Which HS Sport To Consider?

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by JavaBrewer

^Negative

Most our local High Schools have Frosh, JV, and Var teams. Freshman tryouts get ~ 40 kids most of whom have played year round on club teams since they were 10 or younger. Cuts made to get team down to 16-18 for Spring. If you don't play as Frosh you have nill chance of playing next season. JV boys who did not make Varsity are cut by Junior year. Local power house Poway had 70 freshman try out 2 years ago. Coach said it was really hard - all were very good. Cut 40 kids in the first week.

Yup. Serious and competitive baseball is very complicated. Experience is huge here.

[diverdan]

Springboard diving!

Diverdan

[speeder]

FWIW, and related to the crew posts, my nephew just finished his sophomore year @ Yale and was a first string walk-on freshman year crew. They are pretty competitive, haven't lost a match yet this year. I just talked to my sister today, school is over but he's there for another month for meets.

He was an all-state swimmer and stand-out baseball player at a very competitive HS, (they won the state hockey tourney his senior year and it's Minnesota), , I really thought that he was going to try to play ball at an Ivy school. He was already admitted to college and just decided to try out for crew on a whim and made the team. I doubt they have athletic scholarships but could be wrong. Also FWIW, he's about 6' and maybe 175 lbs. And he's absolutely crushing it academically, so glad I was nice to him as a child.

Your son sounds exceptional as well, (and do the children of others here), this is quite a collection of random car owners.

[speeder]

Interestingly, my nephew is on the heavyweight crew. They also have a lightweight crew. There are a couple of small guys but most are HUGE.

2012-13 Yale Heavyweight Crew Roster - Yale Bulldogs

Can't believe I guessed his size exactly.

[matt f]

No athletic scholarships at any Ivy League school.

[A930Rocket]

I played football in high school. It was a seasonal sport but is probably more year round now.

My son swims year round and in high school. High school practice was after school until this past year, when was in the am. It's a sport that you can do the rest of your life.

[tedg04]

If he's entering HS, I agree it's probably a bit late for many of the mainstream team sports (soccer, football, baseball, basketball) as many kids start on these much earlier.
His desire for camaraderie from the sport shouldn't exclude some other seemingly individual events. XC and Track may seem like an individual effort, but simply training and traveling with others creates that team atmosphere.
I played football when I was really young (I lived in TX, they ration you a pistol and football helmet), but chose to be a band nerd by the time I was in high school (football practice from 3-5 then marching band from 6-9 was not an acceptable schedule for me). Both had true team building, as you were only as strong as your weakest team member. However, all of the wrestlers I know (which is a more or less individual sport) still seemed to have the same team ethic.
As to longevity, you can run into your 80's. if he's already a good cyclist, get him into some multi-sport events too (duathlon or triathlon). A surprising number of colleges have triathlon teams nowadays.

[speeder]

Wrestling is a sport that a guy could start in HS. He should try a little, he might be great at it or he might hate it. I can tell you that at the state tournament level, those guys are unbelievable athletes.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by speeder

Wrestling is a sport that a guy could start in HS. He should try a little, he might be great at it or he might hate it. I can tell you that at the state tournament level, those guys are unbelievable athletes.

Yup. The good thing about wrestling is that you only wrestle kids in your weight group, so it's somewhat evenly matched. The bad thing is that again, he would be competing against kids that have been doing it for years. My son was talked into two years of wrestling by one of our football coaches, he was several years behind and frequently found himself the victim of locks and moves that he didn't know how to get out of. It was very frustrating to him, and the reason why he eventually decided to not do it again, it would definitely be a steep learning curve for a newbie in high school. They are incredible athletes and there is a real team spirit, even though it's an individual sport.

[yazhound]

wrestling, very much self motivating sport, but at the same time builds a great deal of camaraderie teaches discipline, endurance, high tolerance for hard work, improves coordination.. a few quotes:

"Once you've wrestled, everything else in life is easy."

"More enduringly than any other sport, wrestling teaches self-control and pride. Some have wrestled without great skill - none have wrestled without pride."

from: Dan Gable


It may not fall into all you might have asked for, but imho there is not better sport at the high school and college levels...

[hhackma]

Tennis, Golf, Track... anything non contact related. My son played football from middle school thru high school and got a football scholarship to college. By his senior year at college he quit. He was in pain all the time and he had lost interest.

[Evans, Marv]

Wrestling sounds pretty good. If he doesn't excel, he would still have learned something. Wrestling/wrestlers requires what may be the best conditioning in any sport. Plus, his physical conditioning & coordination from dance might be a plus. I don't know now days about the learning curve. One of my best friends in HS signed up to be the manager for the wrestling team. One day early into the season, his coach suggested he give it a try. He did and ended up winning the State championship for the 156 lb. weight class. But that was a long time ago. Maybe wrestling has developed with a lot more technical moves now days. To win in a sport like that takes a pretty decent amount of individual competitiveness and ability to be aggressive. I also liked the suggestion of trying out for cheer leading. Seems like it might be a good fit and a good thing to put on university and job applications. I didn't think much about it but later on found out on some applications, listing being a team captain gave some scoring in the leadership category.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

Wrestling sounds pretty good. If he doesn't excel, he would still have learned something. Wrestling/wrestlers requires what may be the best conditioning in any sport. Plus, his physical conditioning & coordination from dance might be a plus. I don't know now days about the learning curve. One of my best friends in HS signed up to be the manager for the wrestling team. One day early into the season, his coach suggested he give it a try. He did and ended up winning the State championship for the 156 lb. weight class. But that was a long time ago. Maybe wrestling has developed with a lot more technical moves now days. To win in a sport like that takes a pretty decent amount of individual competitiveness and ability to be aggressive. I also liked the suggestion of trying out for cheer leading. Seems like it might be a good fit and a good thing to put on university and job applications. I didn't think much about it but later on found out on some applications, listing being a team captain gave some scoring in the leadership category.

This really illustrates a great point - a great athlete that is well suited for a certain sport will excel, even without experience. It's like the guys that are discovered internationally and recruited to play a sport that they've never even heard of, yet after two years of D1 college ball they are starting in the pros. Seems like the NBA has a lot of those stories. I believe Joel Embiid from KU had played basketball for a whopping two years before he became a starter at KU as a freshman, and is now moving on to be an NBA first round draft pick. Crazy.....

[DRONE]

Swim and Water Polo

[tedg04]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

This really illustrates a great point - a great athlete that is well suited for a certain sport will excel, even without experience. It's like the guys that are discovered internationally and recruited to play a sport that they've never even heard of, yet after two years of D1 college ball they are starting in the pros. Seems like the NBA has a lot of those stories. I believe Joel Embiid from KU had played basketball for a whopping two years before he became a starter at KU as a freshman, and is now moving on to be an NBA first round draft pick. Crazy.....

I think it may also be a factor of sport prevalence in the geographic area. Here, in the Inland NW, the competitive wrestlers start at the age of 6. When I lived in TX, it was the same for football. Alternatively, no one played lacrosse - and I would expect a skilled athlete of any sort to likely make a varsity team in the area. With the OP being in the Bay Area, the odds of finding some under-appreciated sport are pretty slim.

I also don't see wrestling as something you can do for life. Maybe coach it, but not stay that competitively fit. Many of the competitive wrestlers I know are also severely undersized to this day. I think cutting weight for competition while in your formative growth years could prove to be very foolish.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by tedg04

I think it may also be a factor of sport prevalence in the geographic area. Here, in the Inland NW, the competitive wrestlers start at the age of 6. When I lived in TX, it was the same for football. Alternatively, no one played lacrosse - and I would expect a skilled athlete of any sort to likely make a varsity team in the area. With the OP being in the Bay Area, the odds of finding some under-appreciated sport are pretty slim.

I also don't see wrestling as something you can do for life. Maybe coach it, but not stay that competitively fit. Many of the competitive wrestlers I know are also severely undersized to this day. I think cutting weight for competition while in your formative growth years could prove to be very foolish.

I know the football coach of a large local high school, he didn't play football until 10th grade and ended up playing receiver at a D1 college and was on an NFL roster until injury cut his career short. Excellent coach as well, they just won state last year. That's pure natural talent.

I think wrestling appeals to small guys, because they will only be matched up to guys of similar stature. That's not the case for most sports. One of my son's best friend is an excellent wrestler, he is a tiny kid. His dad was an excellent wrestler through high school, also not a very big guy. Having weight classes is a great equalizer.

[jyl]

Someone suggested Cheer team. I forgot to mention it - yes, the HS does list "Cheerleading" as a sport, and I think one of the clubs is Dance Team, but my son isn't interested in either.

Instead, it appears he'll be continuing his dance outside of HS, with the junior development program (not sure that is the correct terminology) of a local dance company. Some of the personnel of that company saw him at the recent dance recitals at his school. Hopefully it can be just 2-3 evenings/week so that he can do other things too.

The HS lists "Equestrian" too, but NFW am I going down that money pit . . .

[gtc]

Ultimate (frisbee)?

[tedg04]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

I know the football coach of a large local high school, he didn't play football until 10th grade and ended up playing receiver at a D1 college and was on an NFL roster until injury cut his career short. Excellent coach as well, they just won state last year. That's pure natural talent.

I think wrestling appeals to small guys, because they will only be matched up to guys of similar stature. That's not the case for most sports. One of my son's best friend is an excellent wrestler, he is a tiny kid. His dad was an excellent wrestler through high school, also not a very big guy. Having weight classes is a great equalizer.

Understood on both points, just mentioning there may be other factors. (I actually logged in specifically to edit my comment about size - I'm not a doctor and there a likely many other factors that affect these athletes.) There are also several stories of HS basketball players that turn out to be very competitive football players in HS/college/pro; but, there are truly very few athletes that excel to that degree in multiple sports. After all, there is a reason Bo Jackson is so special.

Originally Posted by jyl

The HS lists "Equestrian" too, but NFW am I going down that money pit . . .

Good decision. I married into a family of horse owners, and they make the P-car look cheap.

[scottmandue]

I'm sorry but I missed where he is attending school?

Not a team sport and the point is moot if he is in the PNW but my nephew took surfing in high school.

Another vote for Lacrosse... I hear there are scholarships available for Lacrosse players.

However take that with a grain of salt... I'm about as athletic as a sloth... now bowling, there is a sport! You can eat, drink (alcohol), back in the day you could even smoke... and participate!