October 11, 2008
College Swimming 101
Do You Want To Swim In College? - Where Do You Start?
Even for sophomore athletes in HS it is time to start looking at colleges. If you are a junior in HS and have not started, get going! If you are a senior in HS and have not started . . . 

There are about 390 men’s and 490 women’s college swim team teams in NCAA Div I, II and III and more non-NCAA affiliated programs for just about every level swimmer. 

Every year college coaches need to recruit up to 10 new swimmers for their team and this is a lot of work. If you are a swimmer at the level of Tom Luchsinger, the college coaches will contact you, starting July 1st before your senior year. However, if you are not at that level, you need to do your own homework, find colleges matching you academic interests and athletic skills and "sell yourself" to the coaches of these college swim programs, starting as early as your sophomore year. 

For the HS States and Sectional level swimmers, it becomes very important how you perform at the big meets as a sophomore and junior in high school, as this may put you on the "radar screen" of a college coach. College coaches from northeast will attend the HS State meets, the big Holiday Classic meets, Sectionals and other big local meets to look for future recruits. 

Here is a concise   article  in USA-Swimming web site about the recruiting process throughout high school. For HS juniors and their parents: if there is interest in learning more about the college recruiting process contact coach Marc.