When the clock ticks down on a youth football season, it’s natural to reflect on how your child and the team did during the season. But before long, it will be time to start thinking about what’s next.

In many cases, that means playing another sport.

It’s important for youth football players to keep their bodies moving when the season is over. In fact, of the 256 players taken in the 2015 NFL Draft, 224 of them were multi-sport players in high school.

With this in mind, here is some food for thought for when your child transitions into the football offseason.

Playing multiple sports is good for the body. Studies have shown that it’s not a good idea – mentally or physically – for young athletes to play the same sport 12 months a year.

“What’s happened is that it’s increased the instances of overuse injuries because the athlete becomes uni-directional, meaning they only move in one direction continuously,” said John Gallucci Jr., president of JAG Physical Therapy and an athletic trainer. Gallucci also is the medical coordinator of Major League Soccer and a sports medicine consultant to the NHL, NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball and USA Wrestling.

When an athlete limits his activates to one sport, what ultimately happens is that there is increased opportunity for the body to sustain injuries such as tendinitis and bursitis based on repetition of limited motions. With multi-sport athletes, players get a more balanced set of movements, allowing better overall development.

At the end of the day, playing multiple sports gives youth football players a better chance of staying out of the doctor’s office.

“We’ve learned that multi-sport athletes don’t have as many (overuse) injuries as uni-sport athletes,” Gallucci said. “Ultimately, that’s the rationale that the medical community of the NFL is giving to the administration and the coaches to really help them push forward and keep athletes on the field as opposed to on the sideline.”

Of course, it’s not fair to compare youth football to college players on their way to the NFL, but the premise is the same. An athlete can remain in shape and keep a competitive edge while having fun playing another sport.

What other sports should football players take part in? The answer depends on what skills players are trying to improve and also what they enjoy. For example, a lineman’s job is to move forward, backward and lateral, so a good offseason sport would be wrestling.

“A tremendous amount of linemen actually can get quicker if they go into sports like wrestling because of the core work, the rotational work and the component of using their entire joints,” Gallucci said. “They get quicker hands, so it gets them up quicker off the line.”

When it comes to positions such as quarterback, defensive back and running back, a football player might want to think about track and field during the offseason.

 “They’re keeping up with endurance and speed while also being able to train in a multi-directional way that basically enhances their speed on the field,” Gallucci said.

Another sport beneficial to football players is lacrosse, a running endurance sport that utilizes the entire body.

“It’s a multi-directional core stabilization sport, so I can definitively see unbelievable benefits,” Gallucci said.

Baseball is another option. Hand-eye coordination is important in both baseball and football, and the lateral slide of a shortstop to field a ground ball is the same footwork a lineman uses to kick out on pass blocking.

Playing two sports is a good idea, but parents should not overload their children by having them play both in the same day. A child has a lot on his plate. Between family life and school, it’s hard to squeeze in time for one sport much less two.

My son Bradley plays one organized sport at a time, and that works out really well. We’ve seen kids on his team who play two sports in the same season, and it’s impossible to give two sports your full attention. Ultimately, one sport – and maybe even both – are going to suffer. We’ve seen kids have to pick what game to play in because there is a conflict. It can be disheartening when your team is shorthanded because some of the kids are off playing another sport.

Playing two sports in one day also can be hazardous physically.

“The body needs rest,” Gallucci said. “Everybody likes to say kids are kids, but I definitely feel that if multi-sport or uni-sport, you should never do two games in a day. Any parent who’s putting their children in two games in a day should really consider the harm effect of fatigue factors, dehydration factors and those factors lead to strains of muscles, which can keep the athlete out completely.”

When the football season comes to an end, a little bit of rest for your child is certainly well-deserved. But it’s important for an athlete to stay busy during the offseason, and there are a number of sports that a football player can take part in to keep that body moving.

Peter Schwartz is an anchor and reporter for CBS Sports Radio and WFAN Radio in New York. You can read his general CBS New York sports blog at http://newyork.cbslocal.com/tag/peter-schwartz/. You can follow him on Twitter @pschwartzcbsfan. Peter and his wife, Sheryl, are the proud parents of Bradley and Jared. Bradley plays for the Levittown Red Devils of the Nassau Suffolk Football League on Long Island in New York. Jared cheers him on and Bradley returns the favor when Jared is playing soccer.