<p>S has two OVs scheduled with D1 schools, is likely to book at least one more, and is also doing a school arranged overnight at a D3 that caught his interest. He would prefer to attend a large school with national recognition, but isnt fast enough for our flagship state U. At our neighboring states with large public Us with mens swim teams (a sadly vanishing animal ), his junior year times put him in the middle of the pack in several strokes. His times are still dropping and two of the coaches have encouraged him to think about walking on.
S is under the impression somehow that nobody likes the walk-ons. This seems ludicrous to me; when I have looked over rosters and read the prior press releases at these schools it seems to me most teams probably took on ¼ - 1/3 of their athletes on that basis. Our HS coaches also seem to stress that meets are won by points and we also very need the swimmers that come in third.
Meanwhile the schools he is visiting are ones where he would immediately be a heavy contributor, and have their good and bad points. They are mostly smaller. When he considers them Ive asked him to consider if hed rather go there and swim, or go to State U and maybe play a club sport. He just says meh when I talk about walking on, even at the schools that are perfect in every other way.
Anyone else whos been there care to comment? Have you been able to really enjoy the team and the fact that you are still being the best athlete you can be?</p>
<p>A school only has 9.9 Swimming/Diving equivalency scholarships.</p>
<p>I suspect there are a lot of walk-on swimmers.</p>
<p>There is no shame in that.</p>
<p>If you can make the times, teams are happy to have you. It is one of the great things about swimming–subjectivity is at a minimum. If contribute you swim, if you can’t–you don’t. So look at the school’s times and which strokes need help. If the profile fits your son-- terrific-- if not–then no.</p>
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<p>I agree … those 10 scholarships are split cross all years and all events. D1 football and basketball are unique that their squads are filled with full scholarship guys. For other sports, especially large squad teams, walk-ons can be major players for teams in a lot of situations where there are not enough recruiting slots or scholarships to fill the competitive slots on the team.</p>
<p>My son says no one talks about their scholarships - it’s taboo. He has no idea who is a walk on and who was recruited. He really doesn’t care. He knows who the good players are, though.</p>
<p>I should have also added that I also assume in swimming that it’s mostly partial scholarships.</p>
<p>I doubt there are very many full free rides.</p>
<p>And … (at least in some equivalency sports at some schools) the coaches can “reward” walk-ons with partial scholarships for the next three years that the athelte is on the team.</p>
<p>It may not be a tremendous amount of money, but I know how I’d feel if I was a freshman walk-on and through hard work the coaches came up to me and said they’ll pay $1,000 (for books let’s say) next year. I’d be walking on cloud nine.</p>
<p>^^ The above happened at my sons school, golf team however, also an equivalency sport. Last season we had 2 guys who would be considered walk ons. We also had a very unusual season with injury and couple guys quit which gave those two guys a chance to step in and see what they could do. Neither were receiving any $, this season both of them were given some, not much, but something to reward them for their efforts. It is nice to see. Normally a walk on, on our team would never see the starting lineup however, this was a very unusual situation entirely.</p>
<p>^^ momof2010, that’s great to hear. Congrats to those guys on your son’s team. I don’t know if it’s that unusual, though. (Note - I know nothing about college golf.) Players in most/all sports do leave teams for various reasons. And a couple of (rowing) coaches I’ve spoken to say they do sometimes reward walk-ons who work hard and succeed.</p>
<p>H was a recruited swimmer many years ago. He said they could always use more walk ons because they couldn’t recruit enough swimmers (most spots went to football/hockey). But that was many years ago, things may have changed.</p>
<p>I am not a parent of athlete, so take it with a grain of salt. I have seen many top high schools athletes chose college based on sports, not very surprising, but more often than not they quit after a year or two. My husband did. A good friend’s son was a Div I swimmer. One Ivy couldn’t give him a spot, but another smaller school could. Based on his academic and future career interest, the Ivy would have been a better fit (not because of the prestige, but because of course offerings and companies that recruited on campus). The son chose the smaller school because as a 17 year old, he didn’t want to go to a school where he couldn’t be guaranteed a spot on the team. </p>
<p>He swam for a year and quit. I recently asked him why. He said college level training was very different than high school. Even though he was fast enough to make the team, he was never going to be as good as some of those guys. He said it just wasn’t fun any more. The training was also getting in the way of his course selections, and he realized swimming wasn’t going to support him when he graduated. He is currently trying to secure a junior summer internship, but is finding it more difficult because many of those firms do not recruit at his school.</p>
<p>OP - If he is my kid, I would ask him if he would attend the school without swimming, and the answer should be yes become he commits, whether he is a walk on or recruited.</p>
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<p>I think those are very true (and common) words.
Try telling that to a 17-year-old. ;)</p>
<p>Would you be willing to speak to my daughter?</p>
<p>That being said - we’re also hoping that it’s not going to be an either-or situation: one school is great but no sports and this other school sucks but has my D’s sport.
I don’t believe there is only one right school for a student.
People can thrive or adjust (or overcome) in a lot of different places.
My college was pretty terrible (and so was I) but I turned out ok.</p>