<p>I would like to know whether a sports team at Harvard only consists of the recruited athletes or do students who do not apply as an athlete also get to play in the team i.e. If one gets accepted at Harvard and wants to play a sport but wasn't recruited by the coach can he/she still play for the team during the freshman year? Can someone tell me how it works.
Thanks</p>
<p>This is called being a walk-on, and yes, it happens at Harvard. You can’t know how many walk-on spots any particular team will have each year, though,</p>
<p>Admitted students have the opportunity at the beginning of the year to try out and walk-on to any of Harvard’s sports team. One caveat: Harvard’s coaches have committed themselves to their recruited athletes and have verbally pledged to give them their support. That means that, in most circumstances, a coach will give more playing time to their recruited players than their walk-ons. I know of one kid who walked-on to Harvard’s baseball team and spent most of his freshman and sophomore years on the bench. The kid went to all the practices, got to play for an inning every once in a while, but ultimately left the team after several years due to a lack of playing time. He switched to Harvard’s club baseball team (basically the JV team) and became a first-string player and was much happier.</p>
<p>@posiedon: why is this on the Harvard forum? You know the answer is the same for most colleges, right?</p>
<p>@Hanna , @gibby …thanks for the info
@T26E4, I posted this on the Harvard forum as I will most probably be attending Harvard and I did not know that the process for selection of non-athlete students recruited to play for the team is the same at all schools…will try to post my questions on the relevant forums from next time!</p>
<p>Best of luck to you. Don’t let “ivy league sports” fool you. It’s very serious. At my Ivy alma mater, I knew the whole slew of athletes: intramurals, club sports, JV and Varsity. Some stuck with it, some let it go.</p>
<p>@T26E4 thanks and btw what is ypur alma mater</p>
<p>*your</p>
<p>Posiedon, it’s possible to walk-on as a varsity athlete at Harvard. You’ll need to be a solid Division 1 caliber athlete (meaning you’ve probably been recruited elsewhere before choosing Harvard). You’ll also have to be ready to commit approximately 4 hours each day to your sport.
If that’s not you, there are lots of recreational/club sport opportunities.</p>
<p>@varska…thanks for replying got the answer to my question!</p>