I came across an interesting reflection on club sports, colleges, and families. College scholarships loom large as tuitions continue to rise and college continues to be seen as the ticket to successful lives. In an age of NIL, this could be an even bigger decision and undertaking for families.
Main point: “This competitive system [club sports] exists in its particular nature because of another competitive system, the elaborate contest of image and prestige among America’s colleges and universities.”
Photo courtesy of Stocknation
More about it:
- A logical outcome of wealth and a system of privilege? “The question of whether a kid plays a sport is generally decided by whether the family has the money and willingness to serve the demanding system of club sports, which, in turn, functions as part of the malignant system of American higher education. ”
- Who really benefits? “The clubs and leagues exist, nominally, to facilitate the sporting play of young athletes, but, over the last 30 years, they have come to serve the perceived interests of those athletes’ parents, who see commitment to a club sport as a means to a separate end. This end, of course, is college—either an athletic scholarship or preferred admission to a desirable school as a ‘recruited athlete.'”
Takeaways:
- How willing are parents to spend time and money on pursuing club sports?
- I’m a fan of college sports. How complicit does that make me in this system?
- How aware are parents of other scholarship opportunities for their children?