<p>So,say you are a smart and athletic 9th or 10th grader-play three sports and have excellent grades.Or the canny parent of the above.What sport would you encourage your child to pursue, all things being equal?
What does the collective knowledge of this board think are the most likely to "pay off" in terms of a "tip", "slot", or likely letter?
I would have to say that from my experience: squash, distance swimming and men's diving are good bets.Water polo could be helpful. I'd also add women's hockey(ice).</p>
<p>Other opinions? Of course anyone who loves only 1 sport, or is incredibly talented, should stick to that. But for the more versatile(or less committed)?</p>
<p>Water polo --not unless you are from Cal or FL-- there aren’t too many wp programs and they basically recruit kids who have been playing since they were little. Swimming, better to be a sprinter-- the way collegiate swim meets go, a sprinter can make points both in individual events and in relays-- whereas if one was a 1650/1000/500 swimmer–only in that individual event–middle distance are more frequent–but real 50/100 are rare (breast strokers too bc they also win IMs).<br>
Probably the number one sport is crew if one wants IVY/NESCAC. The sport is quintessentially IVY/NESCAC-- each boat needs 8 people and a cox, most programs have at least two boats, so that is 18 slots at a minimum (obviously not all in one year). Hockey–both genders, lacrosse–both genders are also high. Good fencers are sought after and they’re not that many out there. Don’t know about squash (in terms of numbers).<br>
If Ivy, then one sport only (only Brown even talks about its swimmers doing another sport, but in reality none ever do it, for example). I have found that if one presents as a multisport player, then each sport’s coach worries about dedication and that when the work load increases that his or her sport will be dropped (my D heard that from a number of coaches and had to decided then and there which sport she would pursue and which she would drop or neither coach would remain interested–this happened at three Ivies)…but better to have one coach committed to you because she or he thinks you will be committed to that sport/team.</p>
<p>So in the recruiting game it isn’t in one’s interest to be, in my D’s experience, multidimensional-- be a great specialist.</p>
<p>My brother was heavily recruited for being a long distance swimmer. Granted, he was VERY good, sent to Olympic training camp in Colorado Springs. H e ended up at a great swimming school, but Jimmy Carter boycott stopped all hopes of anything bigger. Yes, we were a family from SoCal, I had Shirley Babashoff as a rival for years. (Yikes, what happened to me?)</p>
<p>OP, is your kid great at squash, swimming and diving, or all you wanting to encourage one or the other. If the latter, I would say it may matter due to most sports take YEARS to get to that level.</p>
<p>That all being said, my D transitioned from swimming to crew in college and loved it. Funny fact, many other sport players row for the endurance, football etc.</p>
<p>For girls, golf, hands down. I’m from MN, hockey would be last on the list here :). Also, keep in mind, not athletic scholarships in the Ivy League.</p>
<p>For crew–scholarshiped Crew teams are very limited as well. Outside of the east coast, most crew teams are club teams, for the most part anyway. I don’t know of a single high school around us, though, that has a crew team so yes, the available high school athletes are smaller as well.</p>
<p>I think there are about 75 d1 crew programs and maybe 30 d3. As for scholarship - Doc’s OP related to Ivy/Nescac schools, almost all of whom have crew teams - so no athletic $ per se, but top tier schools w/ generous FA.</p>
<p>For girls, there are numbers floating around suggesting that there are about 3 times as many college rowers as high school rowers.
The other thing is that one can quickly excel in rowing. Even top rowing programs recruit athletes with no or very little rowing experience, the idea being that “we’ll teach you how to row.” There are national team members who had rowed only for one or two years before making the team.</p>
<p>Reason for post:helping those in the pipeline-my S already a recruited swimmer…</p>
<p>In these under-represented sports, an athletic child can become “good enough” to be recruited in a relatively short period of time. I agree LAX is good for recruiting, but not “easy” to attain excellence-I expect it takes a decade to become an awesome lacrosse player. To swim the 500-natural ability, yes, but 3-4 years of hard work could get you there.</p>
<p>The point about crew is interesting-good to know and meets my experience-I know three people from my town walk-on crew for Cornell with no experience-just athletic, proper build, and work-ethic…</p>
<p>And the object of recruiting for NESCAC/Ivies isn’t for money but to give an admissions edge-hard to get in even with fab scores without something special.</p>
<p>Maybe this is just a theoretical question, but if it’s a real question - WAIT AND SEE WHERE THE PASSION DEVELOPS. PLEASE. D is now a Junior and has committed to her dream school (strong academics/very good athletics). Her teammates are either verbally committed, considering offers or actively pursuing offers. Each year we see talented kids drop out, because the passion wasn’t there. </p>
<p>We see first hand what it takes to actually make it to that first day of college athletics. Piles of homework, endless practices, tournaments, private lessons, conditioning. Missed school for tournaments, late LATE nights after practice keeping the grades up. Playing through illness and injury because it’s an important game. Going to school sick because you know you have to miss for a travel tournament. It is TOUGH, crazy tough. And it gets much tougher the moment they step on campus. If your child isn’t crazy passionate about their sport and being a student athlete, they will never make it.</p>
<p>Now maybe golf or crew or some of these other sports aren’t as demanding, I don’t know much about them. But being surrounded by girls trying to excel as student athletes and making their dream of collegiate athletics come true, I can tell you if it doesn’t come from some deep burning internal desire, it’s not going to happen.</p>
<p>I respectfully disagree. Slam me, criticize my S, but he couldn’t make it in the sport he loved for a variety of reasons that are not relevant to this topic, started a niche sport, and never was good enough to qualify for states.
None-the -less, because of the combo of his excellent grades and decent test scores, he was highly recruited in said sport-Amherst, Williams, and Midd to name a few-note all D3-
He is in his second season, has improved immensely, and enjoys competition, camaraderie, and a structured work-out schedule. He will be going to the conference meet again this year.
Does he think he will ever go to Nationals? No. Is he grateful that this somewhat calculated decision on his part lead to being a more desirable candidate for these schools? Yes.
So you can’t always get what you want. “But if you try sometime, you might find, you get what you need.”</p>
<p>Oldbatesiedoc–I know plenty of top notch athletes that aren’t even competing on the D3 level because coaches didn’t want them…</p>
<p>One debate DD is having with herself is that she could play at the D3 level and pretty much be guaranteed a trip to nationals every year either as a team (preferably because that is more fun) or as an individual but the other side says, the money to play is also a recognition of the time/effort she has applied up to now. In the end it will come down to which mix of money ends up being the best—either all “academic” from a D3 or scholarships/academic for D1 or D2…or NAIA, don’t forget those schools too.</p>
<p>That’s actually a great story - and it sounds like your son had a passion for being a student-athlete, no? I guess that’s my point, is the passion to move on. D had a teammate this year with all the talent in the world, offers already on the table. But it was just “too hard” so she quit. Sad, but ultimately the right decision because she didn’t want it.</p>
<p>And as I said, it may be very different in a niche sport, or schools that don’t offer any scholarships, I absolutely have no experience in that area…</p>
<p>squidge—I agree, to a point. To play in a top 25 program on the DI level you do need to have that drive, that determination to compete at the highest level. I know several girls that will do just that in DD’s sport. For our DD, she has the natural talent and the scores to compete at that level, she doesn’t have that killer drive that makes her want to succeed at that level or the next level, the pro’s. What she wants is a program that won’t take her away from school very much and will help her pay for college, and that her teammates are fun. She has found several DI schools that fit that for her.</p>
<p>squidge, absolutely agree with your post. I’d only like to add, as a parent of a rower (and I think every crew parent on this forum and elswhere will agree!) that rowing is a highly demanding and all-consuming sport. Every recruited rower I know of has had a high school experience just like your D’s. And just like her, they’ve felt it was worth it --because they love their sport and want to practice it at the highest levels. And that’s what it takes, for all student athletes, as you say!</p>
<p>There are multiple levels of commitment – D1 (factories-- for swimming places like Florida State or Texas) where you are a jock first and student second, have to be passionate about your sport above everything else, bc you essentially have a job, with school on the side. However, as the priorities are clear it is paradoxically easier than
D1 (non factories Ivies, NW, Stanford (even though they are great, their kids are students too) etc…) Here almost as much sport commitment as the factory colleges but much more difficult as the student athlete has to juggle two competing demands and always feels asa if one of them is being not completely done properly…)
D3 (top --esp NESCAC and others such as Kenyon, Emory, Washington) student athletes where academics comes first but the sports are very important-- a drive to work and win has to be internal bc in the end the coach realizes that it is the student’s decision (it is in the non-scholarship programs of D1, but the pressure to stay on a team is much higher…) Again, juggling, but when push comes to shove everyone, inc coaches, know which is more important
D3, NAIA --sports are for fun-- yes winning is great but in the end, it is fun.</p>
<p>Thus the level of passion can be titrated-- this does not mean that there are not passionate softball players in a NAIA school but it is that student’s choice–not imposed either from above or socially.</p>
<p>^^^Great post Etondad.
I’m going to jump in and agree with squidge and elileo. While recognizing that each Division requires a different approach, every coach/team has a different dynamic with different expectations, that every athlete is unique, and every sport is different, I agree with that need for intense passion and true commitment if you are going to succeed. As the parent of a D1 rower at a non-scholarship school, my D wouldn’t last a day in her boathouse without that level of determination and grit. This kind of collegiate experience certainly isn’t for everyone. Granted, my D does aspire to continue this sport competitively after college, as do several of her team mates, so their viewpoint may be different than the “norm”.</p>
<p>Agree with others, let the teen decide on sport choice/direction.</p>
<p>In 9th grade my D, a good athlete but unfocused, was juggling soccer, swim team, snowboarding, and spring track (this after walking away from 4 years of youth basketball and six years of tennis). One afternoon, she had to make a choice (the final game in a soccer tournament or day 2 of a heptathlon). To my horror she let down her soccer team and joined her track team for the non-league meet (despite my scolding and guilt tripping). For her, it was a clarifying moment and she chose track & field, and exclusively so, for the rest of her high school career. </p>
<p>T & F is the biggest force in her life and is driving her college choice. Other teammates feel the same. Last year one of the seniors chose the all-State meet over attending his HS graduation…. I pray my D won’t have to face such a conflict this year (as do other parents of seniors!). However, the passion for the sport is evident to college coaches/admissions folk and is not easily fabricated. </p>
<p>I would recommend that you let the youngster find his own way. Without the drive, one can only go so far (even in a niche sport). With drive, much is possible.</p>
<p>^^agree. We always told my D, the day she said she didn’t want to go to the pool was the day she stopped (well, maybe not the day–there have been more than few in which we said, “let’s get out of bed” when she would have slept in-- but, you get the idea)–if she ever didn’t want it-- then the ride was over. We know of more than a few talented kids who said “nah, no more” some bc they found another passion, some bc they burned out. </p>
<p>You can lead a kid to the pool, but you can’t make her swim.</p>
<p>Well, what this all seems to say is that only “true passion” athlete can be a student athlete, and that the child cannot be lead or guided by their parent.</p>
<p>What I was hoping to get others to post is what sports are “easier” to get recruited in. and perhaps give a few youngsters a “heads-up” on where to invest their time and money.</p>
<p>If I knew then, what I know now, I would have encouraged my 12 year old in a different direction. Again, I am not talking about the pre-olympian, who has to have the all-encompassing drive-just the excellent athlete who wants the experience of a college sport, and wants to play the odds a bit. And it really was a series of lucky circumstances that lead my s to be recruited. it all worked out for him.</p>
<p>I would never force my child to do any sport. But a parent can encourage and advise.</p>