actually sports have two totally different directions - one big category -individualized mainly such as cross country, tennis, swimming etc., the other category - team mainly such as soccer, football that involving in more than 10 people on the field – the team destiny heavily relies on team collaboration that college/society really looking for, plus resilience and composure etc. These are not easily gained in any other high school activities. if you go Stanford website, you will see “what Stanford looks for” - one note: particularly mentions “In some cases, exceptional abilities in athletics may influence our decision if the applicant is otherwise well qualified, but such abilities never, by themselves, ensure admission to Stanford…”