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Saturday, April 15, 2023 | 11:01 AM
Hampton senior Eric Weeks’ offseason between basketball and baseball this year lasted about 12 hours.
The morning after the PIAA basketball playoff loss to Hampton on March 14, he joined his baseball teammates to board a bus to North Carolina for a three-day camp.
A busy schedule is standard practice for Weeks, a rare three-sport varsity athlete at a mid-sized WPIAL school.
“This year, there hasn’t been a week where I haven’t had a five-practice week,” he said. “I loved playing three sports in high school. This is not a big problem for me. “
In an age of increased specialization for young athletes, Weeks moved seamlessly from fall football to winter basketball to spring baseball, starring in every game and rarely getting even what kind of rest.
“You don’t see that anymore, at all,” Hampton baseball coach Kellen Wheeler said. “The most amazing thing is that Eric excelled in all three sports.”
Weeks, a wide receiver/defensive back, was named first-team all-Greater Allegheny all-purpose back last fall and earlier this month earned all-Section 1-4A honors as a guard in 24-4 Talbots basketball team.
In November, the right-handed hitting shortstop signed a national letter of intent with Division I Canisius. Weeks chose the defending MAAC champion over a couple of Division II PSAC schools. The 5-foot-11, 185-pound Weeks said he hasn’t received any offers for football or basketball.
“It’s a really good program,” he said of the school in Buffalo, NY. “I really like the head coach (Matt Mazurek) and his coaching philosophy. I’m really looking forward to that next year.”
There is still work to be done in Hampton. The Talbots (2-4 on April 10) snapped a four-game losing streak with an 8-3 win over Section 4-4A foe North Catholic on April 4 behind a seven-run sixth inning.
“That was a huge energy booster and morale booster for everyone on the team,” Weeks said. “We’ve done that. We just didn’t show it.”
Through six games, Weeks, who is hitting third in the lineup, is hitting .444 (8 for 18) with a team-leading four stolen bases.
“After a long season of basketball, he fell into everything we needed him to fall into, with hitting, fielding,” Wheeler said. “He did very well.”
Weeks will graduate with nine varsity letters, earning four in basketball, three in baseball (covid scrapped his freshman season) and two in football, which he didn’t start playing at Hampton until his junior year. year. He also plays summer travel baseball with the Pittsburgh Stars before football minicamp begins each August.
Weeks disagrees that young athletes must specialize in one sport and play year-round to be successful.
“A lot of people think that if you play a lot of sports, you can’t be better than one. But I think that’s wrong,” he said. “I don’t think I would be an athlete if I didn’t play all the sports .… There are lifelong memories that I have, and I wouldn’t trade anything to focus on a sport, even if (it means) I get better at baseball.
“I would tell anyone younger than me to play as many games as you can while you can, because you miss them when they’re gone.”
Tag: Hampton
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