Let the kids do what they want, if they are good enough and fit enough to do both then do it as they could hurt themselves in their sleep or crossing the road or wrestling with mates as i did before a carnival many years ago. If they were getting paid to play then obviously they should commit but they are doing it for fun so let them have fun.
just my opinion.

I don't understand where you are coming from, my son is one of those players who is playing football and hopefully will be chosen tommorrow at selections.They have reserves for injuries,if your child has not made the cut, then you should be encouraging others to play the violent game of football.A child can be injured at school playing,crossing the road etc. The word commitment annoys me multi sport athlete are generally fitter,have better balanced lives,abilities not to be a one dimensional athletes.This is not like any other basketball carnival this is about winning not development. My son has made a commitment he is sacrificing not playing in the Country cup the same week.Does your child train or play sports 6 days a week.Battlers like your child will always work hard and push multi athletes this will make SA competitve this year.Trust me it is cheaper playing football now I am a battler having to possibly raise $5000 for the trip.

i agree - seen kids moved for supposed "talents" only to find them gone after a year or two for many reasons.

if your team has space - why not include both players for state champs - the battler can play when the footy plyer needs down time or is away

Hey Ron prob with your suggestion is that the Coaches dont seem to allow for these situations, then when they look at the dedicated kids who do choose Ball to fill the spots when the talented kids go to footy or whatever, the kids that are left dont know the plays because they havent been training up, then generally dont tend to perform well, even though they may have the potential to. That is why the talented kids do walk in and walk out as they please.

As long as the kids can fulfil their commitment to the team it does not matter how many sports they play, they just need to manage their bodies.

The issue faced here is what is the commitment? If you say players must make all practice sessions to play then you can not have the player who will choose footy at the drop of a hat.

COMMITMENT = the state or an instance of being obligated or emotionally impelled, which sounds like a lot of these kids aren't, seems to be more about "I" than anything else

Hey thesaurus boy or girl if you are going to make an allegation back it up with a fact or two.Explain to me the so called footballers what trainings are they no making. Sounds like sour grapes get your head out of your thesaurus and arse and explain.

more false allegations put up or shut up I asked a question don't get personal.At least people on this forum sign their name to their allegations.

Been there done that and DON'T want to do that again! We all want our kids to try anything they want, and have a go. My experience with kids doing footy and basketball at the same time was a total disaster. In retrospect it was probably a bit selfish. The footy team resented the kid because they had to leave the footy game early to go to basketball game on the other side of town. The basketball kids were ticked off because the child was buggered before the game had even started. As a result the kid never truly gelled with the either team for a whole season. What a waste! Commit to one at a time in any given season and give it 100%. If State Champs aren't that important to them maybe they shouldn't be playing! There are plenty of other seasons to give other things a go.

How about being "above the counter" and tell the footy coach about your kids other commitments. My brother juggled District and State Basketball commitments, along with club footy trainings and games.

Why can't the kid miss a game of footy during state champs?

What happens when the kid chooses footy ahead of going to classics or playing in state trials. Does that change the perception ? Believe a kid from country played footy instead of metro /country practice game yesterday. Metro won by 15 or so. Could not have helped countries cause surely him not playing. That's not commitment.

dont judge kids commitmnet when you dont know all the facts.

I say commit to one sport!!!! Cos you let your team and team mates down!!!!!!!!

wrong this was planned think outside the square did this give the opportunity for another person to show coaches/selectors.Sour grapes are you from metro or SAC I heard it was a good quality game well done metro. I am assuming you are from SAC child on the borderline playing same position as my son.For your information my son will not miss another training session,he is sacrificing not playing 3 games of football, the Captaincy of the Association footy team.Because he has chosen to be available for Nationals he is not playing SA country cup as well as not being picked for the Qantas Indigenous camp that plays at the MCG.Yeah my son has made no sacrifice, due to our footy number being low had to play 2 games of footy last Saturday then he showed dedication to train in the afternoon session.

Lighten up - kids should play more than one sport. Basketball insists on running for 11 months of the year so it's going to clash with life from time to time.

IMHO football improves basketballers, particularly in fitness, strength and willingness to scramble for the loose ball.

I think describing the state champs as "the most important event on the calendar" is a bit of an exaggeration. The importance of the event is for Nationals/Classics qualification rather than winning the State Champs. For most it's a carnival against the same teams you play week in week out.

The harder question than basketball v football is always school formals. Do you miss a game or two in the State Champs for a one off event?

Yes good to play a couple of sports, but at some point if you want to really excel at one you have to choose, I hardly know of any sportspeople that have succeeded to the fullest potential by playing 2 sports in the same season. One exmaple of moderate success is Craig Bradley, brilliant footballer, brilliant cricketer and dedication to his chosen sports and in looking after his body like you wouldnt believe. But the sports are different seasons. Even though he didnt play high level cricket for Australia, I believe had he chosen cricket as a sole sport he may quite well have. I would suggest that because of the commitment of playing Div 1 basketball that the kids that want to do both should play div 2 and Div 2's play Div 3. That way if they really want to be in Div 1, they should choose by a certain age. The formal thing - State Champs I think is on the same weekend every year. Why cant the organisers of the formals plan around this eg 1 week later, or in the school holidays before, makes sense doesnt it!

I played against Craig Bradley in football and cricket, he played for Enfield High School.He was a true athlete but he ultimately made his decision of Football when he was 18. He played a season or two from memory for Port Magpies before trekking to Carlton with Kernahan, Motley and Naley in 1985.My son in previous posts has been criticised for playing two sports and he is just 14.I think it is important that honesty with relevant coaches be paramount.

"He played a season or two from memory for Port Magpies before trekking to Carlton with Kernahan, Motley and Naley in 1985"


Started with Magpies in 1981, left in 1986 after 98 games with the Magpies. Played 375 games for Carlton, and 4 Sheffield Shield games (2 for SA, 2 for Vic).

501 senior AFL games, 4 Sheffield Shield games.

He made the choice to concentrate on footy, sure, but most people naturally gifted in sport can find a way to play both until that choice needs to be ultimately made..I say let them play whatever until it is not possible to do more than one... 14/15 year olds need to be able to see what sport is really their calling in life.


What if these kids that are playing both sports then concentrate solely on basketball, and miss that call up to a cricket/footy team that could make their career? Should this happen just because another parent calls for a one sport rule?


Seems a bit selfish really. Get out their kids, play as many different sports as possible.

Good call DB5

I agree with DaddyO "The importance of the event is for Nationals/Classics qualification rather than winning the State Champs". The winter grand final is the one we would prefer to win.

I'd be very concerned for the girls if it was only two teams to consider!

disagree here...what age?

Beentheredonethat; I had the same thing happen with my son some years ago. Footy & Bball constantly clashed. As he had only taken up footy for the 1st time we told him that his commitment to the bball club must come 1st because that is who he commited to 1st.

We had the footy coach bagging bball every game & training & we had the Bball coach bagging footy at every game & training.

From my point of view I was happy to take him to both for as long as he wanted as long as his 1st commitment did not suffer unfairly. He did miss some trainings for both sports, only because he was training at the other. Games did not clash. During state champs he decided it was better to miss one footy game than miss a shot at state.

My son stuck out footy for the season then came to the conclusion himself that he would rather play bball.

A huge consideration for my son was the footy games at 8.30am on cold wintery & wet sunday mornings.

He decided that he would rather stay out of the elements and play indoors.

This was back in u14's. He is now a second year u18 and still loving it.

The one thing I do miss about footy on Sunday mornings was the BBQ brekys that every footy club put on.