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Swimming in college


SquirrellyMama
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What are the realities of getting on a college swim team? I'm not talking scholarships, because we know that won't happen. I'm just wondering what it's like for a swimmer that is somewhere in the middle of their team. Will she need to look at Jr. College, smaller universities, or are there spots for kids like that at Div. 1 schools?

 

She still has 2 years of summer club, and high school swimming ahead of her. There is room for improvement.

 

Kelly

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Also curious about this. How do coaches go about recruiting? Do schools have "try-out" days? Are they only looking for certain stroke/event strengths that their current team is lacking? I'm am really clueless on this. My son is only a seventh grader, but occasionally talks about swimming in college. He is only a BB and A time swimmer. Is that good enough for a small private college team? It is still a few years away for us, but since he already talks about college swimming, I wonder if he can even make a team.

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I talked to our summer team's assistant coach this past season.  She is a Sophomore in college now.  She swam summer, high school, and competitive year round team.  She knows I homeschool and that I'm uncertain whether I will continue through high school or not.

 

I asked her if high school swim team was important to being able to swim in college.  She said she believes the competitive team, not the high school team, is what colleges are looking for.  Would you agree with this?

 

She did not end up swimming for college due to an injury.  Her brother received a scholarship for swim and swam 4 years at his college.  He did summer, high school, and competitive team also.

 

We are only swimming 2 days a week and doing 4 meets during winter season.  They will be stepping up their game in the next year or so and move to a more competitive winter/year-round team with more training days.  I don't want them to burn out, but this is the passion of one of my boys and his twin is really into swimming too.

 

Just curious how this all works :-).

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Okay, this is what I have seen watching my DH. I haven't asked these specific questions yet.

 

Club team is more important than high school. Really though, it's mostly about your times.

 

 

 

For recruiting, my DH mostly gets contacted by the swimmers or matched with them on the recruiting sites. He is at a D2 school, it may be different for D1. He also looks at the top times in our region of the country.

 

From what I have seen, the swimmers need to put in the work to get their name out there to get recruited. And don't wait till SR year.

 

He has had try outs before, but no one has ever been good enough to make the team yet.

 

DH said AA and AAA times. But if you want a small private school, like AZ Christen, that is NAIA, then they will take almost anyone.

 

He also said collegeswimming.com is the big recruiting site.

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It is good that 7th/8th graders are starting to think about college swimming, because then they have plenty of time to prepare. Our experience is with recruiting for D1 women's programs (of which there are many, most are funded-girls have probably 10x the opportunity to get some scholarship money than boys). Generally, you (and I mean the kids-parent help not do the work) should start thinking of yourself as a package. This is for D1/D2 swimming. D3 has no athletic scholarship money and is not subject to the NCAA clearinghouse

In order of importance:

1. times (find out and start working toward these cuts: Sectionals, Futures, NSCA, Jr. Nationals (Winter and Summer), hopefully heading toward Senior Nationals/Trials

2. Good test scores/grades (coaches want academically eligible swimminers) Having DE classes as a homeschooler helps as does high test scores.

3. Improvement over high school (are you faster as a junior than as a freshman?)

4. Size (bummer, but true. Yes, there are anecdotes of really short people, but they are anecdotes. 95% of Dd1's team-and all scholarship swimmers- are over 5'7". Men-6 ft is the holy grail for D1 swimming)

5. fit with team (do they need your races for conference championships?)

 

You can be weak in one area, but usually not in two.

 

If you are not swimming with a USA club, you need to be. In our experience, no coach cared in the least about high school swimming. Every coach called our club coach to ask about dd1's attendence, attitude, and work ethic. Swimming USA should get into place the most important thing for success in college swimming- time management. Swimming is a grind. Mornings/evenings, three-day meets, missing school for championship meets and keeping grades up: these things are practiced in high school so you can do them in college. The people who struggle the most freshmen year tend to be those who are not used to the swimming workload (i.e. no mornings in high school, skipping practices to study or socialize) because they are tired and stressed and then they miss class to sleep, and then- academically ineligible. Happens to lots of freshmen, we know quite a few that are struggling now and can't swim conferences.

Yes, there are stories about the kid who only swam summer or high school swimming and is super talented. I have personal knowledge of those stories as one club in our area specializes in the late-bloomer sprinters. Yes, they get recruited and get money. But I only know one who lasted through the second year. They were not prepared for the grind or the academics. And they were all tall-over 6'3" for guys and 5'10" for girls. 

Collegeswimming.com is really good. Put yourself in there, put in your times, you will see where you stand with your state's recruiting class.

 

Good luck!

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All of what MysteryJen said above is true for D1 swimming, but D3 can be a complete different experience.  Our USA swim coach tells the kids that there's a place for almost anyone to swim in college, if you are willing to choose a college based on swimming alone.  There are plenty of swimmers on D3 teams who are short, have only USA Swimming "BB" times, and aren't fast enough to make our local high school team.

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:iagree: Also, D3 schools are very different. Some are like a high school team where nearly everyone who wants to swim can swim. Some are really fast, with practices much closer to D1/D2 schedules. There is a place for nearly everyone on some sort of college team. Know your times, know yourself, be honest with how much you really want to work regarding swimming. 

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Aw darn, my DD-13 will never be 5'7" tall. Even with AA and AAA times, she doesn't stand a chance of swimming in college. On a good day she is 5'4" tall.  I think swimming is a lot like baseball. It is all about stats and improving performance over time. 

No. She can be short and strong in all the other areas and she will do fine, especially in the lower ranked D1 programs. Height is only a determining factor if other things are weak or you are late to the sport without lots of times/experience. 

 

We were looking at major D1 conferences and scholarship money. Look at the smaller conferences, lots of opportunities for AAA time girls, no matter their size. 

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Again, height is not a sole determining factor. Get faster, get good grades, find a conference fit. College swimming is a tool to get an education, not an end in itself.

We know several short girls swimming college. Small conferences, outstanding academic records with at least sectional times. There is a fit for everyone, maybe not a ton or money for everyone, or major conference opportunities, but if you work hard at it, you can find a program.

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I wonder about NJCAA? I found only one thread about it. We've discussed CC first or instead of a 4 year degree. She's got different academic paths in mind.

 

I'm just not sure we could pick a school based on swimming. She'll probably never be D1 or D2.

 

If she goes State U she'll spend maybe $80,000 for her degree in comparison to $100,000 for a D3.

 

I had no idea this was so in depth, and should have been started years ago. She was late to competitive swimming.

 

This thread has been incredibly helpful.

 

Kelly

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Also, D3 schools are probably the most affordable in some ways, because of the academic scholarship opportunities. Swimming is not a head count sport which means that the scholarship pool is divided into percentages. 50 % is a good freshman scholarship. So you need to look at the affordability of any school, first. If you can only afford it with a high percentage scholarship, you need to be sure you can get ( and keep) that scholarship. Lots of people are swimming with under 20% scholarships, so they are paying quite a lot for the privilege.

 

Start your college search by looking hard at finances. Preferably with a drink nearby.

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Also, D3 schools are probably the most affordable in some ways, because of the academic scholarship opportunities. Swimming is not a head count sport which means that the scholarship pool is divided into percentages. 50 % is a good freshman scholarship. So you need to look at the affordability of any school, first. If you can only afford it with a high percentage scholarship, you need to be sure you can get ( and keep) that scholarship. Lots of people are swimming with under 20% scholarships, so they are paying quite a lot for the privilege.

 

Start your college search by looking hard at finances. Preferably with a drink nearby.

Oh yes, I've been trying to help her understand that she doesn't want to spend twice as much just to swim.

 

Kelly

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I only know about junior college stuff for water polo. But if she can get up to AAA times, she can look at many low ranked D1 schools, many of which stack (combine athlethic and academic money). We know one girl who got both kinds of money with only one sectional time, high test scores, and high grades. 

 

In your shoes, I would plug her times into college swimming and it will generate a list of schools where she might fit. Also get her test scores as high as you can and get her transcript competitive. Then start looking. We found ds1's school to be more affordable than the state U when his scholarships came in. He only swam for one year (D3), but still had fun.

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My poor dd15 is only 5'4 :( Unfortunately, D3 schools are too expensive. I think her swimming in college thoughts might have to be over.

 

 

Kelly

 

 

I wonder about NJCAA? I found only one thread about it. We've discussed CC first or instead of a 4 year degree. She's got different academic paths in mind.

 

I'm just not sure we could pick a school based on swimming. She'll probably never be D1 or D2.

 

If she goes State U she'll spend maybe $80,000 for her degree in comparison to $100,000 for a D3.

 

Oh yes, I've been trying to help her understand that she doesn't want to spend twice as much just to swim.

 

Kelly

 

 

You have received some great advice on swimming competitively in college. However, if your daughter decides not to pursue competitive swimming, but still wants to swim in college, there is another route. Many sports have club teams on college campuses where the teams practice and compete against other colleges. I found this for swimming.

http://www.usaswimming.org/_Rainbow/Documents/d5bbfc5e-12cd-40dd-a6f7-1edccfd0bd1b/g.%20Collegiate%20Club%20Sports.pdf

 
 

 I do not know how complete the list is for swimming, as I am familiar with a different sport. If your student is interested in finding out if a certain school has a club swimming team, you should look under "club sports"under the recreation on that college's website. How "competitive" a team is depends on the school and the sport. 

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