It's a shame. I coach junior high boys basketball and am an assistant for varsity baseball at a small school, one of the smallest public schools in our district. I always tell the kids, you are young and have plenty of time. Play as many sports as you can, you can make workouts for football after school then come to baseball. I tell them coaches also won't care if you miss an open gym or lifting session if you are missing it for another sport. You are doing something and they understand. In the summer there is a morning and an afternoon lifting session for football. We've told kids that play basketball as well, you can come to open gym at 10AM and make it to the afternoon lifting. If you have Teener League baseball that night, tell us, and we will just have you shoot around instead of doing drills and playing full court.
I feel for you too. I wasn't allowed to play baseball my sophomore year. I got a B- in math and my mother wouldn't let me go out for it. I hated her for it, still wish I could have played, and it sucked. Baseball, to me, is such a fun game to play. It can be boring to watch, but those who have played know there is something special about it.
It sounds like your institutions have a pretty good and supportive system in place. I went to a very small private high school, but it was always renowned for its athletics. The problem was that football, baseball and basketball always clashed when it came to players playing multiple sports.
We had the "superstars" that each coaching staff knew they needed, so they had to let them play as many sports as they wanted for fear of pissing them off and the athlete deciding on only one sport. We had a stud WR on our team that would go straight to basketball after our season, and then go straight to baseball after that. None of the coaches cared because they each knew how important he was to their teams.
The problem was the guys after that. Because we were a small school competing for state championships, every player after the "superstars" was crucial in each coach's eyes. My coach thought I could be a key piece for three years for the football team, but I wasn't a superstar at a skill position either, so I was "encouraged" to stick with ONLY football to develop my skills.
I had a good friend that was the 6th man for the basketball team as a sophomore, but he was a pretty good TE on our football team as well. The basketball coach "encouraged" him to stop playing football since he would be a two-year starter on the basketball team, and those multi-year, non-superstar starters are crucial to a small institution. So he quit football, rather than enjoying himself and playing both sports.
It's a shame because there truly is plenty of time for an athlete that wants to play multiple sports at the high school level, and yet coaches can be selfish and fearful of their precious commodities.
From a coaches eyes, I understand why they feel that way at times though. There is a limited talent pool to pick from, and you want your best players to focus on your squad. And there are some kids that kind of ruin the chance for other kids because they don't manage their time well. I knew a few guys that played baseball just because it was way easier than our football off season program (they would have plenty of time to get a lift in with the football team before baseball practice, but skipped out anyway because they thought they could milk it), and I knew a few other guys that didn't have a prayer of making the basketball team, but they tried out anyway so they could miss two weeks of winter cardio sessions without our hardass strength coach.
It's tough for coaches. For every kid that could realistically and responsibly play multiple sports, there is a kid that is just trying to avoid the hard work during the off season. But there are also plenty of kids missing quality opportunities because coaches are simply selfish. It's a tough situation all-around, especially at small schools.
