Complete List of High School Sports How to Pick

Complete List of High School Sports How to Pick SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Interested in playing a high school sport? You should be! High school sports are a great way to make friends, get involved in your school, and stay active. What sports are offered? I’ll give you the full list of high school sports available in the US, and I’ll explainwhy you should join a team and how to figure out whichsport is right for you. The Complete List of High School Sports Offered in the US These are the sports that fall under the jurisdiction of a State Athletic Association. Each state has itsown Athletic Association that runs the sports leagues and championships for the below sports. NOTE: Not all of these sports are offered in all states.For example, Skiing Snowboarding isn’t offered in Florida. Less obviously, bowling isn’t offered in California and several other states. Additionally, even if asport isoffered in your state, it may not be offered at your school.There might not have been enough interest or funding to create a team.If you hope to play a sport that’s offered in your state, but not at your school, consider starting a team. I’ll discuss this optionmore in-depth below. There may be other sports offered at your high school that are played at a â€Å"club† level (they don’t have a state championship).To find out which sports are offered at your specific high school, check out yourschool's website or email a school administrator or athletic director. Unless otherwise noted, sportshave both boys' and girls' teams or a co-ed team: Badminton Baseball (Boys) Basketball Bowling Cheerleading / Competitive Spirit Squads Cross Country Dance Team Field Hockey Flag Football (Girls) Football (Boys) Golf Gymnastics Hockey Indoor Track Field Lacrosse Skiing Snowboarding Soccer Softball (Girls) Slow Pitch Softball (Girls) Surf Swimming Diving Tennis Track Field Volleyball Water Polo Weightlifting Wrestling When Is Each Sport Played? The season (fall, winter, spring) for each sport varies by state.There are a few sports that are consistent in season from state to state - football, for example, is always played in fall. To check when each sport is played in your state, do a Google Search for your state’s high school athletic association.Simply search â€Å"[State Name] High School Sports† or â€Å"[State Name] High School Athletic Association.†That will bring you to the athletic association website for your state.There should be a tab on the website for sports.Under that tab, you should see a list of all sports and their season. Below isa screenshot fromthe Florida High School Athletic Association website: How to Choose Which Sport(s) to Join There are many ways to choose which team (or teams) to join at your school.First, you should take into consideration the season when each sport is played.Follow the steps above to find out when each sport is played in your state.Most schools don't allow you to play two sports that are in the same season (or that overlap seasons as fall and winter sports sometimes do).Talk to your high school athletic director if you’re interested in playing two sports that are in the same season or may overlap. Next, you should take into consideration which sports you’ve played before and how much you enjoyed them.Did you play a sport inmiddle school or recreationally that you enjoyed?Is that sport offered at your high school?If it is, consider joining that team!You already enjoyed playing it, so you should continue. If the sport isnot currently offered by your school but is offered by your state athletic association, consider starting a school team.Again, follow the steps outlined above to see if the sport is offered by your school athletic association. If you'd rather not start a team, you also might be allowed to join that team at another high school. For example, if you wanted to be on the bowling team, and it wasn't offered at your high school but was at a high school a couple of miles away, you'd likely be allowed to try out for that team. Talk to your athletic director to see if this is an option. If it's not, you should see if there is a localcommunity sports team for that sport. If there is, consider joining that team! If the sport you love isn't offered by your state athletic association (such as Ultimate Frisbee), consider starting a club to play it with friends after school. You won’t have a state championship, but you’ll still have the opportunity to play the sport.As a bonus, starting your own club willalso be a great leadership experience to include on your resume. Before picking a sports team to join,consider how well your experience in a sport matches up with how competitive it is at your school.Have you played the sport before? For how long? How good is that team at your high school? Did they go to the state championship? For example, at my high school, when I attended, our football and lacrosse teams were terrible. They essentially lost almost every game.However, our men’s tennis team went to the state championship.If I was picking a team to join and I’d never played any of the sports before, I’d probably try out for football or lacrosse and NOT tennis, since I’d have a better shot atmaking the football or lacrosse teams.If I had playedtennis competitively throughout middle school, I’d still tryout for the tennis team. It’s good to be aware of how competitive each team is in advance of trying out. To help figure outhow competitive each team is, you should also try to figure out how many people get picked to be on each teamand how many players are returning from the previous season.For example, football teams typically have around 40 players. Tennis teams at high schools typically have five singles players and two doubles teams (often composed of four of the five singles players).Football is probably a less competitive team to join (even a good football team) than a tennis team since there are 40 spots versus five. However, if you're only going to try out for one specific position on the football team (such as quarterback), it may be MORE competitive than tennis since there is only one starting spot for quarterback versus five starting spots for tennis players. If all five tennis players are returning from the previous season, I’d be hesitant to try out because I likely wouldn’t make the team unless I were good enough to beat one or more of the current players. While all of the above should be taken into consideration when picking a sports team, don’t let any of the above stop you.If you’ve always been dying to play on a tennis team but have never played before, still try out! You never know, you might make it! If you're interested in a sport that's very competitive at your school, check to see if you can try out for a JV team (or some schools even have freshman teams in addition to JV andvarsity). You can start there and work your way up to varsity. 4 Great Reasons to Join a Sports Team Sports teams are a great extracurricular activity.I have some of my best high school memories from playing on the tennis team at my high school. Reason 1: It’s a great way to make friends (or make more friends).Sports team often bring together a lot of different people (who may not have been friends otherwise). Joining a sports team willprovide you with a new group of friends, who you might not have met otherwise. Reason 2: It can be a great opportunity for leadership (which colleges love to see on your resume).Sports teams often elect a team captain, which gives that personthe opportunity to be a leader.Typically, team captains don’t have a lot of responsibility; usually, it’s more of an honorary title. If anything, team captains are responsible for boosting team morale. However, becoming team captain will still help boost your college applications becauseit shows schoolsthat you’re well-liked and could potentially be a leader at their school. Reason 3: It helps you stay active and relieve stress.High school is stressful, and playing sports helps relieve stress. Staying active through sportscan make you feel happier and have major health benefits. Reason 4: Depending on how good you are and what your goals are, participating in a sportcan help you get into college.If you rise to become a top player of thesport in your state, you might be recruited to play thatsport incollege, and you might also be offered a scholarship.NOTE: this is rare. This isn't the norm. Don’t count on being recruited to college for your sport.If you’re seriously interested in college athletic recruiting, learn about the process in our other guide. WhatBenefits Should You Not Expect to Get From Joining a Sport? While joining a team has many benefits (as you can see above), you shouldn’t join a team if you’re hoping it’ll be the extracurricular activity that gets you into college.Unless you’re in thetop 1% of players in your sport, it’s unlikely you’ll be recruited to play it for college. Also, admissions officers are not particularly impressed by your participation on a team.My friend, who is a former admissions officer, said it is one of the most common topics for personal statements.Admissions officers hate to read these personal statements because they’ve heard every high school sports story.They’ve read about you and your team overcoming some obstacle and winning. They’ve read about crushing defeats.In your personal statements, admissions officers want to see who you are and what makes you unique. Playing a sport will not make you unique since many students play sports. Don’t play a sport so that you seem â€Å"well-rounded† on your college application.Top schools no longer want well-rounded students.Top schools want students who are an expert in something.If you’re the number 1 ranked tennis player in your state, you’ll be impressive because you’re an expert in tennis.However, if you’re the 150th ranked tennis player in your state, the college likely won’t care.It’d be better for you not to play a sport and to be a state champion mathlete or a state science fair winner or a debate champion.These all prove expertise in a field.To read more about this expert philosophy, read our guide on how to get into Harvard and the Ivy League. If you're not that interested in playing a sport, don't do it! Playing a sport takes a lot of time. If you don't enjoy the sport, it's a huge time-suck from which you aren't getting many benefits.Consider spending your time doing anotheramazing extracurricular activitysuch as one of the activities mentioned below. What’s Next? If you’re interested in playing a sport, you should learn about what makes an amazing extracurricular activity for you college applications. Also, you should learn about how many extracurricular activities you need for college. Interested in learning about other great extracurricular opportunities? Learn more about job shadowing, community service, and volunteer abroad programs. Want to improve your SAT score by 240 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Your Complete College Application Timeline

Your Complete College Application Timeline SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips For many students and their parents, the college application process is a source of tremendous anxiety. Fear not. If you familiarize yourself with this process and devote enough time to it, I’m confident that you’ll be able to make it through unscathed and end up at a quality college. In this article, I’ll take you through the complete college application timeline, detailing what you should be doing at each point in your high school career to ensure that you can submit exceptional college applications. Overview of the College Application Process If you want to successfully complete the college application process and make yourself as competitive for college admission as possible, you will be directly or indirectly working on your college application well before your applications are due.In fact, if you have any intention of applying to selective colleges, this process can really begin as early as your freshman year. The major components of your application that will be evaluated are your transcript, your standardized test scores, your recommendations, your personal essay, and your extracurricular activities. In this article, I’ll walk you through an ideal college planningtimeline to ensure that you’re able to have every aspect of your final application be as strong as possible. Freshman and Sophomore Years While you don’t have to seriously think about what colleges you want to apply to before your junior year, your first two years of high school will influence the quality of your college application. Even though there are a fewcolleges including University of California schools that won’t consider your freshman grades, your sophomore grades will definitely factor into your high school GPA and help determine whether you’re accepted to the college of your choice. Pay attention to what classes you take.Selective colleges want to see that you’ve excelled in rigorous classes throughout your high school years.Some high schools are hesitant to allow students to take honors or AP classes in their junior years if they haven’t taken advanced classes in their first two years of high school. Furthermore, colleges are concerned with how many years you’ve taken core subjects (math, English, science, history, and foreign language).If you don’t take a foreign language or history class in your freshman or sophomore year, you’ll be a less competitive applicant. Also, make sure you’re involved in extracurricular activities. Colleges like to see that you've committed yourself to your extracurriculars. The student who has excelled in the same extracurricular activity throughout high school is a more impressive applicant than the student who first starts doing an extracurricular in his junior year. Start studying for the SAT/ACT.Generally, you should start studying for the SAT/ACT in your sophomore year or the summer before your junior year.We recommend that you take the SAT/ACT for the first time in the fall of your junior year. Start studying early to prepare yourself thoroughly. Calsidyrose/Flickr Fall of Junior Year In the fall of your junior year, you should take the SAT or ACT for the first time. Also, start researching colleges.You don’t need to finalize your list of schools at this point, but if you identify colleges you’re interested in, you’ll have a better sense of what you need to do to make yourself competitive for admission. Additionally, you’ll be able to determine your target score for the SAT or ACT. Then, you can decide if you need to retake your SAT/ACT, and you can figure out how to improve your score, if need be. Spring of Junior Year In the spring of your junior year, you should make a preliminary list of colleges you want to apply to.Use college finders, college search websites, and ranking lists to help you.Having this list will give you ample time to complete all your application requirements and ensure that you can reach your target scores on your standardized tests.Divide your list into reach, target, and safetyschools. If necessary, retake your SAT or ACT.Ideally, you’ll achieve your target score this time around. Again, make sure you’re prepared. Also, if you’re considering applying to any schools that recommend or require SAT Subject Tests, I advise you to take them in the spring of your junior year. Read our SAT Subject Test articles to figure out your target scores, help decide which ones to take, and for assistance in preparing. Finally, you should ask teachers if they’re willing to write recommendation letters for you.If you ask them early, your teachers will have more time to think about them, and you may get better recommendations. Keep in mind that many teachers will be bombarded by students asking for recommendations during your senior year. Summer Before Senior Year In the summer before your senior year, try to finalize your list of colleges.Make sure you’re familiar with the application requirements for each school. If you still need to take the SAT or ACT to reach your target score, do some intense studying over the summer. Also, start thinking about and preparing for your college application essays.Come up with ideas and write first drafts. The more you do over the summer, the less you'll have to worry about during the school year. Fall of Senior Year Most likely, the fall of your senior year will be rather busy. In the fall, you have to make sure your college applications are ready. Formally ask for recommendations early in the semester.Don’t wait until one week before your application deadlines to ask. Teachers who are too busy or inundated with recommendation requests may decline to write your lettersor will be unable to write you a good recommendation at the last minute. Polish your college essays.College essays take much more time than you think. Even though the essay isn’t that long, writing a great college essay can be time-consuming. Write multiple drafts, and if possible, allow your teachers and counselors to review your essays and offer advice. For years, I spent many hours helping procrastinating students revise college essays the night before their applications were due. I'm having painful flashbacks. Let's proceed. Typically, early decision and early action applications are due by November 15.If you apply early, the Oct. or Nov. SAT/ACT will most likely be your last chance to take the test.Early applicants are usually notified by early December regarding admissions decisions. For most colleges, regular decision application deadlines are January 1st, but some popular colleges have earlier deadlines.For example, the deadline for University of California applications is the end of November. Be aware of the deadlines for all the schools on your list. Make sure that you have submitted all necessary applications, forms, and score reports.Make a checklist for each school of what you need to submit. Luckily, your life may be easier because more colleges are using the Common Application. If you still need to take the SAT/ACT, do some quality studying and take the test in time so you can get your scores to the colleges.For most schools, the December tests will be your last opportunity, but a few colleges will allow you to submit scores from January or February. If you need financial aid, begin working on the financial aid process.Each college has its own financial aid requirements. Check the school’s website and financial aid office for requirements and deadlines for financial aid.If you want to be eligible for financial aid, make sure you complete the FAFSA.Become knowledgeable about financial aid and explore all your options to pay for college. Spring of Senior Year You'll hear about your regular decision applications by late March or early April. Hopefully, you'll be accepted by multiple colleges. Continue researching the colleges that accept you to choose the college that will be best for you.If you applied for financial aid, the colleges that accepted you will give you their financial aid offers shortly after they accept you. You can use the financial aid packages to determine how much you’ll have to pay for each school and factor that into your college decision.Typically, you have to decide which school you’ll attend by May 1. Special Message to the Procrastinators The college application timeline I’ve given you is ideal for maximizing the quality of your application and minimizing stress.Admittedly, many students don’t begin thinking about the college application process until the fall of their senior year. Some of these students are still able to successfully complete all of their applications and attend the college of their dreams. However, I think every student benefits from sticking to the college timeline I laid out.I know students who were unable to submit applications on time because they waited too long to start writing their essays. I know students who severely limited their college options because they didn’t do enough college research. Also, the majority of students I’ve worked with could have done better on their standardized tests if they had given themselves more time to study. Furthermore, you’ll be busy with school and extracurricular activities during your senior year. If you don’t start contemplating the application process until the fall of your senior year, you’re likely to feel overwhelmed given all of your other responsibilities. If you devote more time to this process earlier, it will be easier and you'll be more likely to accomplish your goals. What's Next? Do you need more information to successfully stick to this college application timeline? We've got tons of other guides and resources to help you plan. If you're struggling to find extracurricular activities, learn about the 3 best extracurricular activities for your college application. Are you starting to work on your college essay? Make sure you know how to write a great college essay. Finally, to help you stay on track, review the important college application deadlines you can't miss. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now: