Why do college sports exist?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nerdy and petty parents don’t like college sports.

I'm careless about college sports.
I like the highest level professional sports.

[Anonymous]

Is there any reason that sports make sense in high schools but somehow become senseless in college? These kids are still adolescents entering college and need lots of exercise like young dogs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a man. I was so bad at sports growing up it was pathetic. My spouse was average at best. Our girls (we had no sons, thank God, lol, were all terrible as well). A couple were artsy theatre types, and the others were more mainstream but just completely unathletic. Fortunately they were all cute and smart.

Our girls all married college athletes. None was a major star, none played Division 1, but they were all high school jocks. They were all great kids with good heads on their shoulders who just happened to be blessed with above average athletic skills. They weren’t dicks about it and they didn’t think they were better than the nerds. They’re very good people, all of them. And so are their parents.

DCUM parents are just so incredibly insecure. So your kid sucks at sports. Ok. That doesn’t mean the kids that are good at sports are bad people. We’re not playing dodgeball anymore. Nobody is tormenting your kid - or taking their place in college either. Grow up.

Nice post!

[Anonymous]

Smart people aren’t smart.

They can’t even figure out a way not to be constantly wiping and flushing.

At least athletic people are more fertile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is because students want and expect it. Schools without sports don’t get as many applicants. I was a D3 athlete and my kid will be a D3 athlete. It is no different than having a theater program, or hiking club. My college actually had a massive outdoors club, with a house in the mountains that must have cost more annually in taxes and insurance than my sport cost the school for a decade. We had a a capella group that toured the nation At competitions and the school paid for all that. What’s the point of those things?

The student experience, that’s what. Same for sports. You probably think it should be done differently, and don’t value it. But I don’t particularly care for orchestral music but I am glad that students who are passionate about it can join them in college.

Many kids have zero interest in sports, or actively dislike them.

My kids were careless as well.
It's a side show.
Colleges should be for academics.

Nerd alert!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I don't think a private school should be denied from considering sports ability any more than it considers musical ability, demonstrated leadership, or compassion for others in the form of community service, but others may disagree. Even then, however, it would not be about college sports generally, but about the admissions process.

This (lengthy) post is really well-stated. My one comment is, no one is arguing that elite private colleges should be "denied" from considering sports. As in, forced not to consider them.

It's more of an honest and curious question of why, exactly, elite private schools recruit athletes at the *large* scale they do. And it really is a question of scale. At schools like Willams and Amherst, literally 35% or more students are recruited athletes, or so it's been said. It's a huge chunk of the student body and simply doesn't seem proportionate to the importance of sports as a discipline.

I'd say the same thing if 35% of seats were reserved for students recruited for performing arts. It's just too many.

And it's all the more puzzling when you consider that most are being recruited for sports that receive almost no attention.

Ultimately it's their (the schools') decision to make. And these elite D3 schools seem to almost unanimously agree that it's not overkill to reserve upwards of 1/3 of their seats for recruited athletes. But you can't blame people for wondering about their rationale. Because on the surface, it does not make a ton of sense.

I say this as a parent of an athlete who was accepted ED to the only school she applied.

35% of seats aren’t set aside for athletes - they are the same kids who would be there anyway, for the most part. Probably many more than 35% of high stats kids eligible for these elite schools play sports. Then sports give them a boost, like being a musician or actor would. So you end up with a college that needs sports teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is because students want and expect it. Schools without sports don’t get as many applicants. I was a D3 athlete and my kid will be a D3 athlete. It is no different than having a theater program, or hiking club. My college actually had a massive outdoors club, with a house in the mountains that must have cost more annually in taxes and insurance than my sport cost the school for a decade. We had a a capella group that toured the nation At competitions and the school paid for all that. What’s the point of those things?

The student experience, that’s what. Same for sports. You probably think it should be done differently, and don’t value it. But I don’t particularly care for orchestral music but I am glad that students who are passionate about it can join them in college.

Many kids have zero interest in sports, or actively dislike them.

My kids were careless as well.
It's a side show.
Colleges should be for academics.

People have already noted that many non academic things other than sports occur on campus.

But more importantly, colleges think sports are important, so… cope and seethe sports haters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I don't think a private school should be denied from considering sports ability any more than it considers musical ability, demonstrated leadership, or compassion for others in the form of community service, but others may disagree. Even then, however, it would not be about college sports generally, but about the admissions process.

This (lengthy) post is really well-stated. My one comment is, no one is arguing that elite private colleges should be "denied" from considering sports. As in, forced not to consider them.

It's more of an honest and curious question of why, exactly, elite private schools recruit athletes at the *large* scale they do. And it really is a question of scale. At schools like Willams and Amherst, literally 35% or more students are recruited athletes, or so it's been said. It's a huge chunk of the student body and simply doesn't seem proportionate to the importance of sports as a discipline.

I'd say the same thing if 35% of seats were reserved for students recruited for performing arts. It's just too many.

And it's all the more puzzling when you consider that most are being recruited for sports that receive almost no attention.

Ultimately it's their (the schools') decision to make. And these elite D3 schools seem to almost unanimously agree that it's not overkill to reserve upwards of 1/3 of their seats for recruited athletes. But you can't blame people for wondering about their rationale. Because on the surface, it does not make a ton of sense.

I say this as a parent of an athlete who was accepted ED to the only school she applied.

35% of seats aren’t set aside for athletes - they are the same kids who would be there anyway, for the most part. Probably many more than 35% of high stats kids eligible for these elite schools play sports. Then sports give them a boost, like being a musician or actor would. So you end up with a college that needs sports teams.

Great, then they should get that boost at the same time that everyone else’s boost is considered - and not get priority access to admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's backdoor affirmative action for pampered white kids who otherwise wouldn't have the grades to get in.

This comment is hysterical. Most athletes are non-white - in fact - almost 90% are non white.

Umm, have a look at the rosters of D3 college teams. And don’t forget to check out any water polo program 😂

DCUM college sports haters think every college sports team is the Harvard lacrosse team. Countless very diverse college football and basketball programs don't even register with them.

Blacks are overrepresented in college sports relative to their share of the general population.

Only Basketball and Football (aka the money sports) for D1 maybe, and definitely not in D3.

They are very overrepresented in D1 and D2, slightly less so in D3. But so what? The claim that college sports are for "pampered white kids" remains invalid.

Here is a list of collegiate sports here in the United States. I have highlighted the two we are discussing.

Baseball
Basketball
Beach Volleyball
Bowling
Cross Country
Cycling
Equestrian
Fencing
Field Hockey
Football
Golf
Gymnastics
Ice Hockey
Lacrosse
Rifle
Rowing
Rugby
Skiing
Soccer
Softball
Swimming
Tennis
Track and Field
Triathlon
Volleyball
Water Polo
Wrestling

Now go through and show the number of athletes per sport. The “more white” sports that you pretend are super important have a trivial number of athletes per team. And overall, throughout the NCAA, blacks are over represented as I said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is because students want and expect it. Schools without sports don’t get as many applicants. I was a D3 athlete and my kid will be a D3 athlete. It is no different than having a theater program, or hiking club. My college actually had a massive outdoors club, with a house in the mountains that must have cost more annually in taxes and insurance than my sport cost the school for a decade. We had a a capella group that toured the nation At competitions and the school paid for all that. What’s the point of those things?

The student experience, that’s what. Same for sports. You probably think it should be done differently, and don’t value it. But I don’t particularly care for orchestral music but I am glad that students who are passionate about it can join them in college.

Many kids have zero interest in sports, or actively dislike them.

My kids were careless as well.
It's a side show.
Colleges should be for academics.

People have already noted that many non academic things other than sports occur on campus.

But more importantly, colleges think sports are important, so… cope and seethe sports haters.

My kids don't hate sports.
They loved watching the World Cup.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is because students want and expect it. Schools without sports don’t get as many applicants. I was a D3 athlete and my kid will be a D3 athlete. It is no different than having a theater program, or hiking club. My college actually had a massive outdoors club, with a house in the mountains that must have cost more annually in taxes and insurance than my sport cost the school for a decade. We had a a capella group that toured the nation At competitions and the school paid for all that. What’s the point of those things?

The student experience, that’s what. Same for sports. You probably think it should be done differently, and don’t value it. But I don’t particularly care for orchestral music but I am glad that students who are passionate about it can join them in college.

Many kids have zero interest in sports, or actively dislike them.

My kids were careless as well.
It's a side show.
Colleges should be for academics.

What were your kids careless about, and what does that have to do with this topic?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is because students want and expect it. Schools without sports don’t get as many applicants. I was a D3 athlete and my kid will be a D3 athlete. It is no different than having a theater program, or hiking club. My college actually had a massive outdoors club, with a house in the mountains that must have cost more annually in taxes and insurance than my sport cost the school for a decade. We had a a capella group that toured the nation At competitions and the school paid for all that. What’s the point of those things?

The student experience, that’s what. Same for sports. You probably think it should be done differently, and don’t value it. But I don’t particularly care for orchestral music but I am glad that students who are passionate about it can join them in college.

Many kids have zero interest in sports, or actively dislike them.

My kids were careless as well.
It's a side show.
Colleges should be for academics.

What were your kids careless about, and what does that have to do with this topic?

- What were your kids careless about?
Sports in Colleges

- What does that have to do with this topic?
Sports and Colleges

Duh

[Anonymous]

To the OPs post, "why do college sports exist"?

My first response was knee jerk: Why do colleges offer theater, art, choirs or any number of opportunities that my kid doesn't like. He doesn't like these other things on campus but certainly respects their rights to pursue happiness.

In my opinion, it's an extension of the sports boys and girls played growing up through their HS years. Some Kids are better than others and want to pursue BIG state schools with dreams of going to the NFL, NBA or even MLB

With the NIL deals college athletes are making these days, you would be a fool not to look at your opportunities Some of the freshman make more than a million a year.

[Anonymous]

I think it’s about the well rounded college experience that offers extras outside of academics. All the extras like theater, art, sports, music, clubs like environmental and chess etc. are there for student enjoyment at d3 schools. They are terrific outlets that teach a lot that you don’t get in class. They all offer great soft skills like team work and leadership and make life on campus enjoyable. If you think school should just be classes only and no other offerings, why not save a lot of money and do online college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there any reason that sports make sense in high schools but somehow become senseless in college? These kids are still adolescents entering college and need lots of exercise like young dogs.

Everyone needs lots of exercise.

Discipline and endorphins are good things.