June 23, 2014
It's exciting to watch our children excel at the sports they love. Working hard toward a personal best or perfecting a specific technique are critical to success, but let's also remember that playing multiple sports can be tremendously beneficial in the long run - and a lot of fun for our kids.
Branching out from just one sport offers youth athletes both physical and mental benefits, from enhancing current skills to learning to appreciate the new skills required by a different sport.
Liberty Mutual Insurance Responsible Sports sat down with USA Water Polo standout Kami Craig to get her thoughts on playing multiple sports.
In our exclusive TAKE 5 interview, Kami told us that growing up, she had "a ton of energy," which she soon learned to channel into playing sports. Kami said she started with swimming, then got into playing basketball, volleyball and eventually, water polo.
"As I gained momentum as a developing athlete, I always stayed true to the fact that I was playing for fun above anything else," said Kami. "I thoroughly enjoyed playing, and was always supported by my parents in my efforts. I have a lot of great memories of playing sports growing up."
Kami said that playing so many different sports was not only fun and exciting, but also helped her develop the many skills needed to excel in the highly demanding sport of water polo. Her strong swimming background played a very big role.
"I would recommend to anyone without a swim background who was interested in starting water polo to spend some time swimming first and getting comfortable in the water," said Kami. "Half of the hard work of water polo is the swimming, and I had been practicing swimming since I was four."
Kami also shared her story of how, when and why she decided to specialize in water polo in this exclusive interview. She added that she is also very active in other outside sports and activities, naming surfing, beach volleyball, hiking and yoga as some of her favorites.
"I have always been active, and I don't think that will ever change," said Kami.
To read the full TAKE 5 interview with Kami, visit ResponsibleSports.com. And come back next month for another exclusive TAKE 5 interview!
At Liberty Mutual Insurance, we constantly look for ways to celebrate the countless acts of responsibility shown by people every day. We created Responsible Sports, powered by Positive Coaching Alliance, as part of this belief to help ensure that our kids experience the best that sports have to offer in environments that promote and display responsibility. We believe kids can learn valuable life lessons when coaches and parents come together to support in and out of the pool.
©2014 Liberty Mutual Insurance Company
