How do I join after school activities with High School years?

I remember a while back easily being able to join an after school club such as Cheer or Football, but now when I have a teen sim and want them to join, it says must try out and be invited. This I find so strange because I can't see any information on where try outs are, who to ask, where to go, how to actually try out. I read to 'ask another sim to join' but all the sims in my teen sims class don't have that option, only 'ask to join cheer team' but I'm looking to join Football. If anyone can help me please do, I've searched high and low online, the only thing I can see is from 2022-2023 where you used to be able to just simply join these clubs/teams without try outs, it's as if it's a new update and there's no info online about how to do it. So confused! Thanks!