<p>My d wants to swim a very selective D1 or D3 school. Her training has always consisted only of swimming, no weights or dryland. How important is this? Worth changing clubs teams mid junior year witha heavy academic load? She can handle that, it’s TIME she runs out of, as we’d have to travel 2 hrs. to get to the new club</p>
<p>I think the 2 hrs would be better spent on academics, ECs or community service. She can always get a trainer for the price of gas to design a workout and supervise her once or twice a week. Her times are more important than how the club/team does, and honestly, unless she is All-American, she needs an excellent academic record.</p>
<p>My son is a swimmer also and spends about two hours a day in the car getting to and from workouts. If I could change it, I would. We dropped all doubles this year because it was just too much time in the car. He can’t wait till next year when he has a ten minute walk to the pool.</p>
<p>Even if she studied in the car, adjusting to a new team/coach can take many, many months. Also, during our school search, we talked to many coaches and most were positive about how my son had not done heavy lifting. ( I don’t know if this may be different for girls, though) Seems many kids who come to college with a lifting history have to be retaught how to do it correctly. My son still works mainly on core strength type things and knows the lifting will come in college. And I promise you next year, when she is busy with training, official visits, apps, essays and school, you will be glad she is not in the car those two hours! The experience about did us in! Good luck!</p>
<p>My daughter is a swimmer at the D1 level. During the recruiting process, the coach was actually happy she hadn’t done a whole lot of weights or dryland. It shows there is room for improvement and they hit the weights heavy in college.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>