Anonymous wrote:Madison family here. I regret buying a house here. My kids like, or should I say liked, sports but I wish we bought where it wasn’t so competitive so they had a chance to play in the high school teams. It’s too competitive and too much for them where it stopped being enjoyable. They are too many kids trying out and too few spots. No, they didn’t care that the team was great if they weren’t on it.

I think about that when I consider that these high schools of 2700-3000 will be twice the size of a lot of DIII schools and likely equally as hard to make the varsity teams.

Madison family here. I regret buying a house here. My kids like, or should I say liked, sports but I wish we bought where it wasn’t so competitive so they had a chance to play in the high school teams. It’s too competitive and too much for them where it stopped being enjoyable. They are too many kids trying out and too few spots. No, they didn’t care that the team was great if they weren’t on it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are at one of the latter three.

The flip side of the experience is that any kid who wants to play a sport can walk on, and actually get playing time. It's not competitive at all to join the school teams for most sports.

My kid (a decent athlete, but not a superstar) is not going to be playing in any championship title games. He'd much rather be on a team where he feels like a real contributor and gets lots of field time, than be at a school where he can't even make the team.

Same for us. I would like to add, since tryouts are not as competitive, the players seem less toxic to one another. I have daugters, so this is our experience. Not sure about what happens on the boys side.

Expectations are low, so any win is a huge reason to celebrate! The girls are just happy to be on a team and make friends.

Plus, anytime any team wins a few games in the post season, it seems as though the whole community comes out to support them.

No school gets more community support than Madison and it’s considered the top high school in NoVa for sports.

Calm down. Nobody said the powerhouses didn’t get community support.

Anonymous wrote:The current boundaries are ridiculous. The inequality is outrageous for a public school system.

🤡 stop your dumb crusade. This is a thread about sports, it’s not a place for you to shill for the school board on unrelated topics.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are at one of the latter three.

The flip side of the experience is that any kid who wants to play a sport can walk on, and actually get playing time. It's not competitive at all to join the school teams for most sports.

My kid (a decent athlete, but not a superstar) is not going to be playing in any championship title games. He'd much rather be on a team where he feels like a real contributor and gets lots of field time, than be at a school where he can't even make the team.

Same for us. I would like to add, since tryouts are not as competitive, the players seem less toxic to one another. I have daugters, so this is our experience. Not sure about what happens on the boys side.

Expectations are low, so any win is a huge reason to celebrate! The girls are just happy to be on a team and make friends.

Plus, anytime any team wins a few games in the post season, it seems as though the whole community comes out to support them.

No school gets more community support than Madison and it’s considered the top high school in NoVa for sports.

Forgot to add, my kids were able to add to their college apps, that they were on varsity teams for four years. I hear some uber successful schools rarely allow freshmen on varsity teams, no matter how amazing they are.

Anonymous wrote:We are at one of the latter three.

The flip side of the experience is that any kid who wants to play a sport can walk on, and actually get playing time. It's not competitive at all to join the school teams for most sports.

My kid (a decent athlete, but not a superstar) is not going to be playing in any championship title games. He'd much rather be on a team where he feels like a real contributor and gets lots of field time, than be at a school where he can't even make the team.

Same for us. I would like to add, since tryouts are not as competitive, the players seem less toxic to one another. I have daugters, so this is our experience. Not sure about what happens on the boys side.

Expectations are low, so any win is a huge reason to celebrate! The girls are just happy to be on a team and make friends.

Plus, anytime any team wins a few games in the post season, it seems as though the whole community comes out to support them.

Anonymous wrote:This isn’t Texas. High school sports aren’t that big of a deal.

This

I care about my kids' school being a safe, supportive environment in which they get a solid education. I couldn't care less about sports titles. Not even arts titles or academic titles matter to me, though they'd impress me more than sports titles.

This isn’t Texas. High school sports aren’t that big of a deal.

Anonymous wrote:We are at one of the latter three.

The flip side of the experience is that any kid who wants to play a sport can walk on, and actually get playing time. It's not competitive at all to join the school teams for most sports.

My kid (a decent athlete, but not a superstar) is not going to be playing in any championship title games. He'd much rather be on a team where he feels like a real contributor and gets lots of field time, than be at a school where he can't even make the team.

I would *strongly* prefer this situation for my kid, who loves sports but will not be any kind of star. Unfortunately, she will attend one of the lots-of-championships schools.

I think there are a couple of things going on. The main thing is that the more winning schools are generally more affluent. Lots of parents in those pyramids can afford to invest thousands per year in travel sports and training from an early age. And I do suspect that there's some recruiting going on.

But also, things change over time. I guess because of changing demographics or shifts in popularity of certain sports, teams you can essentially walk onto now were much harder to make in the past, simply because not as many people are trying out.

We are at one of the latter three.

The flip side of the experience is that any kid who wants to play a sport can walk on, and actually get playing time. It's not competitive at all to join the school teams for most sports.

My kid (a decent athlete, but not a superstar) is not going to be playing in any championship title games. He'd much rather be on a team where he feels like a real contributor and gets lots of field time, than be at a school where he can't even make the team.

Where I get suspicious is when there is a strong sports school right up the road from a very weak sports school. I assume that a lot of cross boundary recruiting is going on.

The current boundaries are ridiculous. The inequality is outrageous for a public school system.

Some schools mentioned that win, heavily recruit and have for many years.

Are you at a high school that never seems to win a district athletic or academic title? Does that make you or your kids feel slightly ashamed, or is it something that doesn't matter to you or them at all?

It seems superficial but some schools like Langley, Madison and Robinson seem to rack up championships every year and others like Herndon, Falls Church and Justice never seem to.