Many people that do not participate in outside of school sports or club sports do not understand the time commitment that is put into these extracurricular activities. Not only are there school night practices that may go late, but also weekend tournaments that can cause you to miss school days occasionally. With school activities, the majority of practices and activities are on school days usually right after school, and don’t typically run late.
Not only is there a big time commitment, but also the overall commitment of each player varies from school sports to club sports. Club sports are optional, and require tryouts or invitation to be on the team. This makes the teams very exclusive, only with kids that are truly committed to the sport. On the other hand there are school sports, where everyone must be accepted one way or another, which usually causes teams to end up with uncommitted people who are just on the team for a waiver out of gym.
Coaching controls a lot of things between school and club sports. Club coaches are typically not paid, but are volunteering their time to do what they love to do, and most likely have been training and wishing to do for most of their lives. Club coaches take the sport very seriously. Not to bash on school coaches and say they do not, but usually school coaches are teachers that are asked to coach by the athletic director because they have experience with the sport. These coaches use coaching as an extracurricular type thing, or a side job.
The coaching style usually affects the intensity of play amongst each team. Club sports are very intense all the time and taken very seriously because they can affect a lot of things for each player, such as where they go to college. Club teams are usually assembled to make a trip to Nationals or some big tournament, and get kids on their way to collegiate level sports. School sports are an alternative for many people that want to get exercise or just stay active while having fun, not all people are aspiring college athletes, which brings down the intensity to some extent.
To me, and many other people, the best part about sports is the lifelong relationships that come from them. Club sports especially can make you the best friends you will ever have due to all you have to go through together to reach the common goal you may have. Not only with the players on your team but also relationships between oneself and your coach. School sports are usually played with a lot of people you don’t know or aren’t close with, and maybe a few close school friends.
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