Did anyone SAY that sports is “playing games after school”? Really, I see no description in this thread that indicates any more time, commitment, shared work, bonding, kindness to others, etc. than the non-athletic pursuits also discussed in this thread. I had one kid who was captain of a varsity team, and one who pursued more academic focused pursuits (Quiz Bowl, Robotics). And I was a music and theater kid. No one of those things was more glorious than the others in terms of the qualities described for the students who play traditional sports.
“Playing games after school” was part of OP’s post.
The OP said that it was just playing games after school.
@intparent The OP said sport is just “playing games after school”, but I think she quickly realized that her comment was misinformed.
I personally think that this thread should be closed
Hours per day for a musical or play can only be 10 hours per week for 16 weeks total per year because there is one musical and one play in my children’s district. Obviously if your child is good enough to make outside groups, which are rare in some areas, that can easily be 10 hours per week.
My dad is a “typical math and science geek”. He sees no value in sports. He has played tennis and skied, and thinks they are pastimes, and why anyone would pursue them other than a few hours per year is completely beyond him. He played baseball as a young kid because that’s what they did with young boys to keep them out of trouble, made them play baseball.
If anyone would argue that engineers are not stereotypically avoiding of sports and music, I have a bridge to sell them. Yes, there are a lot of kids with engineering as a focus who do play sports and play instruments or sing, but it is few enough that those kids get a significant boost in college applications.
Just spend a few seconds looking at varsity teams in college, and see how many are engineering majors.
My kids are all science geeks, but they all were athletes. The eldest wanted to play tennis when she was 9 years old and she got the rest of my family doing tennis and swim. She’s an EE who works in software and is receiving acceptances for grad schools. Her siblings are also athletes but are also doing well in their disciplines.
intparent: OP’s second sentence.
That is a function of the difficulty in scheduling classes such as labs around practices more than anything else.
Sorry, missed the OP’s comment. Which I certainly don’t agree with… but I actually don’t agree with what I think is the OP’s premise, which is that sports tends to trump other ECs in the college process. Except for that tiny sliver of recruited athletes, I don’t think so.
I would like to see some evidence of this… I don’t even think it stands up anecdotally that there is any boost in this combination at all over an engineering kid who is in math club & robotics, or an English major who is is in writing club & enters Scholastic competitions. Honestly, I think colleges KNOW that a lot of kids don’t stick with their planned majors. So I don’t think they give much weight to the ECs vs. the major. Now… a kid who indicates a strong preference for a major and no ECs at all in that neck of the woods, and possibly poor grades in the major area… that would raise eyebrows.
Colleges like kids that excel at sports for obvious reasons. They show they can manage the physical rigor and time requirements of high level high school sports. Kids that excel at sports are team-oriented and goal oriented. I have yet to meet an academic EC that required a nightly ice bath.
So, I think it is pretty obvious why sports are valuable in the process.
My son trains all year and spends every school break competing.
As Kevin O’Leary would say, it’s all about the money. D1 colleges make more money off of sports and view athletes higher than regular students. D3 colleges dont make as much money and dont regard athletes as high as D1 colleges.
Eyeroll… colleges DON’T like kids that excel at sports more than anything else UNLESS they are good enough to play on a team for the college. This is ridiculous. Go take an ice bath.
Not at all sure where you are going with that. Is it about academic qualifications? Engineering is not the center of the universe in that respect. Most schools might not have their team rosters studded with the engineering disciplines because engineering doesn’t represent a large percentage of their student body
On the other hand, at certain schools like Stanford and MIT, I hope it’s no surprise that engineers are a large portion of the varsity athletes.
@rhandco I completely disagree with you here.
For marching band (which is a group of people who play instruments in a group - so this counts), we usually meet anywhere from 6-30+ hours a week during the football season. Once the football team season is over, we’re also done.
6 hours for regular practice (3 times a week for 2 hours)
6 hours for football games (we also have to practice prior to the game)
14 hours on competition days
10 hours for parades
we also have a 60 hour “hell week” during summer. 12 hours a day for 5 days - which is more than the football team, who has 45 hours during their “hell week”.
Most times, we AT LEAST meet for 12 hours. Rarely do we only have practice (6 hours).
Generally, the football team at my school will meet for a 16 hours a week, and this doesn’t stagger - and my school’s football team is one of the top teams in our state, with several state champion titles.
My friend (who attends another school in my county) has 30 hours worth of practice A WEEK, with practices even on Saturdays (that’s more than your assumption that no band could meet more than 10 hours). This doesn’t count football games, parades, or competitions.
I’m not even going to go into the schools that take marching band seriously. At some schools, they even have a marching band class in addition to whatever demanding schedule they have to deal with.
And once again, our “season” ends at the same time as the football teams season. If they win every round of playoffs, we get more practice. If they lose playoffs, we’re done.
tldr; for you to act like being in marching band is like being in, say - the anime club that meets once every 3 weeks is a misjudgment on your part
You must not have a hard time recruiting for the band. I think other places call it “Band Camp”…doesn’t that sound much better?
@JustOneDad haha, we have about 90 people. We’re not in danger… yet.
And yes, technically, that’s what it’s called at my school (and most schools, probably).
We use the term “hell week” to refer to that 60 hour week that everyone in my school’s marching band have to deal with. Drumline and colorguard get have another 60 hour hell week they have to deal with in addition to that - and I was on drumline, so I can tell you that that those two weeks were quite stressful, but necessary.
On a side note, I want to stress that I know that student athletes put forth a lot of commitment and time to their sport - in addition to any other training or outside organizations they may be involved with. I have some friends who are on the school’s varsity soccer team, but also are involved with regional soccer teams and a TON of extra training. I know their schedules are extremely rough, I can’t deny that.
My point was that it’s not fair to lump certain organizations under the same umbrella as those who only meet once every 3 weeks for an hour. I can say that those who are very involved / extremely passionate about band will pursue outside organizations and could easily be practicing their instrument for over 10 hours a week.