For the past six years, Nate Kaeding has done something he never would have done in high school or as a kid growing up in Coralville.

He has played just one sport -- football -- albeit for a lot of notoriety and now money, but a part of his life he never will get back.

Even the advantages of being an NFL kicker and former star kicker at Iowa and West High can't fill the void of being a kid who changed sports when the seasons changed.

But leave it to Kaeding to figure out a way to connect to his past.

If you can't play three sports anymore because you're the starting kicker for the San Diego Chargers, and a husband who just recently celebrated his one-year anniversary, you do the next best thing.

For Kaeding, that meant starting a youth sports camp at West and offering the three sports that mean the most to him: football, soccer and basketball.

I was reminded about 50 times Wednesday while doing interviews at Kaeding's camp about how he won state titles in football, basketball and soccer as a senior at West.

Kaeding never brought it up, but everybody else did, starting with former West football coach Dan Dvorak, and ending with Iowa strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle.

"Winning those kinds of titles in one year, not too many kids have done that," said former Iowa basketball player Brody Boyd, who was working at the camp along with a Who's Who of Kaeding's former Iowa football teammates. "That's what he's trying to show these kids now, especially as young as they are right now.

"He's trying to stress to them that you don't just have to focus on one sport at a young age."

Hawkeye fans remember Boyd as the sharp-shooting little guard from Dugger, Ind., who helped carry Iowa to the Big Ten tournament title as a freshman in 2001. Before that, though, he was a sharp-shooting little guard in high school, but also a four-time letterwinner in cross country.

We know Bob Sanders as the all-Pro safety for the Indianapolis Colts and arguably the most ferocious tackler ever to play for Iowa, but he also played football, wrestled and ran track in high school.

It's hard to believe that before Robert Gallery became a mountain of a man, and arguably the greatest offensive lineman to play at Iowa, that he played basketball and participated in track and field in high school.

It's even harder to believe that Tyler Luebke was a former starting defensive tackle at Iowa, especially now that he only weighs 235 pounds, but also a standout swimmer at Iowa City West.

Derreck Robinson started at defensive end at Iowa, and now plays for the San Diego Chargers, but in high school he played basketball almost as well as he played football.

You could say the same about former Iowa defensive end and current Miami Dolphin Matt Roth when it came to football and wrestling in high school. He was a stud in both sports.

Sean Considine, on the other hand, was a stud in about every sport he played as a kid. The former Iowa defensive back ultimately settled on football in college, which was a wise decision, considering he now plays for the Philadelphia Eagles.

But Considine allowed himself to experiment, but mostly he allowed himself to be a kid.

That was the message they all delivered Wednesday at Kaeding's camp. You learn about yourself by playing different sports. You also make yourself better in whatever sport you ultimately choose to focus on.

"You've got to find what you like as a little kid," Roth said. "Every kid should be encouraged to play multiple sports.

"Nate was a three-time state champ, and that might have something to do with his success now."

Their intent wasn't to criticize specialization but rather to promote expermination. There are a lot of worse things that kids could do than play sports year-round.

"When you've got all those sports to play I think it keeps you away from things that might get you into mischief," Robinson said. "When you start playing those sports you get to choose, and it gives you a variety, and you're able to learn more about yourself."

Playing just one sport as a kid could lead to burnout but also to bad information and bad training techniques.

"Some of the best players that have come to Iowa are guys that have played multiple sports, guys that have been exposed to multiple athletic stimuli," said Doyle, who appeared at Kaeding's camp Wednesday. "There's a lot of guys that are misdirected in their strength and conditioning, so to speak.

"I'm going to be a football guy, and they start training and lifting for football. But they're misguided because there's so much misinformation. So they end up creating problems for themselves rather than developing as a total athlete."

As for Kaeding, he managed to become a star kicker by spending countless hours practicing as a kid, but he also excelled in basketball and soccer. He doesn't think it's wrong to specialize in one sport, but he thinks it's advantageous to play a variety of sports.

"Some of my fondest memories are being with my soccer teammates in high school," Kaeding said. "That wasn't my No. 1 priority sport, but the lessons that I learned and the memories I have are invaluable.

"I just hate to see kids deprived of that."

He hates it enough to start his own camp.

~Pat Harty - www.hawkcentral.com~ 07.14.06