Reply to Is the traditional American high school experience of playing sports dead?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I went to high school in the US in the 90s and did not play sports. I did play sports before that, in fact played all MS sports available to me (basketball, track, volleyball). But in HS I wanted to focus on other activities (music, theater, speech & debate, student government) and sports took up too much time.

Only a handful of my friends played sports. I had a friend who was a dancer but also ran cross country. I think she also ran track for a couple years but gave it up because the meets overlapped with dance recitals. I had some friends in marching band, which was treated as a "sport" at my high school. But few athletes.

Yet my friends were the ones who went on to top schools and pursued advanced degrees and more challenging industries like law and medicine. The athletes did fine but were more likely to take over the family car dealership or become realtors. Some of them went to college but not all. Playing sports at my high school was considered a cool and worthwhile thing to do, but it was not something most serious, ambitious students did because it took up a lot of time.

I am continually surprised by how obsessive many parents are about athletics given this experience. I know some HS athletes go on to be very successful, but it doesn't seem essential to me at all. My own DD is a swimmer and is debating whether she will swim in HS. She loves swimming but hates the hours. We are neutral on it -- she has other extra curricular that she is better at. She's not going to swim in college. If she winds up swimming I'm sure it will be a good experience but she could do other things and that would be good too.

I don't see how sports are an essential part of the "traditional American high school experience." Most students don't play sports.[/quote]

You realize that your personal anecdotal experiences is just that. Many other people can provide examples about how they and their kids loved sports, excelled in academics, and went on to amazing professional experiences.

People here truly love to hate on sports. I don’t know why it matters to so many people if they and their kids have zero interest in it. But to continually imply that the kids who love sports are intellectually inferior to the kids who don’t is insulting.

It also shouldn’t be surprising that in this highly competitive area, sports are competitive as well. [/quote]

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