Amherst Regional senior Will Budington began playing sports at the age of 5.

His father Nate Budington took him out to their Williamstown backyard and taught Will how to toss a baseball back and forth. This was the first of many sports that Will — now a three-sport athlete in high school — would pick up as he grew older.

Nate became Will’s first baseball coach in “minor” league. He knew that playing multiple sports would make his son a better athlete.

“Young boys are so full of energy you kind of have to get them out there and run them around,” Nate said. “So he and I spent a lot of time throwing a baseball, throwing a football, and shooting baskets and he just took to it.”

As a second-grader, Will Budington saw all his older friends playing football and he wanted to join. After much consultation with his parents, who were worried about him playing with the older kids, they decided to get Will started in Pee Wee football.

After moving to Amherst, Budington began playing basketball at the local youth recreational league and immediately fell in love with the sport.

Fast forward to his senior year, Budington is the only Hurricane to play varsity football, baseball and basketball within the last year.

“I think that he’s a really good example of a kid who, where, playing three sports and one of them being very particularly physically demanding, he benefits from cross training,” said Amherst Regional athletic director Rich Ferro. “Playing three different sports, that allows your body to handle injury, it’s a positive thing.”

According to a study by the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, specializing in one sport compared to playing multiple sports can have negative effects on young athletes. It said that young athletes are more susceptible to overuse, injury and burning out when they train solely for one sport.

“It’s funny. Fewer and fewer kids are doing (multiple sports) even though all of the research tells you that you should,” said Nate Budington. “There’s just an awful lot of specialization. He’s never shown an interest in specializing in any sport. He just doesn’t want to give anything up.”

Will Budington said that he feels lucky to be able to play multiple sports in high school.

“It’s like a blessing to be able to play three sports,” he said. “I’ve never been into the AAU thing, prep school things, travel league. I’ve always just been content playing for your school. That’s how I think sports should be.”

Budington’s last football season will end on Thursday, when the Hurricanes (4-6) renew their Thanksgiving series with Minnechaug (3-7), at 10:30 a.m. in Amherst.

Between being on basketball and baseball teams that have reached Western Massachusetts Division 1 Tournament finals, and a struggling football team that has won nine games throughout his career, Budington has felt the highs of victory and lows of defeat.

The basketball team reached the last two sectional finals, while the baseball team reached the title game in 2015.

“I’ve really noticed that this year in football that I’ve had a kind of mentally tough understanding of what it takes because I’ve been there three times, I’ve been that close,” said Budington. “Understanding what it takes to compete, be smart and keep your head on your shoulders while you’re giving it your all on the field or on the court, I think that’s a big thing.”

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