Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has it ever occurred to folks in this forum that maybe 90% of the kids that showed up for the tryouts didn't prepare for the tryouts in the first place? I live near Langley HS, and during the summer, I usually see about seven kids who come to Langley HS and train every day. In the first week of the tryouts, there were about 60 kids who showed up for the tryouts, and about 90% came unprepared. Now, you have parents come here and complain about how hard it is for kids to make the team(s). You just can't make this sh__ up.

Wow. This definitely isn’t the case at our HS (large UMC public). Pretty much every kid who even makes JV teams has been playing club or travel, private lessons and training etc for years. And many of those kids don’t even make the JV teams. Depends a bit on the year. Occasionally a very athletic rec kid will make JV. Also depends on the year. Random kids do not usually even try out for the “cut” sports- pretty much everyone trying out is very well prepared. The rest of the kids know they won’t make cut teams and opt for track or cross country, football, wrestling if they want to do a sport.

Different story at smaller high schools but at larger high schools it IS often extremely difficult to make JV in many or most sports.

It depends. My DS made the varsity tennis team at Langley HS as a freshman.

My kid also made the tennis team as a freshman. There is only varsity tennis in fcps. No JV. For your kid and my kid, it doesn’t seem so competitive. For the other 40 kids who came to tryouts and didn’t make the team, they will say it is extremely difficult to make the tennis team.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has it ever occurred to folks in this forum that maybe 90% of the kids that showed up for the tryouts didn't prepare for the tryouts in the first place? I live near Langley HS, and during the summer, I usually see about seven kids who come to Langley HS and train every day. In the first week of the tryouts, there were about 60 kids who showed up for the tryouts, and about 90% came unprepared. Now, you have parents come here and complain about how hard it is for kids to make the team(s). You just can't make this sh__ up.

Wow. This definitely isn’t the case at our HS (large UMC public). Pretty much every kid who even makes JV teams has been playing club or travel, private lessons and training etc for years. And many of those kids don’t even make the JV teams. Depends a bit on the year. Occasionally a very athletic rec kid will make JV. Also depends on the year. Random kids do not usually even try out for the “cut” sports- pretty much everyone trying out is very well prepared. The rest of the kids know they won’t make cut teams and opt for track or cross country, football, wrestling if they want to do a sport.

Different story at smaller high schools but at larger high schools it IS often extremely difficult to make JV in many or most sports.

It depends. My DS made the varsity tennis team at Langley HS as a freshman.

Humble brag much

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has it ever occurred to folks in this forum that maybe 90% of the kids that showed up for the tryouts didn't prepare for the tryouts in the first place? I live near Langley HS, and during the summer, I usually see about seven kids who come to Langley HS and train every day. In the first week of the tryouts, there were about 60 kids who showed up for the tryouts, and about 90% came unprepared. Now, you have parents come here and complain about how hard it is for kids to make the team(s). You just can't make this sh__ up.

Wow. This definitely isn’t the case at our HS (large UMC public). Pretty much every kid who even makes JV teams has been playing club or travel, private lessons and training etc for years. And many of those kids don’t even make the JV teams. Depends a bit on the year. Occasionally a very athletic rec kid will make JV. Also depends on the year. Random kids do not usually even try out for the “cut” sports- pretty much everyone trying out is very well prepared. The rest of the kids know they won’t make cut teams and opt for track or cross country, football, wrestling if they want to do a sport.

Different story at smaller high schools but at larger high schools it IS often extremely difficult to make JV in many or most sports.

It depends. My DS made the varsity tennis team at Langley HS as a freshman.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s just the dc area. Move to the south or Midwest

False. My family is from the south and DH’s is from the Midwest. The constant competition is in both places as much as it is here.

Fake news

It's not. I'm from Ohio and sorry to say that it is the same there, esp. in the more populated areas.

I grew up in Ohio and even in the 80s and 90s making high school teams was challenging and we were constantly looking over our shoulders. Kids were programming grade calculating programs into TI-82s. And this was a so-so suburb.

I live on the west coast now and am actually surprised that some HS teams aren’t crazy competitive. It feels like a lot of people have taken themselves out of the running for things. However, those families who have stayed in the game are in it to win at an entirely new level and it’s terrifying to cross paths with them.

My friend has a rising 2nd grader playing travel baseball. They had enough kids and parent volunteers to create two teams. The parents voted before tryouts to only run one team because “otherwise some kids will end up on the better team and that wouldn’t be fair.” So they’d rather risk no baseball than risk FOMO.

50 7 & 8 year old kids signed up and 12 will make the team. Most of them go to just 2 schools. Teachers have noted that cohort can’t chill and play nicely during recess- maybe because they know they’re fighting to make a team in 2nd grade?

Anonymous wrote:Has it ever occurred to folks in this forum that maybe 90% of the kids that showed up for the tryouts didn't prepare for the tryouts in the first place? I live near Langley HS, and during the summer, I usually see about seven kids who come to Langley HS and train every day. In the first week of the tryouts, there were about 60 kids who showed up for the tryouts, and about 90% came unprepared. Now, you have parents come here and complain about how hard it is for kids to make the team(s). You just can't make this sh__ up.

Wow. This definitely isn’t the case at our HS (large UMC public). Pretty much every kid who even makes JV teams has been playing club or travel, private lessons and training etc for years. And many of those kids don’t even make the JV teams. Depends a bit on the year. Occasionally a very athletic rec kid will make JV. Also depends on the year. Random kids do not usually even try out for the “cut” sports- pretty much everyone trying out is very well prepared. The rest of the kids know they won’t make cut teams and opt for track or cross country, football, wrestling if they want to do a sport.

Different story at smaller high schools but at larger high schools it IS often extremely difficult to make JV in many or most sports.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s just the dc area. Move to the south or Midwest

False. My family is from the south and DH’s is from the Midwest. The constant competition is in both places as much as it is here.

Fake news

You can’t convince people in the DC area that there are more competitive, more successful students and athletes all over the country. Even when faced with verification they make excuses. It’s almost embarrassing.

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure it's intimidating for kids who aren't that athletic trying to join a sport so they have something to put on a college application. Why do there have to be tryouts? Why can't kids join because they want to? Adults put so much pressure on kids trying to make them into overachievers because everything is so competitive these days.

Watching the Olympics, I noticed Americans seem so obnoxious compared to people from other countries. It's as if they are so self-centered they don't even really see how they are acting like buffoons, and I'm an American. Everyone's behavior is so over the top nowadays.

No student applying for college needs to have a sport on their application. There are way more impressive ways for teens to spend their time.

Americans are the worst at the Olympics. There was one male swimmer they were focused on. He cried when he lost, came in 7th or something. This after the male swimmers being the most obnoxious.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s just the dc area. Move to the south or Midwest

False. My family is from the south and DH’s is from the Midwest. The constant competition is in both places as much as it is here.

Fake news

It's not. I'm from Ohio and sorry to say that it is the same there, esp. in the more populated areas.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s just the dc area. Move to the south or Midwest

False. My family is from the south and DH’s is from the Midwest. The constant competition is in both places as much as it is here.

Fake news

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure it's intimidating for kids who aren't that athletic trying to join a sport so they have something to put on a college application. Why do there have to be tryouts? Why can't kids join because they want to? Adults put so much pressure on kids trying to make them into overachievers because everything is so competitive these days.

Watching the Olympics, I noticed Americans seem so obnoxious compared to people from other countries. It's as if they are so self-centered they don't even really see how they are acting like buffoons, and I'm an American. Everyone's behavior is so over the top nowadays.

Did you notice how many of the top Olympic runners, swimmers and many other athletes all train if not ncaa (or nba) and train in USA? Where many of the best coaches, infrastructure and sponsors are?

The Olympics are such a large part of the problem, they deserve an S/O.

Anonymous wrote:It’s just the dc area. Move to the south or Midwest

False. My family is from the south and DH’s is from the Midwest. The constant competition is in both places as much as it is here.

Has it ever occurred to folks in this forum that maybe 90% of the kids that showed up for the tryouts didn't prepare for the tryouts in the first place? I live near Langley HS, and during the summer, I usually see about seven kids who come to Langley HS and train every day. In the first week of the tryouts, there were about 60 kids who showed up for the tryouts, and about 90% came unprepared. Now, you have parents come here and complain about how hard it is for kids to make the team(s). You just can't make this sh__ up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure it's intimidating for kids who aren't that athletic trying to join a sport so they have something to put on a college application. Why do there have to be tryouts? Why can't kids join because they want to? Adults put so much pressure on kids trying to make them into overachievers because everything is so competitive these days.

Watching the Olympics, I noticed Americans seem so obnoxious compared to people from other countries. It's as if they are so self-centered they don't even really see how they are acting like buffoons, and I'm an American. Everyone's behavior is so over the top nowadays.

+1
There are tryouts so they only take the best, most athletic players and ‘win’ championships and tournaments. Its messed up how young we start our kids on this track of competition for the rest of their lives.

People may not realize how it works in Europe and then come to the conclusion it isn’t so competitive

Most top soccer clubs are training kids at 5 years old where the kids may be boarding at the club. It’s super competitive and kids are often cut and replaced by better players all the time.

These kids live and breathe their sport with school taking a backseat.

The difference is that kids that aren’t on these ultra competitive teams know at an early age that they are now playing their sport for fun…there are no college sports.

You don’t ever see the young superstars training unless you happen to live near these training academies.

It’s a very different system…but one would argue actually more competitive and cutthroat.

Agree.

Les’s pay to play model of phony travel leagues too. USA keeps the hope alive whilst charging $3000/year to be in a team plus $100/hr private coaching. Some parents don’t know when to pull the plug. But some natural athletes, who are coachable and put in the time, go on to soar!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure it's intimidating for kids who aren't that athletic trying to join a sport so they have something to put on a college application. Why do there have to be tryouts? Why can't kids join because they want to? Adults put so much pressure on kids trying to make them into overachievers because everything is so competitive these days.

Watching the Olympics, I noticed Americans seem so obnoxious compared to people from other countries. It's as if they are so self-centered they don't even really see how they are acting like buffoons, and I'm an American. Everyone's behavior is so over the top nowadays.

+1
There are tryouts so they only take the best, most athletic players and ‘win’ championships and tournaments. Its messed up how young we start our kids on this track of competition for the rest of their lives.

There are tryouts so everyone can learn and progress. And half the kids aren’t waiting around for the rookie. Our rate goes up too playing with newbies. So does frustration rate. And then they’s the playing time rules. Development leagues play everyone 1.2 quarters, Club teams play those doing well in practice and game.

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure it's intimidating for kids who aren't that athletic trying to join a sport so they have something to put on a college application. Why do there have to be tryouts? Why can't kids join because they want to? Adults put so much pressure on kids trying to make them into overachievers because everything is so competitive these days.

Watching the Olympics, I noticed Americans seem so obnoxious compared to people from other countries. It's as if they are so self-centered they don't even really see how they are acting like buffoons, and I'm an American. Everyone's behavior is so over the top nowadays.

Did you notice how many of the top Olympic runners, swimmers and many other athletes all train if not ncaa (or nba) and train in USA? Where many of the best coaches, infrastructure and sponsors are?