American schools are focusing on not only studying, but also sports. I found a big difference in American sports rather than Japanese ones.
Here, each sport has its own season. When it’s summer, there is football and volleyball, and in the winter, they have basketball and soccer. Before the start of each season, each sport has tryouts, where the players will either make the Freshman, JV, or Varsity. Unlike in Japan, games are often held on school days.
Once the season is over, there are no more games and some students go to other sports.Since I have basketball in my schedule, I practice year-round. There is pre-season, during season, and post-season. One negative thing about the way sports are offered in America is that some people can’t play during the season if they don’t make the team during tryouts.
While in Japan, the games in every sport continue year-round, and are not limited to a certain season like they are in America. However, I don’t have a game on weekdays after school. Since there is no season for sports, if I decide to play basketball, I play the whole year and have games throughout the year. I can’t play other sports unless I quit basketball. Also, there is no tryout and they don’t split into three teams like American high schools do. So, everyone can play whatever sports they want to play throughout the year. One negative thing about it is there are some people that can’t even be a member of the game because there is a limit to the number of players that can be registered for a game.
Both America and Japan have positive and negative aspects when it comes to sports. In Japan, I can concentrate on one sport without a tryout. In America, I can play different sports throughout the year. I like both countries’ systems but I think it’s great that America allows the opportunity for students to play different sports throughout the school year, instead of being limited to one.
