Tell me about playing a HS sport while playing almost year-round travel in a different sport

[Anonymous]

You get to a certain point in high school for most kids where you have to pick.

You can't be a super sports kid AND a super academic kid. Or you can't be a super sports kid and a kid who struggles with school (and still does well).

So as much as I hate to say it, you/she should think about college options. If she thinks she really wants to aim for "good" schools as her primary option, she should gradually taper off the sport.

Unless...she has a legitimatey good shot at being recruited for these types of schools, which is different. Meaning, if she's a unicorn superstar she can relax a little on the choices.

If she aims to play her sport in college at any recruited level (D3 school a lot of people haven't heard of) she should keep doing all the seasons and take whatever classes she can manage while doing it.

Her capacity/desire/bandwidth should start to be apparent by late Freshman year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You get to a certain point in high school for most kids where you have to pick.

You can't be a super sports kid AND a super academic kid. Or you can't be a super sports kid and a kid who struggles with school (and still does well).

So as much as I hate to say it, you/she should think about college options. If she thinks she really wants to aim for "good" schools as her primary option, she should gradually taper off the sport.

Unless...she has a legitimatey good shot at being recruited for these types of schools, which is different. Meaning, if she's a unicorn superstar she can relax a little on the choices.

If she aims to play her sport in college at any recruited level (D3 school a lot of people haven't heard of) she should keep doing all the seasons and take whatever classes she can manage while doing it.

Her capacity/desire/bandwidth should start to be apparent by late Freshman year.

Many or most of the kids who are playing sports in college at HYPS, etc. are super sporty and also super academic. It can be done but it requires a lot of effort and discipline on both fronts.

[Anonymous]

I think there’s a cutout for conditioning sports like XC or track. Possibly even swim at a less competitive school without cuts. As long as training intensity is managed with both coaches, both might actually support since they can be mutually beneficial.

I grew up playing different sports in different seasons and loved it but that’s a much more complicated situation now so combining two (non conditioning) sports is threading a more difficult needle

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This will vary greatly from athlete to athlete, school to school. All honors classes could mean a lot of things. My DCs were all honors classes kids, but it was totally fine because that was the appropriate level for them; the kids whose parents pushed them to punch above their weight class academically struggled, and adding an additional sports team commitment would be a very bad idea. DCs' school had a block schedule that really made the HS and club team double up in the fall doable. If you are at a school where your DD has all of their classes every day, this will be more challenging. Lastly, you will want to make sure your DD talks with her coaches. HS in-season sport MUST take priority, and she will likely have to miss some of the fall club off-season workouts. Good communication (and a little understanding from the coaches) is absolutely crucial.

The short answer: it's not easy, but it's doable.

OP here, and she would definitely talk to her club coach to get her blessing first. Coach has always said winter sports are the priority over winter training for main sport but not sure if she would go for a HS sport in the fall as we are not in HS yet and it has not come up. We do already know that club practice will be 7:30-9:30 so would not regularly conflict except for when there are HS games. Also on block schedule and also a kid for whom honors is definitely the right level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think there’s a cutout for conditioning sports like XC or track. Possibly even swim at a less competitive school without cuts. As long as training intensity is managed with both coaches, both might actually support since they can be mutually beneficial.

I grew up playing different sports in different seasons and loved it but that’s a much more complicated situation now so combining two (non conditioning) sports is threading a more difficult needle

Meets for XC or track being on Saturdays when tournaments are (at least on school teams) really kills using them as conditioning unless the school understands you won't run meets.

[Anonymous]

It's a challenge for sure. DD is a club soccer player. She played FH through HS, and it really impacted her ability to attend club soccer practice during FH season, just b/c of the schedule (practice often conflicted, but even when it didn't, keeping up with schoolwork took preference over potential hours 3 and 4 of practice).

The upside is that she found she really loved FH, and it helped her find her people in HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^and yes, she had to study more but she could have handled that. It was really the social life that would have affected her.

For my DD, the club sport travel impacts the social life more than the high school sports.

OP here, and this. I mean, she hasn't played a HS sport yes, but the club sport takes away a lot of weekend opportunities and has for years. She is disappointed when that happens, but she keeps choosing her sport over and over. I recognize that could change at any point.

Also, she does want to play her primary sport in college. She likely has what it takes but, again, I recognize her priorities can change at any time.

[Anonymous]

Totally do-able, and also possible to keep a pretty rigorous work load.

But I think the biggest factors are the club sports coach and the high school coach for the 2 different sports. If you have to keep it secret from one of them, because they don't like having their players do another sport, then I think you're going to have issues.

If you have a club sports organization/or coach who values this kind of cross training and you can have a clear conversation about hierarchy (a game for high school is more important than a weight/practice for travel team) then it's do-able. Also some high school coaches for a particular sport are very strict. Can you have the reverse conversation or do you have to pretend for the high school coach that they are not playing travel in another sport simultaneously.

My guess is you can make it work with at least one of these 2 coaches being fully aware and supportive. But if you have neither coach aware, nor supportive, then I think it will be very difficult. (NOTE: this specific to the actual coaches, of each of the teams, that year)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^and yes, she had to study more but she could have handled that. It was really the social life that would have affected her.

For my DD, the club sport travel impacts the social life more than the high school sports.

OP here, and this. I mean, she hasn't played a HS sport yes, but the club sport takes away a lot of weekend opportunities and has for years. She is disappointed when that happens, but she keeps choosing her sport over and over. I recognize that could change at any point.

Also, she does want to play her primary sport in college. She likely has what it takes but, again, I recognize her priorities can change at any time.

Same for my girl. She missed her fist travel sports game for a school event…this year (senior). If her practices are at 7:30 at night it can be done. Fall/winter/spring hs sports, a travel sport, and honors/ap level classes. You just gotta keep an eye on her and see what she can handle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This will vary greatly from athlete to athlete, school to school. All honors classes could mean a lot of things. My DCs were all honors classes kids, but it was totally fine because that was the appropriate level for them; the kids whose parents pushed them to punch above their weight class academically struggled, and adding an additional sports team commitment would be a very bad idea. DCs' school had a block schedule that really made the HS and club team double up in the fall doable. If you are at a school where your DD has all of their classes every day, this will be more challenging. Lastly, you will want to make sure your DD talks with her coaches. HS in-season sport MUST take priority, and she will likely have to miss some of the fall club off-season workouts. Good communication (and a little understanding from the coaches) is absolutely crucial.

The short answer: it's not easy, but it's doable.

OP here, and she would definitely talk to her club coach to get her blessing first. Coach has always said winter sports are the priority over winter training for main sport but not sure if she would go for a HS sport in the fall as we are not in HS yet and it has not come up. We do already know that club practice will be 7:30-9:30 so would not regularly conflict except for when there are HS games. Also on block schedule and also a kid for whom honors is definitely the right level.

Maybe I missed it, but are you absolutely positive this won’t conflict with HS practices? We were shocked that DD had rotating practices and yes, some went until 9:30 pm. Our older kid played a different sport and they did not rotate but were 6 days per week. It would have been impossible for either to play a club sport same season and be on the HS team and still have any time for actual school. It was hard enough with the practices and games, but they went to an intense public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the HS sport? When DD started playing for the school, I was surprised how her practiced times changed and were sometimes right after school but sometimes late at night. It would have been impossible to balance with a club sport in the same season because of the rotating practices. Check on that and see if they will be consistent.

The other thing that changed is how she still loved her sport but did get sad when she had to miss the occasional social event. This was a big change from middle school to when she was 15. In middle school she could have played 24/7. In HS she still wanted to train hard with intensity but doing the schedule you described wouldn’t have worked. She occasionally wanted to do some social stuff.

This is normal at big public schools where you have 6+ teams trying to practice in the same gym or field that also holds games.

[Anonymous]

This was me as an athlete in high school. I was able to maintain 2 sports at the high school varsity level, plus take honors and AP classes, and play one of those sports on a travel team. By junior year, I had to pick one because it was grueling and exhausting to maintain that schedule and keep up with my grades. I did very well in school and went on to play the sport I stuck with in college, so all worked out. I think it’s really important to left your child take the lead on this. They will know when it becomes too much and be supportive with the decision that they make.

[Anonymous]

Track

[Anonymous]

This past fall, one of my son’s teammates continued to play for the team (2-3 evening practices per week plus some weekend games) while playing for his school JV basketball team (afternoon practices).

He ended up tearing his ACL and is now off all sports for the year!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is in 8th grade. She plays a "spring" sport but her club team is really in season spring, summer, and fall, and then trains in the winter. Next year, in HS, she would like to play a fall sport (minimal cuts as I understand it) as well as her primary sport in the spring. Travel team will be on hold during the spring HS season but not during the fall. I am confident she could handle a winter sport, but the only one she plays/is interested in is not a team she is likely to make at our high school (even with a freshman, JV, and V team). Is this doable? I am thinking probably not if she wants to get good grades with all honors courses.

Any intensive sport will be in the red zone on recovery and should manage a youth's development to maximize performance in that sport. Unfortunately, that's the way it is to be hyper competitive. Take swimming, by high school they'll be swimming six days a week year-round. Any rest times are built in rest times. Tapering isn't a day off to go play soccer it's time to build up glycogen for the next big meet.

I'm not saying these sports don't have seasons like fall swimming or something where there is noticeably less intense practices or whatever, but they plan these things on a meso-scale, and those are recuperation times building towards that next big meet or tournament.

The resting is accounted for in the sport.