Anyone Here Have a Child Who Swims In College?

[Hillary in KS]

Ds 13 is a competitive swimmer. He works hard, swims nearly 8 hours a week, and loves it. We live in a small town, however, and the only team available is a YMCA team. (Closest USA Swimming club is 40 minutes.)

 

He's never the fastest kid in his age group, but he's not at the bottom, either. He usually places 5th or 6th in his age group.

 

He's starting to talk about swimming in college, but when I look at the kids who *are* swimming in college, I'm not sure he'd EVER be able to make those times. Maybe if we were in an area with a solid team and excellent coaching. But, right now, all we have is the YMCA league. :glare:

 

Is there any possibility for this kid to swim in college? Or do schools with swim teams strictly take top tier swimmers? I'm not sure how to direct him.

 

Thanks!

[NCMom]

Ds 13 is a competitive swimmer. He works hard, swims nearly 8 hours a week, and loves it. We live in a small town, however, and the only team available is a YMCA team. (Closest USA Swimming club is 40 minutes.)

 

He's never the fastest kid in his age group, but he's not at the bottom, either. He usually places 5th or 6th in his age group.

 

He's starting to talk about swimming in college, but when I look at the kids who *are* swimming in college, I'm not sure he'd EVER be able to make those times. Maybe if we were in an area with a solid team and excellent coaching. But, right now, all we have is the YMCA league. :glare:

 

Is there any possibility for this kid to swim in college? Or do schools with swim teams strictly take top tier swimmers? I'm not sure how to direct him.

 

Thanks!

 

You don't have to go to Stanford to swim, thank goodness, lol. Many, many smaller colleges have teams and you don't need to be a Top 16 swimmer to participate. You might even be able to walk on to a team that is competitive; our head coach did that and ended up getting a scholarship and went to the Trials in 8 events. :001_smile: Scholarships are a whole different game though.

 

I would say swim on the high school team if/when you can, try to get on a US Swim team at some point so you have verified times if you can, prepare to jump through the NCAA hoops and if it is important then look at schools with teams where he could be competitive and enjoy himself!

 

You might also want to check out the motivational times at US Swim to see where his times are falling and what to aim for. I'm not sure what the Y uses in place of this. Motivational Times

 

Hope this helps,

Georgia

[SwimmyKids]

There are more schools out there than Division I schools. Many many universities have swim programs, even club programs that compete against other colleges.

 

Encourage him to keep doing what he loves without obsessing on college right now. Without even obsessing on times even.

 

There's nothing wrong with a YMCA team; I believe Y teams send swimmers to the Junior Olympics, so they have their own motivational track. You certainly don't have to drive more than an hour for a USA Swimming teeam when a YMCA team is convenient.

[swimmermom3]

You've already received great info. I will try and find the site that lists the Age Group male swimmers picked up by colleges. Maybe some of the other parents know what I'm talking about. I ended up there by accident. It ranks all of the guys by stars and tells where they have received offers from. Even guys who did just "okay" in high school swimming had some offers. Of course that doesn't mean those schools will be the ones that are for your child academically. I think it's the Swim World College Recruit Rankings.

Edited July 15, 2009 by swimmermom3

[Danestress]

Though that would be a massive pain, and may be impossible depending on your family size.

 

My sons are younger than yours, but one gets Splash Magazine and was excited to show me an article claiming that while not all kids can swim division one or get scholarships, most kids who swim can swim in college *somewhere* if they really want. I'll ask him if he has that article still, and if you want it, I will mail it to you just so you can check it out. You can PM me.

 

If your Y team provides good training and has great coaching and it sounds like a lot of hours of training, you may be happy where you are. What does the training look like for high school aged swimmers? You really might just want to ask your coaches about this.

[swimmermom3]

Danestress is right about the driving. We are fortunate that an amazing facility and team are 10 minutes from home. We ended up there by dumb luck. Friends of ours who have 4 swimmers who have either gone to or have the ability and times to go to Nationals have a 45 minute drive one way to our pool. At one time, two of the kids had daily doubles and no one had the same practice time. If you have kids that are passionate and you are able to indulge them without sacrificing the rest of your family, it's an amazing sport.

They gain so many life skills other than just swimming from participating.

 

Good luck to you and your ds. I hope you find the situation that works for you.

[mcconnellboys]

You're probably thinking of Division I schools, where swimming (like all athletics) is a job. Look at Division III schools, which are generally your smaller, liberal arts colleges where you receive a top notch education as well as a fun swimming experience (not such a full-time committment required to it, either).

 

I haven't looked that much to our west, but there are some terrific schools in Iowa, for instance. I haven't checked to see if these even have swimming, but if they do, they're worth considering: Morningside, Cornell, Wartburg.

 

I know that all these do have swimming:

 

In Indiana, DePauw and Wabash. In Kentucky, Transylvania and Centre. In Ohio, Denison, Kenyon, and Oberlin. And of course, there are many, many more.

 

Division III schools can't grant athletic scholarships, but they can still grant merit scholarships for academics, leadership, etc., etc. At least some out of state schools will grant in-state tuition for those they'd like to see attend their school, too.

 

You can't really begin to see how fully he's going to develop until he gets in the open age group at 15. Then you can begin to compare his times to the times posted by Division III schools to see if he approaches those. That will give you a better idea of whether he can continue. He doesn't have to *have* those times, just be getting close. The coaches at the schools know how to train him to have similar times. They're looking for a mindset, a body build, and approachable times. With that, they can do the rest....

[LibraryLover]

/

Edited July 20, 2009 by LibraryLover

[Hillary in KS]

Thank you for your reassurance, all of you!

 

Ds is feeling frustrated, as we moved away from a very strong club last year. This is our first year at the YMCA league, and he knows he's not getting the technique development he was last year. This year it was basically just a couple of moms who coached the YMCA team.

 

We're planning for high school, and starting to think about college. He's wanted to swim for the area University, but it's a Division I school. And then, we found out this week that it discontinued their men's swim program. So he's been discouraged about his development here, and his hopes for swimming at the local University were dashed.

 

When we googled information about preparation for college swimming, a lot of it seemed to be about Division I schools. We'll get our ducks in a row for NCAA eligibility, but it would help to know about other schools with good swim programs where an "okay" swimmer could actually compete and swim at a higher level.

 

Danestress, I'd love to know more about that article! It would help to know more about other schools.

 

And swimmermom3, if you can remember that site, let me know!

 

Thank you!

[Hillary in KS]

Danestress is right about the driving. We are fortunate that an amazing facility and team are 10 minutes from home. We ended up there by dumb luck. Friends of ours who have 4 swimmers who have either gone to or have the ability and times to go to Nationals have a 45 minute drive one way to our pool. At one time, two of the kids had daily doubles and no one had the same practice time. If you have kids that are passionate and you are able to indulge them without sacrificing the rest of your family, it's an amazing sport.

They gain so many life skills other than just swimming from participating.

 

Good luck to you and your ds. I hope you find the situation that works for you.

 

Yes, I think that's part of his discouragement. Last fall we moved away from a strong club that was 15 minutes from our house.

 

We may, at some point, do the 40 minute drive, but I don't know that we're ready to do that just yet. All 3 boys in our family are swimmers, though the younger two are just starting out. They all love the sport, the practices, and the meets. Eventually we may decide to take the driving plunge.

 

Thank you!

[swimmermom3]

You're probably thinking of Division I schools, where swimming (like all athletics) is a job. Look at Division III schools, which are generally your smaller, liberal arts colleges where you receive a top notch education as well as a fun swimming experience (not such a full-time committment required to it, either).

 

I haven't looked that much to our west, but there are some terrific schools in Iowa, for instance. I haven't checked to see if these even have swimming, but if they do, they're worth considering: Morningside, Cornell, Wartburg.

 

I know that all these do have swimming:

 

In Indiana, DePauw and Wabash. In Kentucky, Transylvania and Centre. In Ohio, Denison, Kenyon, and Oberlin. And of course, there are many, many more.

 

Division III schools can't grant athletic scholarships, but they can still grant merit scholarships for academics, leadership, etc., etc. At least some out of state schools will grant in-state tuition for those they'd like to see attend their school, too.

 

You can't really begin to see how fully he's going to develop until he gets in the open age group at 15. Then you can begin to compare his times to the times posted by Division III schools to see if he approaches those. That will give you a better idea of whether he can continue. He doesn't have to *have* those times, just be getting close. The coaches at the schools know how to train him to have similar times. They're looking for a mindset, a body build, and approachable times. With that, they can do the rest....

 

Hey Regena,

 

Some colleges do have swim teams that you can walk on to though, don't they? My dd would like to swim in college for fun like she does for high school. She doesn't swim club anymore.