I'm the introverted nerdy type - my main interests are programming, playing the piano and physics. But as I was growing up my parents were trying to encourage me and my siblings to be somewhat active for the obvious health reasons. And I stayed on the swim team through freshman year of high school. And I get it. There's more to life than school and books. Being on a sports team can be fun and rewarding, it can push you out of your comfort zone, can help you meet and bond with people not quite like you. I consider it one of my top five life mistakes that I quit the team.

So I disagree that the teams are such a waste of everything. Sure, you could separate the teams from the schools, but especially in the suburbs, why? Logistics are an issue - if you're already at a school how do you get to practice? The school also already has a social structure based on which to organize teams - sure you could create a whole separate structure, and I don't think that's necessarily bad, but I don't see why it wrong to use one you already have.

Just because something can be overdone doesn't mean it's wrong to do it at all.