Ames High #1 in Iowa

[Cycsk]

It is mostly the push for excelling in order to get college scholarships that leads students to focus on one sport, not the size of the school. But if you are the "star" in a sport, there may be some angst from your coach about you risking injury doing something else.

 

[VeloClone]

This is a dumb argument that gets made way too often. When I went to Ames High, tons of kids did multiple sports. Some played 4 sports - football, basketball, track and baseball. Or wrestling instead of basketball. Not all played Varsity in each sport, but they played.

It's not a dumb argument. There are advantages to both. I was young for my grade and a late developer to boot. If I hadn't been in a situation where you "went out" for football, basketball, etc. rather than "trying out" for them I wouldn't have made the team on any of them and wouldn't have gotten a shot to develop into a player.

In your Ames High example I'm sure there were kids that might have liked to try multiple sports but didn't have a ghost of a chance as well. I'm not saying that either one is always the right answer but I also know that each one may be the right answer for some kids. My daughter plays one sport at a high level but plays many sports at the middle school level in her small middle school. She was really disappointed when she missed the BB season due to injury because she knows that since she has only played for a couple of years and isn't very good she won't have a chance of making a team at her big high school next year.

 

[IaState2021]

My daughter, son in law and granddaughters live in North Ames, they attend the Gilbert School district, my daughter is a kindergarten teacher in the district. For her. the drive to Gilbert is faster than if she taught kindergarten in Ames. No traffic lights, and only 7 miles to the North.

For anyone that has not been to North Ames in the past 5 years, you owe it too yourself to drive out that way and see all the new homes they have built. Gilbert is a 3A school, not that small. In fact when Davis County won the 2A state title 7 years ago in baseball, it was Gilbert who they beat. The growth in the district is unbelievable and the town of Gilbert is still a crap hole but improving. They are getting a lot of people that want cheaper housing, smaller classrooms moving into the district.

Huh? All of the new houses being built by Ada Haden and the Country club aren't cheap. There is a house in that area going for over $700,000.

Anyways it be cool if Ames and Gilbert were in the same class, it would make for a great rivalry.

 

[Sigmapolis]

Well, that explains a lot!!

What gave it away? The bone in my nose or the eating raw deer meat right off the bone?

 

[theshadow]

Huh? All of the new houses being built by Ada Haden and the Country club aren't cheap. There is a house in that area going for over $700,000.

Those houses aren't in the city of Gilbert. Previous poster was talking about in town, not just in the district.

 

[Urbandale2013]

At a big school you’re fighting from the start for everything. You have to go take a spot in a sport or take a spot in the marching band. At a small school you are just handed those spots. It’s actually sad because at a big school of you can’t make the football team you can go try the lacrosse team or the swim team or the bowling team and you might actually find something that you didn’t know you were really good at.

As far as community, the only difference at a big school is there are a lot of communities within the whole. Those communities often overlap and are drawn together when needed.

I’m not against small schools I just think their advantages are far overstated and it’s a clutch back to the pst of Iowa. A lot of those schools suck in terms of ranking and the bottom line education you can get. But if you want to be guaranteed a starting spot on the football team because only 30 kids go out and 8 of them are because their parents made them then by all means feel good about that and good luck in the real world, unless you decide to stay.

I went to a “big” school (small 4A like you) and didn’t lose out on the sense of community and learning.

I’ll echo what Gunner said, that while it is tougher to do multiple sports at a big school, the flip side is that you can find “your thing” and roll with it. And I’ll echo my original point that the bigger schools tend to have more options for non-athletic extracurriculars. If you’re not involved in something even at a big school, that’s on you.

I don’t have anything against small schools, but the big schools have been made out as this boogeyman that isn’t even close to reality.

You guys misinterpreted what I said. I was being critical of the super large schools in other states. I think some like Valley and the city schools are pushing what I consider good. I also think that tiny schools that don’t have the resources have severe disadvantages. If I were to have kids I’d want them to stick with Urbandale or go to say DCG. A place where you have the opportunities while also not being cut out for talent reasons.

 

[Cycsk]

Huh? All of the new houses being built by Ada Haden and the Country club aren't cheap. There is a house in that area going for over $700,000.

Anyways it be cool if Ames and Gilbert were in the same class, it would make for a great rivalry.

If not for the Gilbert district line, I wonder if Ames would have built a super-duper sized school. Or had two high schools?

 

[IaState2021]

If not for the Gilbert district line, I wonder if Ames would have built a super-duper sized school. Or had two high schools?

Gilbert's hs enrollment is 450, I'd say 75% of those students live in Ames. Ames enrollment is 1,300, so probably 1,650 with the Gilbert kids. I think the current high school would be able to handle the extra students but classes would be packed.
(idk how accurate the enrollment #'s are, I heard that the Ames high freshman class has like 500 students)

 

[besserheimerphat]

It's not a dumb argument. There are advantages to both. I was young for my grade and a late developer to boot. If I hadn't been in a situation where you "went out" for football, basketball, etc. rather than "trying out" for them I wouldn't have made the team on any of them and wouldn't have gotten a shot to develop into a player.

In your Ames High example I'm sure there were kids that might have liked to try multiple sports but didn't have a ghost of a chance as well. I'm not saying that either one is always the right answer but I also know that each one may be the right answer for some kids. My daughter plays one sport at a high level but plays many sports at the middle school level in her small middle school. She was really disappointed when she missed the BB season due to injury because she knows that since she has only played for a couple of years and isn't very good she won't have a chance of making a team at her big high school next year.

I did a quick scan of the IAHSAA website, and nowhere could I find anything limiting team sizes. As I recall during my time at AHS, everyone who wanted to participate was allowed to. You may not make the Varsity team, but you would be able to play on JV or "B" and "C" teams who often played the same schools that the Varsity did. So the only limitation to participation was equipment/facilities and ratio of coaches to players.

If someone has their heart set on playing Varsity, then your best bet is to play in the smallest school where they struggle to have enough participants. Varsity is virtually guaranteed for all upperclassmen. If they just want to play regardless of which team they're on, then a bigger school is more likely to have the equipment, facilities and coaches available to handle a bunch of players.

 

[VeloClone]

I did a quick scan of the IAHSAA website, and nowhere could I find anything limiting team sizes. As I recall during my time at AHS, everyone who wanted to participate was allowed to. You may not make the Varsity team, but you would be able to play on JV or "B" and "C" teams who often played the same schools that the Varsity did. So the only limitation to participation was equipment/facilities and ratio of coaches to players.

If someone has their heart set on playing Varsity, then your best bet is to play in the smallest school where they struggle to have enough participants. Varsity is virtually guaranteed for all upperclassmen. If they just want to play regardless of which team they're on, then a bigger school is more likely to have the equipment, facilities and coaches available to handle a bunch of players.

That's good to know. Up here there are kids who try out and don't make the cut for any team.

 

[besserheimerphat]

That's good to know. Up here there are kids who try out and don't make the cut for any team.

I agree that's a crappy situation. I've seen both extremes, having attended Ames schools where everyone got to participate and also coaching at Gladbrook-Reinbeck where we had a total of 28 boys play football in the entire middle school. Some of the equipment was really old and uniforms didn't 100% match, but we had enough to outfit everyone. They recently moved from Class A down to 8 Man. But I've never been at a place that turned kids away.

 

[SEIOWA CLONE]

Huh? All of the new houses being built by Ada Haden and the Country club aren't cheap. There is a house in that area going for over $700,000.

Anyways it be cool if Ames and Gilbert were in the same class, it would make for a great rivalry.

I was talking about the town of Gilbert and to the North of town. The housing from Bloomington Road north in Ames is the new housing area. This is the area of town my daughter lives in. When they purchased out there 7 years ago, Strange St. ended at Harrison Rd, now it extends two or three streets north and west, with all the new housing between there and Gilbert.

 

[3TrueFans]

I was talking about the town of Gilbert and to the North of town. The housing from Bloomington Road north in Ames is the new housing area. This is the area of town my daughter lives in. When they purchased out there 7 years ago, Strange St. ended at Harrison Rd, now it extends two or three streets north and west, with all the new housing between there and Gilbert.

I kind of wish it was actually called Strange St. now...