Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is what happens when you have HSs with 3000 kids and only 24 spots on the soccer roster. Also, most of the HS coaches are terrible so your kid will learn more playing club or rec.

But this is also real life.

Yep, these large schools are awful. I don't understand why parents move into these districts even the good ones. Oh but they have a few extra classes to select from.

However, it is true a spot on a competitive basketball team where the coach is trying to sell tickets is much different than when parents pay for coaching. It's more like a job even at smaller schools. There is a reason competitive D1 colleges lost to the basketball and football players when the players demanded pay.

I don't think couples with no kids or even just toddlers are thinking about the size of the HS they feed into (they likely care about how elementary/middle/HS rank academically) and what it will mean for sports for their kids who either don't yet exist or aren't playing sports.

I also don't think anyone believes it's a big enough issue to move when their kids are older and it finally hits them that making the Madison HS baseball team is hard as one example.

Actually, it is a thing. In travel circles with younger kids, parents at smaller schools make fun of parents at larger schools because, we can make a team.

Travel circles, meaning travel sports circles? Again, is anyone considering any of this when they pick a neighborhood before they have kids or just have 3 year olds?

BTW, does that mean that the parents with kids who make the team at a larger school are free to mercilessly call your kid a loser piece of shit because they are on the Madison varsity baseball team and your kid just plays for some small crappy high school team?

You mean the parents of the kids that were cut? Have fun paying for gym time and a coach.

Anonymous wrote:My HS in the 1980s had 3500 kids and there were definitely cuts for sports like baseball, basketball and football.

Perhaps the difference nowadays is you just didn't have people so invested in youth travel sports and few participated.

So, the kids cut from the baseball team were literally kids who hadn't ever played before or maybe played little league, but hadn't played since 12. It was rare for a kid who was actively playing all the time to not make a team.

They didn't make a big deal about it, because they weren't overly invested in the sport. They either switched to a no cut sport or participated in non-sports activities.

Yeah this is accurate. If you showed any interest and had experience you could make the team. I got cut from basketball and had literally only played one season of rec. I was sad but basketball was not my identity it was just something I was trying out.

Kids now play travel from age 7 and have private trainers and still dont make the high school team.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is what happens when you have HSs with 3000 kids and only 24 spots on the soccer roster. Also, most of the HS coaches are terrible so your kid will learn more playing club or rec.

But this is also real life.

Yep, these large schools are awful. I don't understand why parents move into these districts even the good ones. Oh but they have a few extra classes to select from.

However, it is true a spot on a competitive basketball team where the coach is trying to sell tickets is much different than when parents pay for coaching. It's more like a job even at smaller schools. There is a reason competitive D1 colleges lost to the basketball and football players when the players demanded pay.

I don't think couples with no kids or even just toddlers are thinking about the size of the HS they feed into (they likely care about how elementary/middle/HS rank academically) and what it will mean for sports for their kids who either don't yet exist or aren't playing sports.

I also don't think anyone believes it's a big enough issue to move when their kids are older and it finally hits them that making the Madison HS baseball team is hard as one example.

Actually, it is a thing. In travel circles with younger kids, parents at smaller schools make fun of parents at larger schools because, we can make a team.

Travel circles, meaning travel sports circles? Again, is anyone considering any of this when they pick a neighborhood before they have kids or just have 3 year olds?

BTW, does that mean that the parents with kids who make the team at a larger school are free to mercilessly call your kid a loser piece of shit because they are on the Madison varsity baseball team and your kid just plays for some small crappy high school team?

No, obviously most families aren’t determining everything based on where their kid can make a sports team (okay, maybe in some parts of the country they do that). In the DC area most of the suburban public schools are large and very competitive, so there isn’t much choice anyway.

Anonymous wrote:pick an individual sport then you have nobody to blame but yourself

Even sports like swimming and tennis have limited spots at the big schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is what happens when you have HSs with 3000 kids and only 24 spots on the soccer roster. Also, most of the HS coaches are terrible so your kid will learn more playing club or rec.

But this is also real life.

Yep, these large schools are awful. I don't understand why parents move into these districts even the good ones. Oh but they have a few extra classes to select from.

However, it is true a spot on a competitive basketball team where the coach is trying to sell tickets is much different than when parents pay for coaching. It's more like a job even at smaller schools. There is a reason competitive D1 colleges lost to the basketball and football players when the players demanded pay.

I don't think couples with no kids or even just toddlers are thinking about the size of the HS they feed into (they likely care about how elementary/middle/HS rank academically) and what it will mean for sports for their kids who either don't yet exist or aren't playing sports.

I also don't think anyone believes it's a big enough issue to move when their kids are older and it finally hits them that making the Madison HS baseball team is hard as one example.

Actually, it is a thing. In travel circles with younger kids, parents at smaller schools make fun of parents at larger schools because, we can make a team.

Travel circles, meaning travel sports circles? Again, is anyone considering any of this when they pick a neighborhood before they have kids or just have 3 year olds?

BTW, does that mean that the parents with kids who make the team at a larger school are free to mercilessly call your kid a loser piece of shit because they are on the Madison varsity baseball team and your kid just plays for some small crappy high school team?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is what happens when you have HSs with 3000 kids and only 24 spots on the soccer roster. Also, most of the HS coaches are terrible so your kid will learn more playing club or rec.

But this is also real life.

Yep, these large schools are awful. I don't understand why parents move into these districts even the good ones. Oh but they have a few extra classes to select from.

However, it is true a spot on a competitive basketball team where the coach is trying to sell tickets is much different than when parents pay for coaching. It's more like a job even at smaller schools. There is a reason competitive D1 colleges lost to the basketball and football players when the players demanded pay.

I don't think couples with no kids or even just toddlers are thinking about the size of the HS they feed into (they likely care about how elementary/middle/HS rank academically) and what it will mean for sports for their kids who either don't yet exist or aren't playing sports.

I also don't think anyone believes it's a big enough issue to move when their kids are older and it finally hits them that making the Madison HS baseball team is hard as one example.

Actually, it is a thing. In travel circles with younger kids, parents at smaller schools make fun of parents at larger schools because, we can make a team.

pick an individual sport then you have nobody to blame but yourself

Anonymous wrote:I have kids in elementary and high school. I am watching kids get cut in sports and activities they love and have played all their lives. Hate how competitive this world is.

I just saw my child’s friends get cut from a sport they have played together since elementary school. I feel like kids should all be able to play. Let there be two freshmen teams or have a practice squad or club team that doesn’t go against other schools.

What happens to the below average kids?

Gym space would be too much a problem for an intramural/club league at the school. You can find a rec league if you look.

The kids should be learning to be competitive if they play a sport for that long. They have to work hard, when they want something. Because the competition wants it and works hard. These are tough lessons to learn, but things aren’t always going to just be handed to you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HS team placement is truly political. Stay with club sports.

Not with golf and tennis. There is an actual score to determine who make the team and who get cut.

True

I am not sure why you think the schools have to solve this. My DD plays volleyball and was lucky to get a spot on a freshman team this year but might not make JV next year. There were lots of girls that got cut. As it was, they had to rotate practice time and had it at all different hours since lots of teams used the gyms. They can't just add more teams. They had practice until 9:30pm some nights as it was. And who is coaching these hypothetical extra teams if they ever found gym space?

There are plenty of other volleyball options in the area for the kids who get cut. Just like the current club season and those who get cut from that. They can play rec. Every sport has options in this area. Kids who want to play can find a space to play.

There are cuts on our HS teams but I appreciate sports like track and swim who are not subjective- you have the time, you are on the team

Anonymous wrote:HS team placement is truly political. Stay with club sports.

Not with golf and tennis. There is an actual score to determine who make the team and who get cut.

My HS in the 1980s had 3500 kids and there were definitely cuts for sports like baseball, basketball and football.

Perhaps the difference nowadays is you just didn't have people so invested in youth travel sports and few participated.

So, the kids cut from the baseball team were literally kids who hadn't ever played before or maybe played little league, but hadn't played since 12. It was rare for a kid who was actively playing all the time to not make a team.

They didn't make a big deal about it, because they weren't overly invested in the sport. They either switched to a no cut sport or participated in non-sports activities.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have kids in elementary and high school. I am watching kids get cut in sports and activities they love and have played all their lives. Hate how competitive this world is.

I just saw my child’s friends get cut from a sport they have played together since elementary school. I feel like kids should all be able to play. Let there be two freshmen teams or have a practice squad or club team that doesn’t go against other schools.

What happens to the below average kids?

I feel you, OP. It’s sad how competitive everything and everyone has become. It’s not how childhood used to be. Too many people. Only one solution - move and live in a smaller, less populated area. Of course that doesn’t help with current friends or if you have older kids, but it’s really the only thing that would prevent this type of experience.

Are you pretending that sports didn't have cuts in HS when you attended?

DC area HS's have had cuts for decades and decades.

We had cuts at my high school in NY -- only a varsity tennis team, not enough interest for JV, so I was cut. I could play, but I wasn't like the state champion twins who were on the team. I think I won one game against Twin X.

Anonymous wrote:HS team placement is truly political. Stay with club sports.

The only thing more political than club sports is private school sports.