10th grader loves 2 sports (rowing/volleyball)...could she still be recruited for college?

Athletic Recruits
1

My HS sophomore has been playing club volleyball since 7th grade and has been on her school rowing team since 8th grade. She is very athletic, 6’ 2", 150 lb, and seems to have found the right sports for her build. (She did Irish dance for 10 years, despite her height!) Both her volleyball coach and her rowing coach have told us that she is recruitable for her sports. However, she is unwilling to pick one sport and focus on it full time. (I actually think it’s better for her to cross-train, less chance of injury or burn-out.)

But, I wonder if this will make her less attractive to coaches for recruiting? Her list of colleges are academically similar- northeast, liberal arts, not in a busy city (BC, Holy Cross, Wellesley, Skidmore, Wesleyan U., Vassar) but they range from DI to DIII. We are hoping to get merit aid for these expensive schools, but some athletic dollars would be a huge help. We do live in Massachusetts, and she does like the idea of the Honors College @ Umass Amherst, which is much more affordable.

For rowing, her 2k erg time is sub 7:50 and dropping. Her coach said she is a “real boat mover”, and she is bi-sweptual, can sweep & scull, does well in the stroke seat & engine room. She has been in the 1v8, 1v4+, and 1v2x since freshman year. She has rowed in major regattas: HOTCR, Can Henley (stroked U17 4+ to 2nd place finish), won state champs (MPSRA) in 2x, won Philly Youth Regatta in 2X, first place finishes in 1v4+ and 1v8+ in Textile River Regatta, took home bronze from Head of the Fish in 1v4+. She rows with the team during spring, summer, and fall, but…does NOT do full winter training with the team. She doesn’t do any of the winter erg regattas, and will never be able to attend Crash-Bs since she is travelling for club volleyball then. To make up for this, during the winter volleyball season, she ergs and lifts 2x/week on her own and joins the rowing team for weight-lifting 1x/week. But…is this all enough to make her an attractive recruit for a DI school, or do they look for a full commitment during the winter? How important is it to be seen at the Crash-Bs or the other winter erg competitions?

For volleyball, her approach touch is 9’ 8", her “court height” (with shoes) is 6’ 3". Feedback from her coaches has been that she is light on her feet, has quick reflexes and stamina, is a good jumper, and is super coachable. She is a middle blocker/hitter. She is getting some cross training for right side and outside hitting positions, but since she is usually the tallest player, she’s always been played in middle. For the past 2 years, she has been on her club’s highest level team for her age group, doing a lot of national tournament play (Boston, Hartford, DC, Atlanta) as well as local tournaments (NERVA). Club season runs from November to May, and she will be attending the player showcase in Hartford this season to play in front of the college recruiters. But…she has never been able to play volleyball for her school team because it conflicts with fall rowing. She would have to give up her seats in the 1st varsity boats just to try out for volleyball, and she hasn’t been willing to make that move. As a result, she has no high school record, no high school stats. Will national tournament/club-only experience be enough to play DI? I know that playing at national tournaments is a terrific opportunity to be seen by college coaches, but will they pay attention to a player that has no HS record?

She and I are both wondering if her current sports schedule will keep her in the running for either sport and will keep either option available for her? She’s hoping that she will be able to play one of her sports at whichever college she ends up attending. But how does one go about letting a school know she’d be happy with a spot on either team? Does she speak with both coaches at a school and let them know her situation, or should she choose a sport for each school and only speak to that sport’s coach?

Or is she just trying to sit on two chairs and will end up on the floor… making it so she has little chance to play either sport in college?

Any guidance would be much appreciated!

2

She’ll have to pick one in college because they share the fall season (although it’s possible -not likely - a crew coach would consider having her only for the spring season.) I would encourage her to talk to coaches of both initially to see where the interest is, to understand the expectations, etc. As a sophomore, she can say she’s trying to figure out where to focus snd what her plan should be. Lots of college athletes did a second or even third sport in high school, especially the kids at prep schools, so she should not have a problem staying dual sport through high school.

3

I don’t know anything about volleyball, but do have a D who is a D1 rower and was a multi-sport athlete. My take is that rowing recruiting still has room for multi-sport athletes, and not all recruits are full-time rowers prior to college (D1 rowing is full time, of course). Erg times by spring of junior year are critical at top programs (everyone in the first or second 8s at the top D1 level has a big erg), but erg regattas are not. I get the sense that coaches value national regatta and especially international team member on water performance, particularly in small boats, but I also get the sense that results in larger boats and smaller regattas don’t mean as much. Your daughter’s size is good, but there are a bunch of great sub 6’ rowers out there as well, so she will still have to check the rest of the boxes. Coaches are also looking for kids who have a good attitude and will fit in with the program. Rowing recruiting puts the onus on the athlete to reach out to the programs that they are interested in by email and recruiting forms, although rowers seem to use Berecruited as a place to put their erg times out, as well. If her coach has a history of putting rowers on college teams, she should also use her/him as a resource. There is a bunch of good info on the rowing recruiting process here and other places on the web. I do think you will have issues with picking one sport or the other, though. A recruiting coach will want to see a real commitment to the their sport since they only have so many recruiting slots to offer.

4

I think she’s fine to continue in both sports for a while longer.

There is a woman on the BC lacrosse and hockey teams. A star in both. In fact she was the MVP in the lacrosse finals last year, the first time someone from a losing team was named MVP. She’s that good.

5

Also, I think Elena Delle Donne played both volleyball and basketball for UD after switching from UCONN.

But I think at a Div1 school, you have to be that level of athlete (the BC lax/hockey player mentioned, Elena Delle Donne, Bo Jackson, Charlie Ward, etc.) to continue to do both at a level acceptable to college coaches.

I don’t have direct experience with a dual-sport athlete, but know of success stories that go both ways — kid eventually focused on one sport in HS/kid did both sports all through HS, then specialized in college.

6

My D has teammates who are on multiple varsity sports teams in her NE DIII LAC. Volleyball and crew are different seasons (fall and spring), so there is no reason to have to choose one over the other, and in fact she could potentially play both. DIII’s cannot offer athletic money, and many NE LAC’s also do not offer merit scholarships. That is a separate inquiry for you to make if non-need based aid is important.

As your daughter is already a sophomore, it’s not too early to start making contact with the coaches now. Our experience (although not volleyball and crew specific) is that the recruiting cycle for women’s sports starts earlier.

7

@BKSquared , while the sprint season is through spring, the head races are in the fall. That’s the rub. And the top boats for both seasons typically have the same people in them. Crew is an unusual sport in this regard.

Over the years, Stanford has had a number of women who were Volleyball and Basketball players and men who were football and baseball players, but the seasons are different.

8

My daughter played three sports a year and was recruited by multiple D3s for rowing. She had fast ERG times but nothing like your daughter’s height, which will be a big plus in the recruiting process. D3 teams tend to have shorter rowers. For instance, Wellesley, a perennially strong program, has no women over 6 feet. Your daughter’s wingspan will make coaches perk up. If she can get her erg times down a bit she should get a lot of attention.

I know nothing about volleyball recruiting but I agree with you about cross-training. I know a lot of kids who specialize at this age and I find It sad, particularly because it can lead to career-ending injuries.

My advice on the rowing side would be for her to keep doing what she’s doing and to eventually work with her coach to get some good official erg times and eventually some film. She already has some great experience.

In general, I’d encourage her to play whatever makes her happy. If that’s both sports so be it. Remember that many of the kids on these teams come from prep schools which often require kids to play a different school sport each season. She can always pursue recruiting in both to see where she gets the most attention.

9

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No one addressed the money side for this parent. I’m no expert but…BC and Holy Cross are D1. The others are all D3, right? So no athletic money there. Vassar and Wesleyan are no-merit; financial aid only. Any insights on the others?

10

Volleyball for D1 is a headcount sport, so if the team is fully funded and she gets a scholarship, it will cover almost everything. And the crew can have 18k scholarships at D1, so again if the team is fully funded, she’d have a good change in getting a large scholarship.

Note that some schools do not allow stacking of merit and athletic money. The NCAA does, but some schools do not. It sometimes becomes a hard choice because if you don’t take it as merit as a freshman, it might not be available as a sophomore or junior. If you take the merit instead of athletic, it usually doesn’t go up where athletic might. If the athlete stops playing, it could all disappear. If the student doesn’t keep up grades, the merit might be lost. It’s a hard choice.

I really don’t think being in two sports makes the athlete less attractive to a coach, but a coach might ask her to choose which sport, and early in the junior/senior year recruiting cycle.

11

As a recruited athlete for a D1 rowing team, I know that coaches are not opposed to high school multi-sport athletes. If anything, it’s encouraged-- it shows her athleticism across fields and her drive to compete. Some rowing coaches will even recruit athletes who have never rowed before! In college, she’ll have to choose just one sport though. One of the most important thing to consider for getting recruited for rowing D1 is the erg score. A sophomore with a 7:50 is definitely a good start-- D1 lightweight teams and D3 usually look for sub 7:45, where as open weight D1 likes to see around a 7:20. It sounds like with your daughter’s build, a sub 7:20 should definitely be attainable by the end of junior year, with some hard work. Since D3 teams can’t “recruit” like D1, the athlete’s personality play a large part in getting a spot on a team as well. An athlete might be fast, but a D3 team, like Wellesley for example, might not even consider them if they get bad vibes from the athlete. Best of luck!

12

Many, many thanks for all your wonderful advice!

I showed my daughter your comments and she found it all extremely reassuring. I probably wasn’t very clear in my original post, but our concern was that she might be harming her chances to play ONE sport in college by not focusing on a sport now. (She hasn’t thought it would be possible to continue with both in college.)

After reading your advice, she is most reassured about her rowing options. We hadn’t considered that many private schools require students to play different sports for each season. She’s lucky to attend one of the rare public schools with a rowing team, so in the pool of recruited rowers, she would be in good company with other multi-sport athletes. She is also lucky to have a terrific coach that has many connections in the collegiate rowing world. Her coach has provided my daughter with a road map of goals to achieve and she has been guiding her along the way. This coach has been such an amazing mentor to so many girls!

With your reassurance about rowing, my daughter seems content to let the chips fall where they may regarding volleyball. She loves playing (and was glued to the TV during the NCAA women’s playoffs) but she’s just not willing to give up rowing if she doesn’t have too. She has a big date approaching this January, when college coaches can increase their level of contact. Fingers crossed!

Again, many thanks for your wisdom and reassurances!

13

To the money side of your question… Vassar, Wesleyan, Skidmore have no merit money. I don’t know about Wellesley. I did not find any NESCAC conference colleges with merit money last year. I found more D3’s with merit money in other parts of the country. For example, the following colleges have some merit money although it can be VERY competitive to get it.
Oberlin, Kenyon, Denison, Sewanee, Wash U, Washington and Lee, Trinity TX, Dickinson, Allegheny. I know there are others. I don’t know if these colleges have rowing.

Good Luck!

14

Forgive me for responding late - you’ve got some very good responses from others, which I can only echo: it’s clear she’s a very hardwiring, talented athlete. Also, her strong on-water results - especially in small boats - actually matter more than good erg scores. That, plus a coach who understands the process, should give her all the help she needs to present herself as a prospective rowing recruit.

Beyond what else has been written, I just wanted to make a suggestion, based on your reference to getting both athletic and academic merit scholarships. If your daughter is interested in strong liberal arts programs, outside of a busy city, has she considered leaving the Northeast, for Stanford? They have serious scholarship money for their women’s team, and they are investing serious funds to improve their liberal arts programs and facilities (most of which are already pretty good). And, well, it’s Stanford.

My apologies if she’s already considered this, and crossed it off her list because she doesn’t want to fly across the country to attend classes, or some other reason. But since she’s just in 10th grade, that might change - and an athletic scholarship might more than compensate for her travel costs. You won’t know if you don’t look into it.