<p>Another reason bands don't represent a school as well as a sports team-- ever see a sports team wearing colors OTHER than their school colors? Our college band has red, black, and yellow uniforms and call themselves the Golden Eagles. College colors are black and red and our mascot is a Redhawk!</p>
<p>My high school band wore black and white uniforms but the flag corps wore purple, neon green, etc. Our school colors were orange and black!!</p>
<p>Our DS participated in marching band and the hs plays and they were just as integral to the school social fabric and most sport teams. And yes, the marching band attended all f'ball games even if there was a competition that day.</p>
<p>And, unlike sport teams, the participants got to be together with the opposite sex, quite a nice thing. I doubt that any f'ball player ever got an award for the cutest boxers like DS did soph year.</p>
<p>Before I get flamed, I should say I was a marching band kid in HS and thoroughly enjoyed it. So I do understand the frustration band members experience when they feel they're somehow supposed to exist for the pleasure of the football program. It's a long-existing source of conflict between the two camps. But the marching band is not the chamber orchestra or concert band. It's purpose is different and I really would like to see it actually march in a parade.</p>
<p>originalong- There is plenty of interaction between sexes in MANY sports- e.g. track and cross country.</p>
<p>Well, not all of us would appreciate the type of interaction which causes boys to notice our D's boxers, nor the "interaction" in the back of band buses late at night on the way home from competitions.</p>
<p>GFG- That's hilarious and brings back a lot of memories of MY own Wild Child days in the marching band. I remember certain, uh, interactions with a certain cute student teacher at a week-long music festival in Virginia Beach.</p>
<p>Yup, brings back memories. Unfortunately, my boyfriend wasn't in the marching band so it got kind of lonely on the bus....</p>
<p>Anyway, in all seriousness, I do believe sports have done a lot to elevate the status and confidence of young women. An elderly relative of mine was so excited to see an article about my D and her sports team. She expressed how delighted she was that now girls can participate fully in sports and that newspapers actually give attention to that participation. Some of us are old enough that we remember how limited options used to be for girls. There wasn't a whole lot to choose from that didn't involve putting on a short skirt and dancing around at boys' sporting events. In fact, the day our color guard coach taught us what he called the "hooker on a pole" move for a show, was the day I decided that my stint in the marching band would end. When I started as a freshman, the color guard still had a precise and military-like character to it. By senior year it had involved into more of a dance team act, complete with less modest outfits.</p>
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That fact is that for many, many kids, high school sports are an integral part of the social fabric and spirit of high school. Maybe it's too bad but the science fair winner is not.
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<p>So true from one point of view. And yet there's another way to look at it. For many, many kids, high school sports are not integral at all, but a very minor note of interest in their social fabric --- if friends are involved --- and joining in a feeling of "spirit" in regard to high school is an occasional feeling at best. </p>
<p>I had mentioned in an earlier post that it was computed at our h.s. that about 1,000 students play on athletic teams, some of that count duplicated because students play more than one sport and kids on track are also on cross country. Our h.s. has more than 3,000 students enrolled. There are thousands of students for whom sports are not an integral part of their lives. They have other activities, maybe not ones heralded by society in general, but important to them. And I'd say only football and basketball could make any claim to being "integral" to high school life for the entertainment value. </p>
<p>For those students who participate in them, the nonathletic activities --- band, vocal music, drama, science olympiads (it's not a "fair" in h.s., math olympiads, aca-deca, debate, mock trial, MUN --- are as integral a part of high school life as participation in sports is for the high school athlete. That society doesn't reward them with attention doesn't mean it's okay to siphon support away from these activities to pay for athletics, which may not happen in your kid's h.s., but does in mine. </p>
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Even high school academic teams tend to bring glory more to the individual members than to the school, especially especially when the competitive format involves busing a small group of students to an area high school where each of them individually takes a math or science test and then the scores are compiled. Even the more individual sports like tennis still provide spectator interest.
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At least acknowledge that the spectators are mostly parents. If spectator interest were the measure used to decide whether student activities ought to get school support and funding, then golf, tennis, wrestling, and track-cross country would be on life support at our school. Soccer and baseball would be weak too, based on the spectator interest of people not related to the athletes through blood or friendship. These are popular sports in our society, but let's not exaggerate the numbers in the bleachers for a mid-week high-school game and who is actually there. The majority of h.s. school students are going to jobs or participating in their own activities, not serving as spectators to dozens of sports.
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<p>To characterize the academic team pursuits as less worthy or less valuable because they don't contribute to school glory ---- although they might if they were given enough support to rise to the state or national level --- or because there are more individual medals won than team medals or because the contest involves a test that is not spectator friendly is not fair considering the support given to the sports that are more individualistic in nature.</p>
<p>I guess all this conversation goes to show that the attention that athletic, music, and academic teams get varies greatly within different high schools and communities.</p>
<p>Our community high school definitely focused on athletics, particularly football to the detriment of many other activities. However, it also had a very strong music program.</p>
<p>The public magnet school that S attended gave as much attention, if not more than, to the academic teams (Physics Team, Math Team, Robotics, Team, FBLA, etc.) and performing arts groups as it did to the athletic teams. The school definitely prided itself on its intellectual endeavors of its students. It was actually very well balanced and the students (and parents) seemed comfortable with it. Athletics was part of the high school experience not its totality.</p>
<p>Sounds ideal.</p>
<p>I am concerned about head injuries in some of these sports. I wouldn't want my kid to sacrifice his brain for a goal or a touchdown.</p>
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I am concerned about head injuries in some of these sports. I wouldn't want my kid to sacrifice his brain for a goal or a touchdown.
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<p>A. They aren't THAT common.
B. The ones that mess you up are generally repeated ones, your kid is just as likely to get a permanent brain injury driving or at school as in a sport. Sports risk is repeated injuries.
C. But is sacrificing that fun(assuming he likes sports) worth the small risk for injury.</p>
<p>And injuries don't follow what you'd expect, soccer players get more concussions than football players. (note: I am not saying don't let your kid play soccer)</p>
<p>I played football for 7 years, and I've seen many kids get concussions. No one has had permanent damage, and usually there aren't that many. We played deep into the playoffs in the top division in our state, so we were certainly hitting, and only a couple kids a year had concussions. And the majority of those came from poor form. If your kid is smart enough that his mind is more valuable than his body, he should be smart enough not to use poor form.</p>
<p>"And injuries don't follow what you'd expect, soccer players get more concussions than football players. (note: I am not saying don't let your kid play soccer)"</p>
<p>You should also look at the data before you cite it. Who makes it up? When you sell a soccer headgear, of course there are concussions. I think you might be a tige incorrect but I am willing to see your information link..</p>
<p>my son is ranked #1 in his class of 300 and is active in so many things (sports too) but his friends will get bigger scholarships for sports than good grades!
go figure that one!</p>
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You should also look at the data before you cite it. Who makes it up? When you sell a soccer headgear, of course there are concussions. I think you might be a tige incorrect but I am willing to see your information link..
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<p>I'd have to look but I've heard the same about soccer players having an increased rate of concussions when you get into upper levels ie high school, college age soccer. Why? Repeated blows to the head without protection. Sure football players take repeated blows to the head but they at least have a helmet which helps some.</p>
<p>I played football, basketball, and baseball at the varsity level in high school. The worst headache I had came in baseball; not football as one might expect.</p>
<p>Head injuries in football do occur and really there's not a whole lot that can be done to prevent them. The helmet companies are continually making strides, but no helmet can prevent every head injury. What can be prevented is cervical spine injuries.</p>
<p>Even a single concussion can have catastrophic repercussions neurologically. Shearing (which is when different layers of the brain sort of slide over each other, as the result of impact) can result in long lasting changes in behavior or learning. I have known kids who have had shearing from ski accidents that seemed totally minor, as well as soccer and football impact. Of course, accidents for kids not wearing bike helmets can also be catastrophic.</p>
<p>But, those repeat blows to the head, either in soccer or football, are not minor, and they can and do affect function later on. People just need to know these things are possible.</p>
<p>That's what I mean, Allmusic. I have no links, but I've read studies about long-term consequences of head injuries from sports, including behavior disorders and lowered IQ. I'm not sure I'd discourage my son from playing these sports if he wanted to, but I'm glad he doesn't want to.</p>
<p>My son's classmate died senior year of high school as a result of a football "hit", which was ruled a legal block, although perhaps a touch more aggressive than it needed to be. He had a brain stem injury and never came out of the coma. Google Kurt Socha. It was the most tragic thing imaginable. Yes, it is unusual, but it does happen. I worry about contact sports, especially seeing all the bad knees parading into my orthopedist's office....</p>
<p>collegepoor - Is your child a national merit finalist? You may be pleasantly surprised. The athletes seem to get their offers earlier than the academic stars.</p>
<p>We attended D's fall band concert last night. She is also a varsity athlete.</p>
<p>I have to admit that when I was watching the drummer last night, it was the most tribal thing I have ever seen. :rolleyes:</p>