Anthony
Should I do a sport in College?
I heard that doing a sport in college is really intense. I am on my school's swim team and I'm not good but not bad either. I mostly do it for fun. Would joining a swim team in college be worth it? #sports #swim #college #athlete #athletics #college-athlete
5 answers
Sara Gregor
Sara’s Answer
The GOOD:
- Friendships. My teammates in college are still to this day wonderful friends.
- Scholarships. Playing college athletics helped pay my way through obtaining a college degree.
- Skills. There are many skills that being a college athlete gives you more so than stopping after high school. Time management, discipline and work ethic are the big three for me.
- Health & Wellness. I loved being active throughout college. There was no "Freshman 15" for me or fellow teammates from practice and workouts 5 days a week.
- Love of the sport. I wasn't ready to give up volleyball. I love the sport and playing in college had always been a desire of mine.
The BAD:
- Injuries. I unfortunately tore my ACL my freshman year during practice and the road to recovery was a challenging one!
- Balance. The first two semesters of being a student athlete were challenging. Balancing a full course load while also going to practice and workouts 5 days a week with games on the weekend and evenings was a lot at first. It took me two semesters to full master my schedule and how to be success on the court and in the classroom.
- Social. A majority of my time was spent with my teammates, coaches or in the classroom. I did not have much time to socialize with other students during our heavy season in the fall. I loved spending time with my teammates and it helped us build a very strong bond, however, I had very few friendships outside of my team due to time constraints of meeting other people.
Overall, I am so thankful I followed my desire to play a college sport. The good outweighed the bad for me and the professional I am today is because of the work ethic and skills that I grinded through during college.
Taylor Teeters
Taylor’s Answer
I was a swimmer in college so would like to give you my thoughts. I wanted an academic focus first, and then the swimming to come secondary (while both are still important to me!) I also was not one of the top swimming athletes in the state of Texas, so I decided to pursue a Division 3 college that had a good swimming program, but also was focused on academics and getting a good education first. This experience was so great for me and I would highly recommend it! While it was not a Division 1 athletics school, there was still incredibly tough competition, fun swim meetings, and the team bonding aspect was great. Plus, the swim coach would support anytime I needed to focus on school work. My advice to you would be to find a list of Division 3 colleges that have strong academic programs as well and see if any of those schools could work for you! Since Division 3 typically has smaller athletic programs, I found it very easy to get in touch with their athletic staff and swim coaches. My other huge advice would be to do an on-site visit or overnight stay if at all possible. I narrowed my college search down to 2 schools, and the overnight stay really solidified my decision! My experience swimming in college was great and I highly recommend. I learned so much from teamwork, to time management, dedication, and it helped me stay in shape during college :)
Best of luck to you - and I'm super excited for you!
Danielle Joanette-Kluck
Danielle’s Answer
Hi Anthony,
Doing a sport in college is a lot of work, but they have a lot of support systems in place for athletes. Special academic advisor/counselors. Some schools do mandatory study hours where all athletes report to study in x place for x number of hours daily. Those study hours often have tutors present for questions. Depending on the school, there might be scholarships associated with swimming or other sports.
As far as time, it's going to be quite a bit, probably going to be practicing twice a day leading up to and during the season, you'll travel a lot, etc.
Worth it? The best answer is "it depends". If you do it for fun, will it continue to be fun if you have to put a lot more time into it? If you're interested in the scholarships and extra help than I would suggest you look at the swim programs at schools you're interested in, see what is offered, and evaluate if that would be amenable to your goals.
I would chat with your coach and see if they know people in any schools/programs who could give you more information. It's good to use your resources/network.
Danielle recommends the following next steps:
Isaac Hyman
Isaac’s Answer
Patrick Kilcullen
Patrick’s Answer
College sports are great for getting to know new people and continuing to do what you love, however they ask a lot of you for early morning or late night practices to constant travel for games, but the experience is one of a kind if you have good time management skills, then you should definitely become a college athlete