I am a freshman in high school this year and have played volleyball since the 4th grade. I would like to think of my self as a very good player but I’m just not tall enough to play division 1 college volleyball. I’m done growing (I am 5’ 8’’) but I play club year round, play varsity as the number one in my position, and go to differing camps and tournaments to get noticed by college coaches. My delima is trying to play volleyball at an Ivy League (which is D1). I have never made less than an A in my life (I have a 4.25 weighted GPA currently) and plan to take many AP classes down the road. However, volleyball practice is 4 hours a day, 3 days a week with weekend tournaments that, many times, involve missing school. My number one school right now is Columbia but I’m afraid that I just won’t have the time to keep my grades up high enough to get in. Should I consider quitting the sport I love so much in order to have more time to fit in homework and other extra curriculars? I stay up fairly late with homework and I’m not taking any AP classes this year. I am taking one AP next year to see how I deal with that homework load. Should I just gauge what to do based on sophomore year or take the chance with playing volleyball and keeping my grades up??
Are there other less time-intensive clubs where you live? There are girls on the rosters at good colleges that didn’t play for the top clubs in their region. It helps to go to the national tournaments where coaches can see you, but even some local clubs go to them without requiring 4 hour a day practices. I wouldn’t quit your sport if you love it.