My school is pretty weak in terms of athletics despite it being fairly large at around 1400 students. Most of the varsity athletes on the football, baseball, basketball, wrsesteling teams aren't that popular -- maybe , they make up the seccond tier of "popularity." The guys who really pull the chicks at my school are the ones who dress really trendy with fancy brands and dress fairly formal. Where I am, athletes are NOT cooler than the rest of the population.
I'm a cyclist, which isn't a school sport because it's difficult to get started in the sport, (it IS a team sport though, contrary to what some of you may think). I spend at least twenty hours a week training for my sport, and nobody really understands what it is that I'm doing except for the physical education teachers -- whom I've informed about what it is that I do.
Anyway -- the phys. ed. teachers have made me the poster boy for athletic dedication in my school. Ladies come up to me all the time and tell me how their phys. ed. teacher was telling the class how I work so hard and am very dedicated, that I'm crazy strong, and thing like: "His resting pulse is at 42, and his heart pumps 50% more blood with one beat than a normal person."
This "good press" is way more beneficial to my rep than being a "school athlete" would be. Practically the WHOLE SCHOOL has heard about me from these phys. ed. teachers.
BTW: I just found out I earned a $9,000 a year scholarship from my 1st choice college because of my cycling. And that's on top of another scholarship they're giving me because of academics!
- Maurizio