<p>Anyone have questions about the recruiting process for water polo? </p>
<p>The NCAA Tournament covers all divisions. There is no D2 or D3 championship playoffs; they all have to compete with the D1 programs. For D3, there's a "championship," as determined by a coaches' poll. D3 and D2 teams routinely beat D1 teams. </p>
<p>The Big 4 are UCLA, USC, Cal and Stanford. All are in the MPSF.</p>
<p>Men's: 4 team tournament, with spots going to champions of the following regional conferences: MPSF, WWPA and CWPA (Eastern). 1 at-large bid, almost always MPSF runner up.</p>
<p>Women's: NCAA Tournament is an 8 team format. Automatic bids to champions of MPSF, WWPA, CWPA, SCIAC and MAAC. 3 at-large bids. SCIAC runner up goes to D3 Nationals.</p>
<p>My S wants to play water polo in college, D1,2 or 3. He has a 3.6 and 1850 SAT … Wants a fun college town and others sports on campus. Any ideas?</p>
<p>How long has he been playing?-- is he in the US WaterPolo ODP? Does he play year round? Has he been going to camps and what feedback has he gotten?</p>
<p>The DI, II, III doesn’t really apply to WP as there aren’t that many schools so DIII schools can play DI schools – just that they get whipped as they don’t have scholarship players.</p>
<p>He is a high school junior, has been playing club polo for 6 years year round, 4 junior Olympics, ODP, varsity starter and captain of his school team as a junior… 5’9" so I assume DI is out of the question but polo is his life…really wants a fun college environment and still play polo!!!</p>
<p>old thread but I have a question. Doo all players at the club level have experience going into college? can someone who is a distance swimmer in college walk on?</p>
<p>I would first check the roster of the college team you are interested in. Often these will contain a description of an athletes achievements during high school including number of years as a varsity player.</p>
<p>DisneyDad…walking on with no experience is unlikely at most schools, except maybe a couple SCIAC schools like Caltech, and maybe Cal Baptist. Of course if you are big and fast, some of the less competitive schools that carry light rosters might just take a chance on you being able to learn the game to the point you’d become an asset and not a liability. But in general, I’d say 99% of college players have prior club experience.</p>
<p>Disneydad,
I agree with shellz.
If you are talking about varsity teams, you will need club experience in high school. Most of the varsity players played in a club team year round.
However, I know caltech welcomes walk-ons without prior experience even though they might not see much playing time.</p>
<p>Thanks. I took the advise to look at rosters. We are east coast so I was wondering if the weaker (ie non California) teams might have walkons, but it seems that even east coast varsity teams are loaded with Californians. The club teams on the other hand encourage swimmers with no polo experience to join. that might be the way to go if my son stays interested,</p>
<p>Reviving this thread. What schools might be a good fit for this student:</p>
<p>3.8 uw/4.5 w GPA
2100 SAT
740, 680 SAT II tests
Wants to do bio, chem, biochem, with an eye on either pre-med or PA.</p>
<p>Played water polo on top high school team in CA. for 4 years. Does travel water polo. Won a coaches award. Is not recruited yet, because he’s behind the curve. Is about 5’ 10" and 140. Also a varsity swimmer and wrestler. Won MVP on the novice water polo team freshman year. Won most improved swimmer last year. Won 5th in the city for wrestling as a sophomore. </p>