Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. Plenty of athletes play club or rec and not high school sports.

this...at some point everyone (unless you make the pros) is going to be unable to continue playing their sport at the level they want to play at--high school, college,etc.--but you can continue recreationally.

This actually applies to pros as well. You don’t make the league or team you aspire to or you don’t get the playing time you want. Everyone hangs up the cleats at some point, maybe still active in rec leagues, hopefully keeping fit one way or another.

I am super duper happy that my oldest - who is a 9th grader is doing two no cut things at our FCPS school: marching band and crew and he's having a great time and making friends.

One kid at a time. Still TBD on what my middle kid will do.

Mine will quit next next year (11th) and focus on academics and her other extracurriculars. Sports are a time suck.

Cross-country and crew tend to be non-cut and also very welcoming. Exploring rock climbing clubs (school organized or otherwise) and other outdoorsy, active stuff. I think one of the downsides of youth sports in our area is how time consuming it is. When it’s no longer an option, kids (and sometimes parents) almost don’t know how to fill their time. High school goes so fast and is a great time to try and explore so many other interests.

In answer to the original question: band, chorus, drama, art, yearbook, chess club, community service, volunteering…Life isn’t sports or nothing. All of these offer built-in friend groups and opportunities for recognition.

So many kids invest their entire identity into their sport. It’s devastating when the Peter Principle finally kicks in and they reach a level where they get cut.

If they love the sport, there are rec leagues where they can continue to play. If they want to stay active and continue to challenge themselves, they could take up a new solo activity like mountain biking, yoga, cross country skiing. College has intramurals and club sports. I learned to play badminton and squash in college through clubs.

10-15 years from now, they’ll all be playing in the beer league anyway.

I was playing sports in my 20s - after work softball and volleyball, my brothers played rec basketball for years until they had kids. My DD's school has a dad's team for basketball. I'm learning to play tennis now and just ran a 5K. High school sports is not the end all, be all. Sports as kids have so many benefits that don't involve playing for your high school for everyone. It's about a mindset of being active.

Anonymous wrote:thank you. my kids (girls) are not very interested in sports, i can't imagine them even trying out for a team. but what do all those kids do in high school? do they not have PE?

My kids HS has PE in 9th-10th grade

As others have said, kids who want to keep playing a sport have to find another avenue. Most quit at some point and just shift at best to running/gym for basic exercise. Just look at all the adults around, very few do a team sport.

Beyond children, America's sports obsession is more about the spectator experience. My son was never much of an athlete, did rec soccer through middle school and now runs for exercise but he's a passionate sports fan. Main focus is Premier League soccer (just look at UK soccer fans for an example that the US is not unique in sports fandom) but also is part of a Fantasy Football group.

thank you. my kids (girls) are not very interested in sports, i can't imagine them even trying out for a team. but what do all those kids do in high school? do they not have PE?

Anonymous wrote:I am an immigrant. What does it mean to "get cut for high school sport"? What do those kids do for PE?

Also an immigrant and here's what my experience has been.

In early elementary school, my kid played organized soccer with a bunch of kids from his school. One of the parents organized it.

Starting in third grade, kids "tried out" for soccer teams. Some kids (at eight years old!!) were not accepted on to the teams. Kids have to try out again every year and the coaches can reject them.

Kids get PE in school until late middle school, but it's not all the time. In my kid's school, they have PE every day for a couple of months and then that slot switches up and they get art or music at the same time (instead of one day art, one day music, one day PE ... etc, which is how this was done where I am from).

My child is active but not athletically talented. He likes sports and he likes to be active but he did not want to participate in organized school sports because he didn't think he'd get much playing time and/or was worried they would not let him play.

Anonymous wrote:Our school doesn't cut but we're also by far the smallest in the area (875) Meridian HS

Meridian cuts for some teams. It depends which teams and how many they out year to year, just like any school.

Michael Jordan was cut from basketball in 9th grade.

Rec or club. As a PP said, HS soccer doesn’t mean anything in development, it’s club. Some too soccer players are actually discouraged or told do not play HS soccer, they don’t want those players learning bad habits from bad coaches.

It’s just fun to play in HS, representing your school and being with your HS friends. But other than football, most sports have other options, Basketball there’s AAU, Lacrosse has club. Baseball has whatever they have where those poor parents are traveling all summer…

They play in rec leagues.

Most go on to live sad, miserable lives, wondering what could have been.

But for real. High school varsity sports went off the rails some years ago. Count yourself lucky to get out in 9th grade. For basketball there's AAU. It's divided into all sorts of divisions. Look at your local community teams. And then there's rec. For bball, there are tons of opportunities to play.

I get the competitive thing. And wanting to play varsity. But it really isn't worth it. Been there with this in basketball. Unless you're a starter and getting the minutes, it really isn't worth the time suck regardless

Sad, but my kid stopped playing those sports. She does enjoy going to the gym and still keeps active.