How do kids have time for sports in high school?

[Anonymous]

I grew up in California, and it just wasn’t possible to balance sports where I grew up. You either focused on sports or academics in high school, not both. To get into the UCs, you need to take 15+ AP classes throughout your high school years and get straight As. You need to study 5+ hours per day. The top performing students played no sports. You don’t have time for sports, and the kids who played sports got mediocre grades. There is nothing wrong with that, but sports isn’t something you can balance where I grew up. No one did

[Anonymous]

My kid is balancing it at a notoriously intense high school in NYC. Would his GPA be higher if he didn't play? Probably. But he wants to play in college, and his GPA is high enough that he is going to be able to do just that at a school that's a perfect fit for him.

[Anonymous]

Clearly kids do it. HSs have tons of sports teams. And those kids are successful students because there are academic achievement standards required to be on a sports team.

My kid was/is super organized and maximized all of her free time to get the school work done. It worked fine for her.

Some kids prefer to just do academics though and don’t care to do what it takes to do both sports and academics. And some kids aren’t really academically qualified to do 15 AP classes. All of it is ok because there is no make or break profile for success.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like apples to oranges. If that’s the case for UC schools, it seems like in our rigorous DC private, kids max out around 10 APs. A varsity sport (and being captain) is kind of expected for the top schools. Even better if your sport is niche and you have some national success, like crew, fencing, squash, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Clearly kids do it. HSs have tons of sports teams. And those kids are successful students because there are academic achievement standards required to be on a sports team.

My kid was/is super organized and maximized all of her free time to get the school work done. It worked fine for her.

Some kids prefer to just do academics though and don’t care to do what it takes to do both sports and academics. And some kids aren’t really academically qualified to do 15 AP classes. All of it is ok because there is no make or break profile for success.

Literally NONE of the students in the top 10% of my high school played sports (and this this was a school of 2500 students)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clearly kids do it. HSs have tons of sports teams. And those kids are successful students because there are academic achievement standards required to be on a sports team.

My kid was/is super organized and maximized all of her free time to get the school work done. It worked fine for her.

Some kids prefer to just do academics though and don’t care to do what it takes to do both sports and academics. And some kids aren’t really academically qualified to do 15 AP classes. All of it is ok because there is no make or break profile for success.

Literally NONE of the students in the top 10% of my high school played sports (and this this was a school of 2500 students)

That’s not what I see at all. High performing kids, including the top 5%, are all kids involved in sports, theater and other pursuits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clearly kids do it. HSs have tons of sports teams. And those kids are successful students because there are academic achievement standards required to be on a sports team.

My kid was/is super organized and maximized all of her free time to get the school work done. It worked fine for her.

Some kids prefer to just do academics though and don’t care to do what it takes to do both sports and academics. And some kids aren’t really academically qualified to do 15 AP classes. All of it is ok because there is no make or break profile for success.

Literally NONE of the students in the top 10% of my high school played sports (and this this was a school of 2500 students)

How bizarre and sad! My kid is a top student at a large public who will end up with 10+ APs. He does stay up until after midnight with homework relatively often, which is clearly not ideal, but he loves his HS sport and team and finds it a great outlet. Club sports are easier to balance for the most part.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in California, and it just wasn’t possible to balance sports where I grew up. You either focused on sports or academics in high school, not both. To get into the UCs, you need to take 15+ AP classes throughout your high school years and get straight As. You need to study 5+ hours per day. The top performing students played no sports. You don’t have time for sports, and the kids who played sports got mediocre grades. There is nothing wrong with that, but sports isn’t something you can balance where I grew up. No one did

Then how are all the UC teams filled with top scholars. Look at the rosters!

[Anonymous]

Well, clearly SOMEONE did. There are probably 15 sports and with an average of 15 kids per team (really more since football squads are huge), lots of kids participated and a significant percentage of them went to college.

I would actually rather my kid do a sport she loves throughout high school and go to a “lesser” college because I think sports are great for lots of reasons: teamwork, time management, socialization, etc. And there’s no guarantee even with studying 5 hours a day a kid gets into a top college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clearly kids do it. HSs have tons of sports teams. And those kids are successful students because there are academic achievement standards required to be on a sports team.

My kid was/is super organized and maximized all of her free time to get the school work done. It worked fine for her.

Some kids prefer to just do academics though and don’t care to do what it takes to do both sports and academics. And some kids aren’t really academically qualified to do 15 AP classes. All of it is ok because there is no make or break profile for success.

Literally NONE of the students in the top 10% of my high school played sports (and this this was a school of 2500 students)

This is utter BS. That’s not public info for one and for two, at least one of those kids has a tiger mom who insisted their kid also play tennis. I think this whole thread is troll bait.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in California, and it just wasn’t possible to balance sports where I grew up. You either focused on sports or academics in high school, not both. To get into the UCs, you need to take 15+ AP classes throughout your high school years and get straight As. You need to study 5+ hours per day. The top performing students played no sports. You don’t have time for sports, and the kids who played sports got mediocre grades. There is nothing wrong with that, but sports isn’t something you can balance where I grew up. No one did

Our child has two teammates at Harvard, one at Northwestern and one at Chicago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in California, and it just wasn’t possible to balance sports where I grew up. You either focused on sports or academics in high school, not both. To get into the UCs, you need to take 15+ AP classes throughout your high school years and get straight As. You need to study 5+ hours per day. The top performing students played no sports. You don’t have time for sports, and the kids who played sports got mediocre grades. There is nothing wrong with that, but sports isn’t something you can balance where I grew up. No one did

Our child has two teammates at Harvard, one at Northwestern and one at Chicago.

When I went to my nephew’s Ivy graduation, among his friends I met a (non-US) Olympian, a young man who now plays baseball professionally, and several other athletes (nephew is also an athlete). All had top grades in high school, many APs and things like meaningful research work.

My kid graduated with 12 APs and excellent grades and also played an intense sport. It was a lot (e.g. he and his teammates fell deeply asleep on any car ride longer then 15 minutes and slept during any downtime, like between games at tournaments), but it was doable.

[Anonymous]

I don't think you can compare children today to your high school experience in California 30+ years ago.

[Anonymous]

Classes are watered down in public schools now, or at least the one where I teach. Yes, even the most advanced classes. You can’t compare the work we give now to the rigor it was 10 or 15 years ago. It’s not our choice, it’s mandatory changes put on us by admin. My classes are significantly different than they used to be.

My own kid is able to be a club athlete with an intense schedule and take a very heavy course load and get As. This would not have been possible if the public school rigor was what it was a decade ago. Honest truth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in California, and it just wasn’t possible to balance sports where I grew up. You either focused on sports or academics in high school, not both. To get into the UCs, you need to take 15+ AP classes throughout your high school years and get straight As. You need to study 5+ hours per day. The top performing students played no sports. You don’t have time for sports, and the kids who played sports got mediocre grades. There is nothing wrong with that, but sports isn’t something you can balance where I grew up. No one did

AP classes are not that hard.
What are you talking about my neices and nephews live in CA in Palo Alto they got to very competative schools all are Division 1 players took a ton of AP classes and attend top Universities. All straight A students. My kids are the same here in Maryland. Of course classes come before sports but there is no reason a student can not do both well.

No one needs to study 5 plus hours a day. You didn't teach your child how to learn if they are studying that much in HS