The sad thing is that even if a high school wants to take more of a developmental/inclusive approach to teams it is difficult to find coaches that will coach in that manner. Even at a smaller school where most athletes are not of the physical size to play D1 or go pro, coaches expect club participation outside of the HS season, 12-15 hours of practice and game time, and no participation in other ECs or PT work. What happened to the joy of playing for your school and seeing what you could accomplish with your classmates?
While I agree that the professionalization of youth sports tends to favor the affluent, particularly in some sports that highly selective schools compete in and recruit for that have predominantly high SES, white participation, I think the bigger issue and greater harm is that it preys on lower, lower middle and middle income families who don’t understand the true picture of college recruiting and scholarship economics. Both of my kids played travel ball in sports with wide ranging SES families (softball and baseball). Including team fees, equipment, uniforms, lessons, travel (gas and air), lodging but not meals, we spent about $5-6k a kid/yr. I am sure there are people who spent way more or a bit less. We did this with eyes open for sports that the kids really enjoyed playing.
We were not chasing any scholarships but we also knew that the prospect of scholarships were low and the money limited – maybe quarter, halves at best. On the other hand, we knew many of the families were scraping by thinking that there was some pot of gold at the end. They were convinced that their kid was going to get the “full ride”, which of course never happened. On top of that, a lot of these kids spent all of their time playing, practicing, dreaming about their sport and neglected their academics. Maybe they got by to be eligible for HS play, but they were not prepared for college. My kids played on some very good teams, one was even nationally ranked in the top 10 one year, but there were only a handful that got an opportunity to play at the next level, and even then it was predominantly juco’s. And of those who go to go to the next level, most were out within 2 years, often because they could not cut it academically. The kids and their families would have been so much better off if they had put all that money they spent into savings or a college fund, and at least some of that time and energy into studies (academic or even a trade).
We had the opposite experience of many posting above. I didn’t have the money to pay for private travel teams, so my daughter played on the teams we could afford. I did have to pay a lot for her freshman year of high school because she was at a private high school, but even the public school in California had an $850 fee. After that we moved and paid more in the $100-150 per season range. She did play on one travel team for 2 summers, but it didn’t cost all that much (only 4 tournaments) and did get her exposure from which she did get a scholarship. The scholarship was 10x what I paid for her playing over the years. I never paid a dime expecting a ROI, and just always paid it as an EC, expecting her to enjoy and benefit from the activity at the time. I also paid for band camp and girl scouts and other activities just expecting her to enjoy them at the time.
She got to go to a school she wanted to attend. If not for the athletic scholarship, she wouldn’t have, couldn’t have attended. Would another school have been just as good? Sure, but this one worked out. Was there some complaining about the coach, team, work required, travel? Yes, but this kid always needed something to complain about. Before her senior year I finally said “Just quit” and she was horrified. Quit? Are you kidding? I’m a senior and captain and only have one year left. So she played on.
She was in engineering, rarely missed a class, was in shape and healthy most of the time. It was not a full time job and her team was ranked 5th in the country, played in the NCAA tournament her final two years. There were sacrifices, but she even had a job her final semester and many of her teammates worked all through college (they weren’t engineers, but they didn’t want to be engineers). If my daughter had a regret, it was that she didn’t start working as a junior. When interviewing for jobs, there was a lot of focus on the sport, leadership (captain), time management. It was definitely a positive.
I know that a lot of this was just pure luck. If I had another athlete, I’d pay a lot more attention to the schedule of the team (for how much school is missed, how much travel), spend more time picking a coach (although no guarantee the coach will stay), and negotiate a better scholarship (books!). However, I’d also have put in MORE time and money to the sport in grade 6-12. It worked out for us, but really could have been even better. I was just lucky.
twoinandone yes, I understand the age and eligibility rules of college sports. My point is that I wish they would regulate D3 so high school hockey players really could move from high school to playing in college. The current route requires juniors play before college (not for all but a large number) which is expensive and delays the college education. It’s a pay to play situation. Hockey is one of the few sports where you continue to develop as you age into your 20s due to the continued growth and strength of the male body. It would be nice if there was at least one division of college men’s hockey that was truly for the college-aged student.
And in another news flash…many, numerous, biggly numbers of kids, rich and poor, simply have a childhood. This is where they spend weekends visiting grandparents, going on outings with the entire family (no one is traveling anywhere for a sport), enjoying actual free time etc. Those kids will play in a little league during a season - that’s the really old idea that a sport ran for a certain number of weeks each year and then it was dada-dundun until next year.
Those kids get to try a large number of things because their entire lives aren’t centered around an activity they pick - sometimes while still in single digit age range.
Those kids remember a family dinner as a regular event instead of a special occasion - where by happenstance those of the nuclear family just happened to pass each other while grabbing food from the fridge.
And many, numerous, biggly numbers of kids, rich and poor, turn out to have very nice lives. And they have childhood memories that are more ‘diverse’ than those generated on a sports field. They go to college (yes, some even make it when forced to attend a ‘state school’).
And most of those kids don’t have physical problems, which will carry with them thru their lives, because they didn’t spend their physically formative years collecting repetitive motion injuries, broken bones, concussions etc. (you can’t do to young horses or show dogs what we do to our kids)
Then again, playing bagpipes will get you pretty high up on the list at Carnegie Mellon.
But even more, this is just my opinion and YYMV.