Reply to Did Your Athlete End Up With Plan B?

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Did Your Athlete End Up With Plan B?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have a daughter who played soccer for 4 years in college.  For her it was good thing, although she seriously was going to quit after her Sophomore season when she only played in 9 games.

I tell people all the time now -- write down 3 schools that your kid might be able to play at (be realistic).  Now, go to the sport's athletic website for that school and look at the number of seniors (and redshirt juniors) on the team.  Count them up. Now go back 4 years on the website and look at the number of freshman.  How many survived to play as seniors?  For women's soccer a "good" number would be 50%.  Most schools are less than that.  So, of the say 8 freshman recruits maybe 3 or 4 will still be there playing as seniors.

Why did they quit particulary if they were getting money?  Injuries, time requirements, lack of playing time, just not liking the coach, the team, the school.  All of those are common.

It is a very different atmosphere in college sports.  The coach is not getting paid by parents.  His or her job is graded by (a) how well the team does, and (b) are the players doing okay academically and staying out of trouble.  Actually or even potentially screw up any of those factors and there will be lots of pressure on a kid to quit or transfer.

My kid liked most of her teammates, but there was always  an undercurrent of continuing competition.  There is no I in "team", but there are two in "Playing Time".  Sometimes that can be less than friendly.

[/quote]

This is helpful, thank you.

I know the time commitment is different, but do people think there also is a positive difference in the competitiveness, team dynamic, etc. at D3?   Does anyone have experience with their D1 level athlete (with attractive D1 options) choosing to play D3?  [/quote]

I think D3 kids are closer because academics matter.  They study together and get tutors to help them.  They can't have a coach year round, so captains will set up work-out schedules during the off-season, that the kids have a lot of fun at.  They also do not have to room together so they have space too.

D1 is like a job.  It comes first.  College and friends come second.  So you may have a great team dynamic, but you might not either.  But you are with that team SO much, it can be hit or miss.  You live with them, you have meals with them, you have 1-2 daily practices with them, you are on buses and planes with them.  You go to meetings with them, and many are in your exact classes because you are all taking pretty basic classes that can go around your schedule. Also, some D1 kids are a dumb as rocks.  And with that usually comes some ignorance about how other people are around the world.  Egos and personalities clash

It depends on what the player wants.  Is classes and the college experience the #1 priority or is playing the sport.  Possibly succeeding after in a professional world.

There is room for both. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics