Division 3 Athletics

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is all enormously helpful!

For those of you whose kids have gone on to play d3 sports in college or are being recruited to play at those schools now, how did all that start for you?

Did your child’s coach say, you know, your kid is good but not d1 great, and here’s what you do next. Or do you have to get a consultant for college sports? I have no clue and feel like this adds a level of complication to college applications that I didn’t have with my older kids.

Our student was late in deciding this was the path they wanted to follow. He started by researching D3 schools he was interested in based on degrees offered, his stats, location (and of course had to have his sport). He did a deeper dive into the roster make up of the team, coaches and assistant coaches and developed a list. His team had video capability for games, he researched what position specific film was needed and built a video. His team also attended showcases. Before participating in the showcases, he would research attending schools and send the coaches his reel and let them know when he was playing. He also participated in College ID events - often as a follow-up from conversations with coaches he'd reached out to. Not all College ID camps are created equal - we found it was a good way for him to see the campus, meet the coaching staff and get a feel of the current players. This more than anything gave him a sense if the school and the team was a good fit. His travel coach provided some connections for ID events and recommendations to the coaches who were interested. It was a long journey. We supported him, but he had to do all the legwork.

PP here: to answer how did he decide to try? His coaches suggested to him that he was college material - some thought D1 - but we liked the concept of D3 better for him - less of a commitment, typically smaller schools, he could focus on his degree AND do a sport. We did not have a consultant for college sports, but he did have a position specific coach who was very familiar with what colleges were looking for and helped him train for that. There are some organizations out there that for a fee - will provide you with space to include video, easier outreach to coaches. I don't know if the ROI is worth it. We didn't end up going that route as our student did the work himself and had a good circle of support around him.