It’s frustrating high school sports don’t matter for admissions when they are so hard to join here
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Anonymous
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Agree. My kids even went to a small school and still they cut kids rather than met them participate.
High school sports should be about life lessons like teamwork, communication, sportsmanship, and hard work. Excluding them over high school sports rankings and wins is stupid. |
Anonymous
Happens all of the time. I'm in CA so let's use what I know as an example: Ontario Christian Mater Dei Etiwanda Sierra Canyon Archbishop Mitty are the top 5 girls BB schools and all are ranked in the top 10 in the country (along with some MD/DMV schools so good for you). Mitty's coach is the U16 national team coach. Kids go to these schools shooting to make a team because they are the best. Three of them are volleyball powers as well. Kids that don't make the team still play club sports because club is what actually matters for recruiting, not HS. There are lots of kids at these schools who go on to play at good college programs without being able to make their HS team. |
Anonymous
Yet, the MD/DMV HS teams you mention above have girls playing on those teams who are not playing in college at all. Now, they are likely only interested in top D1 programs (either top from an athletic perspective and/or Ivy D1)...but the reality is they are not recruitable by those colleges, yet they are still on the HS team. I can't speak for CA schools. |
Anonymous
| I think sports absolutely help in college admissions process, even with being recruited. It's just that parents around here tend to do the usual sports where there are a gazzillion kids doing it too (lacrosse, soccer, baseball, swim) across the US and it's really difficult to use that as a hook because you need to be an all-star every year. It means that teams have to be the top in their sport and they need to go to state level or regional level competitions on a yearly basis. So maybe a better rant is to say "choose your sport wisely" if your intent is to really use it for college admissions. (As with everything else about college admissions ... it's always manicured talent that drives the success.) |
Anonymous
You do realize that some high school kids actually ENJOY their sports, don’t you? Some of them play for love of the game, not because mommy is angling for a leg up in the college admissions process… |
Anonymous
That’s mathematically impossible |
Anonymous
I mean, you can make virtually the same argument about academics. School should be about learning, but instead it’s a competitive grind focused on grades, test scores, and college admissions. We have indeed lost the plot. |
Anonymous
I mean, there’s 50 state champions every year. Multiply 50 by number of sports & number of kids on those teams, it’s a lot of “state champions” applying every year. Bottom line: do sports because you enjoy it, not for some edge for college apps. If doing multiple sports or doing a sport year round means that you don’t feel like you’re prepared for college/college apps (grades suffer bc lack of study time or don’t have time to study for SAT), then you can consider dropping a sport or dropping down a level. But sports are a choice. Travel or year round is a choice. Don’t act otherwise. |
Anonymous
They aren't more important but usually more time consuming and physically exhausting. My kid had a 4 hour practice last night after waking up and training an hour before school. Today they missed their last class to ride a bus for an hour an a half to another high school and won't return until 10 PM. All that, and half the kids on the team won't get any playing time anyway. |
Anonymous
Colleges get that sports take a lot of time. They are impressed by kids who can excel academically while devoting so much time to a non-academic pursuit. They know that the kid who did sports had to work much harder and be more efficient and organized than the kid who studied and only did academic-related extracurriculars. |
Anonymous
There are more than 50 state championship teams each year. Some larger states have multiple state championships for the same sport. This isn’t to take away from anyone who participates in a high school sport. However, playing varsity on most high school teams doesn’t mean as much in today’s recruiting climate. It’s not like 35 years ago when good-but-not-great athletes could play Div 3 as walk-ons. |
Anonymous
Maybe they aren't but that isn't to say that they aren't good enough to play somewhere. My DD's HS team was a national top 10 team when she was there. I know 3 kids (a high academic D3, and 2 mid-major D1) who didn't make the varsity team after their sophomore year so they were done. There is a kid at a well known Patriot League school who never left the bench in high school as well. When you only carry 3 or 4 kids per grade it can be brutal. |
Anonymous
| Both my son and daughter were cut from the golf team at Langley High School in different years. The competition at public schools in affluent areas is absolutely brutal. |
Anonymous
The Sidwell team from three years ago that finished #1 in the country had 1/3 of the team not play in college. Thats not to say those girls had much playing time, but they made the team…as long as players don’t get hurt, you just need 7-8 great players to win. Again…perhaps the CA teams are able to recruit entire teams of college players, but this is a DC site and it’s not the case around here. |
Anonymous
| Don’t forget how much time varsity teams need. Once they play school teams, they give up many other ECs while majority won’t be recruited. |