Hi there! It looks like you are to argue for one or the other in your essay, either high school sports (played on a local basis) or travel team sports.

Here is a possible layout for your essay:

1) Begin with a introductory paragraph, in which you should include a thesis statement supporting your position.

2) Body paragraphs present facts to bolster your argument.

3) Be sure to include a refutation paragraph, in which you address counterarguments. Considering both sides of the argument makes your essay look more balanced.

4) You should finish your essay with a concluding paragraph, in which you reiterate your position (restate your thesis). End with a quote that supports your main point or link your thesis to a larger issue (such as how travel sports affect the family dynamic).

Now, let us move on to the advantages and disadvantages of high school sports and travel teams.

High School Sports

Lifelong relationships often develop on high school sports teams. The opportunity to team up with schoolmates against an away team is an important character-building exercise. It can be argued that the memories formed while playing on a high school sports team stays with one for life. Essentially, playing on a high school sports team is an important rite-of-passage, where students transition from individually-focused goals to team-focused goals that benefit everyone.

Most importantly, high school teams often accommodate different levels of player skill; students who fail at one position may be assigned to another. Travel teams are less forgiving: a player's longevity in a certain position is determined by his/her skill.

On the other hand, if you are a student who is interested in playing college sports, travel teams may provide you more exposure to college coaches and future scholarship opportunities. Here, you may be able to provide some information to support your argument. Please refer to the paragraph under the title "Travel Team Sports" below for some ideas. The disadvantage of a high school team is that your school may not even be on the radar of sports coaches from more exclusive colleges.

Travel Team Sports

As mentioned, travel team sports is important if you are seeking more exposure to college coaches. Here is a link that explains why a coach does not attend high school sports games, preferring instead to recruit from tournaments.

Travel team sports also provide students the opportunity to travel and to broaden their horizons, especially if games are held in a foreign country. Students will be exposed to different cultures and languages.

On the other hand, there are disadvantages to travel team sports. First, playing on one can be expensive. Please refer to one of the links below that describe how parents are paying millions of dollars collectively on "tour-nications" every year. Parents foot the bill for entry fees, registration fees, hotel costs, and food every year. The financial outlay for travel team sports continues to increase.

This means that lower-income families are at a disadvantage when it comes to affording travel team necessities/costs. Also, the increasing popularity of "tour-nications" mean that families are forgoing relaxing vacations for stress-filled trips. This can have a detrimental effect on family cohesion and the health of family members. At this point, you can discuss how stress affects the human body. Look for a link below as an example. You may decide to use other resources, and that is fine too.

The above constitutes the advantages and disadvantages of high school sports and travel team sports. Just remember to take a clear position on the topic: your thesis should clearly reflect this. Once you have your thesis on hand, use it to guide how you will structure the rest of your essay. Hope this helps!

I am going to answer your question based on the assumption that by "travel team," you are referring to a debate travel team. However, my response will attempt to guide you in an approach to structuring the essay which will apply even if another kind of travel team (some schools have chess travel teams, math travel teams, and so on) is under discussion.

With an "is x more important than y" question like this one, the answer is always going to be a matter of opinion, and the answer will differ from person to person. Let us consider a student preparing for college entry. If, for example, you are aiming to qualify for a football scholarship to a great university, then obviously you would be inclined to privilege high school sport over other pursuits. If, however, you aim to apply to a world-class overseas university like Oxford or Cambridge, where sports are not considered as part of the application process, then you would be better placed spending more time with your debate travel team. The point is that there are benefits to both pursuits; which pursuit is "more important" will depend on your personal goals. As such, it is a good idea to begin your essay with an introductory paragraph acknowledging this: high school sports are a valid occupation, as is travel team, so choosing which is "more important" means considering the individual's goals and purpose. Is x more important than y? If so, for what end? You should then explain your personal circumstances—how you feel about sports, whether it is important to you, and what your aims are—in order to help the reader appreciate your point of view.

For a balanced essay, you need to then lay out the pros and cons of each of these things according to your circumstances. To begin with high school sports, we might say the pros are the following:

1. It shows commitment to school community.

2. It looks good on college applications to be active on a sports team.

3. It is a good way to keep physically fit.

4. It can mean an opportunity to travel.

5. For some people, sports can be a route into a good college.

Cons might be as follows:

1. It requires time that could be spent on schoolwork, which can be detrimental to grades.

2. It may not contribute to your particular educational goals, especially if you are not good enough at your chosen sport to have a chance of winning a sports scholarship.

Next, consider travel team. Pros for this might be as follows:

1. It is a more academic pursuit that shows teamwork.

2. It helps improve interpersonal skills, the ability to think analytically, and public speaking.

3. Like sports, it can be an opportunity to travel, which can broaden the mind.

4. The subjects under debate can help with schoolwork topics.

Cons might be as follows:

1. As with sport, it can take away time from schoolwork.

2. It does not contribute to physical fitness goals.

Having established, then, that there are pros and cons to both occupations, you should now write a conclusion giving your considered opinion, based on the evidence provided. Do not bring up new points in the conclusion. Instead, reiterate your introductory point about your personal situation and goals. Next, choose one of the occupations as more important to you and explain why. Justify your answer. For example, you might say that you enjoy both travel team and sports and that you love to travel. Both give you travel opportunity, which is great. However, because you are interested in a career in medicine, you feel that sports are more valuable to you because it helps you understand interactions between sport and science while actually taking up less of your time than travel team. Plus, it is very hard to get into pre-med courses and sports makes your application shine. Alternatively, you could argue the following: you love to play football, but you want to be a lawyer; you have your heart set on an undergraduate law degree from Oxford. Therefore, you feel that the debate travel team would be more helpful in developing a useful skillset than football. You also know that your chosen school is not interested in sporting credentials, and you can still play football casually outside of school.

These are just suggestions. As stated, your answer will depend on you. However, this suggested structure should help you.