Best Eight Weeks of the Year: The Magic of High School Rec Sports

The heart of rec sports! High school girls playing volleyball for the love of the game—no cuts, no pressure, just friends having fun. This is how we start making sports fun again.

For some kids, the goal is playing under the Friday night lights, school colors, the band blasting, the announcer shouting their name. It’s the dream of high school athletics, and it’s a great one.

BUT, that doesn’t mean the 70% of high school students who don't play don't want to get on the court. It certainly doesn't mean they shouldn't be supported just as passionately.

That’s why I love rec sports. I especially love seeing high school-age kids playing recreational leagues. They are playing for the purest, most important reason of all: THE FUN OF IT.

Where Sports Are Pure and Fun

We live in a small town. There are only about 470 kids in the entire high school, but there were enough high school girls signed up to play volleyball at the Boys & Girls Club that they needed to create three teams.

I spent a Saturday afternoon watching them play, and the atmosphere was electric. Oh my gosh, they were all having a blast! And you know what else was different? The parents were too.

Every point was applauded by parents of both teams. No one yelled at the referee, a high school kid making twenty bucks for the afternoon. A great time was truly had by all.

This is the beauty of rec sports:

• No tryouts, no cuts.

• No A-team or B-team status.

• No starters or subs.
  

Everyone plays, everyone rotates in, and everyone has fun.

Don't get me wrong, some of the girls are on the high school team, and yes, they are the better players. But they were out there with the other girls, not judging or rolling their eyes, but genuinely encouraging and helping, just having a blast. They weren’t worried about their college resume; they were focused on the next point.

The Power of the Parking Lot Talk

I think competitive select sports and high school varsity teams are the bomb, but I have a special place in my heart for rec sports. It is pure, it is fun, and it is the key to making sports fun again for so many kids.

I just hope those of us with kids or grandkids playing in these leagues support them and encourage them like they just made the US Olympic team.

I love listening after the game in the parking lot as the girls are talking to their parents about this play or that play, laughing and smiling about their goof-ups or their great plays. It is all just so cool. That's the real win.

The Best Audience of All

One last thing, I promise.

I noticed one of the players would steal a look up into the stands just before it was her turn to serve. I figured out who she was looking at: her grandma and grandpa, right next to her mom, looking back with huge, proud smiles. After the game, watching her interaction with her family was the best.

No championships, no “winner move on, loser out,” no college coaches looking for talent, and no parents being asked to leave the gym. Just twenty or so girls having pure, unadulterated fun while family and friends cheered them on.

All in all, I would say it was a great Saturday afternoon—and the best eight weeks of the year.