Can a normal athletic kid play high school sports at most privates?
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Anonymous
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Depends. At St John’s, probably not.
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Anonymous
| There is no such thing as normal athlete anymore. Kids are playing year round, have private trainers, play on the club tam and rec team. Regular athletes have no chance anymore. |
Anonymous
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At most privates, not all, an average but committed athlete can find a sport to play. Some schools field particularly strong teams in some sports. So, for example, your kid likely won't make the Basketball team at Sidwell or DeMath, or the Baseball team at SJCHS.
But overall, with few exceptions, the ratio of spots on teams, to students, is much better at private school, and so there will be some teams that are either no cut or close to no cut. At my kid's school, for example, any kid who tries out for cross country and isn't a total screw up will make it regardless of times, and even if you've never run before, running XC will get you in good enough shape that you'll make the easy cuts for Indoor and then Outdoor track. |
Anonymous
| My kid plays soccer and for varsity, there are very few non-club players who will touch the field. Even some of the club players might average less than 5 mins a game. The only know club players who get playing time on my kid’s team are the ones who used to play club, but quit in the last year or two and the ones who are crazy good athletes. |
Anonymous
| Usually not OP..but does depend on the school. |
Anonymous
Or put another way…look for no-cut or nearly no-cut sports. Crew is similar at many schools. |
Anonymous
This |
Anonymous
| PP again. Except for cross country of course. Anyone can make that team! |
Anonymous
An athletic kid will make a team over a non-athletic kid who plays year round. In DD's sport, we see so many teams at tournaments that are obviously pay to play and just lose every game. Every weekend at the shots up fall league, there are teams losing by 50 points. The kids on those teams have no hope of getting a spot through a competitive tryout |
Anonymous
Depends on the school, but pretty not hard. |
Anonymous
But some schools even have 3-9 kids who dominate cross country. |
Anonymous
True, but XC is often a no-cut or nearly no-cut team. Doesn’t mean your averagely athletic child will be competitive with the handful of standouts, but they’ll be in the team and be allowed to run. |
Anonymous
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OP, this is part of the reason we chose private school. Both DH and I were D1 athletes. Our kids, not so much. We encouraged sports from a young age, and I have always believed the drive and competitiveness needs to come from the child. My kids tried DH's sport and mine, but ultimately they each chose a different ones. The kids are good at sports, not great. It was evident from a young-ish age that they were not D1. We're wealthy so, they don't need scholarships. Anyway, we still want them to play and enjoy the sports as they are part of a healthy lifestyle. Private school has fewer kids, so more can play and generally the level of play is a bit lower. Of course, there is always that awesome athlete, but there are also average ones too.
Now the claws will come out to convince you the level of play is higher or more competitive or whatever, but it's a numbers game - fewer kids to choose from - it comes from smaller class sizes. |
Anonymous
My neighbor moved from Australia and only ever played rugby. He made varsity football as a freshman. He's huge and athletic, so there's that. He's a senior now and actively scouted by universities. It's possible. |
Anonymous
This. At our private individual sports are no cut - swimming and track are similar. |