Spring break sports training trips

Prep School Admissions Prep School Parents
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<p>My son, who is a freshman, is joining a new sport for the spring, one he has never done before. The team is going to Florida on an optional trip the last week of break to start training. We are not sure it is worth the fairly high cost to send him. Here's how I see it:</p>

<p>Pros: he will (hopefully) bond with his teammates and start learning this totally new sport. Good exercise. This solves part of the "what to do over the long spring break" problem. Warm weather for a week is a bonus.</p>

<p>Cons: he is a very small freshman and the team has lots of hulking juniors and seniors. I worry about social issues, and what sort of hijinks the older kids might get into, possibly dragging my son in with them. Think about all those "Spring Break" movies!</p>

<p>Any thoughts from experienced parents? Thanks!</p>

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<p>Sorry, just a comment. Why did the school arrange such an expensive trip? Many families already stretch too much to send their kids to BS. This will put parents in very difficult situation. Child’s disappointment vs financial hardship.</p>

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<p>I totally agree about the expense! Air tickets alone are a fortune during March.</p>

<p>I will note that I am very pleased that when my son he emailed me about the trip, he said that he knows this is a “want” not a “need”. Chalk one up for growing maturity (and I do think that him being at BS contributed to his budding maturity)</p>

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<p>Our son is in exactly the same position. He has never been in a sport, but joined the crew team in the fall and will be heading down to FL over spring break for pre-season training. He’s very excited about the opportunity to bond with his teammates and get in better shape. We don’t have any concerns at all about “hijinks”. The team is very scheduled with practices and is closely supervised. The newbies are there to learn from the seasoned athletes and, from my observation, the more experienced team members are very generous with helping the newer kids, not hazing them or looking for trouble. This is a team trip, not at all like unsupervised college kids heading down to FL to with no agenda but partying. The kids are under the same rules/disciplinary action as on campus and sign a form to that effect. If you have any concerns, you should contact the coach.</p>

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<p>Just thought I’d peep in since this is at least generally about freshman boys & spring athletics. We’ll have DS home for the break and do a family trip; not having a spring sport, he has decided to take Loomis up on their offering of WSI (Water Safety Instructor) as a sports alternative this spring, and already has a summer job lined up as a lifeguard. Just thought I’d share that as another potential path. I lifeguarded throughout high school (after completing WSI <em>nights</em> at Andover, on top of a winter sport!) and it can bring some pretty nice opportunities a kid’s way.</p>

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<p>D did a long-distance preseason trip in a new sport as a freshman. She thought it was great. Gave her a chance to bond with the team and learn the basic skills before the more rushed regular season practices. She thought it was more valuable to do as a newbie than in the later years when it was just about getting in shape and coming together as a team.</p>

<p>No hijinks, or at least not anymore than would happen at school anyway. They are all exhausted after double sessions, and highly scheduled and supervised.</p>

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<p>In terms of costs, I know that at my D’s school, her spring sport choice does fundraising to raise money for their Florida trip and they try to make the trip affordable for anyone who wants to go. My guess is that other programs and schools do this as well.</p>

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<p>^^ Some schools will and some schools won’t (fundraise and make it affordable).
In terms of “hijinks” - of course there will be some, these are teenagers after all, but all will be mild in comparison to the “girls gone wild” spring break trips. Coaches across the board tend to close their eyes to the minor hijinks of boys, as long as safety isnt compromised.
In terms of benefits to your boy - bonding will be invaluable, esp as he is a smaller boy. So will the actual training. So will the outlook the coaches will have toward him. Perhaps unfair, but such as it is. If you think he can succeed in the sport, he should go. If you think he may drop it after one semester, then its a matter of personal preference.</p>

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<p>Thank you all for your valuable insights! I had a long talk with the coach last night, and he was very nice about saying that it was fine if my son didn’t go on the trip.</p>

<p>However, we are still torn about what to do. I really think there is a strong argument to be made to do the trip so he can bond with his new teammates and learn the new skills he will need for the rest of the season. On the other hand, the total cost will be a little north of $1,000, which is not chump change! And my husband is worried in the back of his mind about the possibility of our son deciding that he hates the sport halfway through the week and then quits! There’s money down the toilet. </p>

<p>So, we have about two more days until we have to let the coach know. If anyone else out there has opinions or experience, please do share.</p>

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<p>Have you asked the coach who else is signed up for the trip? Is it mostly the older kids, or are there a lot of freshmen signed up as well?</p>

<p>Beyond that, if you can afford it and the kid wants to go, then send him.</p>

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<p>if you can swing it, let him go with the caveat that he has to stick out the season.
He will probably be bored silly at home.
zp</p>

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<p>sports teams that have many members in the preseason trips usually do a lot better than those who don’t. if you can let him go, let him. one of my school’s sports teams has been trying to do a spring break trip but because of not enough interest due to some of the above reasons you stated, we lose a lot of practice time each year that we dont go that would be valuable to winning later on in the season against teams who do go.</p>

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<p>My S went on preseason trips during his freshman and sophomore years (to Florida, and Jamaica). Needless to say, he had a fantastic time. I wouldn’t worry at all about hijinks – he is not at all a “jock” type, and he still enjoyed the experience. But if the main reason is to ensure your child makes the team, it may not be worth investment. S didn’t make the team after attending preseason camp, so it’s not a guarantee. Still, he loved the experience and ended up with a sport that he eventually thrived at! If it’s about bonding with fellow students, and working on sports skills, then definitely do it.</p>

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<p>School trips are like shrimp cocktails. You pay for the shrimp but the shrimp is really nothing more than a delivery vehicle for the cocktail sauce.</p>

<p>Let me put it this way: Would (and could) you send your son on the trip if it was for “Harvard Model UN” or “Math-a-lympics?”</p>

<p>If you would (and could) do it for that, then I’d go ahead and do it for this because the purpose of the trip is less important, in the long run, than the experience of making the trip itself.</p>

<p>If you’re like me, you’ll look back on your own experiences and realize that the growth and the “sticky” things from such experiences are anchored to the voyage and not to the direct, substantive purpose behind the trip.</p>

<p>I think this has applied to my own kids, too. My son (now in college) and daughter (age 13 now) have gone on distant trips with their school and they blab on and on about what happened when they got to the hotel, what they forgot to pack, how the rooms were set up, who misbehaved and how they got caught (or got away with it), what happened to the luggage in the bus rack that wasn’t latched properly, and who left their iPod at a restaurant. (Oh, and in my son’s case, there’s also the painful but necessary lesson as to why he’ll never again place his passport in the seat back pocket on the outbound flight – something he was expressly and specifically told to not do as I drove him to the meeting point but is something that he will never do again because of what happened, and clearly not because of what I specifically told him not to do.)</p>

<p>Based on what my kids choose to talk about, it seems that the lessons learned and retained are not so much about who exhibited the best horsemanship, which debate was the most effective, how the Shakespeare performance in the round compared to the one on a traditional stage, etc. And the bonding and friendships with people younger and older may be great (although I think there’s plenty of that already going on in boarding school v. day school).</p>

<p>The cost is something you’ll have to justify and afford – but, if you can afford it for a Model U.N. trip, you can afford it for a sports trip and I submit to you that the truly important and lasting lessons are going to be basically identical.</p>

<p>As for all of those spring break road trip movies, I don’t believe that they occur in the context of chaperoned, organized school trips – for a reason. That’s not to say that you’re guaranteed that unsavory things can’t happen. It means that there are constraints, obstacles and safety nets in place.</p>

<p>I’m not suggesting that it’s affordable, that the chaperones can be trusted, that there are not better opportunities you’d be wise to hold out for, etc. I just hope that framing it as a shrimp cocktail experience helps you sort this out.</p>

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<p>^Love the shrimp cocktail analogy D’yer! Very true.</p>

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<p>Love your post, D’yer Maker!</p>

<p>Robotics competition last year - all I heard about afterwards was the food (some good, some bad) and a performance by the Black Eyed Peas (all good!). (Okay, so I guess all I heard about was food . . . :p)</p>

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<p>Just saw this thread. NYMom3, what was your decision? I can see pros and cons here, and a lot of chewed fingernails by the parents! Especially with sons who are a little less effusive and sharing of details of the trip.</p>

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<p>@D’yerMaker - nicely framed comment. I bears repeating – often!</p>

<p>@Dodgersmom’s Black Eyed Peas comment brings back fond robotics memories - especially her telling me to find her son (based on a physical description) in a convention center filled with thousands of similar looking students from all over North America (including Mexico and Canada). So you can imagine trying one last time to spot him on the floor of a darkened convention arena with the musical group singing to crazed nerds allowed to swarm the stage. Alas I failed at my task. But I met a lot of other students that way But I do remember how much fun the students on those teams were having, the energy was high, the camaraderie infectious, the bonding – and it really hits home the comments Dyermaker posted.</p>

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<p>Dyer Maker, loved the shrimp comment. And very, very true about the experience and bonding of travel (sports or otherwise). My daughter plays a travel team sport and no matter how many home games there are, nothing gets the girls together with stories and experiences and sportsmanship than those away games and tournaments. Our boys’ team was completely dysfunctional and hated each other, each competing to be #1, until a trip to Atlanta and lots of mishaps along the way. They came back a different team and it has made a world of difference. Definitely try to send your son if you can (and maybe the school has some funds available if needed).</p>

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<p>AHHHahahahah!</p>