Reply to What is the point of being a college athlete?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I know there are a couple obvious, valid answers:

- Love of the sport
- Athletic scholarship

But being a college athlete seems intensely time consuming and disruptive to both studies and social life (I say this not having been a college athlete).  Taking money out of the equation and [b]assuming you can enjoy your sport on a more casual basis (rec leagues, etc), what are the advantages of pursuing a sport in college[/b]?

Asking in case it's relevant to one of my kids.[/quote]

At least for my kid, who is playing ACHA (club) hockey, the more casual/less structured environment of rec/IM/beer leagues is just not as much fun.  So he makes the time demands of his sport (3.5 hours per night twice a week for practice and lots of weekend time taken up for games (home and away)) work.  Socially, it has been great for him to get to know upperclassmen in a way that would have been difficult or impossible without being on team.  [/quote]

Beer league and rec hockey also don't have the skill level of ACHA hockey--which is very high depending on where you are playing and at what level of ACHA.  There is a misconception out there that "Club" hockey is for kids who couldn't play D3 or whatever, but that's really not true.

Where is your DS playing?[/quote]

He's at Northeastern. They have a D2 ACHA team that has been going to Nationals pretty regularly the past few years (and likely also this year).  The team has some very skilled players, but is not as structured (on the ice) as my son's Tier 1 team was, and does a lot more dump and chase (per the coach's instructions), then he was used to.  But he has played hard and has (so far) gotten a jersey and a regular shift for every game (one of 3 freshman to so).  I'm certain - based on feedback from his coaches - that he (my son) could have found a D3 program to play at (and might even have had an outside chance at a lower level D1 team) if he gone through juniors.  But he decided he wanted to go to college.  And his current setup has worked really well for him.  One of his teammates from last year is having a similar experience playing ACHA D2 at Wisconsin, and some others at Kentucky (they are not getting as much playing time).  About 1/2 of his 18U team from last year is either playing juniors now, or is doing a second year of 18U.  The other half is in college, mostly playing ACHA (some D2, and some D3).

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