Specialize or branch out?

On one hand, college recruiters scour offseason club and travel tournaments for potential recruits.

On the other hand, many college coaches prefer well-rounded athletes who excel in more than one sport.

No wonder many high school athletes with hopes of playing in college struggle to decide just how much time and effort to dedicate to a single sport.

"Everyone wants an athlete, not just a big guy who can move around," said Ian Anderson, a rising senior at Hilton Head Preparatory School and a coveted offensive line prospect in football. "It was surprising to me, because I thought (college recruiters) would say one sport all the time and train, train, train. But they said you do that in college, so you might as well enjoy other sports while you're can, and if you're athletic enough to play them, go ahead and play them in high school."

Still, getting noticed is half the battle for aspiring college athletes, and in many sports that means playing for club or travel teams. It might even mean playing one sport year-round. College football coaches -- and to some degree, basketball coaches -- still tend to recruit mostly based on an athlete's high school performance, but coaches in many other sports rely heavily on seeing recruits play for travel teams and in showcase tournaments, where they can evaluate more top-level athletes at one time.

"Club ball is where college coaches see you, not high school," said Al Stern, founder and coach of the Lowcountry Volleyball Club and Bluffton High School's head volleyball coach. "If you're just an unusually fabulous athlete, you can be seen playing high school. They'll find you. But the thing is, there are so many good players, you've got to sell yourself."

But Anderson, who hopes to land an NCAA Division I football scholarship, is learning that once an athlete is on college coaches' radar screens, having a multi-sport background can be valuable.

"Mike Siravo at Boston College and Shane Beamer at South Carolina, all these guys are saying they love athletes, not just big lugs with a lot of weight on them who are only playing one sport," Anderson said. "That was very interesting for me to hear."

Anderson spent most of his youth playing baseball year-round, but after having Tommy John surgery to replace the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow at age 14 and growing to 6-foot-7, 285 pounds before his junior year of high school, he shifted his focus to football. He continued to pitch for Hilton Head Prep this spring, though, and he says he's glad he did because all of the coaches recruiting him have asked whether he plays other sports.

That thinking is not limited to football coaches, says Ray Tanner, the head baseball coach at the University of South Carolina.

"Put it this way," Tanner said, "if I had a choice, I would take the three-sport athlete.

"I'm not going to eliminate a guy who only plays baseball, but when I run into a recruit that plays multiple sports, it is an attraction. I was a three-sport guy. ... I like the multi-sport athletes just because they're doing something different, so they're well-rounded."

Former Hilton Head Island resident Ray Yost, who operated a college recruiting service until resuming his duties as men's and women's tennis coach at NCAA Division II Mercyhurst College this year, says the value of specialization depends on the sport and the school doing the recruiting.

As a tennis coach, Yost said he tends to value year-round athletes more than a coach might in a sport that doesn't require such refined skills, and he says college coaches at different levels often look for different things in recruits.

"If you talk about the top 100 teams in Division I, yeah, they're going after the kid who plays basketball year-round and goes to all the camps," Yost said. "At Division II or III, or a junior college, they're more likely to take a kid who plays multiple sports and is athletic."

That creates a catch-22, particularly for athletes who feel they are on the borderline between earning a Division I scholarship or playing at a smaller school. They feel compelled to develop their talent as much as possible in hopes of landing at a bigger school. But such high expectations can lead to disappointment.

Anderson's father, David, says many athletes and their parents don't realize how deep the talent pool is until they're drowning in it. David Anderson says many people raised their eyebrows when his oldest son, Tosh, signed a scholarship to play baseball at the University of Rhode Island. Tosh Anderson spent a year training at IMG Academies in Bradenton, Fla., and his father said many friends and acquaintances didn't comprehend why he landed with a relatively obscure program.

"I'm looking at people going, 'Do you know how hard it is to get a couple of Division I offers in any sport, anywhere?' " Anderson said. "Unless your kid is just lights-out ..."

That's why Anderson says the best advice he can give to parents who are trying to help their children earn college scholarships is to be realistic -- not only about the child's talent, but also about his or her motivation to get better -- and to be willing to adjust their expectations if it becomes clear they are shooting too high.

"It is so hard," he said, "because there's so much competition out there and so many good players."