I’ve always wondered this. Why does this make a student unique? In my opinion its not really a unique EC, and its simply just playing games after school.
Why are sports so special?
If you compete at a high level, they see you as a potential asset to their school’s team. In terms of just doing sports for fun as an EC, it contributes to your well-roundedness lol. But school’s like to see you doing things that you truly enjoy/engaged in, if sports is not your thing and something else is, not having a sport will never be a disadvantage.
Your one-dimensional summation of sports is appallingly dim and bespeaks of your lack of knowledge of people around you. This will serve you poorly – especially if you hope to heal sick people one day.
Why shouldn’t someone say of your possible ECs, that they are simply nerds playing with lab equipment or talking about made-up UN stuff, or playing debate word games?
But your condescending tone also shows that you don’t really want to know the answer to your question but rather just be irksome and argumentative . I fear you’re the snooty type that just smirks at the athletes around you at school. That just speaks poorly of you.
Be honest with yourself. You’ve not always wondered why it’s highly regarded. You’ve already made up your mind that it shouldn’t be highly regarded and that colleges are stupid to do so.
On the off chance that you do want to learn more: read this thread
@T26E4 You concluded all of that from just 4 sentences?
Talented athletes that are recruited have the potential to make lots of $$$ for the college. People who do sports less competitively can work as a team and and show dedication to success. Don’t belittle someone’s passion and pastime.
For most of those who choose to do sports (like myself), it’s about a lot more than just “playing games after school”. That’s why it’s so special. 
Thank you so much for your responses @fizzy110 @Qwerty568
Makes a lot more sense now. And I apologize in advance for offending anyone; I didn’t realize what they could really teach someone (teamwork, etc.)
Thanks again.
Athletes are often good at time management. Learning teamwork and leadership are extremely valuable skills one learns in sports. Sure you can learn those elsewhere too. Playing sports also teaches a type of mental toughness, discipline, learning to lose with good sportsmanship and pushing yourself to excell. So many benefits.
One thing you don’t see mentioned much is the physical factor. I often hear from other parents about how challenged their student is going to school and doing all that homework only to fall into bed exhausted every night.
Varsity athletes add another 20 hours a week of training and competition, not to mention swimming a few miles or running 5 or 10 miles every day.
I agree with JustOneDad - and I have 2 kids that were varsity athletes - and also top of their class in grades and course difficulty. You have to have a certain extra something to do this - and top schools and adcoms know it. Yes, you can bring in dollars for your Uni - but a top athlete in any sport that can also excel at school shows drive, dedication, time management skills, and team-work / cooperation skills, both with coaches and peers.
The first book I read about getting into top schools even mentioned a specific case at Harvard, where someone with perfect scores and grades - but no ECs was overlooked for admission when compared to someone with almost the same scores and grades - but good ECs. And if you were an Adcom at a top school - who do you want to fill your class openings with? A 4.0 kid with no ECs - or a 4.0 kid that played #1 violin,chaired the debate team, or played a varsity sport and was captain of the Math Team? They want the kid that is likely to contribute in a positive way to the school, and varsity sports is one way to show it. Not the only way - but a good way to demonstrate well-rounded skills.
Unless they are recruited athletes (which 99% of athletes aren’t, it isn’t an advantage). Then it generally becomes a standard (and even ho-hum) EC compared to something more unusual.
Unusual? Do you mean like Debate, Earth Club or Robotics?
It is an advantage, and I was not a recruited athlete just had a bunch of varsity letters. An engineer with sports is an added bonus, showing that the applicant is not a “typical” math and science nut.
Playing HS or club sports for 10 hours or more per week shows:
- dedication
- teamwork
- perseverance
- people skills
- physical health
- ability to adjust
Tell me, how many people do math or science club for 10 hours per week? How many people play their instrument in a group 10 hours per week?
Even when kids are in a musical or a play, the number of practices and rehearsals do ramp up before the performance, but that is only a portion of the year. Many kids who play sports at a high level are training and playing 10+ hours per week for 40+ weeks per year.
And if anyone wants to argue that training and playing sports is “fun only”, it is sad to think that their math or science club is not fun.
Not exactly sure where that could go, but I’m guessing that ‘typical’ math and science nuts are going to take issue somehow.
Well, truly unusual for top schools is often an EC outside of school where the student forges their own path. Read “How To Be a High School Superstar” by Cal Newport for a good discussion of this. But if I were guessing about in-school activities, I think academically focused ECs carry more weight. And @rhandco, plenty of theater, music, Quiz Bowl, debate, robotics, etc. students put in a lot of hours year around. They are also working on teams and in ensembles.
Theater/drama definitely hits 10 hours a week. And when one show is over, it’s time to start working on the next one. It’s taking over my sister’s life. 
Also, many musically inclined students may be in all three–band, chorus, and drama. That’s a heck of a lot of time.
So yeah. Sports and other labor-intensive ECs show well-roundedness and lots of other positive attributes as well. I wasn’t good at sports–played up until high school, and one random season sophomore year–but I wouldn’t bash them.
Some sports have limited places on the team or squad, so that’s understandable, but there are other sports such as X-C, T&F, Swimming, etc., in which we value all our athletes and everyone is welcome and part of the team.
I’m certainly not disagreeing with you on the value of HS team and/or club sports, but all of the above activities can easily consume more than 10 hours/week.
nugraddad^^^^completely agree. Besides everything mentioned above, students who play sports bring a type of camaraderie that you can’t compare to anything else. All three of my kids’ teams practiced a minimum of 3 hours a day, not including private coaching time on the weekends. They knew each other well for 4 years and traveled together for tournaments all over the county and state.
I’ve seen these team kids come to the “rescue” of others in true car and choking accidents. The athletes knew each other’s movements and reflexes so well, that they could predict how each would move and respond to helping people in car accidents and other emergencies. The student athletes knew of other’s allergies and were “tolerant” of kids who were “different”.
I didn’t know whether or not to share this because it is kind of personal but, my freshman son’s team saw a student who would wait after school by the courts for his mother. The student “A”, as obviously “special needs” but he would watch the boys play on the courts. Eventually, the team invited the student to stay at the practices. The mother was concerned that her son would be the butt of jokes, but the boys and the coaches assured her that she could stay and watch. The team and coaches were patient with “A”.
One student “M” had wrecked his knee and had had surgery so he was out for the season, but this student came to the courts every day, as the team members always included him on an off the courts. “M” would explain and show “A” the scoring rules to “A” and “fed balls” to help “A” coordinate his motor planning. As the years went by, new team members would also meet and help “A” with his behavior and with his game.
By his senior year, their “new” student “A” had made the varsity team. The mother had said that the team had helped, not only with her son’s Asperger-based behaviors but also had affected her life as well; her son had made friends on the team and the boys could help the student control his behavioral outbursts. At the school, “A’s” academics and social skills had improved; he was invited to his teammates and classmates parties and events.
Mom had made friends amongst the team mothers and she mentioned that it was the first time in her life as a Mom that she felt like a “normal team Mom”. This made a lot of us moms cry. “A” received the Most Improved awards at the team’s banquet.
Sports participation changes lives, it’s not just about “playing games after school”.
Forgot to add that A was nominated homecoming King.