These days, it is not uncommon to see kids get to a point in their sports careers where they decide to play for their club or travel team rather than their local school. The primary reason why kids choose to go this route is to play with better competition, and more quickly develop their sport skills as a result. An additional perceived benefit is that more college coaches will watch club or travel teams more than school teams, thereby providing better chances to make it to the next level. Is it smart for families to bypass school sports for better, non-school alternatives? Candidly, for most families probably not, making this a decision to take seriously.
Pros and cons of choosing clubs over school sports
Kids who choose to play club sports in lieu of school sports will almost always play more games, travel farther, and will likely play against good competition. While an argument can be made that kids get better at sports employing this approach, a strong counterargument can also be made that many kids who play intense club sports (often year-round) also experience increased chances for mental health issues, including sport burnout, and many quit sports prematurely simply because it’s no longer fun.
Additionally, regardless of whet her your child plays school or club sports, his or her chances for making it to the college level is barely 5%, and that number includes D3 schools who offer no athletic scholarship money. For some families those odds may seem reasonable, but for many others it may not make sense to put everything into something with such low odds for success.
A third factor in addition to mental health challenges and low success rate is the fact that kids who choose to not play school sports lose out on playing with the kids they grew up with, and in front of the community that they live! While travel kids may play all over the state and/or country, kids who compete for their local school play with their friends on a daily basis, and for their town every time they play a home game. The memories made playing with kids you have been friends with your entire life are invaluable, and arguably quite different compared to playing with kids from different areas in front of people you don’t know.
Do kids get better bypassing school sports in exchange for club sports? Maybe? When you factor in the issues I treat at my office (i.e. mental fatigue, burnout, anxiety, etc.), I see many kids who struggle to stay focused and motivated, and many have told me directly that they miss the laughs and good times shared playing with their lifelong friends at home. Ironically, most school coaches do, in fact, perform well enough to help kids grow athletically while playing school sports — and many club coaches actually fall short of being the professional guru’s many parents would like to believe them to be.
Final thoughts
If the only goal for your child’s athletic experience is to earn an athletic scholarship, I guess learning about travel programs to pursue instead of school sports is worth a discussion. If, on the other hand, you desire a more holistic, community oriented athletic experience that includes your child playing with his or her best friends daily, and in front of the local town, then you might want to give the school sport option a long look. One reality that I have witnessed some kids experience is bypassing school sports, not receiving an athletic scholarship, then regretting all the years they missed out playing with the friends they have known since early childhood. This is most certainly a big decision for some families, so it is important to get it right.
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