<p>If an athlete must skip a sports season or two for medical reasons, should this be indicated on the college application and how? Does the answer depend on whether the child is looking to be recruited for that sport? I mean, would this give the recruiter information that could prejudice him against the athlete because he could view that medical problem as a potential liability? </p>
<p>Specifically, my D must take a break from sports until a medical issue is resolved. Sports are her primary extra-curricular activity in high school and have required a huge time commitment up until now. The break will probably only last one season, but it could last longer. D is reluctant to suddenly join a club or begin a new activity to fill her time while she’s unable to participate in athletics. As her parent I worry about how she can demonstrate a sustained passion and dedication to sports on her application without mentioning the reason for her non-participation for a season or two. But if she gives the reason for taking a break, I’m afraid that could hurt her prospects for recruitment. Also, if she is out longer than expected, I am concerned that her EC’s will look very weak for this year if she doesn’t replace the sport with another involvement. On the other hand, if we do keep mum on the medical issue, won’t she look scattered if she appears to suddenly drop sports for something else this year, and then drops the something else once she’s healthy again? </p>
<p>The gap in participation is likely to come out anyways, so it should be addressed. It happens commonly with athletes, and if it a highly fixable problem, the coaches will recognize it as such. The athletes, I know who are in that situation, stay on the team as statistician, water boy/girls, student manager, ast sutdent trainer, event planner for the team etc. It doesn’t hurt to find some other interests as well; something all athletes should do anyways. You can be hurt at anytime, and if the sport is your life, it can be a problem.</p>
<p>It appears that you almost are trying to hide something, that’s not a good way to go. If you are hoping for an atheletic scholarship, they are yearly renewable these days. So hiding something might get you one year and then nothing. Also keep in mind for sports they do talk to coaches, so it will come out. Most college sporting programs have a good grasp of injuries and recoveries. </p>
<p>It’s better to be straight forward. There’s an old saying that goes something like this… the truth is easier to remember.</p>
<p>It happens all the time, and as long as the medical problem is not one that would directly interfere with her future ability to play the sport, I see no reason not to admit to it openly. My daughter had to drop out of soccer at one point because of an arm injury (she was not allowed to play because she had to wear a cast, and the cast could injure other players in a collision). Injuring one’s arm does not affect one’s ability to play soccer. Even if she played well enough so that she would be recruited (which she did not), there would have been no harm in admitting to the problem.</p>
<p>The other posters’ ideas about involvement in the team in a non-playing role are good ones, provided that your daughter is well enough to do this without compromising her schoolwork. If she is really unwell, though, it might make sense for her to focus only on school, which could be enough of a challenge at this time.</p>
<p>I tend to agree with your daughter that clubs are not a good idea. People who are seriously involved in clubs usually find it necessary to make commitments months in advance to involvement in club activities (service projects, helping to run special events, etc.). The other club members would not be pleased if your daughter made such commitments and then reneged on them because she was cleared to go back to her sport. </p>
<p>Instead of joining clubs, if a non-playing role in her sport is not available but your daughter feels well enough and wants something to do, maybe she should try to get a part-time job. The advantage of jobs is that in most cases a kid can leave at any time – for any reason at all or for no reason – simply by giving two weeks notice.</p>
<p>There are many roles in clubs that can be taken without long term commitments. I volunteer for many things but cannot take ongoing or long term things because of my erratic schedule. There are many community service projects that operate on an event by event schedule.</p>
<p>From what I know, yes, it can really impact the ability to be recruited. </p>
<p>My sister was highly sought after for lacrosse. She had a couple of D1 schools looking at her and were interested in her except for one bug-a-boo, her asthma. If the medical problem can impact them on the playing field, they will have reservations. My sister got by quite well in high school running by the sideline every now and again to take a puff of her inhaler and run back into place in time to defend, but that isn’t very easy to do (or legal) in collegiate athletics. </p>
<p>Basically, what they told my sister is they would make her redshirt freshman year (which she didn’t want to do) to get a feel for her problem. She ended up going to a D3 school, but was sidelined because of another problem (her coach didn’t accept the release form from the Dr.) and quit actively playing after her freshman year. She then became the head coach of the districts middle school teams.</p>
<p>Take what you feel appropriate from this case, but it surely isn’t the end of the world. My sister was very happy coaching! :)</p>
<p>My son missed his entire senior year of high school in his sport due to an injury, and was still actively recruited. He wasn’t looking at scholarship schools, though. I gather your D’s medical issue is not an injury, so your situation is a little different. You are going to have to come clean about this to the coaches.</p>
<p>I’m sad about the health problem and hope that it will be resolved quickly.</p>
<p>I was thinking about the possibility of doing things for clubs and committees in tempporary, minor roles, and thought I’d tell you about a problem we ran into. My D, who is an athlete, had a training schedule that varied from season to season and that meant that she often filled in with more minor or short-term involvement in things (always in the same general areas of activity but with short commitments). She felt she had been very scattered when she tried to fill out her applications. It’s all going to work out fine but it was just one more thing on top of knowingly having had to forgo a lot of things that interested her in order to train. Very frustrating. Of course, she didn’t plan things with her applications in mind – she was just out living her life. For your daughter, with a known gap coming up, there may be an upside to her situation in that she can plan a bit and she can choose to take on some new challenges that her normal sports schedule would have foreclosed.</p>
<p>If your daughter is well enough that she can substitute something for her sports for a few months and doesn’t need to pore all her energy into her academics and getting well, there might be a terminal, one-time project that she could take on, such as raising funds for something. That might be healthier emotionally than putting all of her energy into supporting the team by being a statistician or the like (although she could do some of that, too) – hard to be focussing on being on the sidelines. It would be a way to use the leadership and team and time management skills sports builds. And it would be a completed project that could stand alone on her applications and that she could be really proud of. Plus, if I were a college admissions person and there were an issue as to whether a prospective recruited athlete would be able to play, I think I’d find it attractive to see such a great demonstration of something else she could add to the college.</p>
<p>Best of luck to your daughter. This is a tough break and I hope that she’ll be able to make something great come out of it.</p>
<p>In filling out those little tiny boxes, your D could stay involved with the team on a non-playing basis- if that is possible and right for her medical issue- and check all the boxes:
ex: 9 10 11 12
girls basketball X X X X point guard and mgr during injured season</p>
<p>Something like this fills in the pertinent blanks in generalities which gives the real overall picture. You can handle detials in essays &/or communication with coaches, etc, depending on how things work out.</p>
<p>My D was out for spring of grade 10 & summer rehabbing and it really did not even show. We were honest with all college coaches about her issue and that we were not sure if it had been completely resolved. For her, in non-scholarship sports, it was a non-issue. That issue has continued to plague her, though she played all three seasons in grades 11 & 12 and freshman year college- she was extremely successful, but is still having discomfort and does not know if she will play this year or not. Honestly is the best policy, but that little grid id not the place for too many details.</p>
<p>Why is daughter reluctent to try some new club? That doesn’t even make sense. When she goes to college, she will hopefully move out of her comfort zone and try some clubs</p>
<p>To me, this is just strange…sorry, I know I sound harsh, can you explain why she doesn’t want to try something new?</p>
<p>The question wasn’t directed to me, but the girl’s attitude makes sense to me. She’s reluctant to try a new club because she’s an athlete and would probably have to drop it when she can resume her sport.</p>
<p>The student’s attitude makes sense to me, too. In addition to the points that MomofWildChild has raised, there might be social repercussions if the girl suddenly appears at clubs that she has never shown an interest in before and then just as suddenly disappears when she is allowed to play her sport again. The other club members might resent her exploitation of their organization for the sake of her resume.</p>
<p>I agree with many other posters about staying on the team in a non-playing capacity. In my high school injured players remained on the team (leaving the team or not going to practices because of an injury was very looked down upon) and helped the coach and kept stats if they couldn’t play. I was injured in early Junior year and sat out completely at first and then started light activity, but every day I spent some time with the trainer (heat, stretching, etc.) and then went to practice. During practices I helped getting balls back, and then during games I kept stats and helped handle any problems that came up, such as tracking down an extra mouthguard or filling up waters. </p>
<p>Is there a reason she can’t or doesn’t want to do something like that?</p>
<p>My daughter is reluctant to suddenly pick up a new club or school involvement for exactly the reasons cited above by Marian and MomofWildChild. Her heart (and talent) is in sports and she knows that she will return the minute she can. She is involved with a couple of other things, but given the demands of her course load, if she added something else now she probably couldn’t continue it on a permanent basis once she resumed training. For that reason I think the special, stand-alone project idea is a great one and have suggested that to my daughter.</p>
<p>And also to clarify, this is not a sports injury but rather a medical condition which came to light via the sports involvement. So it’s not like she can go to the trainer’s or weight room in the meantime and gradually up her athletic participation level. She’s not permitted to train at all. I’m not trying to hide anything and certainly her coaches know exactly what her condition is. But my worry is that even if this problem can be completely cured/treated, the college coaches might not want to be bothered taking the risk on her. So I’m not sure I want to broadcast anything loud and clear either because it sounds scarier than what it is in reality. If someone really needs to know exact details of her condition I can PM them.</p>
<p>As far as being a manager or statistician. I’ve never heard of anyone doing that for this sport (winter track) at our school, but I guess it’s theoretically possible. But right now the coaches aren’t really timing anyone and the team hasn’t started going to meets yet, so there wouldn’t be anything for her to do really. She did try, though, and spent all last week at practice standing around. It felt awkward and a waste of time. Do winter track teams have managers at your schools?</p>
<p>Marian, the same does happen with illness at my school. My high school didn’t have a winter track team, but the same happened with cross country.</p>
<p>I think an academic project is a great idea for this extra time. She shouldn’t feel the need to join another club if she’s reluctant. She has a lot of options about how to spend this time (club, part time job, tutoring, volunteering, studying(!), etc.). I don’t think it’s a problem at all to inform colleges when the time comes about her illness that kept her off of sports for a time, so don’t worry about that. Colleges know that things like that happen.</p>
<p>corranged, of course colleges know this happens. But why should a college coach take a kid who has had a given condition, even if the athlete, doctor, high school coach all assure them it is cured or successfully managed, when they can choose any number of other athletes who have unremarkable health records? That’s where the concern comes in. Of course any RELEVANT or CURRENT health issue must be disclosed for the safety of the athlete and honesty to the college. But what if it’s not relevant any longer but we think it could still prejudice the coach’s decision?</p>
<p>Ex. (not the real issue for D, but let’s use it for the sake of this discussion): small cancerous growth is discovered on athlete’s leg, believed to have been present since birth. The tumor is cleanly removed, the student is completely rehabilitated, and eventually can run or play just as well as before. There is no medical reason to suspect that this is anything but an isolated incident. If it were your child, would you want the college coach to hear the scary word “cancer” associated with her application?</p>