Daughter is really good (not great) at swimming--should we transition to water polo for college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does she want to do water polo?

Winner winner chicken dinner!

I notice OP said “We” too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Such a bad idea to approach college this way.

+1

My spouse has coworkers who spend boatloads of money on travel sports and private coaching for their kids in the hopes that colleges will find them desirable and offer scholarships. If they put that same money into a college fund or academic tutoring, they'd probably come out ahead and have a greater chance of success.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you want her to have an eating disorder? Everyone I know who played water polo in college did/does have an eating disorder.

WTF? I played in college and this was not a thing at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Such a bad idea to approach college this way.

+1

My spouse has coworkers who spend boatloads of money on travel sports and private coaching for their kids in the hopes that colleges will find them desirable and offer scholarships. If they put that same money into a college fund or academic tutoring, they'd probably come out ahead and have a greater chance of success.

Just curious -- do the coworkers SAY this is why they spent this money? I've never met a sports parent who talked that way. I'm the parent of kid who got private coaching and travel teams because he begged us, and he trained on his own obsessively. Now his playing days are behind him, but he recently said to me about a new interest (one that will take years of hard work to master) "I'm glad that I know from sports what it takes to get good at something. If I hadn't had that experience, I wouldn't have the confidence to do this." In my mind, THAT'S what we paid for.

Totally agree that OP's approach is nuts, and I can't imagine pushing kids to be involved in sports. We always had to push the other way -- to tell DS to come home, to get some rest. Kid would beg us for "just 15 more minutes" or "just 5 more shots" when it was 10 PM on a school night, pitch dark and raining. If your kid isn't doing that AND wildly talented to boot, then the idea of college scholarships is a pipe dream.

[Anonymous]

Look into synchronized swimming as well. My girls LOVED synchro! William and Mary has a synchro club (at least they did. Did it get cut?) Get noticed by the coaches and it will help your application.
Stanford also has a synchro team but all their players are also on the Olympic team.

[Anonymous]

I did swimming and played water polo but I LOVED them. Having your daughter consider playing water polo for any reason other than that she wants to is awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Such a bad idea to approach college this way.

+1

My spouse has coworkers who spend boatloads of money on travel sports and private coaching for their kids in the hopes that colleges will find them desirable and offer scholarships. If they put that same money into a college fund or academic tutoring, they'd probably come out ahead and have a greater chance of success.

Just curious -- do the coworkers SAY this is why they spent this money? I've never met a sports parent who talked that way. I'm the parent of kid who got private coaching and travel teams because he begged us, and he trained on his own obsessively. Now his playing days are behind him, but he recently said to me about a new interest (one that will take years of hard work to master) "I'm glad that I know from sports what it takes to get good at something. If I hadn't had that experience, I wouldn't have the confidence to do this." In my mind, THAT'S what we paid for.

Totally agree that OP's approach is nuts, and I can't imagine pushing kids to be involved in sports. We always had to push the other way -- to tell DS to come home, to get some rest. Kid would beg us for "just 15 more minutes" or "just 5 more shots" when it was 10 PM on a school night, pitch dark and raining. If your kid isn't doing that AND wildly talented to boot, then the idea of college scholarships is a pipe dream.

I was a D1 college swimmer on scholarship and this is spot on. I used to get into arguments with my parents because I wanted to go from field hockey straight to swim practice every weeknight, 3 hours of swimming on Sat and Sun, every swim meet the coaches were taking kids to. My parents would tell me I was doing too much and exhausting myself. I ended up quitting field hockey halfway through high school but that was my decision once coaches (not my parents) started talking college scholarships. I was super focused on never missing a swim practice. I missed one day the year I was 15. It was all me and not my parents pushing me. They couldn’t understand why I wanted to run myself into the ground like I was but that was the training base that got me to and through college.

I hated water polo FWIW. As PPs said it requires you to be aggressive and I am so not. I am competitive in a more quiet way. I heard a story of women putting bottle caps in their suits for college water polo. They would use them to scratch their opponents underwater. I hated when we got to play water polo as a “treat” during practice. I would just read water and stay out of the fray.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is so depressing. Whatever happened to kids just enjoying sports as an extracurricular activity even if it doesn’t end anywhere? Maybe it’s because I’m an immigrant but I’ll never understand the obsession with getting kids into college sports.

When college is costing 75K a year, of course parents will/should look for ways to offset the cost. Not every parent can afford college right out of pocket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is so depressing. Whatever happened to kids just enjoying sports as an extracurricular activity even if it doesn’t end anywhere? Maybe it’s because I’m an immigrant but I’ll never understand the obsession with getting kids into college sports.

Don't be so overdramatic. This goes for all of the PPs in this thread.

All OP did was ask a question. It's not like she's demanding her child switch sports right now because DCUM said it's the only way to get her kid into college.

The kid likes swimming. She's good but not awesome. She might want to do a sport in college. Mom and DD want to explore other swimming related options.

That's it you guys. Don't read more into the post than there is. And don't hijack this post to spout your opinions that no ones cares about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is so depressing. Whatever happened to kids just enjoying sports as an extracurricular activity even if it doesn’t end anywhere? Maybe it’s because I’m an immigrant but I’ll never understand the obsession with getting kids into college sports.

Don't be so overdramatic. This goes for all of the PPs in this thread.

All OP did was ask a question. It's not like she's demanding her child switch sports right now because DCUM said it's the only way to get her kid into college.

The kid likes swimming. She's good but not awesome. She might want to do a sport in college. Mom and DD want to explore other swimming related options.

That's it you guys. Don't read more into the post than there is. And don't hijack this post to spout your opinions that no ones cares about.

The OP specifically says they are thinking about having their daughter switch to water polo in order to get noticed by colleges. Not because of an interest in the sport. To do a sport in college you have to really love it. It takes up way too much of your time and prevents you from having a normal college life in many ways. A sport should not be used simply as a way to get into college. The passion for the sport needs to be there first, along with a potential identified by coaches. Then there can be a conversation with coaches about which colleges might be a good fit. This is just not the right way to go about it at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is so depressing. Whatever happened to kids just enjoying sports as an extracurricular activity even if it doesn’t end anywhere? Maybe it’s because I’m an immigrant but I’ll never understand the obsession with getting kids into college sports.

Don't be so overdramatic. This goes for all of the PPs in this thread.

All OP did was ask a question. It's not like she's demanding her child switch sports right now because DCUM said it's the only way to get her kid into college.

The kid likes swimming. She's good but not awesome. She might want to do a sport in college. Mom and DD want to explore other swimming related options.

That's it you guys. Don't read more into the post than there is. And don't hijack this post to spout your opinions that no ones cares about.

The OP specifically says they are thinking about having their daughter switch to water polo in order to get noticed by colleges. Not because of an interest in the sport. To do a sport in college you have to really love it. It takes up way too much of your time and prevents you from having a normal college life in many ways. A sport should not be used simply as a way to get into college. The passion for the sport needs to be there first, along with a potential identified by coaches. Then there can be a conversation with coaches about which colleges might be a good fit. This is just not the right way to go about it at all.

+1 My kid is doing sports in college, D3 and I wish they weren't. It takes a lot of time, and not sure it is really worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is so depressing. Whatever happened to kids just enjoying sports as an extracurricular activity even if it doesn’t end anywhere? Maybe it’s because I’m an immigrant but I’ll never understand the obsession with getting kids into college sports.

When college is costing 75K a year, of course parents will/should look for ways to offset the cost. Not every parent can afford college right out of pocket.

Totally disagree. It should be something a kid is interested in and wants to do in college. Parents should never bank on a kid getting an athletic scholarship. That’s way too much pressure on a kid. Besides, some parents aren’t even looking for scholarship. They just pressure the kid to participate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does she want to do water polo?

What does that have to do with it?!