High School Athletic Conditioning Options

[Anonymous]

Our ds is a 9th grader at Blair. Does anyone know what options there are for athletic conditioning opportunities if one does not make one of the sports teams? Also are the running teams open to all (we are thinking of insisting he participate in one of those). Does anyone have their kid in a Montgomery county (non school) athletic conditioning option instead? Thanks. We are new to MCPS as well as high school.

[Anonymous]

Country and spring track are open to all at Blair. Winter track is minimally competitive. All are good for conditioning but are big time commitments.

[Anonymous]

It depends on how much experience your DS has in sports.

My guess is that near you there is a summer swim team that has winter practices. By HS, these teams kind of split into several tracks. One group is just plain good. Another group does HS swim team and a third while being able to swim as much as they want, are mostly just on the practice team. The problem with this is that depending on the team the practice level can be pretty inclusive or almost impossible.

The county has rec level basketball for HS students but if he hasn't been playing it would be pretty intense.

MSI soccer has different levels of team for HS. While even the lowest level has some decent players, usually looking for more playing time to complement their being on more competitive teams to help them move up, the lowest level teams are always looking for a couple athletes to fill out their rosters and avoid forfeiting and/or playing shorthanded.

I have heard some good things about the Blair ultimate frisbee club but I'm not sure it's schedule over the winter.

The XC and outdoor track teams are open to all willing to commit to a fairly arduous practice schedule at the beginning of the season. Indoor track practice started on November 15 and I don't think they are taking any more athletes. Most likely, indoor track wouldn't be the place to start someone who hasn't already shown an interest because practice is outdoors enough that your DS could get turned off before he even started due to the cold. Outdoor track practice will start on March 1 and only about one of the three first weeks is cold on an average year.