<p>@straightshooter, you have it exactly right. I didn’t begrudge the attention paid to the athletes at my kids’ high school because I knew in most cases this was the end of the road for them in terms of having any achievement recognized. My D was heavily involved in chorus and theater and we got annoyed by the short shrift paid to these areas by the school administration and the local newspaper, even when her choral group won an international competition! But four years later it’s totally forgotten. I’m sure OP’s kid’s high school triumphs will pale in comparison to future achievements.</p>
<p>To the OP, is the school one that is highly regarded for academics? In our school district, one that often does well athletically and is regarded as a top 15 school in the state for academics, they do publicize the academic achievers. The NMF Semifinalists and Commended Scholars get recognized before the School Board and there is a link on the front page of the school’s web site that stays there all year long, much to their embarrassment. When a few students won state championships at the Future Business Leader’s of America, there was recognition in school, by email and again on both the district website and School Board. They do a very good job of balancing recognition for athletic and academic success. Recently 3 students in the local high school were nominated for a Presidential Scholarship ( out of 20 in our very large state) and the school district kept that on the first page of the website, high praise. Our district is well regarded in both academic and sports, which is the way it should be for a well rounded education.</p>
<p>Our town does a “parade” from the town line to the HS for any athletic team that wins a state championship. The fire department sends out the trucks, and they–sirens blaring and lights flashing–accompany the school buses with the kids, following by the cars of anyone who drove to the championship, honking horns. They often go past our house, and I usually go out and wave. </p>
<p>Needless to say, no one else gets this kind of attention. AFAIK, the NMSFs and NMFs list got a paragraph in the local freebie paper, as did Presidential Scholar nominee list. (This paper always devotes many pages to exhaustive coverage of HS sports, although I must say they cover ALL sports. Thankfully, football is not big here.) State theater winners get an article. The regional youth symphony is lucky to get a paragraph listing local players. All-state musicians get a similar list.</p>
<p>I remember that when my class in HS had something like 14 NMFs they actually ran an article on the front page of the New Canaan Advertiser, and said where each of us was going to college and what we were planning to major in. Doesn’t happen here.</p>
<p>So, what more do you want them to do for non-sport accomplishments? Do you really want them to have a pep fest for the NMSF? Do you want a parade for the kid that wins the state spelling bee? If it were your child, at this NMSF pep fest–do you want them to run down their academic stats for everyone? </p>
<p>Our school has an all-school award ceremony at the end of the year where they recognize academic achievements of all kinds. They announce various winners for NMSF, etc. on the announcements, etc.</p>
<p>Ah, I cited the unremarkable proposition that varsity athletics are not nearly as similar to speech competitions as the OP claims, and all heck breaks loose. Guys, unremarkable proposition. Really, making states for speech team is probably a lot less like making states for basketball than the OP thinks. </p>
<p>Again, for the cheap seats, let’s talk the majority of varsity basketball teams: you have to survive the cuts freshman, sophomore, and junior year; you have to make varsity, not just JV; you’ve probably played for most of your life; you’re likely to go to basketball camp; if you want to stay good, you go to camp over the summer and play in AAU; you practise six days a week. They also have a dozen games (at least) throughout the season. Athletes frequently play through injuries. </p>
<p>Is that true of the typical speech team? TYPICAL? </p>
<p>Yeah, didn’t think so.</p>
<p>“Is that true of the typical speech team? TYPICAL?”</p>
<p>You don’t have a clue what preparation goes into any non athletic endeavor because you or your child never participated in one. To get to the level needed to win the state championships countless hours of preparation go into to it. You are correct that they probably didn’t have to overcome any injury as debilitating as athlete’s foot or jock itch that your typical athlete did.</p>
<p>Aries, I have every bit of respect for the champion chess player and top debater. Two of them I/ve known since they were kids, and they are more of a superstar (youngest grandmaster of that time, national forensics champion to Harvard College). Live right near me, and both friends of my son. He beat the first in chess regularly and outargued the other, but they kept in up in their forums and they went where he did not. </p>
<p>But danged, if any of us here want to watch the chess meets and debates. We’ll go and watch those bad basketball games instead. Cuz that’s where the crowd is.</p>
<p>what bugs me about sports is that you are born with certain phsyical attributes and without them, you can’t excel. So you can have a kid work like a dog training, and really trying those six days a week, but if they have bad hand eye coordination, well, won’t make the team, regardless of effort.</p>
<p>this, oh they practice so much, and sacrifice, well bully for them. my daughter is an artist, she paints. she sews, she takes pictures, she rights, seven days a week, often alone, without rahrahrah, and applause, and cheers from people who just sit and watch others doing. she doesn’t need the cheering to do well. and I don’t understand why sports teams need it either. and I don’t get the fans either, who would rather watch someone doing something, then do it themselves. Sure, you could compare it to the theater, or opera, I suppose, for the entertainment, but call me nuts, but watching sports does nothing for me. I enjoy being with people if a game is on, but eh.</p>
<p>oh and i live in the bay area- so we have giants, 49ers, sharks, warriors, so guess I should be more woot!!!</p>
<p>what I found in my daughters school was a pretty fair balance in recognition for awards and trophies, but the celebrations for sure leaned toward the jocks.</p>
<p>seems athletes need to have support and chears, while others don’t need to be pushed and applauded to create, jsut a thought on the otherside, that those who don’t get the applause need to reach deeper into themselves to succeed</p>
<p>ariesathena–that isn’t even true for the “typical” basketball team. MOST schools out there have barely enough kids to field a varsity team, let alone freshman, sophomore, JV, etc. teams. Maybe the handful of schools in your area so, but look outside your area to the smaller schools. MOST kids do not put in the work you think they do with the exception of the TOP teams in your state. Sure, a couple kids on each squad MIGHT work that hard, most do not. The AAU teams are select teams any only take the top players. </p>
<p>The speech teams I know have novice divisions as well, split up their squads to send the top kids to one meet, the newer kids to others. One high school near us continually sports the NATIONAL speech champions in various categories and even then, the top kids are the ones that work the hardest.</p>
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<p>Recognizing whether you are a person who is content to be highly compent in the backgroud, or a person who thrives on the cheers of the crowd is a pretty important thing when selecting a career. </p>
<p>I am a lawyer. The happy litigators tend to be the competitive ones…they want someone to say “you won!” even if they sometimes have to endure “you lost!” The happy transactional lawyers are the ones who want deals to be closed smoothly and effeciently, without drama.</p>
<p>Lots of retired professional athletes go into commissioned sales of some sort…car dealerships, commerical real estate, etc. A big deal with a big commission = a win!</p>
<p>OP - This kind of thing happened all of the time at D’s school. The administrators showed up at sports events, but never at theater performances, academic competitions but it got better after someone called them out on it. I think you should say something.</p>
<p>FWIW - My younger child attends a school which honors achievement in all areas- academic, athletic, the arts, leadership, etc. The school newsletter is multiple pages long and lists everything. Of course this is the school in which the kid who is on the basketball team is likely to also be on the speech team.</p>
<p>FallGirl–that is what our school is like too–the top students are top athletes and musicians as well as being active in other groups, etc. Even with an athletic achievement there is usually a notation of their success in the classroom as well.</p>
<p>Speech is a blast. And hey, there are tournaments, trophies, certificates, diploma seals, and a bunch of friends you get to make along the way. :)</p>
<p>[Forget</a> NCAA Titles, This School Dominates Spoken Word : NPR](<a href=“Forget NCAA Titles, This School Dominates Spoken Word : NPR”>Forget NCAA Titles, This School Dominates Spoken Word : NPR)</p>
<p>At the college level. (full disclosure, this is my alma mater)</p>
<p>Why not ask your community’s leaders for permission to add a sign saying “2013 High School State Champions - Speech XXXX” underneath the ‘Welcome To XYZ’ sign you see when entering your town?</p>
<p>Does your school gym have every athletic banner won by every team in every sport hanging everywhere from the ceiling to all four walls? What do you hang in the auditorium to honor your musical and academic achievements? What about artistic awards?</p>
<p>Finally, look at the display cases near the offices. Do non-athletic honors have their fair share of space inside them? Maybe it’a a good time to add another one? </p>
<p>I hope you receive recognition at the end of the year Award Night.</p>
<p>aries – I am a speech and debate coach. We are in one of the more competitive states for speech and debate and are a good, but not national award winning, team. We make state, but usually don’t advance at state. Half of my team started competing in speech when they were in early elementary school. All were competing by middle school. All have been to summer camp at least once during high school. Most attend camp every year. We start preparing for speech during the summer and attend our first meet before school starts. We scrimmage twice a week after school and research and write cases the rest of the week. We attend meets twenty weekends per year. A typical meet runs between fifteen and twenty five hours over a weekend and is attended by between thirty and seventy schools. My students also “play through injuries” – either because they have to attend a meet while sick or because after a long tournament sometimes your voice just starts to go – which not only makes it hard to communicate, but which is also physically painful. All in all I would say we are pretty typical team for our area and I would stack my students’ work ethic and dedication up against any of the athletes at our school.</p>
<p>Met my husband at Student Congress in high school, so it’s not just the metal trophies you get to bring home :). (we both made it to Nationals in HS and neither of us got mention in the paper, although his HS made a big deal of the guys that went - my HS, nothing, although it was the first time anyone went to nationals). </p>
<p>Happy to say our school district is probably bigger on the academic achievements than sports. S1 on swim team and we sent 2 relays to NJ state championships, as well as one swimmer who individually placed quite high in the state, plus several kids named to all county team. Not a mention in local press or school district press releases.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your posts. </p>
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Pretty sure the speech team has been speaking for even longer :)</p>
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None or our activities are very exclusive, sports or otherwise. The most competitive play varsity the rest jv. </p>
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We attend a small public school. Although not particulary known for academics we do well in the state metrics and recently received some STEM awards. </p>
<p>Im not trying to argue that one activity is more important than the other. To the contrary, I would maintain that anyone that wins state should be given equal recognition. I think its interesting the discussion swung toward sports vs academics. I dont see girls athletics or the less popular boys events (tennis and golf, for example) getting much attention at our school either.</p>
<p>^ Agree. ALL accomplishments should be recognized.</p>
<p>BTW I for one would likely enjoy a speech competition, but consider watching a baseball game similar to watching paint dry. YMMV.</p>
<p>My son did debate in hs. I remember one year at districts they handed out random trophies to the winners-- there were no funds to buy trophies (or even ribbons, I guess) for the competition, but someone had brought in a box of old trophies from a garage sale or something. Each kid who won an event got to select one-- so the various speech and debate winners went home with golf, bowling, swim, and track trophies!</p>