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Show OREM TIMES Page 7 COMMUNITY SPORTS, PEOPLE AND OUTDOOR FUN nn n n u Thursday, July 31, 2008 Orem High School quarterback, shooting guard, pitcher and shortstop Josh Hamblin is doing it all for the Tigers Russ Lyman ' NORTH COUNTY It's no secret that summer is a busy time for most high school athletes. Football players lift weights and attend at-tend summer camps. Basketball players play-ers go to tournaments throughout the country, while baseball players participate in local leagues. And Orem High School 's Josh Hamblin does all of the above. In an era when most high school athletes choose to specialize in only one or two sports, Hamblin has not only played, but excelled, in all three. He is the starting quarterback on the Tiger football team, a pitcher and inf ielder for the baseball team, and a guard on the basketball team. Juggling three sports during the school year is always a difficult task for any athlete. Things become even more complicated during the summer when each team prepares for the upcoming up-coming season. "I had tournaments and leagues going on for all three," Hamblin said. "1 had football in the morning, and baseball games every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Then for basketball, bas-ketball, we went to four tournaments this summer." "I'd just go to football in the morning morn-ing and see if I had games to play later on." More often than not, he did. Although Hamblin managed to play each of the three sports throughout the summer, when conflicts did arise, Orem coaches were accommodating. "The coaches were cool about being be-ing able to miss when I had conflicts," Hamblin said "It worked out most of the time." All three of Hamblin's coaches Bob Steele in football. Mike Conner in basketball and Gary Miner in baseball have been supportive throughout his high school career. "I think it's great that he can do all (7 0 t is i ) - X -....4 . A . TSi V. . - I FILENortJi County Orem quarterback Josh Hamblin, left, hands the ball off during a practice on August 8, 2007. three sports," Steele said. "He'll never be able to use those skills again in all three sports and I'm glad he has been able to play them as long he has." Despite his support, Steele also acknowledges that it can be a challenge chal-lenge to coach a multi-sport athlete, especially when he is your starting quarterback. "As a football coach I sometimes wish he wasn't (playing three sports) so we could work with him more," Steele said. "At Orem we're really good with it, but there are times when it's frustrating when our whole team is there and we don't have a quarterback. But I'm glad that he is able to do it." The senior -to-be claims football as his favorite sport. Hamblin's father, Tim, works for the BYU athletic department de-partment as an academic advisor. Before that, Jim was a high school football coach as well as a graduate assistant at BYU. Although football is his favorite, Hamblin still enjoys all three. "I haven't really thought about not playing any of them," he said. "I wouldn't have anything else to be doing. do-ing. It keeps me busy I guess, out of trouble." "It's a good way to spend time with your friends. It's a good way to spend time after school." Playing three sports has been time consuming, yet it hasn't affected his schoohvork as he boasts a 3.88 GPA. With his senior season set kick off within the next month, Hamblin is going go-ing to try to make the most of his last months in high school. Hamblin expects to take on more of a leadership role with the team having learned valuable lessons a year ago. "Last year gave me the experience I needed for this year, so I think that stuff will come more easily," he said. Steele added, "he's not real vocal, but he's a good leader. He's not one that thinks he has to scream and yell, but he's always doing what he's supposed sup-posed to." As a junior, Hamblin threw for 1,364 yards and 12 touchdowns to help the Tigers to a 5-1 record in Region 7. With a year of experience under his belt as the starting quarterback, quarter-back, the expectations on Hamblin going into this football season are even greater. "It does give you a little bigger boost of confidence that he can handle han-dle situations better than maybe the first couple games of his junior year," Steele said. Hamblin doesn't care about his statistics sta-tistics or worry about the added pressure pres-sure on his shoulders. What he does want to do is take advantage of every moment during his senior year. "It's kind of crazy to think about it being almost my senior year," he said before commenting on the upcoming football seasoa "It kind of helps me focus that it is our last shot. Everyone's Every-one's excited about it. We've got a lot of seniors that have been playing together to-gether and we have good chemistry . It should be fun." 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