Football he loves because it’s most of his school friends. We put together a feeder tackle football team for our HS. I coach it with some other guys and it’s fun as hell.
one interesting thing about this discussion I hadn't thought about is how football is one of the last remaining sports that still feels driven at the community level because clubs/private coaches haven't been able to completely take over the high level competition. It might be the last sport in the US where high school competition really means anything when it comes to playing at the next level.
This is something that is 100% true.
It's also true that for a lot of kids that high school competition can be a lot more fun, and is much more visible to their peers.
My oldest kid just committed to play D2 soccer. Every single kid on the that roster either played in the MLSNext, ECNL (the two best national youth club soccer leagues in the country), or they're an international student.
Those high level club teams are put together from relatively large geographical areas, meaning that the players are likely not hanging out with each other outside of practice/games.
The opposite is true in high school. It makes those club teams feel like groups of mercenaries, while high school teams feel a lot more tightly knit.
Added to that, more or less no one that isn't directly related to the players goes to or cares about those club games. However, while it doesn't have anywhere close to the same interest as football, or even high school basketball, you will see classmates show up to cheer on the team in high school.
It stinks that there isn't more correlation between what feels the most rewarding and what you need to do if you want to keep playing after high school.
