Question for high school parents

[mousefan73]

Sounds more like the person in that foreign country is making a generalized statement and doesn't understand how things actually work. Each school/district/state likely has their own rules about sports participation. If someone on the team that doesn't cut isn't good enough to ever play during a game, not sure what they accomplish as a benchwarmer. Seems like a better plan would be to choose a sport/ECA more suited to their skills/abilities. I would expect by the time most get to high school, they realize some are better at sports then others and it isn't like when you were 5 yrs old just playing a sport for the fun of it and you wanted everyone to participate.

The background to my question started with an Expat group where there was an advertisement for the year abroad exchange program in the US. The online banners for this program showed high school kids, for example, football players and cheerleaders so one would assume that if you go to the US for one year and exchange student you can have a full high school experience, and that includes being a cheerleader in a football player, I had posted them saying that these ads are a little bit misleading because afford exchange student who shows up end of August is not gonna be on the cheerleading squatter football team and one parent was arguing with me that nowadays everyone gets put on the team, because schools are afraid of “being sued “ by not being all inclusive. my opinion is person was a troll, but then I was just curious myself what it is nowadays because back in my days, there were definitely cuts in a way though when I think about it, it is a little bit sad that you have to be playing a certain sport from a young age investing a lot of money for camps and private clubs if you want to actually play the sport on a competitive high school level I understand the background I mean the main thing is to win kids depend on their sport ability for scholarships. it is kind of sad away that kids just can’t play for fun regardless of level I get their intermural sports or special teams but let’s be serious that’s a lot different than playing on a Friday night under the lights

 

[TiggerTrigger]

At one point we had one in ice hockey and two in Irish dancing, so expensive.

Ouch! I've heard the costumes alone for Irish dancing are insane, and that was coming from the mom of a figure skater...before she went off on a tangent about the cost of her daughter's new skates. I think that's what breaks a lot of people is the cost of "everything else"...especially as the kids advance and need better gear.

 

[mjkacmom]

Ouch! I've heard the costumes alone for Irish dancing are insane, and that was coming from the mom of a figure skater...before she went off on a tangent about the cost of her daughter's new skates. I think that's what breaks a lot of people is the cost of "everything else"...especially as the kids advance and need better gear.

New dresses are $3000+, and teachers strongly suggest buying new every year. Wigs are $150 and need to be replaced, for solos and teams. Travel is expensive, especially internationally. It’s a racket! teachers are also dress makers, judges, it’s very incesttuous.

 

[Skippy918]

In our district, it depends on the sport. In middle school, most sports are no cut cause they want to give all the kids a chance. Football has multiple teams. High school football might be no cut as well. They have multiple teams for just 9th graders and then JV and varsity for 10-12th grade. Cheer has tryouts starting in middle school as does Dance and drill team. Dance has multiple levels like varsity and JV. Track is open to all.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

New dresses are $3000+, and teachers strongly suggest buying new every year. Wigs are $150 and need to be replaced, for solos and teams. Travel is expensive, especially internationally. It’s a racket! teachers are also dress makers, judges, it’s very incesttuous.

Wow! I knew the dresses were expensive, but that's even more than I'd heard. This is my first time hearing about the wigs. It does sound like quite the conflict of interest between dress makers and judges. I haven't seen a lot of international travel for softball outside of some Team USA stuff and some special experiences you can buy into, but it still adds up when you travel a lot domestically. We have seven tournaments between June and July this summer and all require hotels/travel. Some are short 2-3 days things while two are each over a week long.

The prices you've noted also pushed me to do a tally on things we replace annually. We're between $1,800-2,300 in annual gear expenses. I'm sure there are some parallels with hockey...like some years end up requiring more gear replacements or size changes than others.

 

[mjkacmom]

Wow! I knew the dresses were expensive, but that's even more than I'd heard. This is my first time hearing about the wigs. It does sound like quite the conflict of interest between dress makers and judges. I haven't seen a lot of international travel for softball outside of some Team USA stuff and some special experiences you can buy into, but it still adds up when you travel a lot domestically. We have seven tournaments between June and July this summer and all require hotels/travel. Some are short 2-3 days things while two are each over a week long.

The prices you've noted also pushed me to do a tally on things we replace annually. We're between $1,800-2,300 in annual gear expenses. I'm sure there are some parallels with hockey...like some years end up requiring more gear replacements or size changes than others.

Irish dance moms joke about never doing the tally, there were definitely benefits (fitness, friendships, time management), the the money was too much, and of course injuries (one of my daughters is in a DPT program, she spent so much time in PT, she also ran xc/track and lied to her dance teachers about it. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/06/irish-dancing-world-cheating-allegations-clrg

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

My step-daughter had to try out for the color guard.....

now granted my brother in-law described tryouts like "they hold a mirror under your nose, you fog it up? YOU'RE IN".

 

[Magical2017]

Can you confirm if this statement is true. That today in high school, everyone has the opportunity to play football or be a cheerleader. there’s no such thing as tryout in football. They have special teams that allow you to be on the team. Cheerleading everyone enjoying. I’m having a discussion with someone saying that today they try to be all inclusive, and no longer do tryouts or cuts.

Back in my days in the 90s it was tryouts and you were cut. I think 50 girls tried out for cheerleading and only 8 or 10 made it. of course you can’t compare cheerleading back then to what it is now now it’s like basically gymnastics. Then it was based on who had the best smile lol.

Depends on the high school. At some of our more competitive schools, competition is tough. They definitely have cuts. At the school where my kids go to high school, they are under-enrolled. Everyone makes the team. We are not in the same division as some of the other more competitive high schools. I am okay with both scenarios.

 

[sam_gordon]

it is a little bit sad that you have to be playing a certain sport from a young age investing a lot of money for camps and private clubs if you want to actually play the sport on a competitive high school level I understand the background I mean the main thing is to win kids depend on their sport ability for scholarships. it is kind of sad away that kids just can’t play for fun regardless of level I get their intermural sports or special teams but let’s be serious that’s a lot different than playing on a Friday night under the lights

Again, it depends on the school and the sport whether you'd need 10+ years of experience in order to suit up for a game. One of the schools in our county struggled to field a girls soccer team this year (they have in the past, this year was just worse). In fact, they had to forfeit a couple of games because they didn't have enough players. Unfortunately, one of the games they had to forfeit was "senior night" for the home team (small school was supposed to be the visitors). The small school let the home school know earlier that day. Obviously, if a girl went to that school and wanted to play soccer, not only were they on the team, they were getting significant playing time, and probably a starter, regardless of skill level.

 

[Calee]

Agree with those who say depends on sport and school. I live in a very small town, and certain sports there are barely enough kids that want to play for there to even be a tryout. For some sports there may be a tryout to determine JV vs Varsity and/or position. For cheer, basketball, Volleyball which are more popular sports with a limited number of spots, there are definitely try outs and cuts-for middle and High School both.

 

[danielangie]

In our school-roughly 800 including elementary-cuts are not allowed in any sport, or extra curricular, such as musical, etc

 

[NotUrsula]

Our high school charged about $1000 per season for ice hockey. Baseball was around $100, and swimming was a few hundred but I forget the exact cost. But we never did overnight trips, at most it was a 2 hour bus ride to a game.

That price gap would be due to the cost of ice rental for games and practices. It's the biggest expense in team-based ice sports, and you seldom really have control over it; you pay what the rinks charge. (There are vanishingly few high schools that actually have their own rinks, mostly sports-oriented boarding schools, such as Shattuck St. Mary's in Minnesota.)

The price of ice in the US varies depending on where you are, with the East Coast generally being most expensive. Our usual price (midwest suburbs) for off-peak ice time here is about $125/hr, but some folks I know on the East Coast pay nearly $300/hr for off-peak ice. Add to that that hockey teams are more likely to buy peak time for games, which generally adds about 30% to the hourly cost, although leagues often negotiate that down a bit due to the total amount of ice time they purchase in a season. In figure skating we have what is called Club Ice for individual practice time and lessons; it limits the number of skaters on the ice, and they essentially split the cost of the rental, paying in 30 minute increments. Hockey tends to have what are called Stick-and-puck sessions or "training ice" that gets paid for much the same way.

In my DD's ice sport, it's pretty common for athletes to try to find international exchange placements through skating channels, so that they can try out for the team that the prospective host family's kid skates on. I can see that happening for just about any sports other than American "gridiron" football, since it's almost unique to the US. (Although Flag Football has been gaining popularity internationally, and is now an Olympic sport.)

 

[greeneyedchick]

Not at my kid's school. There are try-outs. There's over 3000 kids in the school. It's quite competitive.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

I was given a choice of sports. Never really took to rugby or football. Got much more out of tennis, baseball and target shooting.

 

[RangerPooh]

At my kids schools you try out, cuts happen. Even colorguard has try outs and cuts. The exception might be a new sport that’s trying to build up its ranks.

 

[sophirolr]

I agree with you mousefan73 and I think it's cool, because not everyone can become a good football player or cheerleader right away. I studied hard at school and also took dance and athletics classes to become a cheerleader. In high school I found https://ukwritings.com/economic-essay-help and it helped to have more free time. So I managed to become a cheerleader and I am very happy. My daughter, who is 7, also says that she wants to become a cheerleader, and I am glad to hear that and to understand that she has more chances than I had

 

[debster812]

DS graduated HS in 2015, and he was playing HS soccer starting in 8th grade. We're a very small town, and received a waiver from the state association allowing 8th graders to play on JV. However....they could not cut an upperclassman for an 8th grader. He tried out again as a Freshman and was a 'swing' player. Praciced with the varsity 2 days a week, JV 3 days, and played games with JV, unless the Varsity was WAY shorthanded. By the time he was a sophomore, he was full time varsity, and starting. Much to the dismay of some upperclassmen.....

At the start of his Jr Year, they opened our new Jr/Hs, where grades 7-12 were under 1 roof. This allowed teams to field Freshman, JV and Varsity teams, which opened up more opportunities, but there were still cuts.

He also ran winter and spring track for conditioning, and remarkably, our tiny little town was something of a XC and track dynasty, and very successful. But, there were never any cuts for track. If you wanted to join, and put in the work, you were on the team.

So it's really dependent on the sport, the town, the high school, etc. No real cut and dried answer