Hi: I am surprised to see this school requiring 6h/week of sports during 2/3 of the academic year. It seems that there is also a required one term of team sports with frequent meets (competitions) in 9th or 10th grade taking place all over the greater Boston area. On days with meets, the total time spent participating and especially commuting for hours (potentially to the other side of Boston!) would make for very long days (and leave little time for homework or other activities).
Our kid is not very sportive, and I suspect a lot of kids that this school caters to could be in the same situation. Is there a strategy to avoid some of this and make this bearable/feasible?
Many schools require a “team” activity but that doesn’t necessarily always mean a sport. We have understood many places consider activities such as school play, orchestra/band also constitute “team” requirement. Driving all over greater Boston is nothing. Many New England schools travel various states just to get to their competitor. Many schools will also work into their schedule “game day” so no classes are missed. Practice time is part of the student’s schedule and there are plenty of students who have never played some of the sports they take on. Think of it as part of the learning and growing the child does while in school. It will not kill them to learn something out of their comfort zone. It teaches them to use time between classes wisely to get their studies done so they have less to work on on the the bus to the games. It teaches students balance and time management while also allowing them to apply skills they learn in a classroom such as trajectory, strategy, planning, teamwork, research, and so much more. One major skill students learn is acceptance, accepting people willing to learn a new sport, accepting others who may not be as good as themselves in a particular sport, accepting the fact that you are not always going to be the best at everything you do. It is part of the private school experience that has to be accepted in order to have a well rounded student body. Most of these high level academic schools would never be able to field a team without the requirement in place. Traditional HS call this requirement “PE class”. It is what makes these schools more than schools but communities instead.
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Yes to all this ^^. Many private schools in MA require a sport and yes, commuting to games takes HOURS and makes for a really stressful life for kids who get top grades/take the hardest classes.
My son and daughter both routinely had games in different states.
Thanks to @one1ofeach and @Pharmingturtles ! I hope @Pharmingturtles is right that team activities can mean a lot of things. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, BUA is requiring team sports specifically - which is what surprised us. Students may want to compete in debate, science fairs, math contests, etc. it seems unusual to single out sports competitions… Does anyone know if there happens to be some flexibility at BUA?
I am also wondering if the out-of-state sports competitions @one1ofeach mentioned were also mandatory for all students. I can understand those could be worth it if sport is one of your strengths, but otherwise it seems mostly time-draining.
Sorry, instead of “BUA” I meant “Commonwealth”.
I suspect that sports is specifically mandated because physical activity is important for healthy living. Kids at boarding school have access to a huge amount of food and snacks. Imagine if they were also totally sedentary?
At the schools I know of debate is compatible with a JV sport, probably not with a varsity sport. JV does play a lighter schedule. Usually it’s two seasons of team sports and one season you can do a play/musical. I believe that often kids who have demonstrated talent at theatre can petition for two seasons of theatre and one season of sports.
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Totally agree that schools want kids to experience what physical activity offers in the way of physical and mental health. It’s also a different way to build community, often across grades. A friend’s son at DS’ school, who is unapologetically unathletic, says XC freshman year was responsible for finding him his tribe - the guys who had a sense of humor running at the back of the pack – as well as showing him (through the fast guys) how to be a good mentor (a skill he put to good use with his own strengths.
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About half the school does Ultimate Frisbee as one of their sports. There are some competitive teams, but there are a variety of sport options, for all interest levels.
Commonwealth is less sporty than many (I’d wager most) independent/prep schools. 1 season of team sports out 12 isn’t a high bar in comparison to say, Middlesex, which requires interscholastic team sports all 3 seasons for 2 years (and then, I think 2 seasons for 11th, can’t remember 12th). And they’d have sports 6 days a week, I’d wager. (I think Commonwealth is only 2-3 days). My kids both ruled out any “sporty schools” and Commonwealth stayed on both their lists.
I do believe Commonwealth exempts you if you are involved in other (rigorous) outside school sports (which isn’t true at all schools).
Also bear in mind, unlike LPS there is no PE class, this is the equivalent for them besides the requirement matching a general prep school ethos of “educating whole person.” Come to think of it, my COLLEGE had a PE requirement.
Hello! I’m not sure how to answer the question, but I’m also applying to BUA and Commonwealth. During my Commonwealth interview, we basically spent an hour talking about fencing, so that could definitly be an option. Plus, no experience is required to do it!