% of college (swim) student-athletes who are full vs partial vs no scholarship?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely, definitely definitely get your swimmer into water polo. Seriously. Less competition. Great scholarships to a bunch of good schools. I don’t know why more people don’t know this.

Not all schools offer this. How or where to get involved if your high schoool doesn’t have a team?

It is a rich kid sport around here. Sea Devils has a team locally, as do some of the private schools. My midwestern public high school had a team 30 years ago, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does the truth come out once kids get into the 13-14 age group, or you really have to wait for 15+ standings?

With both boys and girls you can tell if they have skill to potentially make college times around age 12. But the truth comes out in high school, as it
all depends if they are prepared to train at that point.

And some boys will grow more than a foot and a half after age 12 and develop muscles mid high school. Those kids will become completely different swimmers if they stick with it through the scrawny years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is a 12-year-old gal with AAA, A, AA, A, A finishes last 5 tournaments good enough for D1 or Ivy?

No. This 12 yo would have to carry over those AAA times and achieve it in the next age groups. But the chances are pretty high that if you are AAA at 12, you would be able to achieve it at 17 if you train.
It also depends on which events AA-AAA was achieved: if he/she does these times only in one stroke/same event it’s not good enough. At 12 a good indicator of college ability is several AA and higher time cuts in different strokes and distances: for example, breast/free/IM or back/free/fly etc.

Nobody has any idea if your 12 yo DD will be good enough for D1 or Ivy. First of all, for an Ivy, your DD needs the grades/test scores and most students will not have them. While Ivies may bend a little for athletes, they still expect very high grades/test scores.

As for swimming, everyone here needs to understand the difference between boys and girls. If your 12 you DD has already had her growth spurt, these times are not particularly impressive. And, honestly, based on what I've seen, she may not get any faster and may actually get slower. As girls enter their teens, they often put on weight and can't swim as fast. I've seen it over and over again. If your DD has not started her growth spurt yet, then maybe she'll continue to drop time and could end up a very good swimmer and a college athlete. Boys tend to be a different because they get bigger and stronger, which generally means they swim faster as they get older. But for both boy and girl swimmers, the reality is that the early developers/early stars don't always continue to be at the top. I was at Junior/Senior Champs this weekend (which, I assume, is where OP was) and I saw kids who used to be phenoms at 12/13 because they grew early. Now, they're still very good swimmers, but many other swimmers have caught up and passed them by.

The kids who don't have the size advantage when they're young learn to work hard, while the early developers often don't have to work hard when they're young, and then don't have the drive/dedication when their peers catch up physically. All the parents of giant 12 YOs who think their kids are going to the Olympics/get college scholarships need to check themselves and realize that a lot can happen in 5-6 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is a 12-year-old gal with AAA, A, AA, A, A finishes last 5 tournaments good enough for D1 or Ivy?

No. This 12 yo would have to carry over those AAA times and achieve it in the next age groups. But the chances are pretty high that if you are AAA at 12, you would be able to achieve it at 17 if you train.
It also depends on which events AA-AAA was achieved: if he/she does these times only in one stroke/same event it’s not good enough. At 12 a good indicator of college ability is several AA and higher time cuts in different strokes and distances: for example, breast/free/IM or back/free/fly etc.

Nobody has any idea if your 12 yo DD will be good enough for D1 or Ivy. First of all, for an Ivy, your DD needs the grades/test scores and most students will not have them. While Ivies may bend a little for athletes, they still expect very high grades/test scores.

As for swimming, everyone here needs to understand the difference between boys and girls. If your 12 you DD has already had her growth spurt, these times are not particularly impressive. And, honestly, based on what I've seen, she may not get any faster and may actually get slower. As girls enter their teens, they often put on weight and can't swim as fast. I've seen it over and over again. If your DD has not started her growth spurt yet, then maybe she'll continue to drop time and could end up a very good swimmer and a college athlete. Boys tend to be a different because they get bigger and stronger, which generally means they swim faster as they get older. But for both boy and girl swimmers, the reality is that the early developers/early stars don't always continue to be at the top. I was at Junior/Senior Champs this weekend (which, I assume, is where OP was) and I saw kids who used to be phenoms at 12/13 because they grew early. Now, they're still very good swimmers, but many other swimmers have caught up and passed them by.

The kids who don't have the size advantage when they're young learn to work hard, while the early developers often don't have to work hard when they're young, and then don't have the drive/dedication when their peers catch up physically. All the parents of giant 12 YOs who think their kids are going to the Olympics/get college scholarships need to check themselves and realize that a lot can happen in 5-6 years.

Gee - Katie Ledecky put on weight in her teen years and she’s kicking ass. You have no idea what you are talking about. I hope that you aren’t in charge of or advising anyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely, definitely definitely get your swimmer into water polo. Seriously. Less competition. Great scholarships to a bunch of good schools. I don’t know why more people don’t know this.

Not all schools offer this. How or where to get involved if your high schoool doesn’t have a team?

It is a rich kid sport around here. Sea Devils has a team locally, as do some of the private schools. My midwestern public high school had a team 30 years ago, though.

Can you provide a link to colleges water polo teams? Would be interested to see which schools have teams, offer scholarships, required standards etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is a 12-year-old gal with AAA, A, AA, A, A finishes last 5 tournaments good enough for D1 or Ivy?

No. This 12 yo would have to carry over those AAA times and achieve it in the next age groups. But the chances are pretty high that if you are AAA at 12, you would be able to achieve it at 17 if you train.
It also depends on which events AA-AAA was achieved: if he/she does these times only in one stroke/same event it’s not good enough. At 12 a good indicator of college ability is several AA and higher time cuts in different strokes and distances: for example, breast/free/IM or back/free/fly etc.

Nobody has any idea if your 12 yo DD will be good enough for D1 or Ivy. First of all, for an Ivy, your DD needs the grades/test scores and most students will not have them. While Ivies may bend a little for athletes, they still expect very high grades/test scores.

As for swimming, everyone here needs to understand the difference between boys and girls. If your 12 you DD has already had her growth spurt, these times are not particularly impressive. And, honestly, based on what I've seen, she may not get any faster and may actually get slower. As girls enter their teens, they often put on weight and can't swim as fast. I've seen it over and over again. If your DD has not started her growth spurt yet, then maybe she'll continue to drop time and could end up a very good swimmer and a college athlete. Boys tend to be a different because they get bigger and stronger, which generally means they swim faster as they get older. But for both boy and girl swimmers, the reality is that the early developers/early stars don't always continue to be at the top. I was at Junior/Senior Champs this weekend (which, I assume, is where OP was) and I saw kids who used to be phenoms at 12/13 because they grew early. Now, they're still very good swimmers, but many other swimmers have caught up and passed them by.

The kids who don't have the size advantage when they're young learn to work hard, while the early developers often don't have to work hard when they're young, and then don't have the drive/dedication when their peers catch up physically. All the parents of giant 12 YOs who think their kids are going to the Olympics/get college scholarships need to check themselves and realize that a lot can happen in 5-6 years.

Gee - Katie Ledecky put on weight in her teen years and she’s kicking ass. You have no idea what you are talking about. I hope that you aren’t in charge of or advising anyone.

Ledecky was an amazing natural talent, she is very tall and continued growing even after age 16, more of an exception for females. She also trained with male swimmers thus she has those times and was able to sustain that training. She also comes from an extremely wealthy family, and her parents invested in private lessons, training, nutrition, power training and all kind of support for her since very early age. However, to say that girls cannot improve after 13 is not right. I've seen several PVS girls who, after being "stuck" in shorter distances switched to other teams that specialize on longer distance around age 14-15 y.o, and eventually getting what they wanted in terms of college cuts.

[Anonymous]

Looking for a water polo camp in the Moco area - this sounds fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is a 12-year-old gal with AAA, A, AA, A, A finishes last 5 tournaments good enough for D1 or Ivy?

No. This 12 yo would have to carry over those AAA times and achieve it in the next age groups. But the chances are pretty high that if you are AAA at 12, you would be able to achieve it at 17 if you train.
It also depends on which events AA-AAA was achieved: if he/she does these times only in one stroke/same event it’s not good enough. At 12 a good indicator of college ability is several AA and higher time cuts in different strokes and distances: for example, breast/free/IM or back/free/fly etc.

Nobody has any idea if your 12 yo DD will be good enough for D1 or Ivy. First of all, for an Ivy, your DD needs the grades/test scores and most students will not have them. While Ivies may bend a little for athletes, they still expect very high grades/test scores.

As for swimming, everyone here needs to understand the difference between boys and girls. If your 12 you DD has already had her growth spurt, these times are not particularly impressive. And, honestly, based on what I've seen, she may not get any faster and may actually get slower. As girls enter their teens, they often put on weight and can't swim as fast. I've seen it over and over again. If your DD has not started her growth spurt yet, then maybe she'll continue to drop time and could end up a very good swimmer and a college athlete. Boys tend to be a different because they get bigger and stronger, which generally means they swim faster as they get older. But for both boy and girl swimmers, the reality is that the early developers/early stars don't always continue to be at the top. I was at Junior/Senior Champs this weekend (which, I assume, is where OP was) and I saw kids who used to be phenoms at 12/13 because they grew early. Now, they're still very good swimmers, but many other swimmers have caught up and passed them by.

The kids who don't have the size advantage when they're young learn to work hard, while the early developers often don't have to work hard when they're young, and then don't have the drive/dedication when their peers catch up physically. All the parents of giant 12 YOs who think their kids are going to the Olympics/get college scholarships need to check themselves and realize that a lot can happen in 5-6 years.

Gee - Katie Ledecky put on weight in her teen years and she’s kicking ass. You have no idea what you are talking about. I hope that you aren’t in charge of or advising anyone.

Ledecky was an amazing natural talent, she is very tall and continued growing even after age 16, more of an exception for females. She also trained with male swimmers thus she has those times and was able to sustain that training. She also comes from an extremely wealthy family, and her parents invested in private lessons, training, nutrition, power training and all kind of support for her since very early age. However, to say that girls cannot improve after 13 is not right. I've seen several PVS girls who, after being "stuck" in shorter distances switched to other teams that specialize on longer distance around age 14-15 y.o, and eventually getting what they wanted in terms of college cuts.

I am the person who wrote this and I do know what I'm talking about. I never said that no teenage girl who puts on weight can continue to succeed in the pool. Of course, some can. However, many don't. Their bodies change and they feel very different in the water. Do some push through, build the strength they need, and make appropriate adjustments? Of course! But there are plenty of female swimmers who swim their best times when they are 13-14, which is far less common for boys. Swimming is a sport that favors girls when they're younger, and boys when they're older as a general matter (that's why at the 12&under meets, there are way more girls than boys and that begins to change at 13). Of course, there are swimmers who defy the norm (like your ridiculous example of Katie Ledecky, arguably the greatest swimmer of all time). But the norm is still the norm. Puberty can help female swimmers or it can hurt them....probably about 50/50. For boys, puberty helps, plain and simple.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely, definitely definitely get your swimmer into water polo. Seriously. Less competition. Great scholarships to a bunch of good schools. I don’t know why more people don’t know this.

Not all schools offer this. How or where to get involved if your high schoool doesn’t have a team?

It is a rich kid sport around here. Sea Devils has a team locally, as do some of the private schools. My midwestern public high school had a team 30 years ago, though.

Can you provide a link to colleges water polo teams? Would be interested to see which schools have teams, offer scholarships, required standards etc.

There are a good number of colleges in California with water polo teams, both male and female. The NCAA lists 21 colleges with Div 1 Mens Water Polo squads, 12 of which are easily recognizable by my as being in California. There are some located on the East Coast (Fordham, Brown, Harvard stood out)

http://www.collegewaterpolocoach.org/mens-division-i-water-polo-programs.html

There are about 40 Women's Div 1 Water Polo programs. This is probably because Water Polo squads are not all that large and they help meet the Title 9 sports balance issue. Football teams need to be balanced out so there are sports with more Female squads then Male squads. So get your girls playing Water Polo.

http://www.collegewaterpolocoach.org/womens-division-i-water-polo-programs.html

[Anonymous]

Years ago I thought my DD was a good long distance swimmer and if she liked to, swim in college. At the age of 14 she was in a big spring club meet at gmu and swam a heat in the mile. Next to here was an 11 year girl who was the youngest child to swim in this event. This 11 lapped my daughter almost twice. That girl was Katie Ledecky. My DD quit swimming year round at 16.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Years ago I thought my DD was a good long distance swimmer and if she liked to, swim in college. At the age of 14 she was in a big spring club meet at gmu and swam a heat in the mile. Next to here was an 11 year girl who was the youngest child to swim in this event. This 11 lapped my daughter almost twice. That girl was Katie Ledecky. My DD quit swimming year round at 16.

Did she quit because she was beaten by Ledecky? Or for other reasons?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All your answers can be found here at this great website. Really good info.

http://scholarshipstats.com/

click on the swimming & Diving tab

Such an informative website. Thank you.

The website is helpful. But, just to be clear, when it lists average scholarship, that's for all sports not just swimming, right? I think that must be the case since some schools without men's swim teams still have a figure for average scholarship for men.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Years ago I thought my DD was a good long distance swimmer and if she liked to, swim in college. At the age of 14 she was in a big spring club meet at gmu and swam a heat in the mile. Next to here was an 11 year girl who was the youngest child to swim in this event. This 11 lapped my daughter almost twice. That girl was Katie Ledecky. My DD quit swimming year round at 16.

According to USA Swimming site (https://www.usaswimming.org/Home/times/individual-times-search), Katie didn't swim her first mile until she was 12, about to turn 13 (so not that much younger than your daughter). But, yes, she was fast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is a 12-year-old gal with AAA, A, AA, A, A finishes last 5 tournaments good enough for D1 or Ivy?

No. This 12 yo would have to carry over those AAA times and achieve it in the next age groups. But the chances are pretty high that if you are AAA at 12, you would be able to achieve it at 17 if you train.
It also depends on which events AA-AAA was achieved: if he/she does these times only in one stroke/same event it’s not good enough. At 12 a good indicator of college ability is several AA and higher time cuts in different strokes and distances: for example, breast/free/IM or back/free/fly etc.

Nobody has any idea if your 12 yo DD will be good enough for D1 or Ivy. First of all, for an Ivy, your DD needs the grades/test scores and most students will not have them. While Ivies may bend a little for athletes, they still expect very high grades/test scores.

As for swimming, everyone here needs to understand the difference between boys and girls. If your 12 you DD has already had her growth spurt, these times are not particularly impressive. And, honestly, based on what I've seen, she may not get any faster and may actually get slower. As girls enter their teens, they often put on weight and can't swim as fast. I've seen it over and over again. If your DD has not started her growth spurt yet, then maybe she'll continue to drop time and could end up a very good swimmer and a college athlete. Boys tend to be a different because they get bigger and stronger, which generally means they swim faster as they get older. But for both boy and girl swimmers, the reality is that the early developers/early stars don't always continue to be at the top. I was at Junior/Senior Champs this weekend (which, I assume, is where OP was) and I saw kids who used to be phenoms at 12/13 because they grew early. Now, they're still very good swimmers, but many other swimmers have caught up and passed them by.

The kids who don't have the size advantage when they're young learn to work hard, while the early developers often don't have to work hard when they're young, and then don't have the drive/dedication when their peers catch up physically. All the parents of giant 12 YOs who think their kids are going to the Olympics/get college scholarships need to check themselves and realize that a lot can happen in 5-6 years.

This is spot on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is a 12-year-old gal with AAA, A, AA, A, A finishes last 5 tournaments good enough for D1 or Ivy?

No. This 12 yo would have to carry over those AAA times and achieve it in the next age groups. But the chances are pretty high that if you are AAA at 12, you would be able to achieve it at 17 if you train.
It also depends on which events AA-AAA was achieved: if he/she does these times only in one stroke/same event it’s not good enough. At 12 a good indicator of college ability is several AA and higher time cuts in different strokes and distances: for example, breast/free/IM or back/free/fly etc.

Nobody has any idea if your 12 yo DD will be good enough for D1 or Ivy. First of all, for an Ivy, your DD needs the grades/test scores and most students will not have them. While Ivies may bend a little for athletes, they still expect very high grades/test scores.

As for swimming, everyone here needs to understand the difference between boys and girls. If your 12 you DD has already had her growth spurt, these times are not particularly impressive. And, honestly, based on what I've seen, she may not get any faster and may actually get slower. As girls enter their teens, they often put on weight and can't swim as fast. I've seen it over and over again. If your DD has not started her growth spurt yet, then maybe she'll continue to drop time and could end up a very good swimmer and a college athlete. Boys tend to be a different because they get bigger and stronger, which generally means they swim faster as they get older. But for both boy and girl swimmers, the reality is that the early developers/early stars don't always continue to be at the top. I was at Junior/Senior Champs this weekend (which, I assume, is where OP was) and I saw kids who used to be phenoms at 12/13 because they grew early. Now, they're still very good swimmers, but many other swimmers have caught up and passed them by.

The kids who don't have the size advantage when they're young learn to work hard, while the early developers often don't have to work hard when they're young, and then don't have the drive/dedication when their peers catch up physically. All the parents of giant 12 YOs who think their kids are going to the Olympics/get college scholarships need to check themselves and realize that a lot can happen in 5-6 years.

Gee - Katie Ledecky put on weight in her teen years and she’s kicking ass. You have no idea what you are talking about. I hope that you aren’t in charge of or advising anyone.

Ledecky was an amazing natural talent, she is very tall and continued growing even after age 16, more of an exception for females. She also trained with male swimmers thus she has those times and was able to sustain that training. She also comes from an extremely wealthy family, and her parents invested in private lessons, training, nutrition, power training and all kind of support for her since very early age. However, to say that girls cannot improve after 13 is not right. I've seen several PVS girls who, after being "stuck" in shorter distances switched to other teams that specialize on longer distance around age 14-15 y.o, and eventually getting what they wanted in terms of college cuts.

Being ‘skinny’ and not gaining weight in puberty isn’t going to get you anywhere. Katie is a big strong gal and so are many of the other top swimmers.
Katie Ledeckys Family is more normal than you realize and anyone can kluge together a good nutrition and strength training program - and it doesn’t involve starving yourself.