My kids all have degrees and my son was on scholarship for football...One daughter was a cheerleader and the other was on her college softball team. They are all three successful in their lives.
The reaso kids come out of schools today “as ignorant as a sack of hammers” is because the total lack of discipline in their homes and in their schools...The liberal “dumbing down” of classes and the fear of “hurting the feelings” has brought on the erosion of education in this country...”Cheering” and “throwing a ball” is NOT the cause of lack of education. my children graduated from college in the early 90’s as the denegration of education was starting to take effect.
But the bar has been raised since Gen X finished college (sounds like your kids finished close to when I did). Your grand children are screwed if you think sports and clubs in the outdated high school model is going to be their ticket to success. Foreign students aren't afraid of competing with american high college kids. In fact, they don't see most of those kids as competition at all.