Niche Sports Are No Longer an Ivy League Admissions Plan – The Atlantic
A story published last fall by The Daily Princetonian found that the Gold Coast of Connecticut pumps more athletic recruits into Ivy League schools than any other region in the nation. Kids sports look a little different here as they do in upscale neighborhoods across America. Backyards feature batting cages, pitching tunnels, fencing pistes, Olympic-size hockey rinks complete with floodlights and generators. Hotly debated zoning-board topics include building codes for at-home squash courts and storm-drainage plans to mitigate runoff from private ice rinks. Whereas the Hoop Dreamers of the Chicago projects pursued sports as a path out of poverty and hardship, the kids of Fairfield County aren t gunning for the scholarship money. It s more about status maintenance, by any means necessary.
Or, as the Darien parent told me, they re using athletics to escape the penalty that comes from being from an advantaged zip code. She continued: Being who you are is not enough. It might be enough in Kansas. But not here.
Rowing is like this in San Diego.