It's exciting to watch our children excel at the sports they love. Working hard toward a personal best or perfecting a specific technique are critical to success, but let’s also remember that playing multiple sports can be tremendously beneficial in the long run – and a lot of fun for our kids.

Branching out from just one sport offers youth athletes both physical and mental benefits, from enhancing current skills to learning to appreciate the new skills required by a different sport.

Liberty Mutual Insurance Responsible Sports sat down with USA Hockey standout Vincent Trocheck to get his thoughts on playing multiple sports.

In our exclusive TAKE 5 interview, Vincent told us that growing up, he played not only hockey, but baseball as well.  In fact, Vincent retains a love of baseball today.

“I love baseball,” said Vincent. “I played baseball alongside of hockey from the age of two up until I had to make a decision around the age of 14.”

Vincent said that playing baseball so much helped him develop a lot of the hand-eye coordination needed to excel in the challenging and fast-moving sport of hockey. He also learned a lot of mental strength needed to persevere in hockey from his baseball experiences.

“Let’s say, in baseball, you go 0-for-4 one day – you can’t let that bother you,” said Vincent. “You have to keep your mind in it and then, the next day, go out there and play with confidence. It’s the same in hockey, where you can’t dwell on a bad game and you need confidence going into the next game.”

Vincent also shared his story of how, when and why he decided to specialize in hockey in this exclusive interview.

Vincent added that he still plays softball in the summers, and can see himself playing softball and soccer after his hockey career is over.

To read the full TAKE 5 interview with Vincent, visit ResponsibleSports.com. And come back next month for another exclusive TAKE 5 interview!

At Liberty Mutual Insurance, we constantly look for ways to celebrate the countless acts of responsibility shown by people every day. We created Responsible Sports, powered by Positive Coaching Alliance, as part of this belief to help ensure that our kids experience the best that sports have to offer in environments that promote and display responsibility. We believe kids can learn valuable life lessons when coaches and parents come together to support winning on and off the ice.

©2014 Liberty Mutual Insurance Company