I do this one sport and I have a deep passion for it. I elaborated this in my essays and will further emphasize it in my interviews. However, I am a mediocre/good player, but not exceptional. If I was accepted, I would assume that I would be in JV, but not Varsity.
My question is: would this count as a “hook”, and would I be at a disadvantage against other more “exceptional” applicants? Would my “passion for the sport” still make me a viable contender in that extracurricular?
I also wanted to ask: would it be a good idea to “chat” (and by chat, I mean email) with the coaches of the sport I talked about in my OP? Let them know that I am really interested (though I would have to be accepted first)?
I have no idea if passionate but average ability in a sport is a “hook”, but I would contact the coaches of your sport and start a communication. My kid is a swimmer (presuming that’s your sport too since that’s your CC ID name) and we contacted the coaches at all of the schools our kid is applying to. I presumed she’d be an average participant too until I discovered the psych sheet and final times for the New England Champs last winter - she would have qualified to swim several events at champs, though I don’t think she would have been strong enough to be placing and earning points for her team.
Several coaches have made the time to meet us when we visited campus. All have asked for our kid’s times and one school just yesterday asked us to update her times if anything has changed since our last contact. Most contact other than the in-person meetings during her on-campus interviews have been brief.
We don’t presume that this is her “hook”, but we do hope that it will be a point in her favor.
@jmtabb: I was doing some digging and found this website: “http://www.nepssa.org/”. Right in the center, below “2015 season”, there is a drop-down menu where you can select the school. A list of meets will pop up, and after clicking the arrow to the left of each of them, it will allow you to look at the meet results (PDF form). 
@jmtabb: For “2014 season” there are also times for Junior Varsity teams as well.
An athletic hook is athletic ability ready to be a starting player on varsity.
But keep in mind that smaller schools may offer more opportunity to be a starter. No guarantee, but if the pool of athletes is smaller, you might be a bigger “fish”.
I’m with GMT…IMO having a true athletic “hook” means you can either start varsity or have a very clear path to varsity (once the Senior QB graduates, etc.) from the day you step on campus.
Did more “digging” and found that I would be on the faster end of JV, and extremely close to the lower end of V. I think with more training, I would be able to move on to V. I will definitely talk to the coaches… 
I agree with the above posters. To be considered as an athletic impact player, you need to be able to step on as a freshman and make varsity. In addition note that many BS have limited # of students, hence they typically like to see students who can play more than one sport. So demonstrate that you can succeed in a second or third sport.
thelittleswimmer: thanks for your post! checked out the recent times for her first choice school, did the conversion when needed, and saw that DD would be earning points for the Varsity team with her times! Does this mean she has a “hook”???
You’re welcome! I’m glad I finally found that website–I was looking for one similar to that for a very long time!
Perhaps you could further clarify on how many points your daughter would earn? Would she be a high point scorer (12-16), medium point scorer (6-10), or lower point scorer (1-5)?
What does the athletic hook entitle the applicant when applying to schools?
If you’re good enough? An acceptance and financial aid (if you qualify).
It doesn’t “entitle” u to anything; it only raises your chance of admission & money. “Entitled” implies automatic. Nothing is automatic.