They can be required to live in the school district.
Nobody objects much to a kid going to school for academics and not sports.
Nobody forces him to participate in sports in order to participate in academics. But no one seems to mind forcing him to participate in academics to participate in sports.
Holding academic participation over a kids head in order to participate in sports is blackmail.
Other extra-curricular activities are often open to homeschoolers, things like clubs. In NY of all places, homeschoolers are permitted to borrow equipment from the schools to use in homeschooling. They're required to have their children tested for certain years.
But when it comes to sports, oh, the horror. We can't have any of this homeschoolers participating kind of thing.
Those parents pay taxes which support public schools, unlike the parents of illegals who don't. Homeschoolers are not a drain on the resources of public schools, unlike illegals.
While your attitude towards illegals is correct and admirable, reality is, they are here in this country using our resources for free and contributing nothing. And yet, because they attend the school, they can technically participate in varsity sports where the children of tax paying US citizens can't. And I'll be they are.
There is basically no valid argument against why a homeschooled child should not be permitted to participate in extra curricular activities, varsity sports included.
This is a pretty strong statement. I don't see why being enrolled in an institution in order to represent that institution athletically is blackmail.
High school athletics are a spinoff of the academics, not the other way around, nor are they are separate entities, which is why there are academic requirements to compete. What academic requirements does a home schooler need to meet to compete?
Does your thinking apply to college athletics too? Can I try out for the University of Texas football team (a University partially subsidized by my tax dollars) if I'm not enrolled in the school? How about if I just pay tuition but study elsewhere?