Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you research the club sports before your child applied for a school or before they made their decision? How did you research them? How big a factor, if any, was it in your child's decision to enroll at their school?

I second this question. It's important to my son to keep playing his sport at a club level in school -- and I think most schools have it as a club sport, but trying to figure out which schools have active and competitive teams (He could probably play his sport at the D3 level but wants to go to a bigger school) is challenging. Can you dig into the club sport on your college tour?

Try and arrange to meet with club members while you are on campus. There should be contact information available on a website or through the club sports office of the college.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you research the club sports before your child applied for a school or before they made their decision? How did you research them? How big a factor, if any, was it in your child's decision to enroll at their school?

I second this question. It's important to my son to keep playing his sport at a club level in school -- and I think most schools have it as a club sport, but trying to figure out which schools have active and competitive teams (He could probably play his sport at the D3 level but wants to go to a bigger school) is challenging. Can you dig into the club sport on your college tour?

My DS is a member of the Pickleball team at UVA last year, and it was extremely competitive: https://news.virginia.edu/content/new-club-national-champs-rise-uva-pickleball. I think you can email the club directly.

Anonymous wrote:Did you research the club sports before your child applied for a school or before they made their decision? How did you research them? How big a factor, if any, was it in your child's decision to enroll at their school?

I second this question. It's important to my son to keep playing his sport at a club level in school -- and I think most schools have it as a club sport, but trying to figure out which schools have active and competitive teams (He could probably play his sport at the D3 level but wants to go to a bigger school) is challenging. Can you dig into the club sport on your college tour?

Anonymous wrote:Did you research the club sports before your child applied for a school or before they made their decision? How did you research them? How big a factor, if any, was it in your child's decision to enroll at their school?

For my kid, it definitely played a role. He wanted to keep playing his sport (ice hockey) at a competitive level, and the school he picked gave him the opportunity to do so. He's also serving in club leadership, which is developing other very useful skills. But independently of hockey, the school itself and its location were very good for him. All in all, a very good fit. I would recommend taking the sport into account, but I'm not sure making it the driver of the decision is a great idea. One of my kid's friends picked an out-of-state flagship because he wanted to play on their club team, and then didn't even make it out of tryouts. Fortunately, he seems to be doing fine out there, but it could have a been a bit of a disaster. I'd definitely recommend picking a school you'd be happy with even if you don't play.

Did you research the club sports before your child applied for a school or before they made their decision? How did you research them? How big a factor, if any, was it in your child's decision to enroll at their school?

Anonymous wrote:My kid's club team gets very little direct financial support from the school, but does get ice time (very valuable) and the use of school vans for road trips. They take two or three long distance trips every season, and those are all paid for by the players. Cost is roughly $1500 per year (though its paid by semester). Club is student run, though they have a coaching staff which makes decisions on who makes the team, who plays, etc. Coach is hired by the club (i.e. the players).

This was how my club sport worked at a D3 school 20 years ago also. Athletes hired the coach and figured everything out, we paid for everything, but we were allowed to use college resources like any other club could.

My kid's club team gets very little direct financial support from the school, but does get ice time (very valuable) and the use of school vans for road trips. They take two or three long distance trips every season, and those are all paid for by the players. Cost is roughly $1500 per year (though its paid by semester). Club is student run, though they have a coaching staff which makes decisions on who makes the team, who plays, etc. Coach is hired by the club (i.e. the players).

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the school. Some might be organized to be point that they seem more “official” than varsity teams at D3 schools- this is especially the case if they don’t field a varsity, NCAA team for that sport. At my kid’s school, club sports were entirely student-run and the only thing provided by the university was rotating access to field space. Everything else was covered by students and there was no coaching, just captains who kept things organized and sent emails.

Some schools they played ran the club team as essentially a varsity sport but without official status because of title IX. An example was when my kid played against one of the service academies (that team now has full varsity status). The team rolled up with a charter bus, warmups, complete uniforms, a coach and a trainer.

I went to a larger SLAC that funded club teams almost as well as school teams. It varies greatly by school

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the school. Some might be organized to be point that they seem more “official” than varsity teams at D3 schools- this is especially the case if they don’t field a varsity, NCAA team for that sport. At my kid’s school, club sports were entirely student-run and the only thing provided by the university was rotating access to field space. Everything else was covered by students and there was no coaching, just captains who kept things organized and sent emails.

Some schools they played ran the club team as essentially a varsity sport but without official status because of title IX. An example was when my kid played against one of the service academies (that team now has full varsity status). The team rolled up with a charter bus, warmups, complete uniforms, a coach and a trainer.

Generally, this and the 9/15/24 13:06 post are very on point. Depends on the school. As a general rule, DI schools support their club teams and are more organized than D3 club teams. That is because there are just more kids that can play on the team and more kids more club fees to support the program. Club fees can be quite expensive. VA tech's club lax team is good program and it looks like club fees are around $3000 to $3500 (https://www.virginiatechlacrosse.org/cost). Some schools club teams are just a step below what is required for NCAA sponsored teams. They will travel. And I don't mean right to the next college but I mean flying. Most high level clubs sports will have an national oversite group like MCLA (it oversees college club lax). This national groups will even have championships games that draws teams from all over. Last years MCLA tournament was in Utah (I think) and played over 4-5 days.

Rugby is the same way. A friend's son was "recruited" to play rugby at large SEC school even though they don't have a DI team. And by recruited he was going down late to visit the school in April of his senior year to just look at the school and apply. So, depending on the club sports and school, club teams can have some pull with admissions. He's now playing for the rugby club team as a freshman.

And my guess, this is the direction that NCAA sports are likely going to go once everything gets settled out. DI athletes will get paid via a union and to make that work with football, lots of non-revenue sports scholarships will get eliminated leaving only club really to be there for my kids that want to continue with their sports in college.

It varies but the general rule of thumb is that a "team" has some level of financial support from the school's athletic department and is formally part of the NCAA (or NAIA), whereas a club is usually a student-run organization and self-financed that may get some small amount of funding from the school's general activity fund (like the chess club, or the dog lovers club, or the college republicans or democrats).

At my son's school, the club A team is pretty serious, with mandatory practices and game attendance requirements, and the B team is more 'school first, come out if you can'. Both teams had tryouts and the quality of play is actually at a pretty good level (my son said several of the club players on both the A and B side could have easily played college sports, but many opted to focus on academics rather than athletics in university).

At my child’s college the club sport is completely student run. For tryouts the entire existing team provides input on kids trying out. They are self coached with the president / vice president running practices and being the leaders. At my son’s D1 school the club sports are very competitive and a serious commitment with 2 hour practices 3 times a week and travel to other campuses about twice a month.

Depends on the school. Some might be organized to be point that they seem more “official” than varsity teams at D3 schools- this is especially the case if they don’t field a varsity, NCAA team for that sport. At my kid’s school, club sports were entirely student-run and the only thing provided by the university was rotating access to field space. Everything else was covered by students and there was no coaching, just captains who kept things organized and sent emails.

Some schools they played ran the club team as essentially a varsity sport but without official status because of title IX. An example was when my kid played against one of the service academies (that team now has full varsity status). The team rolled up with a charter bus, warmups, complete uniforms, a coach and a trainer.

Are they each their own organization with a board and a coach who does tryouts and runs practice?