<p>From Sybbie's statistics, it appears that blacks are admitted at a high rate yet have a far lower than average yield for ivy colleges. Are these institutions fighting over the same relative handful of kids?</p>
<p>If so, more power to those kids, but it means that we parents shouldn't panic over admit rates for URM's when they are in a separate category, statisically.</p>
<p>As for the original question on sports, it seems the most highly recruited kids are in (men's) sports related to size and quickness. Most of the recruited athletes I know have been outstanding in their sport from grade school on, plus have added the height and strength needed to compete at a college level. However, in the smaller sports, there are opportunities in high school for kids to make great advances: diving, men's volleyball, wrestling and certain track and field events come to mind. These types of teams are not widely available before 9th grade, so the opportunity is there for a player to find a late-blooming (!) talent.</p>