Pros and cons of sports outside of school

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Mack_the_Ripper

I just thought maybe we could list pros and cons of gymnastics being primarily an out-of-school sport. We do not have high school gymnastics where I live, and I don't think I'd want to take time away from my team even if we did. However, there are benefits to doing sports in school as well.

It would be interesting if someone who has done high school gym posted here!

Pros
Not having to fill out "permission to practice" and "yearly physical exam" forms
Not ineligible for things like training with a college squad or failing a class
Same team and coaches for longer
Get to meet friends of different ages

Cons

Not excused from school for meets
$$$!
Not excused from P.E.
Fewer peers; you make friends who you don't get to see much
 
My DD is not a member of this forum, but I hae been discussing her here for years now. She does club gymnastics as well as her high school team, and I have to say, it truly is an intense 3 months for her. This year (her Jr. year in HS) will be especially rough w/her load of classes and moving up another level in club. I honestly don't know how she's going to handle doing everything... I will keep you posted!

BUT back to the original topic... I do believe it's important to be involved in a high school sport. The "team spirit" is totally different from the club environment. In HS, the emphasis is ALL on that team score, not the individual score. I think she actually enjoys that HS team more than club ONLY because she says she doesn't feel the pressure at HS meets. It's also another thing to add to that college application too.
 
I will be a junior in high school this year and really wish I did a school sport. My school doesn't have a gym team either and I'm not interested in any other sports now. I am a part of school clubs to experience school spirit on some level but it's not the same as my friends having pasta parties and pep rallies for their sports. However, because I do a club sport I have friends from many different towns and can escape any school drama while at the gym. So it kinda weighs each other even, because I love every gym girl I've met, yet I wish I was a part a school team and had teammates that were within a reasonable driving distance :p
 
I do club and highschool, and I definitely like HS gym more. The team is so much more fun, and just so supportive. There's no rush to get skills, and we have pasta parties all the time. The spirit of the team is amazing, and I feel so lucky to get to take part in it. Just like Tumblequeensmom said, the emphasis is on the team score in HS, and I find the environment to be really low stress and low pressure.

But that doesn't mean I don't also really like my club team! My club coaches are all GREAT coaches, and I love how comfortable I feel in my club gym. It honestly feels like a home to me, and I love that about it. All of my friends in club gymnastics are nice people, but I just don't feel as close to them as I do with my HS teammates.

So I guess this is how it is:
HS gymnastics Pros-
1. AWESOME team spirit and the whole team is really close and nice
2. It's a very low-stress sport, in comparison to USAG.

HS gymnastics cons-
1. Not a good coach, can't really get new skills in HS gymnastics.
2. The facilities aren't great for a lot of meets. (Occasionally no spring floor, just a cheer mat...yikes)

Club gymnastics pros-
1. Coaches really know me, and are awesome.
2. Very comfortable in the gym, and everyone is very nice.

Club gymnastics cons-
1. A lot of girls are different ages, and it makes "making friends" with them outside of the gym rather awkward at times.
2. Stressful at meets, because the competition is mostly individual, and I can only depend on myself for how well I do.

Anyways, this post is a lot longer than I originally planned for it to be. I just LOVE HS gymnastics!
 
These responses really make me appreciate my club team more. I think we do a lot to develop a team spirit: we have little parties after practice occasionally before a big meet, pep rallies, pool parties, sleepovers, and a bunch of other things that really help us bond. The team goes to cool places at away meets, and I think all of the time we spend together makes us close even though we're different ages and some of us don't hang out together outside of practice.

I have thought about doing a school sport such as diving, but it's a little late to start. Sports at my school are pretty competitive since we are a very big school but the teams are of limited size, so I don't know if I'd make the team. I could do cheerleading. Our cheerleaders seriously suck. Anyway, I have no time!
 

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