Great points have been made already. Check out these sites that will give you a sense of how the various schools stack up and who quite frankly are strong swim schools. DS chose to swim Div 3 because he wanted to be a student athlete. You have a lot of time between then and now but there are many Div. 3 programs stronger than, or as strong, many T-20 Div. 1 schools.
I’m guessing you already know about swimcloud but here it is in cases you don’t: https://www.swimcloud.com
Here’s the link for the New England Prep School Swimming and Diving. It breaks down the schools in the various athletic divisions and so forth: https://nepssa.org
As several have noted, there is a big difference between a 7th grade swimmer and a 10th grade swimmer. She needs to love and own the sport. As you know, you can’t make a kid swim the number of yards they do unless they love it. With this said, look at schools not only for their swimming but for the social/emotional/academic fit. Because who knows by the time 11th grade rolls around she may have hung up her goggles.
yes totally agreed and understand the same 7th grade swimmer who places in top 2 or 6% may not place in the same % as an 8th grader due to time commitment and physical development. I think the kids need to be swimming year-round, 7 days a week to keep growing. So tough and a big time commitment. It is easier to do as a 7th grader but perhaps super difficult to do in an academically challenging BS. It is not like football or baseball which is a seasonal sport…
Really good advice! Thank you. I am hoping D will continue to swim (as a parent, I find student athletes to be disciplined and stay out of trouble) and stay competitive. But that is just my wishes. D may decide to stop swimming or keep swimming but stop improving… In such case, she and I want to use her swimming as her niche to get into her preferred competitive BSs. We think her time will continue to improve at the very least up until she enters BS as she swims for her competitive local swim club year round…
Her two cousins went to Andover. D is looking at Andover, Exeter, Choate, Deerfield, Hotchkiss and Peddie. I think Mercersburg is an interesting option so I will bring it to her attention.
The bigger challenge will be they will be transitioning to a new TBD coach, but I am confident they will find an experienced one.
The other question is, what will she do the other two seasons? My kids had no interest in other sports, though I guess my son would have played water polo and rowed, which is where I think most swimmers end up at these schools.
No. Because of the touch pads. They are designed to be used with wedges. However, wedges are not allowed in the conference. They are super slippery, so backstrokers can’t get a good start.
True. And the diving well is badly designed. When designing the pool they didn’t consult the coaches. But there is nice seating in and outside the pool. Sorry to hijack OP’s post.
Thank you all again. To be “recruited” for swimming to academically competitive BSs (i.e., A, PE, D, C, H, Peddie, Mercersburg, etc) as an incoming freshman, what type of time in National Single Age Motivational Times does D have to have? AAA or AAAA? D has a few AAA right now but not AAAA time yet…
I’d say it varies by event. I only looked at frees. For 50free, you want AAAA, but for 500, you don’t have to. It may vary by school too. It depends on the need of the team. If it has 3 sprinters already, there’s no need to add a fourth.
I get the impression you are still thinking of BS recruiting and college recruiting as the same thing, and it’s really not.
Roughly speaking, a freshman with sectional cuts will contribute to any squad. Futures and above the coaches will really want you, but they won’t guarantee admission like in a college situation.
Your D sounds like a solid swimmer. Get good grades and test scores, visit the schools, talk to the coaches. She will still have to apply to the schools she feels she could happy at and see where the chips fall. Explore what day to day looks like for a swimmer, and if/how the team handles ISA Swimming. While she may not end up swimming in college, she will need to stay active in USA Swimming to have that option. Depending on the program you choose you may end up taking that option away without realizing.
Single season programs might still work for very talented swimmers but will do little to develop the rest. What you end up seeing is a few kids still committing to strong swim programs but the kids just below end up giving up on the idea because the compromises are too great.
Winning Easterns. Making A finals is not nearly fast enough. Ivies are looking for JNat times, and outside the top 1-3, it’s not even close to that fast.
Got it. with AAA National Single Age Motivational Times, perhaps she is NOT fast enough to consider college swimming. I guess unless D is swimming AAAA and jr nationals, then D should leverage swimming to get into an academically challenging BS that fits her well and then see what happens from there? We always knew swimming is so tough and competitive to use as a leverage to get into Ivies or academically competitive colleges…
You can use those times as reference, but at the end of the day it’s the time that matters. Again, it depends on the need of the team. Usually 50 and 100 free is the most competitive events. 500 is the least.
Good grades is important too. I remember the only question a coach (not swimming) asked DD after seeing the video was how’s your grades. The fact your daughter has good grades is a big plus.
Many girls stopped getting faster in BS because of life style changes, body changes, practice schedule changes, or other reasons. They were record holders coming in but fell off over time. The path to college recruiting is not easy. Picking the right school and program is important.