HS Sports requirement good or bad?

[Anonymous]

To me it means bloated rosters with kids who will never see the field/court

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To me it means bloated rosters with kids who will never see the field/court

That's the glass half empty. Glass half full = kids have a built in way to make friends, experience being on team, be physically active and get all the benefits of sports. You don't have to be a starter to have a positive experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When does your child fit in homework with the sports requirement?!

In the morning before school if they don't have morning practice, before/after practice, on the bus for away games. It is a great lesson in balance, scheduling and teamwork. My children have thrived participating in sports/drama during high school--while maintaining outside interests and jobs. For my eldest, the transition to college was seamless and I attribute at least some of that to the life skills she learned through participating in team sports along with holding a job during HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To me it means bloated rosters with kids who will never see the field/court

That's the glass half empty. Glass half full = kids have a built in way to make friends, experience being on team, be physically active and get all the benefits of sports. You don't have to be a starter to have a positive experience.

If you're the 17th kid on a basketball team or the 19th on a soccer team, the you aren't getting a positive experience unless you really don't care about playing. I went to a school with a sports requirement and we had seniors have to come to games and sit in the stands because our roster was over the league limit. Some were ok with it, but some were miserable

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When does your child fit in homework with the sports requirement?!

In the morning before school if they don't have morning practice, before/after practice, on the bus for away games. It is a great lesson in balance, scheduling and teamwork. My children have thrived participating in sports/drama during high school--while maintaining outside interests and jobs. For my eldest, the transition to college was seamless and I attribute at least some of that to the life skills she learned through participating in team sports along with holding a job during HS.

100% this. Now that DC are in college, this was the best lesson they learned in school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are deciding between 2 equally rigorous and academically intense schools, and one of the factors we strongly dislike about one of the schools is the sports requirement (including a season of team sports - which appear to require a lot of travel; are parents actually assumed to go get their kids from the competitions all over the region (travel to the school itself is via public transportation)? And on competition days, with the commute, the kid would be out of the house for 12+ hours, much of it spent on something he does not like. Sooo much time spent on sports at this school, more than any other subject by far.) I am very curious what people think - especially for their nonathletic kids (the athletic kids can get the requirement waived if they have a significant outside sport, but my kid who has significant outside interests that are nonathletic would have to quit or drastically curtail that activity. Doesn't seem fair.).

At least at our school, you absolutely wouldn't be expected to pick up directly from the game (unless you wanted to). Kids bus there and then bus back. Our school also offers at least one intramural-type sport, so no games.

I think sports are a great way to make friends and have built-in physical activity! But if you already hate the idea and you're not even at the school yet, maybe this is a deal-breaker?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To me it means bloated rosters with kids who will never see the field/court

That's the glass half empty. Glass half full = kids have a built in way to make friends, experience being on team, be physically active and get all the benefits of sports. You don't have to be a starter to have a positive experience.

If you're the 17th kid on a basketball team or the 19th on a soccer team, the you aren't getting a positive experience unless you really don't care about playing. I went to a school with a sports requirement and we had seniors have to come to games and sit in the stands because our roster was over the league limit. Some were ok with it, but some were miserable

DP. And time is much better spent on academics and other pursuits in those situations.

My kids' school only has a one semester sport requirement for the whole 4 years to satisfy a PE requirement.

A lot of sports, like soccer, the top players are prohibited from playing high school soccer and some leagues like (ECNL) don't prohibit it but with the time constraint of the club and the great risk for injury-- a lot of kids will quit high school soccer or not play at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are deciding between 2 equally rigorous and academically intense schools, and one of the factors we strongly dislike about one of the schools is the sports requirement (including a season of team sports - which appear to require a lot of travel; are parents actually assumed to go get their kids from the competitions all over the region (travel to the school itself is via public transportation)? And on competition days, with the commute, the kid would be out of the house for 12+ hours, much of it spent on something he does not like. Sooo much time spent on sports at this school, more than any other subject by far.) I am very curious what people think - especially for their nonathletic kids (the athletic kids can get the requirement waived if they have a significant outside sport, but my kid who has significant outside interests that are nonathletic would have to quit or drastically curtail that activity. Doesn't seem fair.).

At least at our school, you absolutely wouldn't be expected to pick up directly from the game (unless you wanted to). Kids bus there and then bus back. Our school also offers at least one intramural-type sport, so no games.

I think sports are a great way to make friends and have built-in physical activity! But if you already hate the idea and you're not even at the school yet, maybe this is a deal-breaker?

DD's school also buses kids back to the school. I think all of them do.
DD loves it but if she had a commitment outside of school like an instrument or ballet, debate or something like that that took up a lot of her time I would choose the other school since you have a choice.
Is it just one season for 4 years of the team sport or one season per year?

[Anonymous]

I have kids at 2 different privates, one of which is a big 3. Sports commitment can be achieved through PE as well as a sport or in limited circumstances, another activity outside of school. I’m not really a sports type person, but both kids have thrived by participating in sports. The friends made and team bonding experiences have been great. It has been an invaluable experience.

[Anonymous]

I have found that the sports requirement at NCS is a huge contributor to the crazy stress my DD experiences. It is 10 out of 12 semesters and you can’t take a cut until 11th grade. Once the cut was allowed, I couldn’t actually believe how much more pleasant life was for my DD. Homework was completed earlier, so much more sleep each weeknight, more time for hanging out with siblings, friends or boyfriend, time for hobbies. Seriously, so much better. My DD loved playing a particular sport, but really wish it was optional and could play one season a year. YMMV

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have found that the sports requirement at NCS is a huge contributor to the crazy stress my DD experiences. It is 10 out of 12 semesters and you can’t take a cut until 11th grade. Once the cut was allowed, I couldn’t actually believe how much more pleasant life was for my DD. Homework was completed earlier, so much more sleep each weeknight, more time for hanging out with siblings, friends or boyfriend, time for hobbies. Seriously, so much better. My DD loved playing a particular sport, but really wish it was optional and could play one season a year. YMMV

Sounds like a school problem. Your kid can not take two hours per day to play a sport?

[Anonymous]

By the time the kids get home, eat, shower, it's 7pm. If you have 3 hours of homework a night, there's not a ton of give in that schedule and certainly not if you wanted to do something else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have found that the sports requirement at NCS is a huge contributor to the crazy stress my DD experiences. It is 10 out of 12 semesters and you can’t take a cut until 11th grade. Once the cut was allowed, I couldn’t actually believe how much more pleasant life was for my DD. Homework was completed earlier, so much more sleep each weeknight, more time for hanging out with siblings, friends or boyfriend, time for hobbies. Seriously, so much better. My DD loved playing a particular sport, but really wish it was optional and could play one season a year. YMMV

Sounds like a school problem. Your kid can not take two hours per day to play a sport?

I know plenty of NCS girls who just do something outside of school and school waives their sports requirement.

[Anonymous]

Our school requires a sport 2 of the 3 seasons. But, you can sub out by being in the musical or on the broadcast journalism crew. You can also choose to take afterschool PE and if you do PE, you can sub out art class for PE 3 days a week.

Our school does cut from sports teams…if you don’t make JV or varsity, you get cut to “developmental,” which are lessons in that sport OR you might get cut to PE if developmental isn’t offered. My son just did spring tennis tryouts and the cut kids are moving to PE.

For logistics, our school provides all uniforms and a set of practice clothes, all transportation, etc. The coaches even set up team texts and all the info goes to the kids, bc the kids are supposed to be on top of sports like it’s a class. For sports that travel overnight, school provides transportation, hotels, all meals and snacks.

[Anonymous]

that sounds great PP - can you name the school?