Tristan Wirfs is the best argument against sport specialization
MOUNT VERNON, Iowa (BVM) — “You knew right away he was going to be a pretty good athlete; he loved being a competitor. I remember going to the pool one day and he’s doing back flips off the dive board, just a very athletic guy and a great young man,” said Mount Vernon’s head football coach Lance Pedersen.
As a football player, Tristan Wirfs’ resume is impeccable. In his sophomore year at Mount Vernon High School Wirfs was already receiving scholarship letters from colleges. He was named the Class 2A Offensive Lineman of the Year his senior season before signing to play for the University of Iowa. Wirfs started eight games as a freshman for the Hawkeyes at both tackle positions, but broke out as a
junior in 2019.
At the 2020 NFL Combine he dazzled scouts with his athleticism. Wirfs, 6-foot-5 and 320 pounds, finished with a record-breaking 36.5-inch vertical jump, a record-tying 10-foot-1 broad jump, and the best 40-yard dash time (4.85 seconds) among offensive linemen.
He has excelled in football, but another aspect of his success and athleticism is his multi-sport background. Up until college, Wirfs was a four-sport athlete competing in football, wrestling, track and field, and baseball.
In fact, he is one of only four prep athletes in Iowa history to win both shot put and discus titles in back-to-back years. Wirfs also added a state championship in wrestling his senior season.
The impressive thing about Wirfs is that he didn’t have to play any of those other sports. As an underclassmen, he was an elite football prospect and could have just focused on football during high school. He did not do that and it has been beneficial.
“I think it made Tristan a more well-rounded person and athlete and I think it helped him become a better football player. Being able to throw discus and shot in track, being able to play first base and run bases in baseball, being able to wrestle – those all added to him becoming a better football player,” said Pedersen.
In many cases, high school coaches and parents can sometimes attempt to keep great athletes focused on only one sport that they are good at. The thought process being that this will maximize training time and allow them to become elite in their chosen sport.
The opposite tends to happen. Athletes who begin to specialize in one sport are often more likely to have burn out from the constant training and are more likely to suffer from overuse injuries. An example of this is young baseball players as early as high schoolers having to get Tommy John surgery, a procedure that used to only occur with professional ball players.
“You get overuse injuries when you’re not a multi-sport athlete. … If you look at the draft over the last couple years most of the top players in the draft were multi-sport athletes,” said Pedersen.
Luckily for Wirfs he was never forced to choose only one sport during his high school career. He was fortunate to have coaches and a school that encouraged multi-sport athletes.
“It’s something that we always promote, we truly believe with our size school that multi-sport athletes are critical to the success of the school. Quite honestly my belief is that I am confident enough in my staff that if you come in and you’re strong, you’re in shape we will make you a football player in the time that’s necessary before the season starts.
We really want kids to be multi-sport athletes. We encourage that and I think that competitive edge is critical,” said Pedersen.
That multi-sport approach paid off for Tristan Wirfs. On April 23, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers drafted him No. 13 overall in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Now Wirfs will use his athleticism to protect Bucs quarterback Tom Brady for the foreseeable future.
