Sports

Pre-College Topics High School Life
41

<p>the only sport i can think of where you are told NOT to breathe is swimming. that’s par for the course for a musical-- you might be dancing or all out running around, and you only have very specific places to breathe within the music. oh yeah, and you’re singing too.</p>

<p>but it’s not ABOUT the athleticism. that’s just one part of the performance. an audience comes to a show (not necessarily high school, i’m talking generally) expecting to forget about everything for a few hours, and you can’t do anything that’s gonna break the world of the play. so you do anything you need to do…that includes mad dashes to fix something ten seconds before you go on, it includes sprinting up a flight of stairs just before singing a song, whatever. and if you do that well, it looks effortless. which is, i think, part of the reason people don’t appreciate how hard it is.</p>

<p>i have a lot of respect for really dedicated athletes, and in my experience most of the kids i do theatre with feel the same way. it just bothers me that a lot of athletes dismiss theatre as wimpy or easier than sports. just try it sometime.</p>

42

<p>^Exactly. Very well put, and thank you. It’s not that I don’t respect athletes, I’m just tired of everyone acting like musicals just put themselves on.</p>

<p>btw, I do think that high school musicals apply to the wanting to forget about everything. Or at least they do at my school, we take our shows VERY seriously and we’ve been told by several people that our musicals are better than some of the ones that local colleges put on.</p>

43

<p>When any person is doing anything, a sign that they’re good at that thing is that they make it look easy. This applies to much more than musical theater. Most people have no idea how hard playing a string instrument is, for example. I’ve had people pick up my viola and place the bow on the wrong side of the bridge or on the fingerboard, and all they can get out is a few squeaks or maybe some scratches. Playing a string instrument is no less difficult than most activities on this thread and is both mentally and physically demanding, but I would hardly say that it’s more physically demanding than playing most sports.</p>

44

<p>

Oh how I hate that feeling. The curtain will open in less than a minute, and you realize that you just placed the wrong backdrop up. That’s one mad rush to fix… and you only get noticed if it’s wrong. But still, I’d rather work backstage than perform any day…</p>

45

<p>While musicals/theater are difficult and demanding, I’d have to say that sports are definitely more so. I play 3 varsity sports year-round and I’m also in all my school’s musicals, so I know what each entails. If I had to pick the easier option, I’d choose rehearsal over soccer/lacrosse practice every time.</p>

46

<p>What dank08 and some others are missing I think is: it depends on the person as well! It depends on how much work you put in it. You can take dank08 and an actor and he could very well work much harder than that actor, but you could take dank08 and another actor and the actor works very much harder than dank08. </p>

<p>This applies to EVERYTHING. I could find a President of an FBLA chapter who works a lot more than a certain athlete. Everyone is different and everyone puts work into different things. </p>

<p>Also, did we mention how it is hard to compare the two? I’ll try though:</p>

<p>Sports and theatre both require HUGE time commitments and LOTS of practice, include the risk of being injured (Idina Menzel, anyone?), lots of money at the professional level (although more in sports…that’s another discussion), dedication, can look amazing on college apps (depending on what you do), entertain people, are competitive, etc. etc. etc.</p>

<p>Maybe some of those similarities put things into perspective more?</p>

47

<p>Oh and it also depends on the school like HisGrace said…My school doesn’t rehearse nearly as much as 5 hours a day, so sports at my school would probably be harder than theatre at my school (but once again, it depends on how much work you put into it)…It’s not black and white to compare these two (or any two activities) because it varies by school and person.</p>

48

<p>“i have a lot of respect for really dedicated athletes, and in my experience most of the kids i do theatre with feel the same way. it just bothers me that a lot of athletes dismiss theatre as wimpy or easier than sports. just try it sometime.”</p>

<p>I respect theatre, it seems like a hard work and some of my friends are in plays at my high school. All the same, I still think that you guys are over dramatizing it. All I know is that, I’ve just gotten back from one of my practices (it is now 10:20 P.M.), only to take a short break, and then work out some more. I can hardly walk, I feel about 40 years older than I really am, but yet it feels good. I can’t complain. </p>

<p>Either way, you guys like theatre well that’s cool, I have more respect for someone who truly loves what they’re doing than someone who does a sport just to fit in. </p>

<p>You guys can argue about sports Vs. Theatre without me, I have some more pressing issues.</p>

49

<p>…haven’t you said you were leaving like 5 times now?</p>

<p>Yeah, kevin, it’s really hard and EXHAUSTING…but we wouldn’t do it if we didn’t love it.</p>

<p>The best was when we did “Oklahoma!” my sophomore year. We spent a whole Saturday (9-4 ish) doing “The Farmer and the Cowman”, because it was the opening of the second act and thereby included a huge dance number.</p>

<p>Really, like kevin said: it’s nearly impossible to compare the two. There are even schools in my district where I would agree that the sports are harder. But here, at my school, sports are easier. They don’t really practice all that much (at least not as much as we do), and as soon as their season is over a lot of kids stop training because they do other sports. It’s one of those subjects that varies school to school, person to person.</p>

50

<p>See, dank…I don’t know anyone who practices til 10:20 pm…</p>

<p>And 7 hours for one song?!?! Crazy! Do you go to a performing arts school?</p>

51

<p>But you’ve never played one of your school’s contact sports, so how woud you know?</p>

52

<p>Because I know my school.</p>

<p>Like I said, it varies from school to school. And let me say that none of the sports are still going when we get done.</p>

<p>And no, kevin, I don’t go to a performing arts school. We just like to put on really outstanding shows. ^_^</p>

53

<p>Whatever, I’m done with this. You haven’t played a contact sport, you clearly don’t understand. I was in a musical that one a statewide award and I still think they don’t come close. You just can’t judge.</p>

54

<p>Yeah, right…you’re probably just trying to be a jerkface and cut down others while making crap arguments so they can’t tell you you don’t know what you’re tlaking about.</p>

<p>If you had really been in a musical that was of the caliber that I’m talking about, you would understand. And you probably live in a state that isn’t known for performing arts. Try living in SoCal, mister “I know everything about everything”. Did you guys have people from NYU theatre school come scout people? Did you have people from Musical Theatre West? We do. Every year.</p>

55

<p>You know, HisGraceFillsMe, you sound like an arrogant know-it-all yourself. Don’t be such a hypocrite. You haven’t played a contact sport, so you really can’t pass judgment. Even if you do spend more time on musical theater than a sports team practices, it doesn’t necessarily mean that theater is harder. If you played a contact sport, you’d understand that it’s not just how long you practice that makes it hard.</p>

56

<p>Then aren’t you doing the same exact thing and being a hypocrite as well? You’re telling me that I can’t judge, but then you’re passing judgment on what I do.</p>

<p>Even the kids that DO play contact sports at my school (we have kids from almost every sport in the musical, except for the spring sports, and even some of them still participate) have told me that the musical is harder. THAT’S how I know. I’m not saying that’s how it is at every school. But I am sick and tired of people telling me that what they do is more physically demanding.</p>

<p>You know what? Maybe it is, at your guys’ school. And like I said, I have immense respect for athletes, because I can’t do what they do. But is it too much to ask for you guys to respect that we work just as hard as you do? </p>

<p>Let me phrase it to you this way: We spend all year preparing for our musical auditions. The rehearsals are our season, if you will. Opening night is our homecoming, and closing night is like the championships.</p>

<p>Spend 30 hours a week learning blocking, immensely hard musical harmonies, choreography and pages of lines, and tell me that you won’t be exhausted.</p>

57

<p>Nope, I actually know what I’m talking about because I DO BOTH. I play 3 sports a year and I’m all the school musicals. I even do a sport and the musical at the same time. And in my opinion, no one knows which is harder in their case unless they do both. Yes, musical theater is demanding, but I can’t remember the last time I spent over 20 minutes on ONLY a sprinting drill in a musical rehearsal. I do spend many hours a week on the musical, so don’t act all condescending and like I don’t know what I’m talking about. Get off your high horse.</p>

58

<p>Talk about hypocritical.</p>

<p>Listen. One of my best friends plays Volleyball in the fall, club volleyball in the winter, and softball and musical in the spring. And do you know what she told me? That the musical is harder.</p>

<p>Don’t tell me that I don’t know what I’m talking about. I’ve heard this from various resources at my school. I don’t have a problem believing that sports are harder at your school, but like I said earlier, I am sick of people acting like you just show up opening night and that’s it. But as soon as you tell them you play a sport they’re all “OMG THAT MUST BE SO HARD HOW DO YOU DO IT?!?!?!”</p>

59

<p>How am I a hypocrite? For your friend, the musical may be harder. You wouldn’t know that without another source because you don’t play a contact sport. Also, volleyball and softball are somewhat easier sports in terms of how in shape you have to be. </p>

<p>Obviously I don’t think you just show up on opening night and put on a show. If you actually read what I posted, I’ve been in musicals for years and I even said they are difficult. However, as someone who has experience with BOTH (unlike you), I think sports are definitely harder.</p>

60

<p>Well, I agree with HisGraceFillsme…</p>

<p>Sports are great, but by no means the toughest thing to do around, it comes across as arrogant to keep bragging about how hard sports are, that somehow sports are this noble sacrifising endeavor, cause it isn’t</p>

<p>You show up, someone tells you what to do, you go home, and to me, I don’t know, but if you have to train 6-8 hours a day or whatever in HS, how good can you be?</p>

<p>That sounds snarky, but think about it…sports is training your body to memorize moves, get fit, and battle against someone else, or yourself</p>

<p>I get so sick and tired of the attitude that sports are so much better, just cause it takes time, and “shows dedication”</p>

<p>its hogwash- getting battered around, running lots and lots, throwing balls…</p>

<p>and I have played sports, coached sports, reffed sports…but please to keep saying, well, my sport is better cause I have to be in better shape…it gets really old</p>

<p>I like the idea of doing something because you are SELF motivated, not cause you don’t wnat to get a coach mad at you</p>