Club sports have opened up a whole new world for athletes

For sports fans cheering on their favorite prep team, the high school sports schedule may seem a little full.

Add in school work and other activities and it reaches another level for the athletes.

But when those seasons end, crank it up another notch for the uncountable number of kids that also step away from their school teams to play on the courts that don?t get as much time on sports pages or the six o?clock news. A break between seasons, a free month in the summer or even a weekend with nothing else planned, puts high school athletes that want to be the best they can be right back out on the field of play.

From basketball to softball, volleyball to wrestling and just about every other option imaginable, there are clear advantages, disadvantages, sacrifices and rewards that make for tough decisions for students and parents alike. But as FHS Principal Art Sathoff simply puts it, ?you can be as busy as you want to be.?

He would know. As a coach for several years, Sathoff has made trips to the farthest reaches of the United States including trips across oceans to Hawaii and Ireland just for a chance for his sons to play some basketball against top-notch competition. His youngest son, Trey, is now set for an ambitious summer tournament schedule that could include upwards of 16 tournaments.

?My wife was a college basketball player, I played in college and basketball is a big deal to us. It?s no problem to be in a gym for our vacations, and it?s continued to be fun,? Sathoff said.

But as the Sathoffs have focused most of their time and energy on basketball, Mick Flattery and company have become the poster family for an array of activities to fill in an already busy schedule. Flattery?s two daughters, Meredith and Mackenzie, have participated in as many as seven different club sports including volleyball, basketball and softball.

?There are some fine lines parents have to walk. Are the kids doing this for the right reason?? Flattery said. ?By the end of the season, we want them to be wanting to play more. Compared to them saying ?I?m done, I don?t want to do this anymore.? That?s the fine line ? you don?t want it to become a grind on the kids as well as the family.?

Along with Meredith in the senior class at FHS is Jake Dunbar, who has put in time at baseball camps all across the state of Iowa and beyond that has turned him into an all-state performer for Fairfield.

The Laux family, of Richland, is also well versed with the rigorous scheduled that these sports bring. With two sophomore children, Phillip and Mackenzie, wrestling and softball tournaments have taken over the spring and summer months. Phillip has traveled as far as Colorado, Oklahoma and Ohio for wrestling tournaments while Mackenzie is at softball tournaments for most of her weekends in the spring.

? Advantages ?

One thing all of these athletes have in common is that they have all been named to some kind of all-conference team when it comes time for school ball. The success has become abundantly clear. It is no secret to athletes all around that the time spent grinding out these club seasons is only going to help.

?Playing the game is not the same as practice,? said Rene Laux. ?Some kids practice well, but some need that game time to really become better.?

Mackenzie was a varsity pitcher last summer as a freshman, and Phillip completed his sophomore wrestling season with a third-place finish at the Class 1A state tournament last month.

For Ron and Diana Drish, who devote a big chunk of their spare time every spring to coach the newly named Fairfield Attack Volleyball Club, they are in it purely for the success of the FHS program. To put it simply ? it has worked.

The Drish?s, who are also assistans coaches with Fairfield, take on four teams from ages 13-17 for a total of as many as 28 tournaments from January to April. And after going through the club volleyball schedule, Fairfield volleyball players have become dominant in their conference over the years including a trip to the 2008 state tournament.

?The girls want to play in the state tournament, and we?re trying to get them there,? Diana said. ?They?re learning how to play in different rotations, how to relate a little better with other kids and the improvement we can see ? especially when we first get them between seventh and eighth grade ? is tremendous. The more time they have touching a ball, the better they?re going to be.?

The same can be said for basketball.

?When I look at the kids I?ve seen on the AAU circuit, a lot of them are now playing the state tournament,? Sathoff added. ?The high school programs are definitely benefiting.?

In addition to the pros of having time on the court and a ball in your hands, the competition level can skyrocket when one steps outside Southeast Iowa to play with the best in the state. Sometimes it can be an eye opener, and other times it only makes those that want to get better strive for just that.

?You?re used to playing with the kids you know, but at these camps the skill and competition level is raised,? said Tammy Dunbar. ?Anything you can do to get them out of their comfort zone is worth it, and it can also help them decided if this is really what they want to do.?

? Sacrifices ?

While the advantages speak for themselves, these athletes still only get 24 hours in a day and tough decisions become imminent.

For example, both Sathoff boys have cut their high school baseball careers to just one season simply because the basketball slate was too much for both.

?They play 40 baseball games or more, and you can?t expect a baseball team to say that it?s OK to be gone every weekend,? Art said. ?It?s an irreconcilable conflict.?

But aside from the obvious scheduling conflicts, busy lives can take a toll on teenagers as well as their families. When an ordinary week includes school five days a week to go along with practice and any games on the prep schedule, the weekend is a saving grace for most. When those free days are taken up with even more game action, the chance to unwind may become hard to find.

?When you?re playing 5-6 games in a weekend then they go to school Monday through Friday ? a lot of people need their downtime and time to recharge the batteries,? Flattery said. ?You have to use some common sense ? if you have three games coming up that week, you probably shouldn?t be out playing a bunch on the weekend. I?ve always thought school ball should take precedent, but the coaches don?t own them.?

It was well-publicized that Ames? Harrison Barnes ? recently named the national high school basketball player of the year and on his way to play college ball at North Carolina ? spent a total of 11 days at home between AAU events last summer.

One more similarity all of these athletes have in common was the demand from their parents that academics are going to come first no matter what ? even with time at the premium it has become. Flattery added that ?grades can never suffer,? and some aren?t afraid to pull the plug on athletics if it comes down to it.

?Schoolwork is always going to be the priority,? said Rene Laux. ?We wouldn?t be sending them to play all over the place if it was suffering.?

? Expenses ?

Another strain on families that can?t be ignored is the financial obligations of competing. On top of the up front cost to be a part of a team or attend a camp that can reach up into four figures is the travel costs and other additional expenses that come along with it.

?If we go over to Burlington for a tournament ? it?s $5 a head to get in, and we?re doing that two days. Then it?s $5-20 for lunch. Then you have to pay for dinner. Then you have to worry about staying overnight if you?re playing the next day,? said Flattery. ?It can get very, very costly, and eventually the parents have to choose what?s best for the kids.?

Unfortunately, cost has kept several athletes from competing, and whether to spend the money to send kids out to play isn?t the always the black and white decision it may seem to be. Countless have been marred in bad situations ? whether it be a coach with a set of priorities that aren?t aligned with everyone else?s or a simple lack of playing time to go around.

?Some kids definitely have a bad experience ? when there?s 15 kids on the bench with coaches just screaming at them, it seems they?re paying good money just to get abused,? Sathoff said. ?But at the same time, I?ve met plenty of people that are in it for the right reasons.?

Whether one likes it or not, finances always have and always will play a front and center role in the world of club sports. Once again, it makes for tough decisions.

? Future ?

The consistent trend among all of these ?extra? sports is that they are all becoming more and more engrained as something athletes are participating in to become successful. They are coming into the forefront more and more each year, and numbers are on the rise.

?It has really changed in just five years,? said Flattery. ?My younger daughter Mackenzie is playing 40-50 softball games now, and it is totally taking over. That?s the difference in just five years with one daughter compared to the next.?

The recent influx could be attributed to the budget problems that have plagued schools around the area, around Iowa and around the nation. The unfortunate future figures to include the slashing of school sports programs, and club teams will take on the responsibility of providing the avenues for kids to play ball. The cutting of sports programs has already been mentioned at school board meetings across the state, and eventually the cost to play may be put on the shoulders of parents.

But with more and more athletes turning to weekend tournaments and camps, the talent pool gets a little deeper and competition will tick up another notch ? something almost all sports fans can applaud. However, no matter how many hours are spent on the infield, in the lane or at the net, it still comes down to individual effort and how far they want to go.

?Don?t be content with being a good player on your team or being one of the best players in the conference. You want to continue to aspire to get better, become one of the better players in the state and even look beyond that,? Sathoff said. ?Work to be a recruitable athlete. When you play tough competition outside of the school year, you?re ready to play at a high level, and in terms of experience and confidence the mold is there.?