<p>My D played 2 team sports in HS - one because she really liked the other girls on the team, and the other because she loves the sport. No chance of state or national recognition in either. She participated in a few other EC’s between sports seasons, from November to March. She took a challenging schedule and had a 4.0 UW GPA. I was a little concerned when she applied to college about her number of EC’s and very little community service, but she was accepted to many very selective colleges (did not apply to any Ivies though).</p>
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The amount of good that the sport will do for your application varies among colleges - some will be happy to see the dedication since a young age, some will only care if you are good enough to be recruited - but I can safely say that NO college will look down on you for it.</p>
<p>I’d say passion is important and I’d encourage the student to continue with the sport as long as he/she enjoys the training and the competition and it doesn’t interfere with academics. A long-term commitment to an EC is something that most colleges will value–even if it’s a non-collegiate sport. Is it possible for the student to coach younger kids in this sport? Is that something that he/she would enjoy doing? That would be a way to build on the EC and show some leadership.</p>
<p>One of my kids was involved in individual (non-collegiate) sport for many years; in fact, it was her only EC. She was ranked nationally. I don’t think it worked against her when applying to colleges. She kept it on her resume after graduation and when she interviewed for jobs she found that there were quite a few employers who asked her questions about the sport and her involvement. She’s still involved in the sport as a judge.</p>
<p>Does the sport require her to take responsibility for time management? Is she responsible for getting to and from practice and making sure her sport doesn’t interfere with academics? This can show a lot of maturity and an ability to prioritize. I wouldn’t recommend it for someone who is trying to pad their r</p>
<p>“I guess the question is: if one loves the sport, spend a lot of time in training for many years, but does not have exceptional results to show (at least during HS), should the person keep on going, or colleges will look down at this person for wasting the time that could have been invested in something the person could succeed on.”</p>
<p>Why would colleges look down on someone pursuing their passion? Success isn’t just a numbers game, it’s how you live your life. Sticking with a sport shows perseverance and hard work - these are great qualities.</p>
<p>All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.</p>
<p>Follow your passion. I agree with the previous posters…don’t think about this in terms of college acceptances…but in terms of personal satisfaction.</p>
<p>D trained/competed 20+ hours per week during high school and worked hard to maintain high academics stats. It was difficult to say the least. At one point she questioned the wisdom - but loved the sport so kept pushing. She made numerous Official Visits during senior year and was recruited by several Div III and a couple Div I colleges.</p>
<p>In the end her top two colleges did not offer her sport - so she only had an option to play club. She turned down colleges that recruited her to attend a college that she loved.</p>
<p>Yet I still believe that the sport played a role in her admission to her top two colleges.</p>
<p>Move in and orientation was last week and she has started classes. She is ridiculously happy at her college. Turns out that she decided not to participate in the club sport after all! Go figure…</p>
<p>My son’s friend gave up gymnastics at age 14 due to injury, but the truth is she was never going to be competative. It has given her more time to pursue other EC’s as well as her studies. And she coaches one night a week, so she has a leadership role and makes some money. Would it be possible for your child to “retire,” scale back and/or take on a coaching role?</p>
<p>My older son had a bit of a passion for computer video type games. He actually ended up parlaying it into a mention in Gaming Magazine for being part of a team that created a very successful mod to a popular game - so you never know! My younger son was a serviceable violin player in two high school orchestras - I think it was helpful to show the commitment and I don’t think the time he put into them (considerable) would have resulted in better grades if he had quit. He’d have just played more video games, like his older brother, but without the programming talent.</p>
<p>If she loves the sport, I think she should probably stick with it. People often think that the hours spent on these activities would result in better grades if you quit them, but I think that’s actually an exaggerated expectation. I got better grades when I had a part-time job in college than when I didn’t.</p>
<p>You can make yourself crazy worrying about what looks good to colleges.</p>
<p>I winced each of the many times the word “passion” was used here. </p>
<p>No, colleges won’t look down on remaining with that sport. As said, it shows commitment- and suggests you put in the effort and met the requirements. It’s generally better than the kid who does a year of this and two of that. </p>
<p>But the bigger question is, what else is going on? I talk about three prongs- what you do to pursue you own interests and/or future goals, what you do for your group (in your hs and whatever else- your religious or cultural group or other memberships,) and what you do for the community around you, because you can see the needs and commit there, too.</p>
<p>Many kids drop a sport or intense activity in late hs. Sometimes because they have a better, more intriguing opportunity, sometimes because it’s time for broader balance or a chance to experience more. It is NOT a liability to continue with your sport, just because you are not tops. But, the more competitive the college, it’s good to have some breadth and depth.</p>
<p>It’s not about passion as much as about your view, how you do what you love AND the additional choices you make.</p>
<p>I just want to note that while colleges won’t “look down” on somebody who works hard at an activity at which they don’t excel, they will look with more favor on somebody who does excel, all other things being equal. As I said before, you have to decide what matters to you.</p>
<p>I think the majority of students don’t have the opportunity to excel at an activity on a state or national level. Other than high GPA/test scores, my D had no EC’s with a chance of that level of recognition, so she did what she enjoyed. She put a lot of time into her sport, including a summer club team. What mattered to her was admission at a highly selective college, and she was very successful. From her results, I believe too much is made of the idea that you have to have that level of success.</p>
<p>This discussion reminds me of the college guidance answer to the perennial question: “Is it better to get an A in an honors (or regular) class or get a B in an AP class?” The answer always seems to be: “It is better to get an A in the AP class.”</p>
<p>If he enjoys the sport, let him keep playing it. Not everything is about how it looks on college apps.</p>
<p>I bet there are some advantages to training you haven’t thought of, like friendships, being in a social group, being in shape, being able to blow off steam and clear the mind. </p>
<p>Plenty of kids play high school sports and aren’t recruited. They love the workouts,being on the team, just playing the game, the high school status that comes with playing, etc. Think of the members of the football team, most of whom won’t be playing college ball. If they weren’t playing football, would they be studying or be members of the chess team? Probably not.</p>
<p>I have a tennis player who spends hours and hours training. If he is lucky he will be able to play DIII. It is more likely he will just be a very strong rec player as an adult. I don’t think the time he spends training is wasted. He loves the game, has made great friends through tennis, is in great shape, and has fantastic time management skills.</p>
<p>I agree with the others on the thread who say don’t let any potential impact on college admissions drive the decision. You can’t know whether stopping or continuing would look “better” to the colleges anyway. Does the student want to continue with the sport or not? That should be the determining factor.</p>
<p>I think you might be happily surprised by colleges and how they view a commitment such as yours. My daughter has participated in a somewhat unusual sport since 4 th grade. She probably could continue in college but she doesn’t want to (very few colleges participate in this sport). She has interviewed at several colleges and at each one the admissions counselors really seem interested in her participation even though it is not something she will do at their school. I think they value commitment, passion and the ability to juggle academics and sports. If you love it stick with it!</p>
<p>It is a risk in terms of time management, but a passion helps in many ways. You enjoy yourself, so it is worth doing (and it can relieve stress). Colleges like extracurricular activities, so will notice. It can teach you to manage your time. Plus, you don’t know where it will lead, which is the wonderful mystery of life.</p>
<p>My daughter spent about that amount of time each week singing in a chorus and in voice lessons. She was happy, developed a genuine talent, and applied herself with rigor. It worried us, too, because she had to study for comprehensive final exams - it came down to that as a decisive factor in where she would go - and frequently felt exhausted in 13-hour days. But it turned out to be a key to her application to her dream university, where she will now sing in a famous chorus. </p>
<p>I say, stick with it and enjoy.</p>
<p>Does the student want to continue or are you saying the student is finding it more difficult at time goes on and wants to stop, but is afraid colleges will have a negative reaction to quitting?</p>
<p>If the student loves doing it then he or she should continue participating in the sport.</p>
<p>If the student is stressed or tired and does not want to do it then he or she should stop participating in the sport.</p>
<p>Take colleges out of the equation.</p>
<p>I will say that in my experience, kids who leave a time-consuming sport during high school often find new interests that they later find more rewarding than the sport ever was. If this student has been devoting time to this sport for years and years, he or she may be missing out on another area - theater, music, art, social service, whatever- that might be worth exploring.</p>
<p>D was a ranked swimmer in middle school but took a step down and joined the HS team which gave back hours of extra time. Now a freshman in college, she managed to find a rec team at her school. She’s maintained her passion without any sacrifice.</p>