I am currently a grade 12 student and I have been doing competitive swimming on my local team for the past 7 years. I am not the fastest on my team, my times are around regional standard level, and I am contemplating if I should try out for varsity swimming next year. I love swimming but my only concerns are that practices will take up too much of my time and my marks will suffer. Right now I practice about 15 hours/week and school is easy to keep up with, my grades are easily in the high 90's. I am prepared for my average to drop next year, but my goal is to get into medicine or pharmacy post grad so I know I can't let my marks drop too much. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with varsity swimming, what is the practice load like, how difficult is it to make the team, when should I reach out to the coach if I do decide I want to swim, and just any other comments or experiences with either of these teams would be super helpful! Thanks