Many sport experts have claimed that being a multi-sport athlete, at least through high school, is essential to the overall athletic development for the sport of your choice. But what sport is best suited for you? What's the best crossover sport for specific positions in football? First we must acknowledge that everyone is different and there are exceptions to every suggested recommendation. With that in mind we'll outline the best crossover sports that both compliment and best balance your overall athletic development by position.
Lineman
Let's begin with the position that requires the most strength and determination on the football field, the defensive and offensive line. Due to the fact that most lineman are large and rely on bursts of strength and quickness in order to best function on a football field, the crossover sports lineman should consider are ones that emphasize fast reaction and quickness of the hands. Lineman are constantly placed in one-on-one upper body combat, struggling to gain leverage and the advantage to either block or get around an opponent, while staying on their feet.
One of the best sports that emphasize both quickness and strength is wrestling. Wrestlers train themselves to gain quick leverage over their opponent by using a combination of quick hand movements and lower body strength, all elements a lineman uses on the football field. Wrestlers learn to drive and roll their hips similar to the proper techniques used in blocking and tacklling, while maintaining a focus on balance. John Madden, former Oakland Raider Hall-of-Fame Coach, would often say "I would have all of my Offensive Lineman wrestle if I could."
A great off-season activity for defensive lineman is the sport of martial arts. When you think of how defensive lineman are constantly going one-on-one to get around their opponent to take down the ball carrier, it's vital that they stay on their feet, are quick and strong with their hands, and agile to be able to maneuver through and around their opponent. These skills are best drilled and perfected through the discipline and skills learn through martial arts. The combination of balance, quickness, and the most effective use of their hands while coordinating the movement of the lower body can all be perfected in martial arts. Pound for pound, good defensive lineman are the best- conditioned players on the field, relying heavily on core strength. Nothing will develop core strength faster than a martial arts workout.
Linebackers & Defensive Backs
Why would I group these two positions together, it's rather simple, both focus primarily on the skill of pursuit. Each covers an opponent and follows the ball wherever it goes on the field. This requires good lateral and backwards movement with constant change of direction and explosive quickness. The three sports that best compliment these two positions and will improve an athlete's overall performance on the football field are basketball, lacrosse, and soccer. Basketball consistently emphasizes lateral movement, quick feet, while keeping their focus on where the ball is at all times, when covering an opponent. What I like about soccer is that closely replicates the size of a football field as you cover an opponent while maintaining the alertness to pursue and beat your opponent to the ball. On the other hand, lacrosse provides a combination of basketball and soccer skills with the added challenge of maintaining good hand/eye coordination, something all good defensive backs and linebackers should be perfecting.
Quarterbacks & Wide Receivers
Footwork, hand/eye coordination, agility, and speed dominate these two positions. There are many sports that provide this type of crossover training yet the best in my opinion are lacrosse, tennis, and basketball. All three provide a focus on hand/eye coordination while on the run, maintaining body control, and effective footwork. Notice that none of these sports require quarterbacks to throw a ball, something that I believe should be avoided in the off-season in order to give their arms a recovery period while still being active. This is the main reason that I don't list baseball as a recommended crossover sport. While baseball is a great sport, at the high school level it does place unneeded stress on the throwing arm during football's off-season. In addition it provides limited movement and functional speed training benefits when compared to football.
Any Position: Track & Field
One of the best all-round crossover sports for all positions in football is track & field. Sprints (100, 200, & 400 meters), hurdles, shot put, discus, hammer, and javelin are all events that can improve an athlete's agility, balance, coordination, flexibility, strength, speed, and stamina that can benefit everyone on a football team.
Any Position: Skateboarding, Snowboarding, and Surfing
Yes, you read correctly, action sports are a great way to improve upon one of the most important athletic development skills for football, balance. A skill that is often overlooked in training yet plays such a vital role for every football position. Yes there's some risk participating in some of these sports, yet if done correctly with the right protective equipment the benefits of improving an athlete's balance and core strength will result in the most visible results of any other crossover sport.