Is it fair that only the best get to play?

Both Julianna and Maeve wanted to play soccer on Salk Middle School’s teams. We found out that we would need to try out and that we would have to be really good. Hazim doesn’t really care about playing, but he cares about what is fair. But only the best are allowed to play on the school soccer team. Unfortunately, we are not the best.

We asked kids whether middle school sports teams should have tryouts and take only the best players or if everyone should be allowed on the team. Here are the results:

Have tryouts and take the only the best players: 95

Let everyone be on the team regardless of skill: 98

As you can see by the close vote, kids are really torn on this. Kids in middle school can have fast improvement in their skills if they are playing on the school team. However, those kids who already have better skills could be held back because the players who need to up their game are slowing everyone’s progress. It is a tough decision for school teams.

Sue Casey, Debbie Dombrowski, Heather Mason and Kerstin Murphy’s seventh- and eighth-grade students, Jonas E. Salk Middle School, Levittown