Is it possible he could swim D3? If so, it could still be helpful with admissions. There are some great D3 schools out there.
I think the question is, what else does he do? You said he’s not that into swimming. If he has enough “else,” the right balance, challenge and commitment, he doesn’t need this. If he doesn’t, swim won’t save the day.
Btw, how young is he?
@twoinanddone Yes.
(Well, it’s not entirely different; it involves swimming.)
It involves treading water. It is really more like soccer than swimming. Swimming speed is not all that important in water polo as the pool isn’t that big.
Some sport are complementary but most aren’t, at least at the level you need to be at to play in college. While many football wide receivers are also good at track, not many track athletes can catch a football. Soccer players don’t have the passing, fielding, or shooting skills that lacrosse players spend years developing. It takes years of bouncing that ball against a wall and catching it with a stick and there just isn’t a shortcut.
College rowing teams used to take the best athletes and train them to be rowers. Now, there are a lot of high school kids (from club teams) who have rowing experience and teams are taking them. Our high school didn’t have a team, but 4 women and 2 men got scholarships last year, all with club rowing experience.
You sound like you know a lot about some interesting college sports.
I’ve done swim team (not good, not fast) and I’ve played water polo. Just different skills needed. Water polo pool is smaller.
My brothers bounced that lacrosse ball against our garage door until I wanted to scream. And they broke the door.
I would never encourage my kid to choose an activity or drop an activity based on how it will look on a college application. I want my HS kids to be involved in things they enjoy or are interested in exploring; if they do that, then they will learn lessons far beyond what they get out of being able to “check the box” on a larger list of EC’s they don’t really care about. If he likes swimming – even if he is not great at it – if he enjoys the team socially, is committed to the program, wants/is willing to put in the time, etc., then by all means he should stick with it. Who cares if he never swims again competitively after HS; if it helps him grow and develop now, or is just a healthy social outlet now, then it is serving a valuable purpose now.
Both my kids have done HS cross country and track. Practices six days a week, long meets on weekends, conditioning over the summer, pretty much no time for other significant EC’s. DS was a middle-of-the pack runner. He loved being on the team, always improved each season, but was never a team stand-out. The summer before his senior year, he worked so hard and put in the mileage and managed to win the last spot on the varsity squad (only 7 runners) for the first meet based on the team time trial. The coach, who normally looks to the top 1-2 runners to be captains for the team, instead chose him to be one of the captains because of his commitment. He had to re-win his varsity spot every single week, since anyone finishing from the JV race with a time better than his would have bumped him from the squad for the next meet. He managed to do it, and ran in the state meet at the end of the season. He found a personal love for running through those 4 years … and now, a freshman in college, he’s been training for his first marathon on his own. He runs it in 3 weeks. So, so proud of him and so, so thankful for XC and all the things it taught him about himself. Did it make a difference in his college apps? Definitely – maybe because it showed commitment; but definitely because it made him the person he is.
I am not convinced everyone has to be a leader at all things…I think equally valuable is people who participate, but commit. I was talking to a student the other day that was not a leader of anything…but he is the one on the robotics team that actually got his robot to work and went to competitions…who wrote something for MUN and actually presented it, etc.
My daughter just finished her senior high school swim season (even squeaked into States spot, woot!), and though she was varsity all 4, team captain, holds 3 records…she had always been adamant that she was not going to swim college (outside of a club team) so this was never about looking good on an application. She just absolutely LOVES the sport, and IMO, you need to love it to deal with what can be a time consuming grind, especially peak season. I agree with @ailinsh1 and the difference it makes, or any EC/sport makes. The commitment, the teamwork, the goal setting, the setbacks and the triumphs have, over the years, shaped who she is, and that gets reflected in all aspects of her life. Your DS needs to find his passion. My DD parlayed hers into also volunteer coaching developmental swimmers this year. The parents of her “swim babies” approach me all the time about how passionate she is about the sport, how she encourages the young ones to love it too, and how she can relate to them. That made me prouder than any record or time she has made throughout her swimming career.
S1 was a very good student. He played jv football for two years and was in a few h.s. clubs/honor societies. That was the sum total of his h.s. EC/ athletic involvement. He was really into weight lifting and running but did it all on his own. His major EC was his part-time job. He worked 25 hours per week at a large chain grocery store. Went from bag boy to cashier to running the customer service desk. He often opened the store on weekend mornings.
When he interviewed for a NROTC scholarship (which he received), S1 said the officer interviewing him was more interested in S1’s grocery store job skills…time management, leadership, work ethic, people skills… than any h.s. activities. Not being on a h.s. varsity team didn’t hurt him at all.
He is a freshman.
do a sport in HS cuz you love it; or love the team. I think lots of people have gone through your situations~
e.g.: S18 swam 3 yrs (varsity) in high school; and club swam. he was exhausted during swim season. Swimmer families know all about this! He stopped immediately after his junior year & the state swim meet.
He (and 2 others) ended up coaching a summer swim team through the city rec program. It was the best experience for him: coaching & teaching 90 kids, and communicating and emailing with some hyper-vigilant parents! He has worked at the indoor pool his senior year, just got his pool operators license, taught lessons, and has saved a few kids while on the lifeguard chair. He has also had time to train for cross country/track his senior, which he has enjoyed, although he will not be the top kid.
your son has obviously been trained and knows about swimming; perhaps he can use those skills as a job or volunteer opportunity if he wants.
have a relative who’s a recruiter/HR at fortune 500 Co. She’s told us over the years that she’s interviewed new college grads who list swimming as an activity. As a recruiter she had NO IDEA the amount of time and commitment swimming takes until she saw what our high school kid went through. I wonder if college admissions officers are like that?
@cxhw0005 I, too, have a freshman son, also a swimmer. I don’t know what it is about boys and this age, but I have heard very similar stories on pool decks. For some reason, there seems to be almost a late bloomer aspect to some male swimmers around this age. My son is one of those. Has loads of raw talent, goes to every practice, but maybe does 80%. Until midway through this season, he has always been squarely in the “Hey, this is fun, get to hang out with cool people, do my thing” category. Never know what you’re going to get out of him at a meet: killer swim or what the heck was THAT? (drives his coach bonkers). Suddenly, he has decided he wants to get serious. When I bring it up to others, and they ask his age, I get a lot of nodding and tales of similar age epiphanies.
Maybe it’s his team or the coaching style?