Briana Mao won't start her junior year at St. Francis High School for another two weeks.

But the talented golfer has already traveled more of the United States this summer than many Americans will see in their lifetimes.

For the past eight weeks, the 15-year-old has hopscotched across the country playing tournaments. She has spent only four days at her home in Folsom.

Last week it was the American Junior Golf Association Virginian in Bristol, Va. This week it's the American Junior Golf Association Southeast Junior Open in Franklin, Tenn. She also has played in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Texas and San Diego.

"This summer has been very exhausting but fun," Briana said by cell phone from Bristol, a few hours after finishing third at the Virginia tournament. "But I don't feel any burnout. I'm psyched and ready for my next tournament."

Mao is just one of many area high school athletes who spend their summer on a whirlwind tour of games, practices and training sessions – often far from home. They are trying to get onto the fast track to a college scholarship and, possibly, a professional career.

Most were once multi-sport stars – Mao played competitive soccer – but because of the growing demands of their primary sport, they have shed some, if not all, of their other sports activities. And while their friends are lounging around the pool, athletes such as Mao are spending countless hours honing their crafts.

It's a trend that gives some pause.

"Kids are specializing more and deciding what sport they are going to do at younger and younger ages," said Karen Smith, the North Coast Section assistant commissioner and a former three-sport standout at Rio Americano in the late 1970s. She is best remembered for her basketball accomplishments.

"It's getting so competitive that kids are afraid to miss anything, so they don't get a break from it and you are seeing more over-use injuries," Smith added. "In a way that's sad to me. I loved basketball and did well at it, but it was nice to be able to play other sports in high school."

Joseph Babineaux coaches high school and Amateur Athletic Union basketball. While he understands the concerns, he says the sports landscape for top prep athletes, right or wrong, has changed.

"At this point, if you are an elite player, you really have no choice but to do this," Babineaux said of summer tournaments. "You simply aren't going to be seen if you only do high school.

"College coaches expect them to play a higher level of basketball. They want to see them play against the best."

Babineaux's son Kori, a Folsom High junior, is one of those athletes. He raised his basketball profile dramatically by performing well in tournaments in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Las Vegas and Phoenix.

He's now on the radar of more college coaches, much like Elk Grove baseball player Jake Rodriguez and Burbank football player Terrance Mitchell, two athletes who already have made verbal commitments to colleges before their senior years.

Rodriguez, the Cal-Hi Sports State Junior Baseball Player of the Year this past spring, has committed to Oregon State. He captained the gold medal-winning USA U-16 Junior National Team last year in Mexico and hopes to make the U-18 team that plays this fall in Venezuela.

Mitchell is considered one of the nation's top cornerback recruits after his stock soared during a series of winter and spring combines. He was one of the first area football players to verbally commit to a college (Oregon) prior to the upcoming season.

Mao, Babineaux, Rodriguez and Mitchell have similar attributes: An insatiable work ethic, physical and mental resilience, good grades, time management skills and a strong parental support system.

Babineaux got a spot at an invitation-only event in Philadelphia in which many of the nation's top coaches attended. By playing well there, the 6-foot-4 guard likely will find himself among the leading recruits in the class of 2011.

That means the potential for more and better scholarship offers.

Call The Bee's Bill Paterson, (916) 326-5506.