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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Is a 12-year-old gal with AAA, A, AA, A, A finishes last 5 tournaments good enough for D1 or Ivy?[/quote]

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.[/quote]

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.  [b]As girls enter their teens, they often put on weight and can't swim as fast.  I've seen it over and over again.  [/b]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.  [/quote]

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

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. 
[/quote]

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.[/quote]

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