Can I start a thread for recruited athletes for 2026.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC getting 50% athletic scholarship guaranteed for 4 years - yes it is guaranteed, unless kid quits or breaks rules and thrown off team. We are surprised DC received that much for a secondary sport at a mid major. Strong academic school - very very happy

Understand that while legally this may be true...if a coach sours on your kid, they will make your kid's life a living hell to try get that scholarship money returned to them so they can use on it a better player. Literally, the coach will treat your kid so poorly that no normal person would ever remain on the team...the coach will do everything they can to ruin the sport and college for your kid.

Make sure you are going into this eyes wide open.

you have issues

Dp and disagree. Needed dose of realism, very few recruited athletes manage to stay on the team all four years.

There is turnover but as a former recruited athlete and the parent of recruited athletes I can say with certainty that this statement is complete nonsense.

Fine. Point out a team with zero attrition.

give it a rest - no need to throw shade at the college athlete experience - attrition likely mirrors the drop rate for any club or group in college

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC getting 50% athletic scholarship guaranteed for 4 years - yes it is guaranteed, unless kid quits or breaks rules and thrown off team. We are surprised DC received that much for a secondary sport at a mid major. Strong academic school - very very happy

Understand that while legally this may be true...if a coach sours on your kid, they will make your kid's life a living hell to try get that scholarship money returned to them so they can use on it a better player. Literally, the coach will treat your kid so poorly that no normal person would ever remain on the team...the coach will do everything they can to ruin the sport and college for your kid.

Make sure you are going into this eyes wide open.

you have issues

Dp and disagree. Needed dose of realism, very few recruited athletes manage to stay on the team all four years.

There is turnover but as a former recruited athlete and the parent of recruited athletes I can say with certainty that this statement is complete nonsense.

Fine. Point out a team with zero attrition.

This statement "very few recruited athletes manage to stay on the team all four years" is nonsense. Attrition on the high academic D3 team that my oldest plays on is about one kid per year. On the other ones' Ivy team it's higher but the roster is larger, 2-3 kids per year.

On my P4 D1 Lax team years ago it was less than 10%. It's higher now especially for P4 sports because of transfers and the portal but it's nothing like you are implying.

[Anonymous]

Our child was one of seven freshman recruits. By graduation all that remained was our child and one other recruit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC getting 50% athletic scholarship guaranteed for 4 years - yes it is guaranteed, unless kid quits or breaks rules and thrown off team. We are surprised DC received that much for a secondary sport at a mid major. Strong academic school - very very happy

Understand that while legally this may be true...if a coach sours on your kid, they will make your kid's life a living hell to try get that scholarship money returned to them so they can use on it a better player. Literally, the coach will treat your kid so poorly that no normal person would ever remain on the team...the coach will do everything they can to ruin the sport and college for your kid.

Make sure you are going into this eyes wide open.

you have issues

Dp and disagree. Needed dose of realism, very few recruited athletes manage to stay on the team all four years.

There is turnover but as a former recruited athlete and the parent of recruited athletes I can say with certainty that this statement is complete nonsense.

Maybe it’s baseball, but I know three different baseball players that were dropped by the coach in the Fall. All were coerced into giving up their scholarship for the next semester with the coach telling them that they would support them in the transfer portal if they did so, but would make their lives a living hell if they didn’t and ensure they never played D1 baseball again.

This was just to get the $$$s back for the Spring semester…not for multiple years as the scholarships were yearly.

I assume all the revenue sports are far more cutthroat this way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If D1 doesn’t provide full scholarship and is dependent on performance, what is the point of pursuing D1? I don’t get it.

They couldn’t get in on their own intelligence/academic performance/scores so it was a way for them to get into the school. Without the sport, they would have been rejected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If D1 doesn’t provide full scholarship and is dependent on performance, what is the point of pursuing D1? I don’t get it.

They couldn’t get in on their own intelligence/academic performance/scores so it was a way for them to get into the school. Without the sport, they would have been rejected.

that is not necessarily true but athletes on my daughters team either couldn't keep up with the expectations, got tired of the 6 day a week practices, got tired of the constant commitments to the sport, were just tired, wanted to be a "normal college student," etc... P4 D1 sport is a full time job.

[Anonymous]

ED1 with coach support
D3
Probably only institutional need based aid but will cover enough of TCOA at top LAC so we are all in.
DC plans to play for 4 years but is planning for an intense academic track so we will see.

We are very excited about the school fit and academics and never gave D1 a second thought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If D1 doesn’t provide full scholarship and is dependent on performance, what is the point of pursuing D1? I don’t get it.

They couldn’t get in on their own intelligence/academic performance/scores so it was a way for them to get into the school. Without the sport, they would have been rejected.

that is not necessarily true but athletes on my daughters team either couldn't keep up with the expectations, got tired of the 6 day a week practices, got tired of the constant commitments to the sport, were just tired, wanted to be a "normal college student," etc... P4 D1 sport is a full time job.

All of this plus sick of injuries, transfers, etc . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ED1 with coach support
D3
Probably only institutional need based aid but will cover enough of TCOA at top LAC so we are all in.
DC plans to play for 4 years but is planning for an intense academic track so we will see.

We are very excited about the school fit and academics and never gave D1 a second thought.

Ditto.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our child was one of seven freshman recruits. By graduation all that remained was our child and one other recruit.

I guess that I would not be real surprised if it happens some places. After all, going to Cal Baptist or Abilene Christian to paly a sport is kinda meaningless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our child was one of seven freshman recruits. By graduation all that remained was our child and one other recruit.

I guess that I would not be real surprised if it happens some places. After all, going to Cal Baptist or Abilene Christian to paly a sport is kinda meaningless.

It was a D1 Virginia school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here’s some advice for the uninitiated, as a parent of a former D1 4-year athlete.

Coaches don’t care about your child. They don’t care if your child gets injured. They don’t care about academics. They own your child and demonstrate that 12 months a year.

Most of the freshman athletes you join the team with will be gone by graduation. The transfer portal makes it easy for decent athletes to leave. Coaches will also tell less talented athletes to leave. Some will just quit. Others will get career ending injuries.

Just because your child got a scholarship doesn’t make them safe. Coaches will torment them. They might make them quit. They’d certainly bench them. The coaches take their responsibility to replace players with better players very seriously.

Your child will get injured, a lot. It will be a constant theme. Pre-season and the actual season takes its toll. Every year they remain on the team, the more damage they’ll do to their bodies. Concussions, knee, ankle, shoulder and elbow injuries happen. There is always a push to get players back to practice faster than necessary. Athletic training rooms are like M.A.S.H. units. Make sure the AT facilities and personnel are excellent or your children will suffer.

Athletic teams haze. You’ll don’t hear about it, but they do.

You’ll see your children less than the parents of NARPs. Athletics gets in the way of holidays, milestones and vacations. When you visit your children on campus you’ll be lucky to get a few hours with them for dinner depending on the sport, team culture and academic rigor.

D1 athletics are a mental and physical grind. Generally the benefits outweigh the costs, but that’s far from guaranteed.

Don’t exaggerate any athletic success in a college sport. Universities all post readily available statistics. People can see if your child isn’t contributing.

Athletics are a full time job. Make sure both you, and your child are ready for it.

Chiming in as a parent of a D1 athlete - Mid-Major though and not P4, so not a lot of scholarship $$. Great experience. Instant friends on campus. Coach cares about team GPA and crafting athletes into good people. Only miss 2 days of classes per semester. Coach texts DC during summer breaks to say hi and see how they are doing. Kids get injured, yes, but they still come to cheer on the team and remain active in team activities. Invaluable experience.

"invaluable experience"

LOL No.

Mother of more than one D1 player Lax and Soccer.

Explain yourself.

[Anonymous]

I am the invaluable experience poster. I did not bother responding with specifics to the nay-sayer. The benefits are huge. IYKYK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here’s some advice for the uninitiated, as a parent of a former D1 4-year athlete.

Coaches don’t care about your child. They don’t care if your child gets injured. They don’t care about academics. They own your child and demonstrate that 12 months a year.

Most of the freshman athletes you join the team with will be gone by graduation. The transfer portal makes it easy for decent athletes to leave. Coaches will also tell less talented athletes to leave. Some will just quit. Others will get career ending injuries.

Just because your child got a scholarship doesn’t make them safe. Coaches will torment them. They might make them quit. They’d certainly bench them. The coaches take their responsibility to replace players with better players very seriously.

Your child will get injured, a lot. It will be a constant theme. Pre-season and the actual season takes its toll. Every year they remain on the team, the more damage they’ll do to their bodies. Concussions, knee, ankle, shoulder and elbow injuries happen. There is always a push to get players back to practice faster than necessary. Athletic training rooms are like M.A.S.H. units. Make sure the AT facilities and personnel are excellent or your children will suffer.

Athletic teams haze. You’ll don’t hear about it, but they do.

You’ll see your children less than the parents of NARPs. Athletics gets in the way of holidays, milestones and vacations. When you visit your children on campus you’ll be lucky to get a few hours with them for dinner depending on the sport, team culture and academic rigor.

D1 athletics are a mental and physical grind. Generally the benefits outweigh the costs, but that’s far from guaranteed.

Don’t exaggerate any athletic success in a college sport. Universities all post readily available statistics. People can see if your child isn’t contributing.

Athletics are a full time job. Make sure both you, and your child are ready for it.

It's not just D1. D2 and D3 are, as well. My child is a D3 athlete (had a D1 offer and is so thankful they didn't take it) and it was a GRIND. Practices or games 6 days a week. Super early lifting. Film review. Individual sessions. Travel out of state (mine had at least 3). Athletic/rehab training. Missing classes and dealing with professors about that. "Team bonding." Mandatory Study hall. And that is on top of classes.

Look, I like our coaches and team. But what we were told during recruiting was just words. They made assurances that were not kept. They made it seem like the Head Coach was super friendly and treated the kids like family (really, it's just the starters). Coaches have left (fine, that happens). And they do not GIVE TWO SH--- about mental health, no matter what the NCAA says. You either do it, do it well, and do it with no complaints, or nothing.

My kid's team absolutely did not haze. So, not all do.

Kid has not been home since summer, which was harder on them that I thought (and me too).

And to put salt in the wound, D3 gives no athletic money. You're doing all of the above for the love of the game. So you better make sure that you do because it's great. But it's also awful.

One final thought: those who diminish what athletes contribute can suck it. These kids have leadership, time management, grit, smarts, etc. that NARPs don't in the same way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ED1 with coach support
D3
Probably only institutional need based aid but will cover enough of TCOA at top LAC so we are all in.
DC plans to play for 4 years but is planning for an intense academic track so we will see.

We are very excited about the school fit and academics and never gave D1 a second thought.

ED2 with coach support. Was pressured to do ED1 but we said we needed more time.
20k merit. Not tied to sport but I doubt dc would have received it otherwise
LAC
Dc wants to play all 4 years but you never know. Dc was shooting for d1 and did have some interest from patriot league d1 but opted for d3 ultimately and I think that was wise.