<p>"I believe we are at the point with our son, where he will have to make some tough choices. Some people in the posts above (I know, MANY years ago, but some of you are still posting here) have indicated, that most "top students" have both sports and music as EC activity. I find it increasingly hard to believe, that you can do both and excell at them."</p>
<p>They don't excel at both. Many students who post on CC do both because they assume that's what colleges want, not because they have lots of interest in either. They are polishing their resume with a laundry list, and colleges realize that.</p>
<p>kelowna - I would have to disagree with you. I would say 4 sports - with 2 of them both HS team and either very competetive club or AAU team resulted in almost year round play, because enjoyed the sports combined with #1 in class at competetive HS along with leadership positions in several organizations shows it can be done. Now plays on very competetive college team (in NCAA playoffs last several years) because it is still enjoyable shows it can be done. Yes, it is a lot of time 30+ hours during season and 15 + hours a week off seasson and still has time for other activities and a good GPA. Even has a social life. Has learned great time management and organizational skills. Also takes part in intermurals in other sports. Seems to be a good fit for desired lifestyle in college, so obviously it was not done only for college apps. Also has other friends on campus that live a similair lifestyle. Several other players on team are also on academic scholarships and 4 of them made academic all conference the last 2 years.</p>
<p>I was actually on varsity for two sports as a freshman.
i am also part of leadership & within the top 2% (our school doesn't rank). </p>
<p>i really enjoyed doing sports, i used to spend all my summers in the pool about 18 hours/week with morning practices at 5:00.
during the school yr it's probably about 12 hrs/ week. </p>
<p>even though it was something i love, i was always told that i was at a disadvantage b/c while other students attended academic summer camps, I was training from junior olympics. </p>
<p>i agree though, sports does take a lot of time. but once you stop doing it... it seems like a part of you is missing. for me, i was injured during junior year, and i had to stopped doing a sport that i was really committed too, and absolutely loved. I had no other options, but to stop. </p>
<p>but i guess, my injury gave me an opportunity to explore other ec's & i will actually be president next yr in the student govt for my school. </p>
<p>I feel that if you are only padding your apps for college by doing athletics, you will never reach the top competitive level. If its not something you truly feel passionate about, you have no motivation to be successful in it & you will always be mediocre!</p>
<p>to tell the truth, my grades actually dropped after i stopped doing athletics. i've developed a routine that i'm so used to. even though i was constantly deprived of sleep, i did well in school.</p>
<p>There are a number of rigorous prep schools that require their students to do team sports. It's considered important to them. Don't know if it has any effect on college acceptance. My boys have always done sports, but that was because they liked them In fact, I'm trying to get my current freshman to do a few other things since his resume is looking pretty bare right now other than the sports. And I have to admit that the college app is the reason why I want him to branch out. It's not going to be easy as being on a school team means 6 days a week commitment, sometimes even 7. He's tired when he comes home from the workout as well. I don't know how he could do another substantial school activity with his current schedule. He loves the athletics which is why he is doing this, but it is extremely doubtful he will be a college level athlete.</p>
<p>KiiKi - I think you are absolutely right. If you enjoy it and do it because you enjoy it - only then can you reach the top and it becomes part of your lifestyle. A few weeks ago mine did a half marathon for the first time. It just seemed like a natural extension. Is now talking about doing a triathelon. Don't know where the time to train comes from - but it seems to work out. Is talking about going for a Phd after graduating.</p>
<p>Sounds like you are on the right track for college. Good luck next year and during the app process.</p>
<p>Kikki - good luck to you! Again, we are talking about two very different subjecs here. See above post.</p>
<p>Sports for the purpose of this thread is "organized, competitve sports" .
My son believes (we all do) that he will have to choose between becoming really good in his sport or continuing high level of musical training. I am trying to find other people that were faced with this issue.</p>
<p>Kelowna, my kids have all combined music and sports on high competitive levels. As have a number of their friends. Two of my kids placed in state championships, one was a national athlete, and they all played instruments and joined vocal groups. That was high school.</p>
<p>College is a whole different story. My son could not even combine choir/singing group with theatre, because the latter, his major, was all encompassing in time, never mind a sport. He was a Div 1 level athlete who chose to drop the sports to continue in theatre. My other son went the athletic route and gave up his instrument (and he was conservatory level) in college. Being on a college team (and his was way up there in rankings) was a full time job. Working, any other ECs would have been very difficult just in terms of scheduling the time. School work was even compromised. But in highschool both boys had no problems doing both.</p>
<p>My current son is not likely to go into either. But he is in a madringal group and concert choir at school as well as being a three varsity sports athlete. Maybe he'll do pick up groups in college and intramural or club sports. </p>
<p>My question to you Kelowna, is if your son is seeking an athletic scholarship or consideration for his sport for college, and how likely this would be for him. Does he want to continue this sport at the college team level, in any case? As for his music, is he going to continue studies at college? Is this a possible career? If he is at the level of my third son, which is club/rec level for both music and sports, he can likely continue both. Unless he is going to be going into music, he can relax in that area. If he is that high along already, tapering now is not going to be a big deal, unless he is going into a music program, particularly one that wants an audition. In that case, he'd better rev that music up big time.</p>
<p>Did they play competitively on any instrument, were they in community orchestras (outside of school) or anything similar?</p>
<p>My S does not know where his sport might take him. He still has 5 years before college. But in order to become good he should concentrate on it more that he is now. His sport takes 1.5 - 2 hours of practice x 3 during the week and 2.5 hours on practice on Sat. Add 1 hour commute each time and you have 11 hours weekly at least. And this is during non competition season .
To continue music at high level, plus having other interests, like boy scouts, math club etc, is becoming slowly impossible to handle .</p>
<p>Kelowna, we've faced a similar situation, but it happened in 6th grade! My daughter dropped off a travel soccer team because it became impossible to do school theater, or other activities she wanted to do. I think the key here is the time commitment the activity requires. A private travel team can require more--sometimes much more--time than even a varsity high school sport. It requires things like going to out-of-town tournaments every holiday weekend, multiple games on regular weekends, three or four practices a week. It is incompatible with any other activity that requires a lot of time and is inflexible about when that time is put in, such as a school play, or some musical groups. I do think it's possible, though, to continue one activity on a high level, while also continuing the other on a lower level. So, for example, my daughter is still playing soccer, but it's a rec team with one practice and one game a week, and no tournaments.</p>
<p>Let me just add, since I looked at your message again, that sports at the level you son is looking at will pretty much kill Boy Scouts. His coaches won't let him off practice or games to go on campouts. I've seen some boys stick with Scouting despite varsity sports, but they pretty much disappear during the season for the sport. I don't see how one could do it with a travel sport.</p>
<p>Playing an instrument on a high level is incredibly time-consuming. We're talking several hours of practice a day, often as much as athletic practice. In order to be competitive, and/or play in very selective groups, such as touring orchestras & other groups which have a high audition bar for admission, & which play very challenging works such as the various professional orchestras play, one is unable to be a varsity athlete at the same time, not to mention achieve high grades in challenging classes. The hours in the day are just not there.</p>
<p>I do see a lot of parents of athletes assuming that "involvement in music" means something different to them than it means to parents of highly accomplished musicians. My d's have played sports, too, & are even quite good at it, as they are agile & very coordinated & fast learners; doesn't make them true athletes.</p>
<p>It is not the matter of CC standards in our case - I could not care less.
I am not thinking about college admission. I want my son to be happy while doing what he loves. He loves both sport and music at this time, but it is becoming tough, as I have stated above. And I am not even throwing in academics, which will only increase.
However, I would love my kids to be able to use the skills they have learned in their EC for life. I think that music is a skill like that.</p>
<p>The boring ones: doing the NYT crossword puzzle, reading, going to the gym, PTA (former president - leadership!), gardening with emphasis on native plants and environmentally friendly practices and of course posting on CC</p>
<p>Slightly more interesting: fairly serious watercolor painter (many awards), treasurer of the local art association (more leadership!)</p>
<p>Even better: working on an effort to create xeriscape traffic islands on a one mile stretch of road in town, working to create an arts center in town.</p>
<p>We faced this too. Turns out after being in class all day she needed to get outside and get physical (2 sport varsity). Her mental health really improved. If she can get the pent up energy out she focuses better at night with the homework.</p>
<p>She plays her instrument for herself - never wanted to be in an orchestra. She devotes her summers to her musical education. She probably isn't as good as if she played year round but I doubt that she would have.<br>
I found a couple of older women in the area who just play and take lessons when it works out. She took away the message that it is alright to keep music in her life and one doesn't have to strive to be professional for the music to bring joy. I think she'll keep going with it and has asked at the colleges if they have instructors in her instrument.</p>
<p>I don't think there is a perfect solution. You'll just have to figure out year by year what works emotionally and that it doesn't have to be all or nothing. Sorry to not have a clear answer for you.</p>
<p>Kelowna,
Thanks so much for your honesty. I recently posted similar comments to yours, but felt as though I was implicitly saying my child was inadequate. Maybe she IS compared to some of the students whose parents post on CC. D has had to gradually eliminate activities at every stage. For example, she began with Brownies and moved up to Juniors, but eventually had to chose between Girl Scouting and travel soccer in elementary school, since both required commitment on weekends. In middle school, she had to give up vocal music and theater--also because of travel soccer. By the end of middle school she also eliminated basketball due to conflicts with winter soccer. Now, in high school, she runs cross country and track all three seasons. It has become impossible to continue with her instrumental music--her last remaining EC other than church and running. Concerts, jazz festivals, and other performances regularly conflict with track meets so she was forced to make a painful choice.</p>
<p>We are in a large, competitive suburban high school. Coaches and directors don't have to accept less than 100% commitment to field a team or staff a band. So they don't accept it. In some smaller schools there is much more flexibility to juggle these activities. Also, if the program isn't very competitive at a particular high school, the demands can be much less. At our hs, both music and sports are intense and very time-consuming, and then of course one has to include private practice time.</p>
<p>Today my D and some friends attended a one-time event at a local university. To do so, these kids had to sacrifice games and meets, and subject themselves to the ire of their coaches. I felt awful for one young man because the coach made it adundantly clear that his missing the meet today would cost him in terms of his status on the team. Ouch.</p>
<p>So, my D really can only do sports, while only somewhat handling her tough academic schedule.</p>
<p>We faced this too. Turns out after being in class all day she needed to get outside and get physical (2 sport varsity). Her mental health really improved. If she can get the pent up energy out she focuses better at night with the homework.</p>
<p>She plays her instrument for herself - never wanted to be in an orchestra. She devotes her summers to her musical education. She probably isn't as good as if she played year round but I doubt that she would have.<br>
I found a couple of older women in the area who just play and take lessons when it works out. She took away the message that it is alright to keep music in her life and one doesn't have to strive to be professional for the music to bring joy. I think she'll keep going with it and has asked at the colleges if they have instructors in her instrument.</p>
<p>I don't think there is a perfect solution. You'll just have to figure out year by year what works emotionally and that it doesn't have to be all or nothing. Sorry to not have a clear answer for you.</p>
<p>The moral, in my opinion: encourage your child to think about what activity he really likes, because he really may have to choose. If you choose the activity that is the "best" for college, you may have years of unhappiness in middle school and high school.</p>