
The Cult of Rich Kid Sports - minnca
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/harvard-university-and-scandal-sports-recruitment/599248/
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Bostonian
The article is envy-ridden. There is too much weight given to sports in
general in U.S. college admissions, not just to "rich kid sports".

~~~
aphextim
I agree, also no mention of figure skating.

My significant other took figure skating lessons as a child and although
nothing monetary every came back out of those lessons she has stated time and
again that she is very easily influenced and if it wasn't for the environment
she was put in, she would have gotten in with 'the wrong crowd' in school if
she didn't have some sort of regiment.

Looking back her parents really struggled to pay for it as the cost of the
skates/lessons ice time was close to $10k/year. They had two daughters who
both were in the program. She was the "poor" one of them all, although no one
is poor if you can afford figure skating.

She didn't appreciate what her parents had done for her until she had grown up
and realized the amount of trouble she avoided by having to be involved in
figure skating, along with how much it cost her parents.

Yes "rich kid sports" are sadly not free and accessable to everyone. Anyone
can scrape some change together for a soccer ball, football or basketball
cheap and have their kids spend hours and hours playing with them. The sports
which require equipment, lessons and/or trainers are obviously going to be
more expensive to learn.

If parents go into it with the expectation that their are providing a safe
culture for their children to socialize, learn how to fail and try again while
also becoming proficient at a skill/sport then there is nothing wrong with it.
The problem arises when parents pay for their children's sport, expecting a
monetary return on investment rather than investing in the experience for
their children and realize it is probably going to be a one way street.

~~~
pnw_hazor
My daughter did competitive FS too. Pricey but worth every penny. She has
grown up to be an amazing person.

Family and friends couldn't believe the cost or that we were foolish enough to
pay for it. But it really was a worthwhile experience. After pre-juvenile we
were probably paying 20-30K+ per year including travel. The joke among our
circle of skater families was that having a kid in competitive FS was like
buying a new car every year. LOL we drug her skates everywhere we went so she
could keep in shape.

------
uberman
Athletes getting preferential treatment during admissions is as old as alumni
giving. You cannot separate one from the other. Families have known this for
generations and take steps to optimize for it just as they do with SAT prep.
The resulting reality is that every collegiate sport is ultimately a "rich kid
sport". Just as SAT prep, orchestra and debate are "rich kid activities".

The author suggests that no one falls into the river and comes out a water
polo star. The same is true for every varsity sport and every varisty player
regardless of ethnicity. No one stumbles onto the hard top and pick themselves
up as a D1 basketball player either.

It takes talent, hard work and yes money/time for training, club/travel teams
and equipment. Facts that the family of every varsity athlete knows all too
well.

With the hours my daughter puts into practice and travel (yes she plays a rich
white sport apparently) it is a minor miracle she can maintain her k-12 grades
at all, yet she does. If she ends up playing for her college it will mean
hundreds of hours of practice and play on their behalf while being forced to
maintain her GPA. If she were to be injured while representing her college she
would likely not be covered by the college healthcare in any way and would
likely loose her scholarship. Interestingly enough the same source (The
Atlantic) has an article on exactly this
([https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/05/i-...](https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/05/i-trusted-
em-when-ncaa-schools-abandon-their-injured-athletes/275407/))

Considering what colleges are potentially asking and expecting from their
athletes, do I think it would be inappropriate to favor them against non-
athletes during admissions? No, I don't.

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heyiforgotmypwd
Well, in a post-truth apartheid, separating kids from their parents in
concentration camps is A-okay and discrimination isn't discrimination even
when it's obvious. Red means go and green means stop. What the court is
reinforcing is: there are N >= 2 sets of rules: one for most people, probably
one for the very poor, and one for the very rich. You can rape an unconscious
girl behind a dumpster, and only serve six months if you're very rich. Or be
famous and connected like Jimmy Savile, and then you can rape disabled
children and never be punished for it.

