Yes, my high school had 400 kids. DS's school at 2700. It's very difficult to make a high school team, even if you play travel not just rec.

Anonymous wrote:I think it is the size of the schools.

Add to that the tendency for kids to start playing random sports (volleyball, field hockey) very young, and you have a lot of very qualified kids trying out for every team.

+1

This area has oversized schools.

Yet another way that schools don’t scale well and kids aren’t widgets.

I graduated HS in the mid 90s from a very large public school in a different part of the country. It was just as competitive as it is now. Nothing has changed. There were sports that you could pick up in HS that were no cut and ones that you basically had to play from the time you could walk and only the best played on the HS team. Those who made it were the type that went on to be recruited for colleges.

Let’s stop creating new threads on this.

Anonymous wrote:It was less common, since there were more multisport athletes and the same number of roster spots.

Yes, my high school was about 2000 students and for the most part the same 200 or so kids played 2 or 3 of them. Lots of cross over. Among the guys on the football team, we had cross over with swimming, basketball, track and field, baseball, and tennis. Among the cheerleaders, we had cross over with soccer, gymnastics, diving, sychronized swimming, cross country, tennis, track and field. Men's soccer crossed over with tennis and wrestling. Pretty much every non-Spring-sport athlete was also in track and field.

I went to a small private school (east coast) in the 90’s. Most of us were 3 sport athletes and none of us played on club teams. In my close friend group of ten, six of us went on to play D1 or D3 in college. It was different (better in my opinion) times.

I did not find it was common for most students to be on teams even in the 1980s when I went to high school. Many of my classmates transferred to our small private school just so they could play sports.

Anonymous wrote:I always felt high school sports are one of the quintessential American school experiences besides the yellow school buses. But it’s not an experience most students have now because of how hard it is to pass tryouts. Was it more common to be in school teams in the past?

Yes, outside of urban areas. Yes, I think it was interesting I learned that Maryland only has four categories of schools. In Missouri it went up to like 6A and those were only in St. Louis and KC. Pretty much anyone that really wanted to play some sport could. We had a state champ football team. It was no cut.

It was less common, since there were more multisport athletes and the same number of roster spots.

Seek therapy for your obsession

It was in my experience. JV was always an option.

How do kids get into these sports? They just pick up volleyball and just stick with it out of passion?

I think it is the size of the schools.

Add to that the tendency for kids to start playing random sports (volleyball, field hockey) very young, and you have a lot of very qualified kids trying out for every team.

This AGAIN?

Most likely the size and number of teams are the same, but more kids want to be on them. Possibly a lower percentage of kids end up playing on school teams at large high schools. (My kids probably had less of a shot than I did, since their high school was overcrowded and had about 1000 students than mine did.)

I always felt high school sports are one of the quintessential American school experiences besides the yellow school buses. But it’s not an experience most students have now because of how hard it is to pass tryouts. Was it more common to be in school teams in the past?