<p>I’m about to be a sophomore in two months, and I want to join a sport in my junior and senior years.</p>
<p>How does one get better? I don’t have much time to practice (self studying, EC’s, Olympiad prep, etc.) so any fast and efficient ways to get in shape for a certain sport are appreciated.</p>
<p>There is no way to get around practicing. Even with natural talent, getting on a team takes some practice.</p>
<p>The easiest option would be track or cross country- if you need to get in shape, try the Couch to 5K program. After that, just run a certain amount of laps a day until you get your time down.</p>
<p>There’s really no way around practicing. Being naturally strong, fast, or athletic will help in some sports but it won’t do much if you don’t practice.</p>
<p>Some sports are more beginner-friendly than others. Sports like soccer, baseball, and basketball aren’t really beginner-friendly because most kids playing those have played since they were kids. Other sports like track/cross-country, wrestling, golf, and others are more friendly because they have lots of kids who don’t start until they’re in high school either.</p>
<p>Fast and easy huh? Steroids.</p>
<p>You’re going to have to practice, there’s just no other way. Yes, there are people with natural talent for some sports, but they also have to practice.</p>
<p>If you’re going to join a sport with no prior experience, do track or cross country, because anyone can join. Not that those are easier sports to do, but they are relatively easy to practice, because you just have to be able to run, you don’t have to work on shooting, hitting, catching, etc.</p>
<p>There’s no shortcut… You have to practice constantly. If I were you, I wouldn’t self-study. A sport looks much better than 1-2 more APs. I would also suggest running track and or cross country, though it takes awhile to build a base to start. Those aren’t like soccer or basketball, where kids have played on club teams for years. Running is also a fairly cheap sport.</p>
<p>Only one way: Practice, practice, practice!! And if you don’t think you’ve practiced enough, practice even more.</p>
<p>Try track or cross-country. If you’re lucky enough to be naturally fast, track might be relatively easier for you than most people. But still, sports take practice. Start this summer.</p>
<p>Track/CC it is!</p>
<p>I’ll spend this year basically running and getting my time down, and I’ll join junior and senior year.</p>
<p>Not running your sophomore year is a bad choice. Spending an entire year doing distance training by yourself isn’t going to help you. The longest run any sane XC coach would assign is somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 minutes/10 miles. You could conceivably get in shape to do that in 3 or 4 months, after which you would waste 8 or more months where you could get race experience or training time with a team. It usually takes an entire year to learn how you race and how to balance staying healthy with running regularly. </p>
<p>I really do like the mindset of trying to spend the next year “getting your time down,” but please trust me on this one. You’d be wasting a third of your high school career. The only way to make any significant improvement is with the interval workouts and race experience that I don’t think you can get without a team and a coach.</p>
<p>Lol his name is “HateBeingSober”
Ok Chief Keef</p>
<p>I concur with HateBeinSober…run next year, you might not be an immediate track/XC champion, but you can get significantly better with a coach and the team.</p>
<p>Totally agree with HateBeinSober. Don’t wait until next year, if you do a sport all three years, it’ll look better on your application. My track coach told us that the real point of track is not to win, but, to get better. Don’t train by yourself - what’s the point? Train with others and be able to say you were part of a sport team plus you may be able to get credits.</p>
<p>XC tryouts for next year already happened, so I don’t think I can run next year.</p>
<p>Practice
Witchcraft
Training
Steroids
Santeria
Bribe the coach
Exercise
Blackmail the coach</p>
<p>Okay, then do track. Most schools have an indoor and outdoor team (indoor during winter, outdoor is spring).</p>
<p>Along with track and XC, crew and golf are also good choices. I have a friend who was really unathletic, but joined crew and in one season made it to varsity.</p>
<p>To be honest, if you want to be good, you just have to play. Practice can be INCREDIBLY boring if that is all you are doing. Competition is half the game in 9/10 sports. I am going into my soph year too and I can honestly say that no door is closed to you in terms of teams to join. You can go play rec for any sport you want, and since I am assuming your still in the summer, now is the perfect time to play. suggestions: do a sport with larger numbers so you have a better shot (ie. not basketball or baseball)</p>
<p>Thanks everyone!</p>
<p>Rubbish, I might just try some of those options ;)</p>