<p>Does your D want to run in college? That is the big decisive question. If so, then by all means she should commit herself to the sport, even if it means excluding all else (However she certainly has time for other things in the summer). If the answer is "definitely not," then it really doesn't matter to colleges whether or not she runs in high school.</p>
<p>Oldest D is soph in college and D2 is hs jr just starting the process. Both were/are three sport athletes(soccer, bball, track) but were able to do community service through the year, a requirement to get in NHS and then to stay in. Time management is key. Look for opportunities to do volunteer activities over Holidays and summers. Oldest is playing one sport in college and D2 is currently being recruited. It really helps to have the high GPA, AP classes, activities and sports for scholarships. It is hard but doable.</p>
<p>Thanks to all for the helpful replies. </p>
<p>D thinks she will run in college, but she's not sure. That's another reason for my concern about not putting all the eggs there.</p>
<p>Last summer, she attended a grant-sponsored engineering camp which took up the entire day for 6 weeks, afterward she did her x-c training, and at night she worked on all her summer assignments. (At our school, AP and honors classes give summer homework. For AP Chem, for ex., the kids had to work through the first 5 chapters in the book and complete problem packets, plus do a large project.) Once the engineering camp was over, she had to attend team x-c camp and daily practice. </p>
<p>This summer she got an internship, which is great, but it's not community service. So I guess her schedule will be similar as far as time commitments.</p>
<p>The engineering camp and internship are as valuable on her applications as x-country and community service. She is fine.</p>
<p>It sounds to me like she <em>does</em> have activities other than running; the camp sounds wonderful and this summer she has an internship. If you really want her to fit in community service, realize that she can squeeze it in at school. At most schools I know, NHS members get community service for tutoring other students-- during lunch, before or after school. She doesn't need 4 years of community service.</p>
<p>"What I find hard to believe is how some of these kids fit everything in."</p>
<p>Yup. Some kids are natural dynamos. But some kids really don't fit it all in-- they just make others think they do. In reality they may be "doing" a lot of things, but they're not doing them well or are shirking responsibilities. I've ranted about this phenomenon on other threads and don't want to become a broken record, but frankly that's what goes through my mind when I worry over my D's situation. I mean, a kid could skip sports practice once or twice a week to do a club or volunteer work, and still be counted as doing both the sport and the club and the college wouldn't be the wiser. They may not even care. Who knows what they'll value? They may view that two-EC kid as more well-rounded and a better time-manager. My D is doing her sports with 100% commitment and that means she's pretty much had to give up everything else--in most cases because of direct scheduling conflicts. It's a gamble whether that will be better or not for admissions. She may be faster due to more concentrated training, but that might not count enough.</p>
<p>Also, how will a college know that my child's high school is one of these all or nothing types? She'll be competing with kids from schools where you can do lots of stuff.</p>
<p>When she fills out the common app she'll put down the number of hours she spends on her sports per week. That should answer the question.</p>
<p>My S has been a 3-season athlete every year (a runner, like your d). He also plays an instrument, which means that one night a week he has a lesson after track practice, and he plays in the youth symphony, which is another night after track practice. (And of course he has to practice the instrument!) He also does community service once a month--another evening.</p>
<p>As far as I can see so far, colleges really don't care about the fact that he's a decent 3-season athlete or the hours he puts into it because he isn't good enough to be recruited. Kids I know have gotten into Ivies and elite LACs based on sports recruitment, with no other activities at all. So the answer is, if she's good enough to be recruited, she doesn't need anything else. If she isn't, her sports involvement is at best a footnote. A brilliant sprinter I know--still holds records in our conference--was injured senior year. No recruitment for him. That is a valid concern.</p>
<p>Hi GFG,
Good to see your post, but so sorry about frustrating band/track issue.</p>
<p>Firstly, this sounds like your daughter and her friend are being used as weapons in a power struggle between the track coach and the band director. Is there cause to go to their boss and discuss how this was handled? </p>
<p>Are there other avenues for your daughter to pursue music, like a selective district band/jazz band that practices once a week? Maybe she could continue to study on her own and participate in solo and ensemble contests? Takes some self-discipline, but the private teacher might be able to set goals with her.</p>
<p>I agree with those who mentioned summer blocks for volunteering. As you know, my daughter is in the same three sports, and we also worried about making sure the Community Service box was checked, but further, we truly wanted her to serve in our city in a meaningful way, for strictly altruistic reasons. She loves working with children and volunteered 3 straight weeks of two summers, as a summer school aid at a Title 1 school. She was able to continue her training at her convenience. This satisfied her NHS requirement, but more importantly, allowed her some work experience and a daily commitment to something totally unrelated to academics or running.</p>
<p>Did the volunteer work matter in her application as a recruited athlete? We'll probably never know. The school she'll be attending is known for sending students into the community as volunteers, so I suspect it didn't hurt, but I think her times and being able to demonstrate that she could compete well through all three seasons and maintain top grades with a competitive academic schedule were the keys to admission at selective schools.</p>
<p>Best wishes for indoor and spring seasons!</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the best wishes, and the time you all have taken to encourage me. Your help and advice is much appreciated! She will definitely look for some opportunities this summer. I really like the idea of volunteering at a track camp. I had discounted that idea at first because usually only seniors and college students are allowed to help at our town's rec. camps. But then I decided to think more positively and just encourage my D to pursue it anyway. After all, she is pretty well known as a good runner. </p>
<p>Our NHS changed their rules and really upped the number of hours required. I don't mind that, because previously membership didn't mean much. But they have also stipulated how many hours must be done for the school and how many can be for outside organizations. That is part of the trouble with fulfilling the requirement. It would be much easier for D if she could most of the hours for outside organizations because those can be done around her schedule and over the summer. No doubt the better schools don't get too excited about NHS since so many kids have it, so that's not my worry. My concern is more that they may question its absence on my D's resume and wonder if there were disciplinary violations or something.</p>
<p>I'm also feeling better about the band issue now that several hours have passed. She had jazz band practice (a 3 hour commitment) tonight, so she's up late still finishing HW. That's just not good for her. Also, there are several jazz festivals coming up which will mean she will miss some track workouts at a time when she should be training hard for all the state championship level meets. Not good either. So, maybe it's for the best.</p>
<p>I intend to pray very hard that she runs well the next few weekends!</p>
<p>Don't know if this is possible at your high school but it worked in ours (with some creative planning!)</p>
<p>There are X amount of classes required for graduation and X amount suggested for selective school requirements. Between both of those there was little room for "fun" electives. My kiddos were resigned to that but they did figure some interesting ways to get fit more hours in the day.</p>
<p>They managed early on (9th grade) to realize this was going to be a problem so set things up early. They fit extra foreign languages and sciences in earlier rather than later. </p>
<p>All were 3-season varsity athletes (2 now are NCAA D 1 athletes) and between early morning practice (5am), afternoon practice and club practices their time was tight for other extras. So what they did was during one year they had one of their "electives" be a TA for a class for a particular teacher or subject floating between teachers in a specific department. For my daughter it was foreign languages (Latin) and my son math (calculus). Note they did not pick subjects such as "keyboarding" or even "PE" although it was tempting!!</p>
<p>They later helped organize study groups for weekends or evenings and have other fellow students looking for "community hours" that had "mastered" the subjects continue what they done during the day or preceeding study group meeting. As it unfolded throughout the years, the math grew to include algebra, geo, trig and whatever else they might need.</p>
<p>So my kiddos didn't need to miss practice or meets because they had their other fellow students "fill-in". Sometimes it was chaos, but they always had back-ups for their back-ups and it worked well.</p>
<p>My kiddos' participation in athletics since they were little helped them to manage their time efficiently, in high school and now particularly in college.
Daughter's 2 sports were during the same season, now that was NUTS!</p>
<p>I think Susan's (mod on this board) daughters also faced similar circumstances. Her daughter's also managed their time to combine athletics and ECs.</p>
<p>My daughter also reserved a 4-hour block on alternating Sat/Sun (depending on meet schedule) to volunteer at the library. She shelved, checked-in books and read to the children. She said it gave her the peace and quiet she didn't get any where else. She did this for all 4 years of high school. Her summers were filled with double practices and in between practices, she coached the younger kids to help defray our family's costs of club meets and dues, coaching fees and equipment.</p>
<p>Son did internships during the summer, (cancer research at our local med schools) but intsead of the residential ones he choose the commuter one's so he could get himself back in our neighborhood to try and make practice when he could. Coaches knew he might be late, but they also knew why ahead of time, they even made some calls on his behalf to figure out times and schedules to the internship director(s). They all managed to share!</p>
<p>A suggestion I might put forward (which worked for my kiddos) was talking and keeping their coaches, teachers, mentors, GCs all in the loop. They didn't surprise them with time conflicts, they discussed it ahead of time, even before season started. </p>
<p>The AP homework during the summer was a problem but my kiddos asked for it before the spring semester was over, actually well before it was over and was able to get started on it which provided the extra benefit of the teacher being around to ask questions of before they broke for summer break.</p>
<p>GFG I hope it all works out for your daughter. </p>
<p>Again the time management skills they acquired as 3-sport athletes have served my children well now that they are in college. Daughter is now a junior, a D1 athlete, a classics major who is pre-med and has made Dean's List every semester. So it does work out!!!</p>
<p>Good luck,
Kat</p>
<p>ps this was at a public high school</p>
<p>My d is a college junior and 3 season runner at a LAC. Her high school community service included track-related coaching (not a lot) at a community running program and participation in track team-led fundraisers, including a walkathon. </p>
<p>On the common application she chose to write about running in the short answer (and mentioned how the time commitment precluded her from some other activities) and then wrote about her love of photography in the long essay. That made her look less one-dimensional.</p>
<p>I think the ability to juggle depends entirely on the cooperative spirit of coaches & EC coordinators. At D's school, the lacrosse coach & Orchestra director are supportive & reasonable. The track/XC coaches & choir director are pig-headed ego-maniacs. Deciding which to participate in is a no brainer.</p>
<p>My son is also in the same situation, he plays football and track, but not good enough to be recruited. His sports are time-consuming (all year). He also is in student council and few other small activities. Academically he is good, 3 AP and 2 honors as a Junior, don't know his SAT yet. </p>
<p>My question is: Has anyone seen an athlete, who won't be recruited get in a top school with not much EC's besides their sport?
Question to Doubleplay, did those players get recruited to those colleges. Thanks.</p>
<p>I just wanted to add something about "not good enough to be recruited". Two things. One, it's not an either-or condition - a kid can be not good enough for some schools but definitely good enough for others. Two, maybe this depends on the sport, but I think good attitude and love of the sport can be factored into a coach's interest in an athlete. If the kid doesn't want to do the sport in college, that's one thing, but if they do want to continue then their sport could help them with admission if they find the right match.</p>
<p>He loves playing football with a passion, though he never played anything before 7th grade. When his football friends told him to try out for the team, he made the team, worked very hard to get in shape. He was a starter last season. The reason I think he won't be recruited is because he is 5' 4" and is not going to get taller and right now plays defensive tackle. He spends at least 3 hours during football and track season and an hour and a half other times getting in shape, only because he loves football.</p>
<p>Mom99 -- If your kid is 5"4" and starts as a defensive tackle, I think that is a testament to his heart & grit & determination! Sounds like a cool essay to me.</p>
<p>Thanks StickerShock, he did this on his own, though we are proud of him, we were very much against him playing football, never had the courage to sit through his game. Also because it affects his studies. We always said if he only he was as determined to succeed academically. I am afraid that his friends are going to get recruited and all his effort will not have any value.</p>
<p>mom99,
All those guys went to college to play football.
My son played football as well, with no intention of ever playing at the college level. He knew he would never play for the schools he was interested in attending. He enjoyed it for four years, though, and I don't think he'll ever regret the time he spent playing.</p>
<p>It was time consuming, and there is no doubt that had he not been coming home from practice every weeknight at 6:30-7:00 all year (he also played baseball), he could have taken a more rigorous courseload, studied for standardized tests more, made higher grades, etc. But you're only young once.</p>
<p>I once had a discussion with an orchestra director who was incensed about a student who also played basketball. He said, "What does he think, that he's going to be playing basketball when he's 40?" To which I responded, "Exactly. He WON'T be able to play basketball when he's 40. However, he WILL be able to play the violin. So what better time than now to play basketball?"</p>
<p>I don't think he really got it.</p>
<p>Thank you Doubleplay, you are right, he will never regret playing and is happiest in the field. And high school happens only once. He has the rest of his life to work hard on other things.</p>
<p>I have been having these discussions with my D about fitting in some community service among the three sports for NHS. Our HS recently announced changes to what they required for NHS, for her class 2010 it is 50 hours (thereafter 75) but no more than 25 from any one organization. They also stated that the service has to benefit the community and not just the non-profit organization (?) and used as an example performance for a local theater group that would not count. I was very puzzled by this because even candy striper at the hospital, which was listed as good service, really just benefits the hospital and its customers, not the public at large. I have decided to give it a rest for a bit and see what evolves over the summer. She is definitely too busy now with track and academics to fit in much of anything else.</p>