Not too long ago, it was commonplace for prep athletes to compete in three sports.

Today, it is still common in small schools, but its starting to fade away in bigger schools. Somewhere along the line, it was determined that athletes need to focus on one sport and one sport only if they wanted a chance at playing in college, especially if they wanted to earn a scholarship.

Despite that notion, there is still plenty of room for 3-sport athletes in high school sports.

Just this past fall, Blooming Prairie seniors Madison Worke and Taylor Hagen signed to play college basketball while earning scholarships. Worke, who played volleyball, basketball and softball at BP, signed with Division II Winona State University, and Hagen, who played volleyball, basketball and competed in track and field at BP, signed with Division I Northern Iowa University.

Worke and Hagen aren’t alone either. Lyle-Pacelli’s Jordan Hart, who plays football, basketball and baseball with the Athletics, earned a scholarship to play baseball at Minnesota State-Mankato, Southland grad Alan May, who played football, basketball and baseball for the Rebels, was the No. 2 wide recover at Winona State this past fall and Hayfield grad Dani Wagner, who played volleyball, basketball and softball for the Vikings, is on the Minnesota Gopher softball team.

The fact of the matter is, if you’re a good athlete, colleges are probably going to find you and playing more than one sport probably isn’t going to hurt you. A lot of colleges do most of their recruiting at AAU games and camps in the summer anyways, so students might as well take advantage of their time in high school where they can compete in multiple sports. Competing in different sports makes athletes more versatile and well rounded, and it also gives them a chance to compete year-round for their school.

If Worke never played softball, she never would’ve been part of a state championship team in 2013 and if May had never played baseball, he would’ve missed out on two state tournament appearances in that sport with the Rebels.

There’s also the camaraderie that athletes get from competing together year round. They grow closer and build stronger friendships that may last a lifetime.

Obviously there are some cases where an athlete may not want to compete in different sports, because they don’t care for them or they fear injury. But if you’re a high school kid who loves more than one sport, but wants to compete at the college level, you should never be afraid to compete in all of the sports that you love.

If an athlete is good enough, chances are they’ll be found by a college that is willing to give them a chance.