I have a question-- is there too much pressure on high school kids these days? These kids have to get it done in the classroom, score high on the SAT’s and hope they are good enough to make it to the next level, and they are playing their sport year-round.
When my father was young, after school and on weekends he went to work in the local coal mines.
When I was young, school started at 7:00, got out at 2:00. After practice ended at 5:00, I had a job from 6-10 p.m., also on weekends. I was just trying to get IN to my favorite school, and to be able to pay the tuition bill while I was at it. After doing my homework, I averaged about 6 hours of sleep per night.
Basically these kids are playing all the time. I wish I could've had that option. I'm not crying, mind you, because I fully understood at the time how lucky I was to have what I had. There was a recession at the time, and with a father who had grown up in an area that never knew the Great Depression ended, I was grateful then and I'm still grateful now for what we had.
We all tend to get dramatic about our heavy loads. Give me a break. In other countries, kids this age are struggling just to eat and fend off disease. What we call pressure is a joke. My baseball son did all you're talking about and then some, and he still managed to play "Guitar Hero" at least 2 hours each day.
We are only scratching the surface of this generation's capabilities. More of them suffer from being challenged too little, than from being challenged too much.
Posts: 2442 | Location: Virginia | Registered: February 01, 2006
We are only scratching the surface of this generation's capabilities. More of them suffer from being challenged too little, than from being challenged too much.
"Watchin my boys play baseball is another day in paradise"
Posts: 604 | Location: East Coast | Registered: August 15, 2005
I think it is easy for us to get caught up in over emphasizing too much of anything. Education should be in balance with other activities. It is important to allow students to expand their horizons and not just to become academic slaves. Most prosperous people, finacially and emotionally have to be well rounded and enjoy what they do in life. Most of what you learn is long forgotten after school but the disipline is there to allow you to succeed in life. BB is only a part of the picture as is college studies.
Posts: 4175 | Location: Canada | Registered: October 13, 2005
I'll add, in a more positive vein, that some of the more highly competitive players actually emerge from all this with a life advantage even if they don't go on to pro ball. They are the ones who learn to quit whining and do what is necessary to achieve. And they learn that it isn't really all that hard after all.
If you really want to get some of these kids talking, ask them what they think about those of their teammates who have some natural abilities, but don't work hard. Some of what they will say will astonish you. It sounds very similar to listening to a bunch of octogenarians in rocking chairs on the back porch.
Posts: 2442 | Location: Virginia | Registered: February 01, 2006
The idea of kids having too many people demanding their time is true! This very topic has been the topic of conversation in my home many times over the past 5 years. 1. Schools now start in early August and end sometime in late May. It use to be that school started the Tuesday after Labor day and ended between June 5 & 10. Some schools now go year around with no evidence that it raises academic test scores. IMO, this is nothing more than child care for parents working!!! 2. For kids to participate in athletics at the high school level they must workout and practice or play sports year around. In the past kids would be 3 sport athletes in high school along with having a partime job on the weekends and in the Summer. Today they don't have the time for a job if they participate in athletics. 3. The schools are pushing for the kids to take AP or Honors courses which require more homework (some kids average 3-4 hours per evening including weekends) and leave little time for any type of social life. Most of us feel like we had the best childhood one could have. I participated in 2 sports during high school (I also played at a Top 10 D1 in college & have a son playing college baseball) worked on the weekends at the local service station during the school year and worked fulltime (over 40 hours) during the Summers. The weightlifting sessions during the Summer were from 7:30-9:30pm so that kids could work thier job, get home and eat dinner and then get to the school for the workout. I know that we cannot go back or stop time but I sometimes feel that as adults we are stealing the fun away from our teens. I probably like to win more than anyone on this board and have the phylosophy that you must outwork your competition but life must also have a balance. JMO, but high school boys need time to go fishing/hunting with their friends or even a little time to try and get little Mary Jane in the back seat of their car or at the very least tell a lie that they got Mary Jane in the back seat.
Posts: 597 | Location: USA | Registered: December 26, 2002
Originally posted by cbg: The idea of kids having too many people demanding their time is true! This very topic has been the topic of conversation in my home many times over the past 5 years. 1. Schools now start in early August and end sometime in late May. It use to be that school started the Tuesday after Labor day and ended between June 5 & 10. Some schools now go year around with no evidence that it raises academic test scores. IMO, this is nothing more than child care for parents working!!! 2. For kids to participate in athletics at the high school level they must workout and practice or play sports year around. In the past kids would be 3 sport athletes in high school along with having a partime job on the weekends and in the Summer. Today they don't have the time for a job if they participate in athletics. 3. The schools are pushing for the kids to take AP or Honors courses which require more homework (some kids average 3-4 hours per evening including weekends) and leave little time for any type of social life. Most of us feel like we had the best childhood one could have. I participated in 2 sports during high school (I also played at a Top 10 D1 in college & have a son playing college baseball) worked on the weekends at the local service station during the school year and worked fulltime (over 40 hours) during the Summers. The weightlifting sessions during the Summer were from 7:30-9:30pm so that kids could work thier job, get home and eat dinner and then get to the school for the workout. I know that we cannot go back or stop time but I sometimes feel that as adults we are stealing the fun away from our teens. I probably like to win more than anyone on this board and have the phylosophy that you must outwork your competition but life must also have a balance. JMO, but high school boys need time to go fishing/hunting with their friends or even a little time to try and get little Mary Jane in the back seat of their car or at the very least tell a lie that they got Mary Jane in the back seat.
Schools go year round, not for academic reasons but for lack of space reasons. They set up multiple tracks where one track is always out of session. It eliminates the need to build new schools.
As for playing sports year round, my son plays three sports in high school. His sister did it too. It's a large classification high school. It's not a case of the sports programs needing bodies. The key is communication. His s****r and basketball coaches know baseball is the priority in terms of summer ball and ten month preparation. He does have to work in travel fall ball during s****r season and winter baseball workouts during basketball season. He practices his basketball on his own time and plays in pickup games against older kids. On his own time he also surfs and skateboards.
Academically he's in the gifted program. Next year he'll be taking AP courses. At fifteen he worked part time last summer except for a couple of week long sports camps. There's no reason for him to lay around during the day all week in the summer. He works out three days a week. He has a social life on the weekends.
My son isn't Superman. His sister went through the same routine in high school. He never complains about his commitments. He understands the options. He can quit any of the sports and play rec ball. The only adjustment he made was freshman year he decided it was too much to get banged up playing football on Friday's and play fall baseball on the weekends. He had played travel s****r in the fall until middle school football. He started playing s****r for the school.
Posts: 1632 | Location: Mid-Atlantic | Registered: October 29, 2007
Originally posted by alwoods: I have a question-- is there too much pressure on high school kids these days? These kids have to get it done in the classroom, score high on the SAT’s and hope they are good enough to make it to the next level, and they are playing their sport year-round.
Talent gets athletes to the next level, not playing year round. many athletes play multiple sports. Pressure is what the athlete makes it. Mostly pressure is lack of preparation. The athlete with ability who is prepared on the field and in the classroom is going to feel less pressure.
Posts: 1632 | Location: Mid-Atlantic | Registered: October 29, 2007
They could do what alot of other kids do and not have all that pressure. They could not play any sports. They could just do enough to get by in the classroom. And they could spend their time playing video games and hanging out with their friends.
Hey no pressure just have fun.
Maybe the ones that we are talking about want to do what they are doing? Maybe they want to achieve at the highest level they can. Maybe its the parents that feel all the pressure.
There is alot more pressure on the parents of the kids that are not motivated to achieve than there every will be on the ones that are.
Originally posted by cbg: The idea of kids having too many people demanding their time is true! This very topic has been the topic of conversation in my home many times over the past 5 years. 1. Schools now start in early August and end sometime in late May. It use to be that school started the Tuesday after Labor day and ended between June 5 & 10. Some schools now go year around with no evidence that it raises academic test scores. IMO, this is nothing more than child care for parents working!!! 2. For kids to participate in athletics at the high school level they must workout and practice or play sports year around. In the past kids would be 3 sport athletes in high school along with having a partime job on the weekends and in the Summer. Today they don't have the time for a job if they participate in athletics. 3. The schools are pushing for the kids to take AP or Honors courses which require more homework (some kids average 3-4 hours per evening including weekends) and leave little time for any type of social life. Most of us feel like we had the best childhood one could have. I participated in 2 sports during high school (I also played at a Top 10 D1 in college & have a son playing college baseball) worked on the weekends at the local service station during the school year and worked fulltime (over 40 hours) during the Summers. The weightlifting sessions during the Summer were from 7:30-9:30pm so that kids could work thier job, get home and eat dinner and then get to the school for the workout. I know that we cannot go back or stop time but I sometimes feel that as adults we are stealing the fun away from our teens. I probably like to win more than anyone on this board and have the phylosophy that you must outwork your competition but life must also have a balance. JMO, but high school boys need time to go fishing/hunting with their friends or even a little time to try and get little Mary Jane in the back seat of their car or at the very least tell a lie that they got Mary Jane in the back seat.
Schools go year round, not for academic reasons but for lack of space reasons. They set up multiple tracks where one track is always out of session. It eliminates the need to build new schools.
As for playing sports year round, my son plays three sports in high school. His sister did it too. It's a large classification high school. It's not a case of the sports programs needing bodies. The key is communication. His s****r and basketball coaches know baseball is the priority in terms of summer ball and ten month preparation. He does have to work in travel fall ball during s****r season and winter baseball workouts during basketball season. He practices his basketball on his own time and plays in pickup games against older kids. On his own time he also surfs and skateboards.
Academically he's in the gifted program. Next year he'll be taking AP courses. At fifteen he worked part time last summer except for a couple of week long sports camps. There's no reason for him to lay around during the day all week in the summer. He works out three days a week. He has a social life on the weekends.
My son isn't Superman. His sister went through the same routine in high school. He never complains about his commitments. He understands the options. He can quit any of the sports and play rec ball. The only adjustment he made was freshman year he decided it was too much to get banged up playing football on Friday's and play fall baseball on the weekends. He had played travel s****r in the fall until middle school football. He started playing s****r for the school.
The following was my sons schedule both during the Summer and the school year: School Year:Monday-Friday 5:30 wakeup 5:45 leave for school 6:15 weights for football (not on Friday) 7:50-3:10 Academic Class 3:30-6:00 Athletic Practice 7:00 eat dinner 8:00 start homework 11:30 finish homework and go to bed
Saturday 8:00 Team breakfast @ school (football) 8:30 Film (football) 9:30 Weights & running (footaball) 1:00 Fall Baseball League 4:30 Get home and relax
Sunday 2:00 Fall Baseball 7:00 Start homework 11:00 go to bed
Summer Schedule: Monday-Friday 7:30-9:30 Weights 9:50-10:20 Running 10:45-11:45 Position play & 7 on 7 passing 3:30 Report for baseball BP 6:00 & 8:00 Baseball game (60+ games in 7 weeks)
Sat. & Sunday Baseball Tournaments
Both the football team and baseball team go deep (semi finals) into the playoffs most years and the coaching staffs do not care about the other persons sport. This is a school that plays in the top division in the state along with playing the top team from other states. If you can find a way for this young man to work, have any type of social life and attend everything I will pay you!!! He did learn time management skills.
Posts: 597 | Location: USA | Registered: December 26, 2002
The schedule isn't much different than my son's except he plays three sports. The two non-baseball sports are strong programs that expect to compete deep into the post season every year. They don't seem to want to bounce my son out of the program despite his unwillingness to play for a summer select s****r team or an AAU basketball team along with setting his own offseason training schedules for each of these sports.
He still gets out on Friday nights to the football games in the fall, hanging out after basketball games on Friday nights in the winter and parties on Saturday nights (he never stays late). He's played seventy-eight baseball games this year between high school and travel with another twenty-plus this fall.
There's nothing he can do short of quitting two sports to change his schedule. If he only played two sports, the second coach would have him in a lot of offseason training.
I don't hear any complaints from him. He loves to play. He gets his homework done. He gets great grades. He's the younger kid. I've already been through the same kind of schedule with his sister and softball, volleyball and track. She never said a word about her schedule until college softball when she said she felt owned. She said timewise the season is the offseason.
Posts: 1632 | Location: Mid-Atlantic | Registered: October 29, 2007
