There was a time not all that long ago when the school calendar, not a training schedule, dictated an athlete’s life.

In small towns like Sistersville, Middlebourne and New Martinsville, the year flowed naturally from football in the fall, basketball in the winter, baseball or track in the spring. If you were an athlete at Tyler Consolidated, Paden City High or Magnolia, you didn’t specialize. You participated. You competed. You stayed busy. And in doing so, you became more than just a player at one position. You became an all-around athlete, and maybe more importantly, a cornerstone of your school community.

Growing up in Sistersville and attending Sistersville High School, a small class A school in WV, it was vital that as many athletes that were able play multiple sports. I was no exception. During my senior year, I lettered in five sports. Football, basketball, baseball, track and golf. I remember one day, we had an early afternoon baseball game and as soon as it finished, I rushed down to the golf course to participate in a golf match to fill an open spot on the team. I was chosen because I probably was the only one that had golf clubs, not because I was good. Thinking back on my high school years in athletics, most of my friends played many sports. Focusing on one sport was just not possible to keep SHS competitive.

Today, that model is fading. Modern athletes are increasingly pushed sometimes by coaches, sometimes by parents, sometimes by the system itself, to specialize early. The message is clear. Pick a sport, train year-round, join travel teams, attend camps, and “fine-tune” your craft if you want to succeed. The thinking today goes that the more skilled athletes have a better shot at landing a scholarship. For a select few chasing scholarships or elite competition, that path can make sense.

But in rural West Virginia, it comes at a cost. Schools like Tyler Consolidated, River, Valley, and Magnolia don’t have the luxury of deep enrollment numbers. They rely on multi-sport athletes not just for success, but for survival. When one or two athletes step away from a secondary sport to focus on a primary one, it doesn’t just weaken a roster. It can fundamentally change a program. A basketball team might lose its starting point guard. A baseball team might be without its best pitcher. A track team might struggle to fill events. And the ripple effects don’t stop there.

There’s also the big question of development. Ask many long-term coaches, and they’ll tell you the best athletes aren’t always the ones who trained year-round in one sport. They’re the ones who competed in three or four. Football builds toughness. Basketball sharpens footwork. Baseball teaches patience and timing. Track develops speed and endurance. Each sport feeds the other. When athletes narrow their focus too early, they may gain technical skill but often at the expense of overall athleticism.

And then there’s the simplest truth of all. Kids used to play because they loved to play. They didn’t worry about rankings or exposure. They didn’t measure success by scholarship offers. They showed up for practice, put on whatever uniform was in season, and represented their school. That kind of experience created not just better athletes, but stronger kids.

None of this is to say that specialization is wrong. The landscape of sports has changed, and opportunities today are different than they were a generation ago. But in places like Tyler and Wetzel Counties, where community and school pride are tightly woven together, the loss of the multi-sport athlete is felt more deeply.

If you are heading north on State Rt 2, you can’t help but notice the billboard in New Martinsville at the site of the old Burlingame Hotel standing tall as a tribute to Eliana Winfrey and her remarkable accomplishment. After capturing a third state wrestling title in March while representing Tyler Consolidated High School, Winfrey’s achievement is now celebrated in a way the entire community can see and take pride in. It’s more than just a billboard. It’s a reminder for all of us of what dedication and hard work can produce, and a fitting way to honor one of Tyler County’s finest young athletes. Congratulations, Eliana!