Often starting in Junior High or Middle School, schools have organized teams where students can play sports. These are usually after school and are referred to as extra-curricular activities and are usually voluntary.
Common sports that are available are:
- Basketball
- Baseball
- Football (American football)
- Soccer
- Tennis
- Track and Cross Country
- Volleyball
- Swimming
- Wrestling
- Lacrosse
It is very common for the school to have a team. Students play for the team, and play against other schools in the area. At higher levels (High School), the top teams or individual athletes can advance to compete at a higher level. The typical levels are referred to as “State” or “Nationals“.
Some schools and sports welcome all students who want to participate, and all can join the team. However, there are some sports and schools that have tryouts at the beginning of the season. During tryouts, the coaches watch the individual students and pick out the best for the team. The others are not invited to play with the team, and they are referred to as “cut” from the team.
In High School there are often two levels of teams, which are referred to as Varsity and “JV” (Junior Varsity, although we always just say “JV”). The Varsity players are the best in the school, and usually the older students. The JV players are usually younger, or have not yet developed the talent needed for the Varsity team.
Attending the sporting events is a fun activity for students and parents. The most traditional and probably most popular events to attend are the football games, traditionally played on Friday evenings in the Fall. (College football is played on Saturday, and professional football is played primarily on Sundays, with one special game every Monday night during the season.) The popularity of this football culture can be seen in a show called Friday Night Lights. These events usually have cheerleaders and a pep band.
Students who excel in sports during High School are sometimes watched by college recruiters and offered scholarships to play the sport for their college or university. Usually, this type of contract requires that the student maintain a minimum GPA.
Helpful Vocabulary
Here are some interesting words used in this post:
| Junior High / Middle School | this is the time of school between the Elementary years (usually Kindergarten through 5th or 6th grade) and High School (9th grade). These terms are sometimes used interchangeably, and vary across school districts. |
| State | the competition at the state level (the United States consists of 50 states). |
| Nationals | the competition at the national (country) level. This competition determines the best High School teams or athletes in the country. |
| Cut | a student is “cut” from the team if they don’t have the skill level required. You can also say that the student “didn’t make the cut” or simply that he/she was “cut”. |
| Pep band | band members playing instruments like trumpets, saxophones, drums, etc. They purpose is to create a good atmosphere for the fans and players, and to help cheer on the “home team”. (The team that is hosting the game. The other team is referred to as the “visitors” or the “away team”). |
| Recruiters | people who represent the colleges and universities whose job it is to find good athletes to invite to the college. They are also known as scouts or talent scouts. |
| GPA | this stands for Grade Point Average. This is an average of a student’s grades, and is a factor for determining if the student should be accepted into a specific college. GPAs range from 0 (the lowest) to a 4.0 (“four point oh” This is a perfect score). |
