Does anyone hate how competitive the world has become?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I said this before, and I'll say this again. In order to make a varsity team in expensive neighborhoods such as Langley, McLean, Potomac, kids, on average, are from either UMC or UC families, with extensive training when they were young.

You can, of course, point out a few exceptions here and there, but exceptions are not the norm.

So wealthier kids are more likely to make the teams at wealthier schools in wealthier neighborhoods than poor kids who can’t afford to live in those neighborhoods and therefore don’t attend those schools? Shut the front door! What an amazing insight!

She’s truly brilliant but can afford Larlos tennis lessons so he can play number 8 on Langley

Having money does not guarantee that your kids will make HS varsity teams in wealthy areas, but not having money guarantees that your kids will likely NOT make HS varsity teams due to lack of training. There are sports where not having money for training will hurt you, no matter how talented you are.

Regarding kids who have parents pouring money into privates and traveling , only the naturally gifted from that group will go on to play college or go pro. The majority of them will be proficient in the sport but unremarkable.

The states with the largest participation in sports for teens are Maine, Vermont, Minnesota, Nee Hampshire, the cold states. Hockey is #1 and a lot of pro hockey players come from these states.

So about half of students in this country participate in sports of some kind. Northern states had the most participating in sports. That’s a lot of teens playing sports. If your child doesn’t love playing for the love of the game, don’t bother with the private coaching think that will make a difference.

[Anonymous]

I think it’s the parents who are competitive and making life difficult for our kids. My kid is much smarter and knows so much more that I did at his age but can’t get into our flagship state university. So sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I said this before, and I'll say this again. In order to make a varsity team in expensive neighborhoods such as Langley, McLean, Potomac, kids, on average, are from either UMC or UC families, with extensive training when they were young.

You can, of course, point out a few exceptions here and there, but exceptions are not the norm.

So wealthier kids are more likely to make the teams at wealthier schools in wealthier neighborhoods than poor kids who can’t afford to live in those neighborhoods and therefore don’t attend those schools? Shut the front door! What an amazing insight!

Don't shoot the messenger because I am just pointing out the reality of it. How many students from Langley (Virginia) or Churchill (Potomac, MD) HS are starters on the tennis or golf varsity teams that come from low-income families, and have zero experience prior to the tryouts? Exceptions are not the norm.

That’s kind of a silly example. Of course a kid can’t make a tennis team with no experience. Neither can someone pick up a golf club for the first time and know how to play the game. A teen could have a billion dollars of her own and still won’t make the team with zero experience.

But tennis is an easy sport to learn. Anyone with family or friends can teach a kid how to play. She’ll either lose interest or keep it casual or show an amazing hand eye coordination and strength, practice every day at the public court and start on the high school team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I said this before, and I'll say this again. In order to make a varsity team in expensive neighborhoods such as Langley, McLean, Potomac, kids, on average, are from either UMC or UC families, with extensive training when they were young.

You can, of course, point out a few exceptions here and there, but exceptions are not the norm.

So wealthier kids are more likely to make the teams at wealthier schools in wealthier neighborhoods than poor kids who can’t afford to live in those neighborhoods and therefore don’t attend those schools? Shut the front door! What an amazing insight!

She’s truly brilliant but can afford Larlos tennis lessons so he can play number 8 on Langley

Having money does not guarantee that your kids will make HS varsity teams in wealthy areas, but not having money guarantees that your kids will likely NOT make HS varsity teams due to lack of training. There are sports where not having money for training will hurt you, no matter how talented you are.

More importantly, not having money will guarantee that your kid won’t make varsity at the wealthy high schools because you can’t afford to live in the wealthy neighborhoods that feed those high schools.

Poor athletic talented kids will make varsity at poor high schools, get recruited, and eventually turn pro, while rich little Larlo is still going to be bragging at 40 about how he was a multi sport athlete because he played golf and water polo…

Most of the poor high schools have terrible sports teams. Nobody recruits from terrible teams and good players will do anything possible to get out of there.

The hope is you get connected to someone that can connect you to the sports privates. In the DMV, the WCAC teams for most sports…as well as STA, Landon, Georgetown Prep as well (though those are harder to gain acceptance).

The scenario you outlined is now almost extinct.

Herndon sent a kid to Princeton baseball this year. Seems like better ROI than Langley/McLean pyramids. 🤷‍♀️

Herndon isn’t poor, is it? Gonzaga sent a kid…and the rest are all prep school kids for Princeton. STA sent a kid the year prior.

LOL. You must be new to DCUM.

Why…is Herndon poor? I have to imagine it’s higher income than say most DCPS high schools or schools like Einstein in Silver spring and most PG County schools.

Just search the FCPS schools forum.

Yeah…not that interested…let’s just say after looking at the school website, the school isn’t poor. The facilities are quite nice. Also median income in Herndon is $135k.

It may be poor compared to Langley…but it’s not poor at all.

You missed the point. Herndon is an affordable option though if DCUM is to be believed crawling with MS-13 and is therefore undesirable for all the migrants there.

The fact is Herndon, Justice, Mt Vernon et al can provide a better return on investment if that’s what you want. DCUM won’t let you believe that though.

I also believe that the top talent is not getting recruited any more. Recruiters don’t have to find and schools don’t have to groom poor kids to play as much (this is a shame) because the pool of rich parents are paying to do the work high school, college and pro teams used to do. Also, weirdly video games do seem to up the intellectual knowledge of games (though not the physical).

I would prefer everyone go back to community based athletics for multiple reasons but that sadly isn’t going to happen any time soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That’s kind of a silly example. Of course a kid can’t make a tennis team with no experience. Neither can someone pick up a golf club for the first time and know how to play the game. A teen could have a billion dollars of her own and still won’t make the team with zero experience.

But tennis is an easy sport to learn. Anyone with family or friends can teach a kid how to play. She’ll either lose interest or keep it casual or show an amazing hand eye coordination and strength, practice every day at the public court and start on the high school team.

That billion dollars can get you the best coaching, and that makes a big difference.

Both Langley HS boys & girls tennis won the state championship this year. How many of the top six starters have private lessons and clinics? Probably all of them. Keep in mind that you can't play tennis outside in winter, so it requires indoor facilities, and that takes money. Tennis might be cheaper than golf, but it is still expensive.

[Anonymous]

Listen folks. When we’re talking about natural elite athletic talent, NO ONE is talking about tennis.

Send your little phenom out onto the basketball court and get back to us. Until then, stop embarrassing yourselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That’s kind of a silly example. Of course a kid can’t make a tennis team with no experience. Neither can someone pick up a golf club for the first time and know how to play the game. A teen could have a billion dollars of her own and still won’t make the team with zero experience.

But tennis is an easy sport to learn. Anyone with family or friends can teach a kid how to play. She’ll either lose interest or keep it casual or show an amazing hand eye coordination and strength, practice every day at the public court and start on the high school team.

That billion dollars can get you the best coaching, and that makes a big difference.

Both Langley HS boys & girls tennis won the state championship this year. How many of the top six starters have private lessons and clinics? Probably all of them. Keep in mind that you can't play tennis outside in winter, so it requires indoor facilities, and that takes money. Tennis might be cheaper than golf, but it is still expensive.

And how many will play in college? Maybe 1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Listen folks. When we’re talking about natural elite athletic talent, NO ONE is talking about tennis.

Send your little phenom out onto the basketball court and get back to us. Until then, stop embarrassing yourselves.

I don’t get this either. Kids have been training at basketball starting at very young ages. Basketball is very similar to soccer in terms of needing tons of muscle memory and technical skills.

You know a kid will hit a certain height by the parents, but there isn’t any “natural ability” that gets ro the upper echelons without tons of practice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Listen folks. When we’re talking about natural elite athletic talent, NO ONE is talking about tennis.

Send your little phenom out onto the basketball court and get back to us. Until then, stop embarrassing yourselves.

I don’t get this either. Kids have been training at basketball starting at very young ages. Basketball is very similar to soccer in terms of needing tons of muscle memory and technical skills.

You know a kid will hit a certain height by the parents, but there isn’t any “natural ability” that gets ro the upper echelons without tons of practice.

Yeah, of course. This is all obvious. Literally NO ONE is making the case that athletes turn pro without lots of practice. The point is that rich parents can spend thousands of dollars getting little Larlo all the private basketball coaching the DMV has to offer starting at the age of 5, they can get him on the very most elite travel team at 10, and if by 14 he’s not tall and only an average athlete, IT DOESN’T MATTER in the least how “skilled” he is. HS coaches will drop him like a hot potato in favor of the 6’3” reasonably athletic freshman who has never played competitive basketball in his life. Because believe it or not, there is still plenty of time to teach a 14 year old how to play basketball.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Listen folks. When we’re talking about natural elite athletic talent, NO ONE is talking about tennis.

Send your little phenom out onto the basketball court and get back to us. Until then, stop embarrassing yourselves.

I don’t get this either. Kids have been training at basketball starting at very young ages. Basketball is very similar to soccer in terms of needing tons of muscle memory and technical skills.

You know a kid will hit a certain height by the parents, but there isn’t any “natural ability” that gets ro the upper echelons without tons of practice.

Yeah, of course. This is all obvious. Literally NO ONE is making the case that athletes turn pro without lots of practice. The point is that rich parents can spend thousands of dollars getting little Larlo all the private basketball coaching the DMV has to offer starting at the age of 5, they can get him on the very most elite travel team at 10, and if by 14 he’s not tall and only an average athlete, IT DOESN’T MATTER in the least how “skilled” he is. HS coaches will drop him like a hot potato in favor of the 6’3” reasonably athletic freshman who has never played competitive basketball in his life. Because believe it or not, there is still plenty of time to teach a 14 year old how to play basketball.

You can’t get on an elite AAU team in the DMV at 13 if you aren’t a great player…so just FYI (the 10 year old will be replaced by 12 if they aren’t growing). There are plenty of average AAU teams (lots) that will keep taking the $$&s.

If the HS team is terrible, your scenario works…but that coach probably doesn’t have the ability to teach a random kid the game of basketball because terrible teams usually have weak coaches.

All the strong programs recruit 12 and 13 year olds to their HS..it’s like college recruiting basically. Your scenario doesn’t really work because there are tons of 6 ft plus really strong players (that will grow to 6’3” or above) that the coach will recruit…maybe if the 14 year old is going to hit 6’7” plus is a different story.

It’s hard to see your scenario practically happening these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Listen folks. When we’re talking about natural elite athletic talent, NO ONE is talking about tennis.

Send your little phenom out onto the basketball court and get back to us. Until then, stop embarrassing yourselves.

I don’t get this either. Kids have been training at basketball starting at very young ages. Basketball is very similar to soccer in terms of needing tons of muscle memory and technical skills.

You know a kid will hit a certain height by the parents, but there isn’t any “natural ability” that gets ro the upper echelons without tons of practice.

Yeah, of course. This is all obvious. Literally NO ONE is making the case that athletes turn pro without lots of practice. The point is that rich parents can spend thousands of dollars getting little Larlo all the private basketball coaching the DMV has to offer starting at the age of 5, they can get him on the very most elite travel team at 10, and if by 14 he’s not tall and only an average athlete, IT DOESN’T MATTER in the least how “skilled” he is. HS coaches will drop him like a hot potato in favor of the 6’3” reasonably athletic freshman who has never played competitive basketball in his life. Because believe it or not, there is still plenty of time to teach a 14 year old how to play basketball.

You can’t get on an elite AAU team in the DMV at 13 if you aren’t a great player…so just FYI (the 10 year old will be replaced by 12 if they aren’t growing). There are plenty of average AAU teams (lots) that will keep taking the $$&s.

If the HS team is terrible, your scenario works…but that coach probably doesn’t have the ability to teach a random kid the game of basketball because terrible teams usually have weak coaches.

All the strong programs recruit 12 and 13 year olds to their HS..it’s like college recruiting basically. Your scenario doesn’t really work because there are tons of 6 ft plus really strong players (that will grow to 6’3” or above) that the coach will recruit…maybe if the 14 year old is going to hit 6’7” plus is a different story.

It’s hard to see your scenario practically happening these days.

Sure, you’re right. I’m guessing in less than 10 years we’ll see that the NBA is primarily composed of upper middle class/wealthy white boys who are between 6’0” - 6’4” and of course it will be because they were all on absolutely ELITE, incredibly COMPETITIVE AAU teams when they were 12 years old.

I’m glad you have corrected my completely misguided assumptions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hot take. Maybe it's competitive for you and your kids because you simply rode the coattails of your ancestors and aren't that good at anything ...

HA! So true. White people tears.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Listen folks. When we’re talking about natural elite athletic talent, NO ONE is talking about tennis.

Send your little phenom out onto the basketball court and get back to us. Until then, stop embarrassing yourselves.

I don’t get this either. Kids have been training at basketball starting at very young ages. Basketball is very similar to soccer in terms of needing tons of muscle memory and technical skills.

You know a kid will hit a certain height by the parents, but there isn’t any “natural ability” that gets ro the upper echelons without tons of practice.

Yeah, of course. This is all obvious. Literally NO ONE is making the case that athletes turn pro without lots of practice. The point is that rich parents can spend thousands of dollars getting little Larlo all the private basketball coaching the DMV has to offer starting at the age of 5, they can get him on the very most elite travel team at 10, and if by 14 he’s not tall and only an average athlete, IT DOESN’T MATTER in the least how “skilled” he is. HS coaches will drop him like a hot potato in favor of the 6’3” reasonably athletic freshman who has never played competitive basketball in his life. Because believe it or not, there is still plenty of time to teach a 14 year old how to play basketball.

You can’t get on an elite AAU team in the DMV at 13 if you aren’t a great player…so just FYI (the 10 year old will be replaced by 12 if they aren’t growing). There are plenty of average AAU teams (lots) that will keep taking the $$&s.

If the HS team is terrible, your scenario works…but that coach probably doesn’t have the ability to teach a random kid the game of basketball because terrible teams usually have weak coaches.

All the strong programs recruit 12 and 13 year olds to their HS..it’s like college recruiting basically. Your scenario doesn’t really work because there are tons of 6 ft plus really strong players (that will grow to 6’3” or above) that the coach will recruit…maybe if the 14 year old is going to hit 6’7” plus is a different story.

It’s hard to see your scenario practically happening these days.

Sure, you’re right. I’m guessing in less than 10 years we’ll see that the NBA is primarily composed of upper middle class/wealthy white boys who are between 6’0” - 6’4” and of course it will be because they were all on absolutely ELITE, incredibly COMPETITIVE AAU teams when they were 12 years old.

I’m glad you have corrected my completely misguided assumptions.

Nobody said they were white…they mostly aren’t. They still play for elite AAU teams….not sure why that is strange to you. The best athletes play for the best teams.

You don’t seem to understand how PVI, Gonzaga, Bullis. Sidwell, Dematha, SJC, O’Connell, etc create their teams (all ranked top 40 in the country).

The coaches go to the tournaments where these kids play and recruit them. They don’t show up on campus by accident.

Again…why does of any of this anger you. You can decide you don’t believe it but I don’t think you have a kid that experienced it and you literally don’t know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s the parents who are competitive and making life difficult for our kids. My kid is much smarter and knows so much more that I did at his age but can’t get into our flagship state university. So sad.

I am sure he will add value to wherever he goes, and hopefully meet similarly smart kids like him at that place!

DH and I went to HYPSM and are not aiming high for our (very smart) kids because they will do well no matter where they go. I see plenty of smart kids joining my company from non-name brand schools and doing well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Listen folks. When we’re talking about natural elite athletic talent, NO ONE is talking about tennis.

Send your little phenom out onto the basketball court and get back to us. Until then, stop embarrassing yourselves.

I don’t get this either. Kids have been training at basketball starting at very young ages. Basketball is very similar to soccer in terms of needing tons of muscle memory and technical skills.

You know a kid will hit a certain height by the parents, but there isn’t any “natural ability” that gets ro the upper echelons without tons of practice.

Yeah, of course. This is all obvious. Literally NO ONE is making the case that athletes turn pro without lots of practice. The point is that rich parents can spend thousands of dollars getting little Larlo all the private basketball coaching the DMV has to offer starting at the age of 5, they can get him on the very most elite travel team at 10, and if by 14 he’s not tall and only an average athlete, IT DOESN’T MATTER in the least how “skilled” he is. HS coaches will drop him like a hot potato in favor of the 6’3” reasonably athletic freshman who has never played competitive basketball in his life. Because believe it or not, there is still plenty of time to teach a 14 year old how to play basketball.

You can’t get on an elite AAU team in the DMV at 13 if you aren’t a great player…so just FYI (the 10 year old will be replaced by 12 if they aren’t growing). There are plenty of average AAU teams (lots) that will keep taking the $$&s.

If the HS team is terrible, your scenario works…but that coach probably doesn’t have the ability to teach a random kid the game of basketball because terrible teams usually have weak coaches.

All the strong programs recruit 12 and 13 year olds to their HS..it’s like college recruiting basically. Your scenario doesn’t really work because there are tons of 6 ft plus really strong players (that will grow to 6’3” or above) that the coach will recruit…maybe if the 14 year old is going to hit 6’7” plus is a different story.

It’s hard to see your scenario practically happening these days.

Sure, you’re right. I’m guessing in less than 10 years we’ll see that the NBA is primarily composed of upper middle class/wealthy white boys who are between 6’0” - 6’4” and of course it will be because they were all on absolutely ELITE, incredibly COMPETITIVE AAU teams when they were 12 years old.

I’m glad you have corrected my completely misguided assumptions.

Nobody said they were white…they mostly aren’t. They still play for elite AAU teams….not sure why that is strange to you. The best athletes play for the best teams.

You don’t seem to understand how PVI, Gonzaga, Bullis. Sidwell, Dematha, SJC, O’Connell, etc create their teams (all ranked top 40 in the country).

The coaches go to the tournaments where these kids play and recruit them. They don’t show up on campus by accident.

Again…why does of any of this anger you. You can decide you don’t believe it but I don’t think you have a kid that experienced it and you literally don’t know.

I’m not angry in the least. Just pointing out how delusional some of you rich dorks are that think you can buy your kid athletic talent. All you’re really doing is bankrolling the actually talented kids who may or may not be rich (and most likely they’re not - either way they’re not paying for their spot on the team) so good job, I guess?