I am currently 16 years old 6'0, 193lbs. My coach was talking to me about a possible football scholarship, and he says I have a chance to get one for long snapping. He says all I have to do is gain about 25-35lbs before my seniot year in High School, and I have a chance to get a football scholarship. On the other hand, I have swimming. I am currently about 2 seconds away from making state championships, and I would probably lose about 30lbs before november in order to get there. I also have a chance to get a swimming scholarship too. I know that I should probably pick one or the other because I know it isn't exactly healthy to go from 225lbs to 160lbs in a couple of months. So was hoping that maybe some people on this board have some experience with this topic and could give me some advice.
Since this is a swimming discussion forum, I would usually say go for the swimming and don’t try to have wildly fluctuating weigh gains, then weight drops in order to be a two sport athlete. If you could do both with minimum loss/gain that would be different.
However, my advice to you is to think about what is most important to you a college scholarship or the sport itself. My personal opinion is, if at all possible, choose what you do based on which sport you prefer and not based on scholarship potential; unless, of course, scholarship money is your only ticket into the college of your choice.
From your previous posts, it sounds like you have a passion for swimming, does your passion for football run as deep? If your real love is swimming, then be the best 190 pound long snapper you can be during football season and work the swimming.
If it comes down to a decision based on scholarship money, your better bet may be football. Many college football programs are in need of good long snappers, a specialty that receives little attention, unless of course you miss badly on the winning field goal snap with 3 seconds left in the game.
There are 142 division 1 and 50 division 2 colleges that offer swimming/diving scholarships to Men. That's a total of just over 1,800 swimming and diving scholarships. Spread that over 4 years, there are about 450 scholarships available for any given class. Very few of these are given as “full rides”, most are partials, so they can be spread around. If we assume the nations top 10-20 High School seniors in any given event will be offered full rides, then it would take a better than 50 second 100 fly for a full ride to a major school. Getting a full ride in swimming is a phenomenal accomplishment; getting any scholarship is amazing and just swimming on a college team great.
The bottom line is, if you are looking at which sport has the most financial rewards – it probably isn’t swimming (unless you’re like Michel Phelps). However if you’re able to follow your desires; then take some time to think about which you personally prefer. And don’t be swayed by coaches or others.
Since this is a swimming discussion forum, I would usually say go for the swimming and don’t try to have wildly fluctuating weigh gains, then weight drops in order to be a two sport athlete. If you could do both with minimum loss/gain that would be different.
However, my advice to you is to think about what is most important to you a college scholarship or the sport itself. My personal opinion is, if at all possible, choose what you do based on which sport you prefer and not based on scholarship potential; unless, of course, scholarship money is your only ticket into the college of your choice.
From your previous posts, it sounds like you have a passion for swimming, does your passion for football run as deep? If your real love is swimming, then be the best 190 pound long snapper you can be during football season and work the swimming.
If it comes down to a decision based on scholarship money, your better bet may be football. Many college football programs are in need of good long snappers, a specialty that receives little attention, unless of course you miss badly on the winning field goal snap with 3 seconds left in the game.
There are 142 division 1 and 50 division 2 colleges that offer swimming/diving scholarships to Men. That's a total of just over 1,800 swimming and diving scholarships. Spread that over 4 years, there are about 450 scholarships available for any given class. Very few of these are given as “full rides”, most are partials, so they can be spread around. If we assume the nations top 10-20 High School seniors in any given event will be offered full rides, then it would take a better than 50 second 100 fly for a full ride to a major school. Getting a full ride in swimming is a phenomenal accomplishment; getting any scholarship is amazing and just swimming on a college team great.
The bottom line is, if you are looking at which sport has the most financial rewards – it probably isn’t swimming (unless you’re like Michel Phelps). However if you’re able to follow your desires; then take some time to think about which you personally prefer. And don’t be swayed by coaches or others.
