Will quitting a sports team effect my college admission process?

Applying to College
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I have been in the team for 3 years and this year will be my last. My role in the team is pretty important since I’m one of the high ranked players and soon to be a captain.

However, for the past 3 years I have tolerated and endured through matches and practices which I have always dreaded. To put it simply, I hate playing tennis. Most of all, I despise playing matches and competing. I find myself with great anxiety the night before every single match. It gives me more stress and misery than any other aspect of my life. I am not sure how I have tolerated it this long but lately, I find myself at a limit. Not to mention, I haven’t played tennis all summer long and I absolutely suck at it now.

I discovered I wanted to pursue the medical field since I volunteered at one of the best hospitals in NYC. And I have never been so happy in my life with those three months at that hospital. I love working in a hospital setting, helping patients, assisting doctors, e.t.c…I plan on applying an internship and job there in the future as well. Along with that, I might pursue other medical related activities.

But now that senior year is approaching, I have been concerned whether or not quitting would greatly effect my college admission process. It is certainly a difficult decision for me since I will be giving up my position as a captain on the team. The only reason I joined the team in the first place was because I was talented at the sport and my father wanted me to. But I believe quitting the team will free up my schedule to pursue what I truly desire.

Please let me know what you think. And if I do decide to quit, how should I tell my coach? He can be extremely strict and scary which is also one of the reasons I hate being on the team.

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  1. IMO it won’t hurt your college application unless you expect to be a recruited athlete for tennis. If you are being recruited for a sport I would hesitate to quit as that can be a huge boost in the admissions process

  2. As long as you substitute another activity for tennis you should be fine for college applications. It may make sense to wait until you know you have an internship at a hospital or some other medically related activity arranged before you quit tennis.

  3. Just tell the coach that you are starting to focus more on your future and you will be doing an internship at a hospital and can’t dedicate the time necessary to meet the demands for continuing on the tennis team. It doesn’t really matter what he thinks once you are no longer on the team.

  4. You may want to look for some less intense outlet for your tennis that you may find more enjoyable since it sounds like you are a good player (ex. a club team, teaching tennis etc.).

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^This. And an often asked question – you can search for many other same topic threads.

My kid ended up a varsity athlete for 8 sports seasons. If, after her junior year she would have come to me to say she was dropping it due to other academic reasons or anything legit, I would have concurred. Her last year was tough but she gutted it out. Picked up new fire and now is doing it at the college level where her team is a national contender.

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I would also say to find some physical activity to substitute