Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Parents must be delusional if they think it's easier to make a team at private schools compared to large public schools. Try making the cut for the tennis or golf team at either Langley High School (public) or Sidwell Friends (private), and you'll quickly see how tough the competition is. Both schools consistently win championships, and only a few spots on the roster, these kids are often trained from a young age because parents have lot of $$$. In fact, kids who get cut from Langley could easily be the top player at other schools in Fairfax County Public Schools. Just saying...

You are cherry picking…the Sidwell football team is pretty bad and essentially any boy can play. Baseball is usually OK but doesn’t cut much. So, you choose a different sport

Basketball a completely different story as they are ranked nationally many years.

GDS is crappy in most sports…though tops in volleyball.

Obviously, the WCAC schools are competitive though you can make the teams at The Heights or Ireton as examples.

Go ahead if you want your kids to get CTE later in life. There is a reason why you do not see rich families have their kids to play football, only country club sports.

Anonymous wrote:We didn’t move to private for sports but we 100% took our DCs ability to play their chosen sports in HS into account. We were fortunate enough to be able to afford private and to have found schools that made sense academically and athletically.

+1. We did something similar, academics were the focus, but the fact that private schools make it possible to participate in extracurricular activities and athletics without being uber-specialized since the womb is one of the great advantages. Totally different vibe than playing rec where people don’t really care, and a couple of years of JV ball in high school were a great developmental experience for our DC. The public schools have gotten way too large and too few kids have the opportunity to participate in athletics now; it’s a real loss, because those experiences are valuable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But why does the metric for participation have to be skill - something that is seriously subjective. Why not have a lottery if the resources are limited. The schools are there to serve every kid but the amount of resources and energy spent on sports is disproportionate to the kids who actually benefit from it.

I feel bad for kids that don't get into Harvard. At the very least I feel like all kids should all be able to attend an Ivy. Why does academic excellence or socioeconomic issues need to be determining factors. Why not have a lottery if there are limited spots in each class?

Most people don’t want to go to Harvard so no problems there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Parents must be delusional if they think it's easier to make a team at private schools compared to large public schools. Try making the cut for the tennis or golf team at either Langley High School (public) or Sidwell Friends (private), and you'll quickly see how tough the competition is. Both schools consistently win championships, and only a few spots on the roster, these kids are often trained from a young age because parents have lot of $$$. In fact, kids who get cut from Langley could easily be the top player at other schools in Fairfax County Public Schools. Just saying...

You are cherry picking…the Sidwell football team is pretty bad and essentially any boy can play. Baseball is usually OK but doesn’t cut much. So, you choose a different sport

Basketball a completely different story as they are ranked nationally many years.

GDS is crappy in most sports…though tops in volleyball.

Obviously, the WCAC schools are competitive though you can make the teams at The Heights or Ireton as examples.

Even at wcac schools you can find a sport. This thread is a lot of “woe is me” boo hooing, and not a good mindset to get the most out of high school athletics. It’s true that, if you don’t play travel, you’re going to have a hard time making basketball, baseball, or soccer as a freshman at Gonzaga, for example. If you don’t belong to a cc golf will be hard. But anyone can show up freshman year and play football. If you dedicate yourself for 4 years you have a good chance of playing in college. Water polo needs kids. Anyone can show up and wrestle. Rugby basically doesn’t cut. I know of kids that make freshman lacrosse without playing growing up. In any of these sports you don’t need a travel background and if you work hard for 4 years you will have success.

No one is entitled to play their sport of choice at their school of choice. Just as no one is entitled to work at their company of choice in the their position of choice. You have to earn it, and high school sports is oftentimes the first time we’re exposed to this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Parents must be delusional if they think it's easier to make a team at private schools compared to large public schools. Try making the cut for the tennis or golf team at either Langley High School (public) or Sidwell Friends (private), and you'll quickly see how tough the competition is. Both schools consistently win championships, and only a few spots on the roster, these kids are often trained from a young age because parents have lot of $$$. In fact, kids who get cut from Langley could easily be the top player at other schools in Fairfax County Public Schools. Just saying...

You are cherry picking…the Sidwell football team is pretty bad and essentially any boy can play. Baseball is usually OK but doesn’t cut much. So, you choose a different sport

Basketball a completely different story as they are ranked nationally many years.

GDS is crappy in most sports…though tops in volleyball.

Obviously, the WCAC schools are competitive though you can make the teams at The Heights or Ireton as examples.

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.

Sports parents are just lovely.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Parents must be delusional if they think it's easier to make a team at private schools compared to large public schools. Try making the cut for the tennis or golf team at either Langley High School (public) or Sidwell Friends (private), and you'll quickly see how tough the competition is. Both schools consistently win championships, and only a few spots on the roster, these kids are often trained from a young age because parents have lot of $$$. In fact, kids who get cut from Langley could easily be the top player at other schools in Fairfax County Public Schools. Just saying...

I caught the train to see my mother

Anonymous wrote:It’s life. I was able to play travel sports growing up so don’t make baseball or soccer at my high school. I wrestled, which at most places is a zero cut sport. Every school has a zero cut sport. Even the private schools need to fill out water polo, wrestling, crew and track teams. Pick a sport you can make freshman year, apply yourself, and make yourself a better person by overcoming adversity.

...and sometimes the new sport becomes their ticket to great things. I know two kids cut from the baseball team who then picked up Ultimate in HS. Both ended up making the DC Breeze professional Ultimate team in HS (not much $$$s as a player, but they have large social media followings which have been reasonably lucrative) and one played on a team that finished 2nd in the NCAA.

Ultimate is another no-cut sport BTW and just great all around. Maybe its best feature is there are no Referees, Umps, etc. The players all referee each other...though admittedly there aren't many rules either.

^wasnt able to play travel sports.

It’s life. I was able to play travel sports growing up so don’t make baseball or soccer at my high school. I wrestled, which at most places is a zero cut sport. Every school has a zero cut sport. Even the private schools need to fill out water polo, wrestling, crew and track teams. Pick a sport you can make freshman year, apply yourself, and make yourself a better person by overcoming adversity.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

It’s not a big enough deal to move but plenty go to private school for sports. My kids go to Madison and it’s not uncommon at all. It’s not just because they didn’t make the team. Sometimes sports are better at privates. Sometimes it’s because they have a chance at a team where they wouldn’t at Madison. I am guilty of asking my kids if they wanted to consider private schools…for sports. The reality is that many of us can and are willing to pay for private school for sports. It’s a different level of insanity.

Well, yes the private schools now usually have the best teams and recruit students for sports…but I don’t know anyone who would send their kid to private primarily because that private has a weak sports team where their kid can play. Those parents are looking seriously at private schools for academic reasons…and then that may be the reason to pick GDS over STA.

Right I’m the Pp who switched to private. Academics were our priority and then it came down to commute/athletics/social (not necessarily in that order). For DCs there were two schools that were solid academic fits, but one was a better fit athletically because it was not an athletic powerhouse. So, they have solid academics and a chance to play multiple sports they love which is more in line with our HS experiences in the early 1990s.

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.

It’s not a big enough deal to move but plenty go to private school for sports. My kids go to Madison and it’s not uncommon at all. It’s not just because they didn’t make the team. Sometimes sports are better at privates. Sometimes it’s because they have a chance at a team where they wouldn’t at Madison. I am guilty of asking my kids if they wanted to consider private schools…for sports. The reality is that many of us can and are willing to pay for private school for sports. It’s a different level of insanity.

Well, yes the private schools now usually have the best teams and recruit students for sports…but I don’t know anyone who would send their kid to private primarily because that private has a weak sports team where their kid can play. Those parents are looking seriously at private schools for academic reasons…and then that may be the reason to pick GDS over STA.

We didn’t move to private for sports but we 100% took our DCs ability to play their chosen sports in HS into account. We were fortunate enough to be able to afford private and to have found schools that made sense academically and athletically.

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.

It’s not a big enough deal to move but plenty go to private school for sports. My kids go to Madison and it’s not uncommon at all. It’s not just because they didn’t make the team. Sometimes sports are better at privates. Sometimes it’s because they have a chance at a team where they wouldn’t at Madison. I am guilty of asking my kids if they wanted to consider private schools…for sports. The reality is that many of us can and are willing to pay for private school for sports. It’s a different level of insanity.