[csa]

> Problem is, you kind of have to be elite to make it work. Four year varsity starter, state champion level basically.

Maybe at Stanford. Maybe at Ivies in certain highly competitive sports (e.g., rowing).

In most sports, simply being a recruitable athlete at a level lower than “power conference” but higher than NAIA (maybe?) is possible depending on the sport and/or specialty. In terms of skill, any high school with 1000+ students probably has 10-50+ students in this category — grades and/or lack of desire are often holding them back from a tertiary education of any kind. Said another way, that’s much lower than “state champion” level.

Again, knowing how to get recruited and having a coach who knows how to showcase talent for recruiters goes a long way. That said, it only helps, but is not required in most sports.

I’m really glad you mentioned running as an example. There are a ton of good track & field and cross-country folks who: 1) can improve significantly just by training well, and 2) are very recruitable at the Ivy League level. Want-to goes a long way.