The Best Sport Combinations For Athletes

Ria Beri ‘27
EE Staff Writer

Many of our Trumbull High athletes participate in two sports that help out with one another to maximize their performance in both sports. While any sports combination is essentially good as the majority of sports require physical strength, strategy, and coordination; some combinations are more beneficial to the athletes than others. Based on research and the opinions of our student body, we have listed some of these combinations below:

Football and Wrestling
Because of the tackle nature of football, football players tend to be very big and muscular. Players need big bodies to block opponents and prevent themselves from being tackled. Similar to football, this big, muscular body can help wrestlers takedown their opponents and resist their attacks. Both sports require the athlete to be able to move and escape their opponent. Also, hands are used to fight the opponent in both sports, whether it’s for possession of the ball or dominance on the wrestling mat. In both games, athletes must have coordination and physical strength, making it ideal that both football and wrestling are played together. “While sports like basketball, soccer, ice hockey, and track can improve an athlete’s agility and speed, no other sport is as beneficial to football players as wrestling”, says an article in Hudl, a site dedicated to school athletes and coaches. In fact, 6% of NFL Hall of Fame Inductees wrestled in high school and/or college, showing just how well the two sports go together. 

Basketball and Soccer

Personally, I know of many fellow Trumbull athletes who used to/do participate in both basketball and soccer. I think that the reason why this combination is so popular is because both sports have similar offensive-defensive structures. Players are constantly trying to score but are not penalized if they make a mistake, the way they are in sports like tennis and volleyball  (this encourages them to take more risks). Also, there is a very similar teamwork aspect in both sports. While you can get away with avoiding team communication in cross country, tennis, and swimming, communication and trust in your teammates is essential to winning in these sports. You are constantly passing around the ball and relying on others to be in on your strategy and help you score. Both sports require very good stamina as players are constantly running, and agility is needed to weave around the players on the court. Even the game structures are very similar, there being countdowns and overtimes. Because the two sports require so much of the same strategies and movements, they are a very popular combination.

Track and Cross Country
This is definitely one of the more obvious combinations. Both sports are mainly running-based, with track being short-distance and cross country being long-distance. While track is better for building speed, cross country is better for building stamina. Both are key elements in running, so, for serious runners, participating in both sports is a good idea.

“I do XC and track as my sports combo because each of the seasons individually compliment each other”, said junior Aarushi Sharma, a participant in both sports. “Of course, the general basis of both sports is running, but more than that, each of the sports help me prepare for the other”. “I started off doing track in order to train before XC season but eventually learned that XC season was also training me for track”, she added.

The only downside to track is that it also contains field activities such as hurdles, javelin throwing, and jumps, which some cross country runners may not have experience with. As someone who runs cross country but not track myself, I would recommend that, if you are more fast-paced and like to go all out and sprint for shorter periods of time, join track. Every second counts and, especially in the 400m race, there is no such thing as pacing- you just have to sprint the whole way and give it your all. Cross country is better for those people who like to steadily pick up their speed as the race goes on. Because the cross country courses are so much longer than the track ones (we’re talking 2 mins vs 20 mins), even if you have a bad start, you can easily compensate for it by running at a fast pace for the rest of the race.

Tennis and Volleyball
Not only are these two games similar in structure with serving and keeping the ball above the net, but they also incorporate similar movements. For starters, both sports require lots of footwork, balance, and anticipation. Players have to be constantly predicting where the ball is going to go and then running to hit it on time. They must constantly be on their toes and possess the balance necessary to hit a ball quickly coming from any direction. Additionally, both sports help athletes build communication skills as players have to constantly strategize with their partner (moreso in tennis doubles than singles). Both sports require strong arms to be able to send the ball far and strong legs to be able to move around. Since both sports are so similar, playing both of them is a good idea as an athlete can continue working on their strength and coordination in one sport during the off season of the other sport.