If I plan to start a new sport at my new school in the fall but I’ve never played sports before, how tough will it be to get on a team? I’m not exactly the most sporty person out there but I’m really hoping to develop my athletic skills at boarding school!
Is there anything that I can do in the summer to prepare in advance?
Depends on the sport. If it is cross country, you’ll have no problem as most teams are no-cut, and you will have the opportunity to compete. If it is soccer or football, probably a different story. You could go to a summer ampt for your selected sport if you can find one geared to beginners.
How about something like volleyball or field hockey?
I’m not sure so correct me on this but I think that in some schools there will be teams for people who don’t know the sport and are willing to learn. You could always join one of these teams and work your way up? However, it does depend on the school so I can’t say for sure.
Summer swim teams abound in our area (each of our local neighborhood pools have one, 21 in total in our area) and they are comprised of kids of all abilities. You can even find low cost stroke clinics. All three of my children started their swim careers in summer league.
I think it also depends on the size of the school…there are many at DS’s school who never had done a sport…especially squash and crew. They are so small, they don’t have thirds teams. I think the only exception was ice hockey, which is a high learning curve sport and for the safety of the students, no beginner should compete at varsity or JV level. Otherwise, many first-timers are a part of their squads.
@revellodream Once you decide which school you will attend, go to their website and check if they have thirds/club teams for the sports you’re interested in. You can also ask during revisits. As others have said, it will depend on the sport and the school. For example, SPS has a thirds/club ice hockey team in which anyone can enroll, even without prior experience. However, it doesn’t have a thirds/club volleyball team, and both V and JV have tryouts and make cuts.
Our school had "developmental " teams in some sports for newbies, and in others, newbies were welcome on the freshman, thirds, or jv squad. These teams had coaches who were dedicated to teaching the sport as well as coaching. DS took up a new sport this way and even had one college approach him to play! So know that it doesn’t have to be hard to start and that you won’t always be a rookie. Swimming, xc, and track were all no cut but you will need to have some enthusiasm for that kind of work.
Agree with @GoatMama , ask at revisits how this works!
As everyone has said, many schools have thirds, development, or no cut teams.
In terms of what you can do in the summer, regardless of what sport you want to take up, overall condition and strength will be an asset. If you’ve never really been that active…maybe try one of those “Couch to 5K” apps or join a gym like Orange Theory Fitness or CKO that is going to help you with cardio. Anyone in excellent shape (can run a decent 5k) should be an asset to a high school team. And many kids (even those who are relatively serious about sports) do not train or train as hard over the summer and arrive to school out of shape…or at least relative to where they should be.
If you want to play a stick/ball or racket sport, you can probably find a camp locally where you can get an introduction to the basic skills.
Keep in mind that most kids have never rowed before going to prep school, so crew is one of those sports where most people are literally in the same boat as you. It’s also one of the most grueling and demands the most fitness…
Best of luck!
^ “crew is one of those sports where most people are literally in the same boat as you”. :))
That’s a great question to ask at revisits and/or to ask athletic directors via email if you are not attending revisits. I think one of the great things about prep schools is the athletic opportunities, both at the varsity end and the rec end. At DS’s school, for sports where there is one level (cross country, skiing) there’s one level, but anyone can participate (only a certain number of scores/times count at the meets). In other cases, there’s JV, Varsity and often thirds (and in the case of soccer, thirds as well as rec). Thirds or rec is for kids who have never played before, but will also include kids who are experienced but choose to not play competitively. Over the course of this year, my son has played varsity in his main sport, rec for the winter in a sport he has never played, and now JV in his 2nd sport in the spring. The great thing is that although the thirds and rec teams don’t get the best practice times, you have the benefit of the same wonderful facilities and generally good coaches.
Some schools have athletic requirements (Lawrenceville requires its students to play a sport each term) so those schools usually have beginner teams for a lot of their sports. Again, this only really applies to some schools and I would recommend asking during revisit days.
This was really important to our child and one of the main reasons she decided to apply to smaller schools only.