The hardest thing for Chase to adapt to when playing two sports is the personalities. There are different mindsets required to play each sport, so transitioning from his football teammates to his basketball ones is an adjustment each year. Ward thanks football for improving his physicality to play a better brand of basketball, and thanks basketball for his explosiveness that allows him to “get down the court easily” and “gain speed on the field as well.” 

Freshman Waelyn Baliles seconds Ward’s statement saying basketball “keeps me in shape and [is] helping my change of direction”, which is crucial for Waelyn as a freshman quarterback. Baliles also admires “how both sports compliment each other” and he further explains that “being physical under the basket can help me score [in basketball] while the change of direction can help me avoid being tackled in football.” 

He also explains that it’s not just physically that his skills get sharpened as a dual sport athlete, it’s mentally as well. “I’ve learned how to keep my composure in difficult situations.” This self-control will only benefit him further as an uprising QB for Coahulla Creek.

While basketball occupies some football players time, baseball is another sport that has produced some proficient athletes. Sewanee University committ Keith Collins shared his insight on what it has been like to devote himself to playing and succeeding in football, basketball, and baseball throughout his high school career. Keith has noticed several improvements in football because of his time spent in the outfield during baseball season. Keith explained, ”My hand-eye coordination has definitely improved” and this is certainly evident in his time on the football field, breaking multiple records as a wide receiver during the 2023 season, and earning 1st Team All-Region honors as defensive back. 

Not only has Keith improved athletically, he has also learned a lesson about relying on his teammates “because one person can not win by themselves.” When asked how his skills on the baseball field would further his football career in college, Keith claimed that he would have an “edge over other returners” because “catching fly balls in the outfield is very similar to catching kicks and punts.”

Another college commit Luke Swiney follows previous statements when describing how football has benefited his speed “tremendously.” Swiney was a Coahulla Creek football player for only one season, but earned 2nd Team All-Region on offense as a result of his hard work. Having that physicality and ability to “work other muscles” was an aspect that benefited him in his success during his career. As many know, Swiney is furthering his baseball career at Chattanooga State and wouldn’t have done it if it was not for the coaching he has received here at the Creek. He credits tough coaching to helping make him an “overall better player”.

Head Football Coach Drew Carter shared his input on these multi-sport athletes. When asked about how these players’ playing other sports impacts their performance on the football field he states that “since they are constantly competing year round on different surfaces and venues it makes them a better athlete overall.” He describes the players as “well-rounded” and  “hardworking” to be successful in their sports.

The Colt football team doesn’t just have athletes in baseball and basketball, we have wrestlers like Jackson and Levi Lowery, Chevy Joyce, and Danny Lidy, as well as many others competing on our track & field team, and other winter and spring sports.

By: Ava Howell & Jenny Cook – Coahulla Creek Football Writers