Understanding where to look and what to look for
What else can you do to see which university may need swimmers and what kind of swimmers are needed and for which time frame?
- Step 1: Find a university that offers the subjects you like to study
- Step 2: Find out which Division / Association this college or university belongs to.
- Step 3: Look innto the college / university sport roster and get an understanding of the times these swimmers are performing at
- Step 4: Know your best stroke and distance and search in the roster which swimmers are currently performing these distances and strokes.
- Step 5: Find out what status these swimmers are in e.g.: if they are freshmen, then the coach will not need to recruit a swimmers of the same strokes and distances soon. Sophomores or seniors may need to be replaced within a year or two with a new swimmer. This may be a good starting point of you to contact a coach as you know the current swimmers may leave university within a year or two.
- Step 6: What kind of performances are likely to be needed when applying to this team, click on the bio of the chosen swimmer and have a look.
Examples: Step 1-2 & 3
- Step 1 – find Academics in the menu – look for your field of interest
- Under campus life, you find athletics
- Step 3 – find the NCAA affiliation (which division does the school belong to / NCAA compliance)
- Step 3: Under sport, you find your favorite sport and the roster
- Step 4 – find your stroke (for example breaststroke). It also shows you straight away that this person on the team is a senior who will be leaving school soon. A new recruit may be needed who can swim this particular stroke.
- Step 5-6 : Click on the Bio to look at performances:
You can find out his swimming times before entering this school, so you know what is needed in terms of swimming performances.
In chronological order you can see his performances throughout his career at this school. This is a good indicator for you to know what is expected if you want to be a member of this team.
