Did Your Athlete End Up With Plan B?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would think an intense commitment to an extracurricular speaks as much as doing many activities only on the surface level. If you’re worried about it, maybe he would still have time to do a service trip over a holiday break or during the summer? Those trips can be great experiences and shouldn’t eat up practice time on the regular.

Colleges see through that. They want to see dedication to a passion or cause over an extended period of time, not tourism masquerading as philanthropy

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks to all PPs for the helpful input. The goal is not a scholarship but to use athletic recruitment as the hook to get into an elite school.

So your kid spends most free time playing a game that they like. Your kid enjoys it, so that's wonderful. Hope your kid gets in!

[Anonymous]

The issue really comes down to getting recruited at a school that is an academic match in terms of interests. You just have no contol over that so it's very high stakes. That elite school has to have a roster spot available for the exact position your son plays. And coaches are recruiting on raw athletics and body type. And then, even if they earn a spot, is that what the 4 year older version of him will want to do in college? On the other hand, being an elite player at the high school level does teach skills that come in very handy later. In the end, IMO playing sports for the joy is the end to itself. Playing to earn a seat at an elite school, a waste of time to explore.

[Anonymous]

DD was recruited this past year as an athlete. At the heat of recruiting last year into this fall she had opportunities w/ 2 Ivies, 1 top 30 national university, 1 top 50 national university and 1 flagship/top 50 university (which was by far the best athletically). DD chose the flagship but I think could have had offers from all based on the fact that she was given a verbal offer from the better of the 2 ivies. Other kids in DD's rigorous high school and at DDs sports club pursued athletics to attend the academically strongest school they could attend; this is a well-worn path and you would not be alone.

I would say that in 9th grade we knew the potential was there for this all to come to fruition but it was by no means certain so you should be realistic about where your kid stands. Most kids who are good enough to be recruited by top colleges are involved in sports outside of school and are engaged in significant training beyond 2 hours after school. Be brutally honest about your kid's aptitude, dont count on too many ifs falling into line. Consult his coaches. Look at where older kids on the team are being recruited -- if a college gets good players who succeed they will go back to the same source. Most sports have an outside web source that tracks recruits and up and coming athletes; pay attention to the competition. Also look at the rosters of the schools he might want to attend; there is usually a blurb for each kid. Read about their pre-college accomplishments and see if your kid is on the right path. Last: note so many of the rich, ivy kids play niche sports like squash and lacrosse specifically bc it will be easier to get recruited. Every town in America has a YMCA pool and little league; the competition to be recruited at top schools for widely-played sports is much harder.

With the ivies it was counter intuitive with regard to academics. It would have been better for DD to be in non-honors classes getting As than in APs getting A-s or B+s. The ivies have a rule that each team's incoming athletes have to have an average GPA that is close to the admitted student body but they dont weight the gpa when they compare. The problem with this is if you fall short on the athletic side and dont get recruited youre sitting there with a weak GPA for normal college admissions.

[Anonymous]

Every time I read this, I wonder if your athlete got pregnant.

[Anonymous]

My two oldest are recruited athletes at a highly-selective university (D1; USNWR top 10;not Ivy) and our youngest will play for a top D3 in her sport (again, USNWR top 10). Athletic recruiting is always a crap shoot -- as other PPs have noted, your kid can get injured, or the coaches interested in your kid might not be at schools your kid is interested in, or your kid just burns out on his/her sport (yes, this happens). But totally apart from the element of chance, I would really encourage you to encourage your child to pursue some other interest or activity -- not only because it will add to his/her college application "resume", but because this is the time in life for kids to explore all their interests and learn about themselves.

[Anonymous]

DS was on this track, but burnt out completely by start of junior year and completely quit his sport. I would never have imagined it, given that he would argue to go back to the gym at 10:00 PM the summer of his freshmen year to get in another hour of practice (after multiple hours of team and individual practice during the day), but it happened. That really impacted college plans and caused some awkward conversations with college coaches who wanted to know why DS wasn't responding to them. It will make college applications interesting because his life was 24/7 this sport until this (his junior) year and then there's not a lot outside of school and volunteer work.

[Anonymous]

I think this question is putting the cart before the horse. Children should pursue sports and activities they are interested in. To do it for four years of high school in hopes of leveraging admission to their next four-year school is just sad. Life is for living, and for doing what we love - and that incidentally leads to much better life opportunities than trying to strategize or game the system.

[Anonymous]

D3 schools are good options if DS isn't D1 material.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:D3 schools are good options if DS isn't D1 material.

But you need to make sure the school offer what the kid wants long-term. My DS was recruited by D3 schools, but none had the program he wanted. He chose to give up his sport to get the degree he wants to meet his long-term life goals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks to all PPs for the helpful input. The goal is not a scholarship but to use athletic recruitment as the hook to get into an elite school.

You need to relabel this his "pipe dream" and come up with a real Plan A before focusing on Plan B. Most people end up with Plan B, btw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:D3 schools are good options if DS isn't D1 material.

There are plenty of athletes at D3 schools who are "D1" material, but who wanted a smaller school, or the chance to study abroad for a semester, or the chance to pursue a particularly rigorous course of study (e.g., premed track), or, generally, to not live, breath, eat and sleep their sport. Oh, and, of course, their parents are people who were disciplined enough to save enough for college so that their kids aren't reliant on sports scholarships.

[Anonymous]

Use sports to networking and make connections to get yourself a career that both rewarding and financially successful. You don't want to be homeless like this former Olympian at the age of 56. I used to watch her in the 80's and 90's. She was arguably the most successful cyclist in the history of the United States:

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/homeless/olympic-medal-winning-cyclist-rebecca-twigg-is-homeless-in-seattle/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks to all PPs for the helpful input. The goal is not a scholarship but to use athletic recruitment as the hook to get into an elite school.

You need to relabel this his "pipe dream" and come up with a real Plan A before focusing on Plan B. Most people end up with Plan B, btw.

Depending on the kid's aptitude it is not a pipe dream. I think OPs question is this is our Plan A what happened to other ppl who did this but it didnt work out. Setting worst case scenario before you embark is smart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think this question is putting the cart before the horse. Children should pursue sports and activities they are interested in. To do it for four years of high school in hopes of leveraging admission to their next four-year school is just sad. Life is for living, and for doing what we love - and that incidentally leads to much better life opportunities than trying to strategize or game the system.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!