by Cody Clawson |
To succeed at the highest level in a particular sport, playing year around is something the athlete has to do. Club sports are becoming very popular for high schoolers to better themselves and college coaches are noticing the competition level is higher than a lot of high school games.
“College’s just look more at club sports,” junior Kathrine Kuhlmann said. “Club practices are harder than high school. We do more yards and more meets. High school is just kind of a break from club. Colleges look more at the club stuff basically because the practices are just like they will be in college.”
For swimming, club is a huge part of off-season work-outs for high school. Coaches encourage the swimmers to do swim club.
“With swimming, the last 15 years since I’ve been a coach, club has grown a lot,” swim coach Chris Murphy said. “Since they now allow you to do both, to compete at a state level you have to do club and work year around. Very few people can medal at state and not do club. To get scholarships it almost exclusively goes to kids on a club team.”
Taking part in club athletics is not only vital in swimming to get noticed by a college, it is important in other sports, also. Club soccer is becoming a large part of being able to play at the next level.
“Club is where most college coaches go to watch,” senior Troy Hart said. “Mostly because club teams set up College Showcase tournaments where coaches from all over sign up to watch. In club soccer, you can stack your team to make it as good as possible so it will get noticed by all coaches.”
Competing in club sports does not always guarantee a spot on a college team. The club team the athlete plays on has to be good enough to get recognized, just like in high school. If a team is winning they will have people watching them.
“Playing at the next level really just depends on the club team you are on,” senior Delaney Kiely said. “The better the team and the league you play on the more opportunities you will have. It’s all about making it to the regional and national games. If you can secure a spot in those games you will be recognized by a college.”
Individual sports, like tennis, also have competitions outside of high school that are more important than high school matches.
“USTA (United States Tennis Association) tournaments are where all the top high school tennis players go to compete,” senior Isaac Hamilton said. “If you do well in a tournament for USTA it is like beating the best tennis players at a lot of high schools. It shows a lot of individual talent when in high school it is more of a team sport.”
Club sports and off-season competitions are gaining importance for being able to play at the next level. In any sport, if you want to play in college, you have to play club.
