High School Sports PSA

[Anonymous]

Sounds like the poster is trying to convince people to not have their kids tryout so their kid make it.

If your are paying much you need to discuss why with the AD. Also if you are, it is costs not associated with the school team.

We had 2 kids playing multiple sports a years and any additional expense was always a choice such as a jacket or personalizing a jersey with a name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like the poster is trying to convince people to not have their kids tryout so their kid make it.

If your are paying much you need to discuss why with the AD. Also if you are, it is costs not associated with the school team.

We had 2 kids playing multiple sports a years and any additional expense was always a choice such as a jacket or personalizing a jersey with a name.

I think OP is very misleading here. There is no longer even an activity fee. Kids have to get a physical and there are some things like shoes. But for the most part the school provides what a kid needs. Some sports have suggestions of things you might want to get like a team bag and different colored shirts for practice. But these are not mandatory. Also many of us parents pay for our kids plus one or two so kids who might not otherwise be able to get a team jacket can.

No parent should hold back their child from sports due to the cost. The costs are minimal and the county is committed to making sports available to all students. If OP spent more than $800 it was only because she wanted to not because she had to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like the poster is trying to convince people to not have their kids tryout so their kid make it.

If your are paying much you need to discuss why with the AD. Also if you are, it is costs not associated with the school team.

We had 2 kids playing multiple sports a years and any additional expense was always a choice such as a jacket or personalizing a jersey with a name.

I think OP is very misleading here. There is no longer even an activity fee. Kids have to get a physical and there are some things like shoes. But for the most part the school provides what a kid needs. Some sports have suggestions of things you might want to get like a team bag and different colored shirts for practice. But these are not mandatory. Also many of us parents pay for our kids plus one or two so kids who might not otherwise be able to get a team jacket can.

No parent should hold back their child from sports due to the cost. The costs are minimal and the county is committed to making sports available to all students. If OP spent more than $800 it was only because she wanted to not because she had to.

"But, Mom!, Larla has one!"

[Anonymous]

Having a hard time understanding the $800. They should give you a cost breakdown.

The most we would have to do is fundraise for our sport.

Thanks for the heads up that this scenario is possible.

[Anonymous]

Based off my experiences playing sports as a child and as a parent today, I expect to spend $1k whenever my child signs up for a sport or activity. It's a reasonable expectation for this area. If we end up spending less, great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Based off my experiences playing sports as a child and as a parent today, I expect to spend $1k whenever my child signs up for a sport or activity. It's a reasonable expectation for this area. If we end up spending less, great.

We may have put that much into 2 kids' high school sports over a combined 24 seasons. YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Based off my experiences playing sports as a child and as a parent today, I expect to spend $1k whenever my child signs up for a sport or activity. It's a reasonable expectation for this area. If we end up spending less, great.

There is a huge difference between signing up for a sport and playing a sport in MCPS. If people can’t afford lunch they can’t afford a sport that costs $1k and MCPS wants sports available to all kids who academically qualify.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based off my experiences playing sports as a child and as a parent today, I expect to spend $1k whenever my child signs up for a sport or activity. It's a reasonable expecta

There is a huge difference between signing up for a sport and playing a sport in MCPS. If people can’t afford lunch they can’t afford a sport that costs $1k and MCPS wants sports available to all kids who academically qualify.

Are students who can't afford the fees (e.g., the $800 plus that OP spent on their child to compete on a MCPS team) excluded from teams if the can't afford to pay out of pocket?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based off my experiences playing sports as a child and as a parent today, I expect to spend $1k whenever my child signs up for a sport or activity. It's a reasonable expectation for this area. If we end up spending less, great.

There is a huge difference between signing up for a sport and playing a sport in MCPS. If people can’t afford lunch they can’t afford a sport that costs $1k and MCPS wants sports available to all kids who academically qualify.

+1 yes, the topic is about the cost of MCPS-sponsored sports

Outside of school, one can obviously expect to pay far more than that. Whether it’s appropriate to expect public school students to pay that much for a school-sponsored sport is a different matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based off my experiences playing sports as a child and as a parent today, I expect to spend $1k whenever my child signs up for a sport or activity. It's a reasonable expectation for this area. If we end up spending less, great.

There is a huge difference between signing up for a sport and playing a sport in MCPS. If people can’t afford lunch they can’t afford a sport that costs $1k and MCPS wants sports available to all kids who academically qualify.

Too bad mcps doesn’t want accelerated/enriched instruction for all kids who academically qualify. Priorities!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both of my kids ran three seasons (CC, indoor and outdoor track). Aside from uniforms and regular shoe replacement, costs were minimal.

That might be where the difference is- cheer uniforms are hundreds of dollars, while track ones might be cheaper? Cheer kids also are all on private teams and have the gear but were still expected to have school gear on top of that (bags and sweats). They were also required to have specific practice wear for each day of the week.

Growing up, I played soccer and field hockey and parents were not expected to pay anything. I was shocked last year. I know that other parents from other sports were also surprised and I wished that someone had clued me in before the season- hence this note! If this isn’t true for other sports, please ignore!

This must be school specific. At our school cheer uniforms are provided.

+1 At our school, cross country and track had to buy uniforms and there was no transportation provided even for meets outside of Montgomery County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a school sport or club sport? I'm surprised about the $800 and more. How does that work in schools where families cannot afford that?

Sounds like crew or hockey or one of those.

No- high school cheer. I know other sports were also high cost.

Same is true for high school football. Cost included meals before Friday games. We shelled out another $100 for the end of the year banquet. I think if the fee is a financial hardship, families are supposed to reach out to the head coach however that would be truly embarrassing.

I’ve seen the same $$$ requirement for band trips in our school. One year our family truly couldn’t afford the $1000+ so we had the discussion with our child and my child chose to drop band.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just chiming in to extoll the awesomeness that is HS Track and Field. We paid for running shoes, and booster club swag. That's it. Great, supportive environment (no cut). It's a time commitment, but not nearly to the same extent.
My DD had great structure and social outlet for 4 years, and now can and does continue to run years out of high school, so set up for lifetime of healthy exercise.
Give Cross Country and Track and Field a try!

Our HS doesn’t accept everyone who tries out for Track. There are cuts, but maybe it’s because the HS is one of the largest in the county.

[Anonymous]

There should be MCPS guidelines for what teams can require parents to pay. This would keep participation equitable both for students and schools with various economic backgrounds.