Rory Conway plays in a game for his club soccer team FC Boston Bolts. Conway and other club athletes find numerous advantages to playing club sports.

Photo provided by Rory Conway

Student athletes become interested in playing sports at the high school for a variety of reasons. Some participate to stay in shape, others for social reasons. Some aspire to play in college, while others only plan to play in high school. For some athletes, however, their athletic career takes place outside of the high school, and they instead opt to play club sports.

Club players believe that there are multiple benefits to playing on club teams.

Junior Rory Conway plays for FC Boston Bolts, a club soccer team that practices four times a week.

“I chose to do club because it’s higher quality of play and also better exposure to college coaches,” Conway said.

Conway believes that the major difference between club and high school soccer is the emphasis on the individual’s improvement.

“Given the chance, I would definitely do both,” Conway said.

Sophomore Matteo Ascherio also plays club soccer. His team runs a ten month season and Ascherio said he is passionate about the sport. According to Ascherio, he and his club teammates compete with one another to make it to the top level.

“My club focuses more on the individual development of each and every player while the high school team focuses on progressing the team as a whole,” Ascherio said.

Freshman Clara Braun dances for the Brookline Ballet School, a dance club in which she prepares to perform in The Nutcracker this coming December.

“I choose to do club dance over high school dance because there are more opportunities to participate in shows,” Braun said.

While many may join a club sport for the higher level of competition, some join because of tradition. Sophomore Hughie Mckenzie, a competitive club team swimmer, said he opted not to swim for the high school because it would mean leaving his beloved club team.

“I don’t really know much about what high school sports do, or how they are, but I think that club sports are a lot more intense,” Mckenzie said. “I joined the team when I was in fourth grade to be at a different level and I have continued with that team, so leaving that team would feel like I was leaving a family.”