Thanks again @twoinanddone What about D3 schools where the academic profile is important? Do “holistic” admissions reviews ever take place for recruited athletes during pre-reads, or are they just looking at grades and test scores?
Makes me feel like I should advise my kid to only focus on grades, standardized test prep and improving athletically. 
I wouldn’t worry about other ECs. One has one’s hands full with just “grades, standardized test prep and improving athletically.”
Another sport may catch a coach’s eye, and may be very helpful depending on the combination. For example, if a kid plays soccer and runs track, that may be quite attractive. The thing about sports is there is such a natural expansion into other EC areas. The varsity teams may help out with special Olympics, have equipment drives for the needy, or maybe a recruit volunteers to referee at a younger level. All of these are terrific ECs and you really don’t need much more. As the counselors will preach time and again, it is the depth – not breadth – of ECs that is important. I would just encourage your recruit to focus on grades and testing. Colleges know the time commitment to varsity sports and they do not expect a lot of other ECs.
thank you @gointhruaphase
Our son’s pre-read was certainly not holistic, but the application was - so that’s where an EC or two came into play, I think.
On the D3 level - esp. at strong LAC’s, I would think EC’s can help a coach when looking at who they go after as a recruit. It’s not just all about the sport - they’re recruiting a student-athlete first, yes. However, as a HS coach myself, I think there’s more to the athlete than just the sport (especially on the D3 level). If you’re able to balance excellence/commitment in a sport and academics as well as have a solid commitment to one or two other activities that, to me, it’s a big plus. It tells a coach a lot about a kid and how they honor commitment to more than one thing…but not too many things…and do it well. There are plenty of kids who are fantastic athletes who also have a passion for other things - and they bring something different to the table, especially at that D3 school.
That said, there are also athletes who dedicate 100% time to their sport. Nothing wrong with that, either. Really I think it just depends on the kid and what their passions are.
The coaches our son met with were really engaged in hearing what he did outside of athletics. “Oh, so you like science and research? Well, we’ve got x, y, z here that you’ll love” or “If you like music, we have lots of kids take part in a,b,c…” We truly felt they were all recruiting a person, not just an athlete. Being an athlete is only one part of who he is, after all…there are many other pieces to his puzzle 
The fact that your son has a lot of interests that he follows through with ECs in addition to sport is absolutely terrific. I hope to heck he never changes. It is a blessing for life. My point had to do with the parents of recruited athletes who think their kid’s college application is deficient because of a lack of ECs other than sports.
I had a reason to visit our high school recently and remembered just how much time was devoted “in the day” to high school. The day started well before 7 am when the school bus would swing around and some days they didn’t walk through the door after a prolonged sporting event at a distance until 9 pm, easily. Those long days left little time to study for Honors/AP courses, let alone volunteer or work in the theatre.
I worried for mine that the EC department was weighted to sport and was on the weak side. But the new conventional wisdom is that admissions committees are not looking for well rounded applicants, they are looking to compose a well rounded class. Colleges want great teams, great orchestras, great theatre, great art. The kids that will do that generally have soaked their schedule in sports, music, drama and art; they are less likely to be well rounded.
So, I suggest that @AppleNotFar should not fret and try to dream up ECs to fill what seems to be a void. If your kid is heavily invested in sport, there probably is no void, especially if it is complemented by a summer job. But, it if truly remains a concern, I am told there are certain activities that require only minimal concentrated time that could add to ECs (e.g., volunteering at the school blood drive, do a Habitat for Humanity weekend).
@gointhruaphase I’m completely on board with your post, and see now that I didn’t do a very good job explaining my particular concern which I think is the opposite of the impression I may have made. The fact is that my child does have other deep ECs in addition to sports (one of which dates back almost as far as athletics), and what I’m trying to discern is could those additional involvements/passions ever help, and if so where? And on the flip side, are there coaches that would view my kid’s other involvements as a negative?
I’m heartened to hear that @kjs1992 came across some coaches that were “recruiting a person, not just an athlete.” How do we find them and/or schools that have the same perspective?
@AppleNotFar
On a similar page here as my C is a year-round club swimmer and year-round musician, I do hope schools/coaches value this kid’s ability to be able to make long-term commitment while at the same time an academically successful student to be a plus. If not, then I have to say that team/coach would not be a good fit for my child. But I think in the end, the most important factor is going to be the atheistic ability our kids could/could not bring to the school.
We have just been through the admissions and recruiting process with LAC’s, all had holistic reviews and D3 athletics. I worried about lack of volunteer work or other EC’s in addition to swimming, and tried to nudge him into involvement late Soph and into Jr year. It didn’t work. He became a year-round swimmer, and as others have noted, there was just little time to add more, and he wasn’t interested anyway.
He’s dedicated to his sport with a few awards, Team Captain, and on multiple teams, and has a GPA and test scores within the middle 50 for admissions. Accepted to 4 of 5 schools, all coaches told him he has a spot.
Looking back I think most important factors were:
Admissions - Interest in / fit at school, HS grades and rigor, test scores within acceptable range, and that he would fill a role on campus as an athlete (could replace athlete with musician, arts, etc). They are creating a well rounded class of students.
Coach - First and foremost - ability to get in to school (grades, test scores), swim times, personality/fit with team.