merit aid, Varsity swimmer freshman year thru junior year

<p>My daughter now has a question. by now everyone has seen all my question being listed in preperation for my visit to Kings College tomorrow. I hope I am not annoying everyone too much. As I have said in each post this is all new and I am so nervous over all of this.</p>

<p>My daugher has been a varsity swimmer since her freshman year. The school got a new coach last year who is terrible, she is mean and just not supportive. My daughter does not want to go back this year. She is a peer educator and has taken up THeather this year in place of the up coming swim season. There are other clubs she is in as well. What she wants to know is, will not swimming her senior year, affect her when colleges look at her? She is very good!
Thanks again to everyone one who takes the time to answer us.</p>

<p>May I suggest that you post all questions related to your daughter in one thread? I think you probably could get better response and help on CC if all information related to your daughter is all in one place.</p>

<p>Welcome to CC, good luck with your daughter.</p>

<p>Does she swim on a club team outside of school? Does she plan to swim in college? If so, varsity or is just club OK?</p>

<p>Pace, swimming is a sport that has a high burnout rate. To be a competitive swimmer at the level that colleges are interested, most kids need to swim year round. My son was a swimmer and as a result was covered by the college's athletic insurance policy. Swimming was the sport that was covered the longest. From August through March. Even the high revenue sports like football, basketball were more seasonal in coverage. This reflects the amount of time commitment a swimmer needs to have. In addition, the practices are often "two a days". Two hours in very early morning before classes, and then in the early evening again. NCAA rules even have these intensive hours and season incorporated. In addition to what is allowable, swim programs often have private time allotted that teams have to join so the maximum time levels are minimums in reality. </p>

<p>I am telling you this because one of the things that coaches examine when it comes to swim recruitment is the commitment. Not meshing with the high school coach is one thing. Quitting swimming altogether for something else, is a whole different story. Many outstanding swimmers do not swim high school because they want to practice with their more competitive clubs. There are very few swimmers who are recruited and get scholarships who are not USS club swimmers. To quit this regiment and to get back into it at college level when the practices become even more difficult is unusual. Even more unusual is a coach/college who will pay for a kid who has not been in the order and without improving times for a full year. </p>

<p>It can happen, if the kid's times were truly extraordinary junior year. To get an idea of what the definition of that is for your target college, look at the times of the kids on the team. In order to be recruited, you need to minimally be in the range of the slowest swimmers on that team, showing promise of continual improvement. To get money, you have to be in the toop level. </p>

<p>That does not mean that the coach will not encourage kids to try out for the team regardless. But if your D is not keeping up with practice, it is usually not easy to be competitive in the tryouts at that level. Every year even at high school, I would see kids who were good swimmers on summer or casual teams try out at the official beginning of the swim season, and not make it. THe true swimmers were working out heavily well before the season, and usually all through the year, with maybe a month's break. It is one of the most intensive sports, time wise. </p>

<p>So to answer your question, if your daughter is interested in swimming, there may be opportunities for her to swim club or recreationally at her college, but she would have to have the times to make the team, and be truly superlative to be an athletic recruit and get money for her the sport.</p>