<p>In general, if a student is recruited by a school for any sport, MUST that student play that sport when the time comes? Obviously other than being injured, what if the student has a change of spirit, has a too demanding of a schedule, or a conflicting schedule, etc.? Does he or she need to play (or still be a member of the team)?</p>
<p>You would be expected to play, but it is a free country. It would be considered “bad form” if a coach helped you with admissions, and you reneged on your commitment to play your sport especially if you are receiving scholarship $. In general, it doesn’t happen very often (in son’s sport) as I think coaches have a radar for the recruits level of commitment.</p>
<p>It happens, but not happily. I am just looking back to athletes I knew in college who reluctantly gave up their sports for various reasons. It’s never a happy parting, particularly if a player is gifted and valuable to a program, but it’s true, it’s a free country. That’s one of the beauties of schools that don’t offer athletic scolarships. You’re still in school no matter what because your aid is need-based. </p>
<p>However, you can practically guarantee bad blood for a little while if a player literally uses athletics to “get in” and then quits … don’t be shocked if you just don’t see that coach recruiting from that school’s program for a while. I have learned that relationships between HS and college programs run warmer and colder than I once believed, and it goes both ways. Kids who feel strongly supported with slots in D3 can feel “burned” at the last minute when despite support, admissions committees do not admit ED, and then HS coaches just may be reluctant to recommend those schools to their next recruiting classes.</p>
<p>Crytic,</p>
<p>Are you having difficulty deciding if athletics has a place in your college life? </p>
<p>As the father of 2 sons who has very recently gone through college athletic recruiting , I understand totally. It takes an incredible amount of passion, commitment and determination to play a sport 4 years in college. My oldest son is a college senior, and I don’t know how he does it. There are some majors that make it virtually impossible to play a sport in college. My middle son just urned down D1 walk-on offers and guaranteed D3 roster spots because he knows he really likes baseball, but he really wants to study engineering at a large state school and have a social life. He is a social kid. He’s always played baseball but it has always been on his terms. If he plays college baseball, it is no longer on his terms. He understands himself very well. I’m very proud of his decision. </p>
<p>My advice would be to look internally and decide what is most important to you and your long term success. There are a lot of external factors in college recruiting, and sometimes recruits get wrapped around those things too much, and forget what is important. Look at what you want.</p>