Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Is music + sports possible in high school?

Just wondering - is it feasible these days to continue with a school team sport as well as a school honor orchestra/band once you get to high school?

I know lots of people do either sports or music outside of school but is it feasible to be involved with both at a high level within a high school?

It probably depends what the sport is. my wife's niece has done swimming and marching band for four years.

It depends on the high school, too. My kids both went to a small, private, independent K-12 school. Less than 75 kids/graduating class. Kids HAD to do more than one thing so they could field teams and ensembles, and it was sort of part of the DNA of the school for them to do so. Coaches and teachers were pretty accommodating. One of my kids was captain of the volleyball team and in choir (and a state level competitor in speech, Girl Scout Gold Award recipient, founded the library club, and was in Amnesty International). Younger was a club fencer (top 5 in state), in choir, top Quiz Bowler in our state, in Robotics, entomologist, and an accomplished artist.

But at a big high school where there is a lot of competition for spots on the sports teams, it is harder. Kids really have to play their sports year around. If your kid is interested in marching band in particular, they should probably play a sport that is not a fall sport (more conflicts during football season).

Agree that it this seems very school specific. In our large public, many kids seem to pull it off, but there is significant cooperation between the music teachers and the coaches. Conflicts are inevitable, but if enough kids are involved in both, as seems to be the case here, everyone works hard to compromise and find a way to work things out. I also agree that it is probably not happening with the kids who are on a nationally ranked team, no matter how flexible things seem. Those kids are driven and don't seem to have much time or energy left for other endeavors; they train and workout daily and year-round.
What I don't get is how the kids find time to do their homework, volunteer work, any jobs or chores, or any other clubs, etc. (clearly, we are not a family who does this- our DD thrives on busy, but there are only so many hours in the day).

Our local paper ran a story recently about the athlete/musicians. Football, hockey, swimming, choir, orchestra, band, everything. My son did x-country and band. The hierarchy is competitions and performances take precedence over practice and rehearsal. Conflicts are dealt with as they come up.

For parents and kids, there is a fair share of driving fast and an occasional meal on the car. But the sport season is usually only a could of months. Unless the kid goes on to another one next season.

The worst conflict was my son wanted to do track and the spring musical, but everything conflicted so he did have to choose. Some kids do one one year, and the other the next year.

Not an issue where we live - lots of kids do both..including my kids. The big gotcha here would be conflicts between theater (school plays/musicals) and sports that occur in the same season because *usually* (not always, not all sports) require practices immediately after school.

What you don't often see are students who are extremetly talented at one (music/sports) participating in the other - because they are putting in so much *time* on their area of talent. Our youngest dd is a very talented athlete who is extremely motivated to compete at her best for the long term - she's already feeling the pinch of not having enough time for things like music/etc... but otoh that's ok with her. Our other two kids and quite a few of their friends like having some of both in their lives.

polarbear

It was very difficult to do both at DS's H.S. until this year. In the past you couldn't do band and a sport, but you could do choir or orchestra because they were in the evening.

We had a big schedule change this year, and included adding a early zero period. So you can now take 5 academic classes, a music class and a sixth period sport. Or with the new schedule you can take marching band in the fall, and a spring sport. Tried to get my son to try track this spring and am now regretting that we didn't.

I should have added - all of our sports teams practice after school hours, music is during the school day.

polarbear

I'm a young parent, so my personal experience might be relevant because it's not too dated. In my final year of high school, I carried 6 IB credits, played on 3 varsity teams, was first chair violin in the senior orchestra, head of the senior choir, and did recreational yoga and downhill skiing teams. It can be done, but it gets busy. I remember Fridays being long--6:00-8:00am at the pool for practice, orchestra rehearsal at lunch, cross country training from 3:30-4:30pm, and fencing afterwards to 6:30pm. I'd get home, eat dinner, then sleep fall asleep! I wouldn't have done anything differently; the extra-curriculars were the exciting part of high school. I usually had a spare period every day, which was when I finished my work for the day, or (if I'd finished my work in class) I'd just goof off in the senior lounge with friends, often both!

I attended a private high school, so all practices were on site except for swimming, and transportation to and from competitions was on the school's bus. The pool we used was en route to my mum's office, so she headed into the office early. My mum was (and still is) incredibly supportive!

The cost was mostly subsumed by tuition, and the fencing gear was provided by the school. All I had to provide was a bathing suit, swim cap, goggles, running shoes, skis (which I already owned), and a violin (which had been my father's childhood instrument, so $0). I already had to have track clothes for phys ed, and I didn't need any special clothes for competitions because we wore uniforms.

I agree that it depends upon the school, but I know many around here that are involved in both HS music and sports. I don't know anyone who does both at a high level, though it may depend upon what you consider a high level.

Eldest did HS band for all 4 years (band is in school, mostly, and all must participate year round, so marching band and concert band). She was section leader for clarinets senior year and auditioned for and made her college symphonic band. But she isn't a great musician.

She also played softball, both HS and travel. She was better at softball than music - had interested DIII coaches and made HS all-state honorable mention junior year.

Middle kid stopped band after MS. Probably a better musician than eldest, but she just hated band. Plays two varsity sports, fall and spring, and plays travel in one sport. Does some other activities too (as did eldest - was in Model UN and was involved in some clubs). She has friends in her fall sport that are in band, and so they rush from games to march. It can be done, but perhaps not at a high level.

Don't know if it is because it is tough to excel in a sport and music, but a lot of the band kids have no understanding of football. Eldest could not understand how the band kids could sit through 4 years of football games and not comprehend the basic rules of the game. I'm sure they could have figured it out - these were academic competition all-stars, NMF, etc. Maybe there isn't that much interest in both football and music, though our HS has a few football players that also are in band - some have even marched at halftime.