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

[Anonymous]

I know absolutely nothing about water polo but a few parents were saying a skilled swimmer can get noticed more easily playing a niche sport like water polo. Is that true? Her grades and test scores are terrific. Whether scholarship or just to help get into a top college, would it be wise to explore water polo? I'm not even sure how one goes about pursuing water polo.

[Anonymous]

Following... I know that there are club teams.

[Anonymous]

Does she want to do water polo?

[Anonymous]

If she's got great grades and scores why not just apply to colleges? Not everyone has to be a college athlete. My DC was recruited for a sport, but not by schools he really wanted to go to. He decided that the school was more important than being able to continue in sports so focused on the academic side.

Water polo is also offered as a varsity sport at a limited number of schools. Are they schools your DC wants to attend? Do you think she will be passionate about water polo?

[Anonymous]

I just can't imagine approaching college this way. It may not even be a good idea to spend so much of college focused on a sport like water polo. It may not be a bad idea either, but being a college athlete is intense.

So I'll ask the same question the others did: is this something that your daughter is even interested in?

[Anonymous]

Another thing to consider is the quality of the competition locally. It seems like it is mostly concentrated in California. Will playing water polo on a DMV club actually make her recruitable? Maybe take a look at the rosters for the schools she is interested in and see where they came from. For example the Harvard roster is made up of women from California, Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand. Stanford is almost all California and Hawaii.

[Anonymous]

This is so weird. Just let her do the sport she wants and apply to college and see what happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know absolutely nothing about water polo but a few parents were saying a skilled swimmer can get noticed more easily playing a niche sport like water polo. Is that true? Her grades and test scores are terrific. Whether scholarship or just to help get into a top college, would it be wise to explore water polo? I'm not even sure how one goes about pursuing water polo.

you know what would help her get into school for water polo- playing and being good at water polo. Do you know what sport would be an exercise in misery for a kid who didn't enjoy it- water polo. She may like swimming, but water polo is a lot of treading water interspersed with swimming (not to mention the whole ball thing). Does she swim distance events now? If the kid just swims 50s and 100s, this seems like torture if you force them to do it

[Anonymous]

you need to be a great swimmer for water polo and most are really tall even the women some short who are attack but most over 5 10

[Anonymous]

Why does she enjoy swimming as a sport? If she likes pushing physical limits in the water and camaraderie and the competitive aspect, then have her try water polo and see if she likes it.

If she likes racing the clock and the fact that swimming is an individual sport with no jostling and no favoritism then water polo would be just awful for her.

[Anonymous]

I suspect women’s hockey, women’s water polo, and women’s field hockey are the “easiest” sports to use for college admissions. I’ve even heard of girls picking up crew (rowing) late in high school and getting offers.

Millions of girls swim, millions of girls play soccer and volleyball. Millions play softball and tennis and you have to do those from an early age and the travel circuit every summer.

It isn’t odd for a girl who already has the swimming skill set to segue into polo.

[Anonymous]

Didn’t Covid pull the financial plug on all these niche sports?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I suspect women’s hockey, women’s water polo, and women’s field hockey are the “easiest” sports to use for college admissions. I’ve even heard of girls picking up crew (rowing) late in high school and getting offers.

Millions of girls swim, millions of girls play soccer and volleyball. Millions play softball and tennis and you have to do those from an early age and the travel circuit every summer.

It isn’t odd for a girl who already has the swimming skill set to segue into polo.

Women’s hockey is populated with girls who came up playing with boys through pee wee or later. Good luck picking that up in high school and using it to get into college

[Anonymous]

Such a bad idea to approach college this way.

[Anonymous]

You know how competitive the top DC area soccer clubs are? Well that's how competitive the water polo clubs are here in California. Your daughter who "picks up" water polo in high school will have no chance of being recruited for a college program.