Athletes and living arrangments

[Anonymous]

My DS is going to school next year as a recruit. Many of the teammates live together. Some chose to live with other people. I can see the pros and cons to both. Pro is bonding as a team. Con is a little insular and would like him to make other friends beyond his teammates. Also thinking that if he has a roommate issue then it's also a teammate issue which doubles the potential problem (not that I think he's going to have a problem, just wondering out loud). Anyone have any experience? This is at a SLAC so not a giant D1 where I actually think it would be more obvious to live with team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS is going to school next year as a recruit. Many of the teammates live together. Some chose to live with other people. I can see the pros and cons to both. Pro is bonding as a team. Con is a little insular and would like him to make other friends beyond his teammates. Also thinking that if he has a roommate issue then it's also a teammate issue which doubles the potential problem (not that I think he's going to have a problem, just wondering out loud). Anyone have any experience? This is at a SLAC so not a giant D1 where I actually think it would be more obvious to live with team.

Has your son met the current team during a visit? He might have more of an idea after doing so. What’s the norm for first year athletes at that college?

I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer to this. My kid in a similar position opted to live with others to broaden his friend group.

[Anonymous]

My DD has a roommate who is an athlete for a different sport. Works out great.

[Anonymous]

A lot of times the schedule is the same for teammates so it’s helpful, rather than annoying a random roommate by getting up at 5 every morning and being gone all the time.

[Anonymous]

D3 Athlete that decided he didn't want another athlete as a roommate. Its worked out great- created another social avenue - if he's tired of the sport teammates. Yes, traveling and hours can be a little rough, but his roommate told him he likes having the room to himself when they travel so I'm guessing its a win for both of them.

[Anonymous]

I think living with a non-athlete is preferable -- it will allow your son to broaden his friend group. Plus, he'll spend plenty of time with his teammates.

[Anonymous]

My D3 athlete did not live with an athlete freshman year. He went through the regular matching roommate process. A different friend group is a good thing.

[Anonymous]

My D3 athlete will start next fall at a college where teammates do not room together as freshmen (although they are often paired with athletes from another sport). We are glad about this, as DC wants to make friends outside the team and will be spending more than enough time with their teammates. We actually crossed one school off our list when we learned that teammates all must room together there.

[Anonymous]

My D3 athlete at a smaller school chose to room with an athlete from a different sport. It opened up friend groups, but at the same time, rooming with another athlete means that each person understands the time and physical demands being placed on each other. I think this reduces the chance for mismatch with respect to study/party/athletics balance.

[Anonymous]

If you choose a student not on their team you might still want to pick an athlete.

6 am lifts might be a problem with someone out late at night, or their late night comings and goings might be difficult on sleep.

Games on Saturday, you don’t want a roommate up late Friday.

Once students are out of sharing rooms it’s easier to housemate with non athletes but I doubt they will.

[Anonymous]

My recently graduated D3 athlete chose to room with another teammate. All the incoming freshmen recruits were on some text/email thread. Coach then paired up the ones that wanted to room with other teammates (not all did). Anyhow, for my kid it was awesome - a bit of random with someone who got their crazy schedule. I have another kid at a different school, also a recruited D3 athlete and they went with a friend from HS who plays their sport. Roommate quit the team, and both kids have developed different interests. It's fine, but they've drifted off into different areas. They're friendly, but not really friends. Both are guys so I think the drama is pretty low any way.

[Anonymous]

At my school it wasn't up the student Freshman year. Olympic sports athletes roomed with another athlete (different sport) in the same season - this made sense because of similar lifestyle demands during the season. Your son doesn't want a roommate partying all the time when he's got a 6am weight session.

[Anonymous]

Our D3 athlete was given a choice if he wanted another athlete - same sport or a different sport. Ended up that the athletes in his sport all paired off so he selected another athlete but it wasn't a fall sport so it hasn't really helped with similar schedules. His thought was it would be nice to expand his social group, we will have to see how it works out when it's the roommate's turn to be up early, out late practicing, and at games. They have seemed to make it work so far.

[Anonymous]

Our D3 athlete lived with a team mate the first year and decided to live with others for his 2nd year. Gives them more space and networking opportunities.

[Anonymous]

Thanks. This is all helpful. I think that we're going to encourage that they expand out a bit. But I guess ultimately up to them what they want.