Inconsistency in my extracurricular... Help me think

I participate in a competitive sport, and had a really bad season this year. I received varsity letters both freshman and sophomore year, but due to various reasons (nagging injury, lack of sleep due to workload, etc), I stagnated, and other people quickly became better than me. As such, by a smidgen, I did not meet the varsity letter standards this year. Will colleges see this and question my devotion to the activity? How can I explain what happened? Thanks in advance. I’m feeling pretty bummed out about this.

Are you on track to get a letter next year? Will your coach be writing a letter of recommendation, in which case he could speak to your injury (and how you overcame it senior year)? If not, can you list it on your application as “2 years varsity sport” without indicating which years?

First off, colleges won’t really care. Unless you are a recruited athlete, which you don’t seem to be, sports counts as a nice EC – nothing more and nothing less. Doing the sport shows that you are active and involved – but unless you can play at the college level, how good or not not good you are isn’t a huge deal. But anyway, you can write something like:
Whatever Sport it is: 1 year JV, 2 years varsity (and add whatever it is next year)

It won’t matter unless you are looking to be recruited. Just list something like:

ABC High School Track and Field (or Swim or Basketball) Team (2014-2017) - Earned 2 Varsity Letters, Sprinter, All Region Participant, Most Improved Runner, etc.

Just list your accomplishments. You don’t have to say what years you lettered and why you didn’t letter all years.

And some unsolicited advice: Not making varsity this year is a teeny tiny bump in the road of life that will have no long term impact. While I imagine it was disappointing, don’t let yourself get too bummed out over it. You are right to put academics ahead of a sport, especially when you will not be a recruited athlete. Don’t feel bad about it. If it turns out that you can’t compete in the sport next year due to injuries/workload then find another less time consuming activity or part time job to take its place. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Follow the advice above and it will present what you have done in the best light.

Alright thanks ya’ll. I feel a lot better now :))

You will be fine. Unless you are a recruited athlete you will have 4 years participation in the same EC. That is good enough, especially if it is combined with a strong academic record.