I was involved in just about everything someone can be involved in when I was in high school. After four years of sports and extracurricular activities in a small high school in a small town, you begin to see some patterns. Although not all of these happened to me, or worked in my favor, I definitely observed them at just about every level of play.
1. If you’re the best player on varsity, you probably still aren’t a D1 player
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You’re phenomenal compared to the small pool of people that the coaches have to choose from. Not to say that you aren’t talented, or you absolutely can’t be phenomenal. However, you might not want to expect a full ride scholarship to a D1 school for being a starter in a small school.
2. It’s all about politics
Are your parents involved in the school? Are you a teacher’s kid? Is your family’s last name well known (for positive reasons) around town? Skill is a huge factor when it comes to playing time, but I think that it can be argued that so does your last name. In a small town this is even more prominent because there are fewer families to know, so people know families pretty well. If your last name has a positive attachment, coaches will probably play you more often. So if you’re riding the bench, it’s not always personal… but it’s kind of almost always personal.
3. The community is very involved in every aspect of your sport
Many community members, whether or not they have a child, grandchild, niece, etc. to watch, will come to your games. They will cheer, they will yell, they will scream, they will support you and they will also tear you down. Do great and you will be the talk of the town. “Did you see how many points so-and-so scored last night?” Do awful and you will also be the talk of the town. “Did you see how awful so-and-so’s kid played last night? They should have taken them out and put what’s-his-face’s kid in instead.” But, it just isn’t the same when you don’t have an audience. So although some parents (you know exactly who I’m talking about) should probably just not speak, they are still there to support you someone.
4. Everyone hates the refs
You have the same group of refs who officiate just about every game, and probably every sport. Everyone starts to notice their officiating styles, and no matter what their styles are, you hate them. They are the enemy, even more than the opposing team sometimes. This may be the same in larger schools, but I really think that in small communities they pull together and attack the refs like a clan, or a cult, or something along those lines. I would never want to ref in a small town, ever.
5. Everyone knows the coaching staff on a personal level (they think)
Parents have a right to want the best for their kid. However, everyone in the community seems to think that they could coach every sport better than the next guy or girl. Being a coach in a small town is definitely worse than being a ref in a small town. There are few places in town to go “after hours," so many times coaches and personnel can be targeted even when they aren’t on the court, field or so on. Everyone knows better, everyone is against you, and you better believe that everyone’s kid is the best player ever and deserves a starting spot (insert sarcasm here). There are some really jerky coaches that do players and families really wrong. Believe me, I know. But you also have to understand the position they are in.
6. It isn’t hard to make the sports section of the local newspaper
When there is such a small pool of athletes to photograph, the likelihood that you will end up in the sports section at least once a month is pretty high. There also aren’t as many sports to photograph at a larger school, so that increases your chances even further. Now, no one looks good when they are exercising so whether or not this is a good thing is up for debate. But it does put your name out in the community even more!
7. You can be a three-sport athlete pretty easily (because you don’t really have a choice)
Hopefully you wanted to be a three-sport athlete, because you have to be. Anyone in the school or community that knows you are semi athletic will tell you that you have to go out for this sport or that sport. And if you want to be involved and active all year, this is the way to do it. There aren’t year-round programs for most of the sport programs, besides the occasional open gym. It isn’t as hard to make varsity as in a larger school, so you should work hard year round, but you really don’t have to. Also, if every student athlete was only in one sport, there likely wouldn’t be enough people to fill all the teams. So the ability to be a multi-sport athlete is a positive for you, and it’s a positive for the school and community.
