<p>IMO you shouldn’t do it. To be blunt, if the reason you are quitting is because you feel you are not good enough, work harder. I highly doubt your coach sets a lineup at the beginning of the season and sticks to it. Any good coach would constantly be re-evaluating his/her players and assessing their current levels.</p>
<p>Before you make a decision, weigh the pros and cons. How much do you like tennis? Do you only like competing in matches? If the answer is yes, then you probably don’t love the sport. Which means that a contributing factor to quitting is that you simply don’t like what you are doing. But if you love the sport, meaning you enjoy going to practice, you enjoy playing for fun etc., then you should continue it.</p>
<p>I understand how it feels to work hard every day and not have the chance to compete. Last year in wrestling, our team was so competitive that I didn’t make our lineup in the first two months of the season and wrestled a total of one match up until 3 weeks left in the season. However, during that time that I was not competing in matches, I worked harder, including doing two and sometimes three-a-days. With 3 weeks left, I was peaking, managed to make our lineup and win leagues. However, I knew exactly what I wanted and I worked hard to get it. At the high school level, there is always room for improvement simply by putting in more effort because the athletes themselves are not competing at an extremely high level (most likely-who knows? you could be competing against a future major champ. but i doubt it.) So if you want to play, do what you need to do to improve. Also, let your coach know that you want to get better and ask for suggestions that you can do on your own time. Initiative sits well with coaches.</p>
<p>With regards to your SAT/AP test prep: how much time are you planning on putting in daily? Weekly? If the answer is less than 1 hour and 10 hours, respectively, I don’t think that playing tennis will significantly alter your ability to prep for the tests. If its greater than that, why are you spending so much time prepping for these tests? It is one part of your application. You said that your grades won’t be an issue, and transcript is almost always more important than standardized tests. The only reason I could see if you prepped that much would be if you were self-studying for AP tests. If you are spending that much time to prep for tests that you are currently enrolled in a class for, something is unusual with the way the class is being taught.</p>
<p>With regards to your other EC’s: what are your priorities? Once again, this deals with what do you really love? If you love your other EC’s, then go for it. Just make sure you commit your time wisely.</p>
<p>So take some time to think about it. Talk to some friends, talk to your coach, talk to some teachers/GC etc… Let them know what you are thinking. Get their take on it. Don’t do what some anonymous CC-er says because he/she says that colleges would “prefer”. Do what you love, do what you think is right, and ask the people you know.</p>
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