So I’m currently a junior, and every since I was little, I’ve always wanted to play a sport. However, when I was a freshmen I was extremely small and unathletic(5’ 4’’ and less than 100 lbs,) so I didn’t end up playing a sport both freshmen and sophomore year. Since then, I have grown quite a bit and I’m considering doing a sport this year, or next year. I know that I probably won’t make Varsity since most Varsity players have been playing since freshmen year. So would playing a sport be a waste of time in terms of college apps? Or should I just do a sport for the fun of it and have fun with my friends?
Do not live your life trying to engineer the perfect college application. Do the things that interest/excite you and make those things shine.
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What about taking tennis lessons, or swimming, or fitness classes at a gym. Or a dance class for fun. Do you jog or ride a bike? Ski? Yoga?
A sport doesn’t have to be an interscholastic sport.
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At our HS, seniors are only eligible to play varsity as seniors in most sports, and most sports would be hard to break into since the varsity students have been playing since age 8 or so. However, depending upon if it’s a cut team or not, xc/t&f at our school will accept anyone, they might not compete at meets, but are very welcome to join. My kids were very involved with athletics and other outside physical EC’s like competitive dance, I was unaware how nice and welcoming track kids are, and I’ve seen it continue with club teams in college. I’m not saying to join for college applications, but it’s usually a kinda and welcoming group at a lot of schools.
If there are things you’ve always wanted to do - DO THEM. Don’t worry about whether it will help or hurt your college apps. If you look back on high school will you have done what you’d like to have done before moving on? No school is going to be impressed or put off by a sport senior year, so this is the time to do what you’d like to do FOR YOU.
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If you want to play a sport, then play at sport. Follow your passions, try new things, and don’t live your life trying to please an anonymous AO. Life’s too short.
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Yes – go for it. Have fun! Your joints will only work for so long. hehe
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I agree with most other answers. If you want to play a sport, then play a sport.
On the one hand you cannot live your life solely planning for university applications. There are a lot of very good universities, and if you are a good student and look for a good fit then you will find a good school for you. On the other hand your knees will not be young forever, and now is as good a time as any to start.
I can recall a few cases of students starting sports in their junior or senior year of high school, and having it turn out well. None of the cases that I can think of ended up with a varsity athlete nor a professional athlete, but that is okay. Getting some exercise and being part of a team are also quite valuable.
Exactly.
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Like others, I think this question contains the answer. Yes, you should do that, for those reasons. And not worry about how it looks to colleges. Worst case scenario this is not high on your activities list but it helps explain how you spent some hours, and that is fine.
I’ll just add that one of the possible consequences of starting a sport later in HS is you may continue playing it in some form in college. It all depends on the sport and the college, but many colleges offer a variety of levels of sports.
Like there may be varsity teams that actually recruit and such, and normally those are not reasonable targets if you are just starting now. But there may also be recreational level activities, intramural teams, and club teams (sometimes with multiple levels themselves, like A and B teams).
Again depending on the college, some of those can be very competitive–like the Club A team in certain sports at certain colleges may contain people who were potentially recruitable as HS athletes in that sport, but didn’t want to attend any of the colleges that recruited them. But sometimes some of those teams are no-cut teams, or just are not at that competitive level, and yet still some prior experience would be helpful to quickly becoming a meaningful participant and enjoying the sport.
And these can be great activities in college for the same reasons they can be great activities in HS, helping you stay fit, have fun, moderate stress, make friends, promote strong time management, and so on.
My point is that I think way too much emphasis in certain circles is put on getting into college, and not nearly enough on actually thriving in college. To be clear, even if all you ever do with this sport is have fun with your friends in HS, that is enough to justify it. But if there is any chance you will continue this sport in some way at some level in college, or even if this experience just makes it easier for you to do a different sport in college, and then that helps you thrive in college? That possibility is another great reason to do it.
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There’s your answer. It’s hard to believe but someday you’ll be twenty-eight getting ready for your ten-year HS reunion (or someday thirty-eight but that’s a lifetime away!) and when you think back I think you’ll have one of two memories: (A) the fun time you had when you finally played a sport (B) wondering “what was I thinking” when you passed up your last chance to play a sport with your friends in HS.
My point is that if you play a sport you should do it because it’s what you want, not with an eye to what colleges might think.
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100% if you want to you should. My daughter didn’t do any HS sports but decided she wanted to do cheer team her senior year and it was AWESOME! She had so much fun, made a ton of new friends and experienced a side of HS she never would have if she didn’t try.
Have an awesome jr/sr year!!
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I don’t know if you already have a sport picked out, but why not do a winter/spring sport this year (junior) so you can do it for 2 years? There are some sports you can’t just pick up as a 16 year old if you’ve never tried them (hockey, baseball need a certain amount of repetition of skills to participate at all), but others might be possible with some coaching or private lessons.
If you just want to be on a team, there are team manager positions that are fun and develop some skills and knowledge of the game, rules, strategy.
I don’t think it would be a waste of your time at all.
For one thing, you say you’ve always wanted to play a sport. You will have a chance again in college in some form, but not with the same friend group.
For another, exercise (if you are not already getting much) can have all sorts of positive effects on mood, sleep, and even one’s ability to study.
It might not make a difference on where you are admitted, but I do think an admissions committee would like to see that you were on a team of some sort in high school. It represents an exposure to teamwork which can be helpful outside of athletics; if you haven’t been on some other kind of non-athletic team (e.g. debate) or in a group activity (e.g. a school play) it could actually add more than you realize to your profile. Also, most colleges have recreational teams for various sports separate from the varsity teams. They like to know those are getting fresh participants too.
But the ultimate answer really is “it depends.” What you be doing with the time if not doing a sport? Perhaps there’s something you would miss even more? Perhaps it’s also something that would help you stand out even more than the sport?
So, it would not be a waste of time, but it is a time commitment, so give some thought to the “opportunity cost,” as your time is perhaps more valuable than you realize!
Good luck!
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