Club Sports vs. High School Sports
Three sport High School student athletes face a real challenge in the summer. Between attending work-outs, camps, summer leagues, travel teams...being a HS student-athlete can now be a "full-time" job. Club sports has even bled over during the school year and sometimes can cause problems for a student-athlete's time and efforts.
1-Should there be a limit for HS student-athletes during the summer? Does you state or school have a dark-time frame that allows an athlete not to compete during a specific period.
2-Does your state or school allow a student-athlete to participate in a school sport and also play club ball in a different sport at the same time?
In Iowa, we have unlimited contact during the summer as long as it doesn't conflict with an in-season practice or game. I like the rule the way it stands right now, but unfortunately there are just of couple of people that take advantage of that.
Our school does allow it and it has caused some major conflicts. I personally don't like club sports and I don't support them. I think if a school coach wants to take a team somewhere for a tournament then that is fine. Club sports are disregarding high school sports teams and many times high school students are choosing club sports over high school sports, which is a shame.
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IN INDIANA WE HAVE A MORATORIUM WEEK THE WEEK OF July 4TH...I HAVE ALSO ADDED A SCHOOL MORATORIUM WEEK AT MY SCHOOL TO GIVE KIDS TIME OFF..SO WE HAVE 2 WEEKS IN THE SUMMER OUR COACHES ARE REQUIRED TO LEAVE THE KIDS ALONE.
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We make a point at our Spring Coaches meeting to point out
to all our coaches that they must work together and cooperate with each other
to make sure our multi-sport athletes do not get overburdened with workouts.
Indiana has a moratorium week where there is no contact with our student
athletes for a complete week. Personally I wish it was for
two weeks. Kids don't have time to be kids anymore!
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The requirements by clubs and schools have gotten out of
control.
Anything in the summer should be optional and the athletes should not be
receiving the message that they won't make the team or first team or
whatever if they don't attend.
Also...this all creates financial stress and scheduling
stress for families...if the athletes truly want to do it....then all the power
to them...but it should be optional.
We don't have any policies.
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(summer) No, no limit. If it’s too much, let the parents be parents
and say no. Our summer activities are
“recommended” but not required. We have
no say of club, American Legion, etc. nor should the state high school
association. What would happen to peoples’
responsibility to exercise good judgment if “government” made all the decisions
for them?
Arkansas does not have any practice
limitations except for full pad practice in football, only 5 days in a 3 week
window in the spring.
(school year) Athletes may
play concurrently in different sports but not the same sport. Such participation is left to the individual
and parents and the schools to regulate except for same sport competition.
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(summer) The State of Washington has a dark period for Fall sports from Aug. 1 - Aug. 18. Winter and Spring can go till the first day of Fall Sports. Conditioning can always take place. The only solution I have come up that seems to woprk is that in April or May I sit down with my head coaches with active summers (Boys=Basketball, Baseball and Football Girls=Basketball and Volleyball) and we try and accomplish 2 things:
1. If we can arrange schedules to avoid conflict we try and do so. This is not always possible and involves give and take.
2,. More importantly we identify athletes being shared between programs and say let's treat them different. If we know they are missing one school program to attend another that is OK. No pressure...no penalties. We want 3 sport kids.
I see it as a good
situation gone bad. I think it is great that kids are active and
involved. It is bad that each of the programs above have felt a need to
lengthen their season and contact with kids. Year round is becoming
the norm...specialization is on the rise. The three sport kid I think
eventually gets worn down and just gives up on 1 or 2 sports. We see
quite a few as 9th graders and then maybe 1 or 2 as 12th graders.
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I believe that we should allow students to have time to be
kids. It is hard to not have athletes work out during the summer when everyone
else in the state are working out. I would like to see the state limit the
amount of practice time and summer activity. As long as everyone is on the same
page and everything is equal . Right now in Arkansas everything is open to the
coach’s decision. I wish that limits
were set so families could be families again.
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Question 1: No limit. It is up to parents
to parent. What is too much for one is not too much for another.
Question 2. Yes. The week before winter sports start we have
a dead week. The reasons for it are no longer valid, but we still have
it.
Question 3. Yes athletes are allowed to play club in one sport and
school in another. School teams usually come first but they do work
together when possible. We lose a lot of athletes to club, particularly
Volleyball.
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I don't think there should be a limit on what an athlete can do in the summer. Having said that, we do have dead times for our coaches. There are 15 weeks during the year where coaches have restrictions regarding their athletes. Our dead times restrict our coaches, but we have found it very difficult to regulate what the athlete does on their own time. Parents are driving this bus, in most cases, and I only see specialization increasing. I was a three-sport athlete 20 years ago, but the times have changed because of scholarship money and parental pressure. I also believe that just like the 3 sport athlete is becoming extinct, so is the 3 sport coach that we saw 20 years ago. Coaches are also specializing and demanding athletes' time year round. One of our major problems is out of season participation.
We have a limited team membership rule which says a student, while participating as a member of a high school team, may not participate on a team not sponsored by his or her school in the same activity during the same season.
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