I did recreational tennis and swimming (2 years, 5 years) and they were stopped due to COVID. I decided not to mention this in my Candidate Profile because I thought that due to it simply being recreational and that I didn’t do it anymore due to COVID, it wouldn’t matter much in my application. But lately, I’ve known that people should include these sports in their application. Did I make the wrong decision? If I did, would it be a good idea to add it in the [achievements since submission of candidate profile] section, or would it seem like I was lying for “sports credit” on my resume? If I do add it, is there a footnote I should add (like *Didn’t mention on candidate profile because I didn’t think it was important enough), or would the AOs understand? Should I send an email to the AOs explaining the situation instead?
I do not know a lot about you and where you are applying… even for which grade, but I think it is generally positive that your recreational activities were beaten out by stronger ones. Are you concerned because you have sports requirements or the school has a sports orientation? If you have a strong application, you should be ok without alerting them. It might even seem odd to alert them since somewhat insignificant.
I don’t think it matters unless you hope/want to pursue those activities at BS. If by recreational swimming, you went to your health club and swam laps for exercise, no. If you swam on a team at your golf club in the summer, I would note “Green Hills Golf Club swim team --5 summers”. But it’s up to you. It’s unlikely to change your application much but if it is something important to you or your time, note it.
Thank you, that’s very helpful. So BS’ sports team not necessarily looking for people who seriously wants to compete like college’s sports team? So if I’m in non-competition team but did it for a long time and am pretty good, and do want to continue the activity (although not aiming for seriously competing to win awards), then I should still mention that? I didn’t mention in my Part I too, so thinking probably I should mention somewhere in Part II. Some schools have the box saying anything additional you’d like to add to your activities but some schools do not have that box and only have essays though.
Thanks for the input! I won’t notice the schools then. I was just worried because I signed up for a sports interest (because I want to pursue the sports in BS) but I didn’t write any sports in my application.
I’m just as conflicted as @Jane90 (we are in similar situations) on this one, haha 
I think that is fine.
If you do feel like you want to mention — Is there any way to layer in a mention organically in one of your essays?
And not to beat a dead horse here but for the benefit of future readers — this is a great example of why I believe in sketching out an entire application profile before submitting anything not changeable. An essay alone can’t be evaluated without knowing how it fits into a full profile. Same with activity lists (“candidate profile.”). This doesn’t mean all the essays have to be written before submitting a profile. But a general “what is my narrative and what key points will I be covering” definitely should be figured out before submitting. All of an application fits together to create a written description of a human being.
Thank you! I will definitely learn from my mistakes next application season (in the case of all rejections). Your advice is so helpful =) No, there is no way I can organically fit in any sports to my essays, sadly.
I will offer that leaving things out of an application is often a very good thing. A clean narrative that doesn’t feel stuffed with every tiny detail of your life is much easier to communicate clearly. So don’t fret. Sometimes we humans are so afraid of trusting our value and allowing a few good things do the heavy lifting of sharing who we are. Be selective.
(And if there is something that truly you do want to work in, it’s very easy to turn almost anything into an organic example or supporting detail in another essay without hijacking the essay or ruining its flow. It takes skill but it can be done.)
Good advice!