Hi Everyone! I am new to this board looking for advice on college for my son. He’s been playing since he was 9 and is a solid player. Due to strong competition and transfers coming in to play at our school he might get not be a starter his senior year. Does he still have a chance at playing in college. He wants to stay in California. Any advice or suggestions on target schools greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Look at D2 schools like Concordia or Biola. Or look at junior colleges and use that to transfer. Lots of options.
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I’ll agree that JC or D3 would be the place to go. Or even better, play club: it’s a real experience, a lot of fun, opens the pool of schools to many more and allows for a fuller college life.
I don’t know you or your kid and I don’t want to offend you, so just read this as general commentary. There seems to be a disconnect about what it takes to be a top level water polo player in this community. We are seeing this at ODP and in the college recruiting process. I’ve heard from college coaches that they get dozens of videos a day from kids who have no chance of playing at their schools. Coaches can’t waste time on that so they barely look at any unsolicited incoming emails.
There are 100s or 1000s of kids who are “solid” players. Solid isn’t good enough to be a D1 player or a national team player. Exceptional players are on the bench at D1 schools. There just aren’t enough spots, especially on the boys side. Let’s just say there are roughly 100 D1 spots a year for US high schoolers. Do you think your kid is legitimately one of the top 100 players in his class? Without knowing his age or the specifics of his school or club, there are few situations that would jump out as a place that has D1 quality bench players.
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depends on how strong his high school team and the college he wants to go to. If he’s not a starter at a school like Newport or HW, it shouldn’t really matter. What matters more than anything is whether he gets a chance to play in the competitive games when college coaches are watching.
Good to hear. The most important thing is to not assume water polo will get him into a school so make sure he stays focused on keeping his grades up and doing well on his standardized tests. Maybe he’ll have interest from colleges. Maybe he won’t. But if he does well in schoo,l he will have options regardless of water polo and then can always play club in college.
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There are plenty of D1 schools that do well with first bench players from an Open Division high school program. These schools are likely in the middle to bottom half of the rankings, but they are still great schools.
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