My son is a competent but not great athlete in a couple of sports, one common, one less common. He could probably play the less common sport at the varsity level for some D3 schools. He’s really more of an academic and also has a lot of extracurriculars he wants to pursue in college, so he had already decided that he would only continue his sports at the club level. But, this past week, he was contacted by a coach at a very selective LAC that he likes a lot (not his top choice but definitely on his list), and he’s wondering whether he should make the effort to get recruited. He is concerned about the time commitment for a varsity sport. From the information he got from the coach, it sounds like the time commitment for this particular sport isn’t really much more than what he does in high school. My advice to him was to keep his options open; it might be that the varsity sport at this school (not too athletically focused) would only demand as much time as a club sport at another college. Are any of your kids struggling with a similar dilemma? Those of you with older kids: what do you know about what varsity and club sports require of students at the D3 level?
It obviously depends on the sport, and the program, but my daughter was looking to play soccer in college so we spoke to a lot of D1 and D3 schools (no D2s surprisingly enough). The D3s we talked to all seemed in line with what she had been doing for years. She played soccer competitively on a state team that competed regionally and nationally. Based in CT, she played in PA, NJ, NY, CT and MA during the regular season and traveled to VA, FL, CA and CO for tournaments. She had 2 games every weekend and 3 - 4 practices a week (1 was usually limited to training). The D3 schools all purported to put academics first and it seemed even their travel schedules were relatively local so as not to disrupt academics too much.
In the end, my daughter preferred the vibe of a D1 school, but didn’t want to play in a D1 program. She didn’t want the school to “own” her as she said. She got offers to play at 3 D3 schools, even after abandoning her own recruitment efforts midway through her junior year. She is now headed to a D1 school in the fall and might play club.
My point in saying this is - be sure your son likes the school environment too. Had my daughter liked the D3 schools she likely would have gone to one of them to play. For us the priorities were: (1) Academic program availability/strength of school program, (2) School “feel” and atmosphere and (3) sports programs.
I have a D3 athlete at an academically challenging LAC. The time necessary for his sport, tennis, doesn’t seem that much greater than it was at the high school level. He is the kind of kid who needs some structure and physical activity every day or he would piss away his free time. The culture of the team is very scholar/athlete. The coach lets players miss practice and games if needed for their courses and the team as a whole is very academically inclined.
The harder part for him was upping his game academically, but I don’t think more time to study would have mattered. He needed to be more careful and more thoughtful in his work. He is getting there.
Playing a varsity sport doesn’t leave him time for any other outside activities, however.
DS struggled with this as well. He did not pursue the recruitment path because the schools that wanted him on their roster were not his top choices. For him, that was the right set of priorities. He decided he would take his chances as a walk on rather than use a hook at anything other than a first choice. But I know other kids who felt like their sports were so integral to who they were and how they lived that they would prioritize on that basis.
DS is a varsity athlete at D3 level (after all that). It does require him to be more organized with his work and there have been times when he has felt he needed more time for school work. But if I were betting, those situations would have come up without sports as well. He always does better when his time is a little more structured.
It’s a pretty personal call. For most BS kids, freshman year is not much of an adjustment work wise, so if he plays a sport first year then decides not to continue, he can do that as well
. I will say it didn’t leave time for a lot of other activities. They were away a lot (almost everu weekend) during the season, so it’s all about choices.
I guess it in some ways depends on what kind of college experience your son wants - does he want to be an athlete and have that be a prime focus, or does he want to take part in as many aspects of the college as he can? From the sounds of it, he’s looking at immersing himself in many things, and that’s awesome! While D3 does focus on the student in the student/athlete equation, it’s still a commitment. I was a former swimmer at a D1 mid major. 25 years later my college friends will still say, “Where were you for this or that?”, etc. and the answer is inevitably, “Oh, you were at the pool”. I have no regrets - just the choice I made 
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While you can take an average of the amount of time playing on a team takes, you really can’t say that the club team a X school takes less time than the D3 varsity team at Y school without looking at the level of play, the travel schedule, the coach. Some club sports (and not all schools have club level teams if they also have varsity teams) are very competitive and expect a lot of time. Some coaches (at any level) require a lot of ‘team building’ and that’s extra time that isn’t in the official work out/practice time.
It doesn’t hurt to look at the schools recruiting him. He needs to be firm on what he wants in the end and be prepared to say ‘no’ and apply on his own to the school(s) he wants, but being a recruited athlete can help at some schools.
My guess is that, at this particular school that skews female and has an artsy reputation, a personable straight male with an excellent academic record who can fill a spot on a varsity team has a better-than-average shot at admission, which is nothing to sneeze at. And it would probably be good for him to be forced into physical activity for 2 hours a day, as he is in high school. I feel as though the sport might work at this particular school but not at others. We shall see…
Another D3 parent, agreeing that hard to compare across sports and across schools. My kid spends probably 25-30 hours a week in season, between practice, games, travel, and then maybe 10-15 hours a week out of season, when there is lifting, conditioning etc. That would be the actual time spent, not just the official times for practice, game travel etc – figure you have to get to the locker room to change, a lot of kids will go to the fields early to get in some extra work etc. He still has plenty of time to do his school work, though not really time to commit to other school activities. His teammates are also the core of his social life, so it really shapes his entire college experience.
For a kid who wants to sample all the different opportunities in a school, a Varsity sports commitment on a team which is competitive in its conference, where the coach is driven to improve, can take a lot of the extra time. It doesn’t hurt to explore the possibilities and learn more, as he can always choose not to accept the roster spot. If he did want to pursue it, a pre-read and coach support for ED at a school that he might love, could be a really nice way to be done by mid December.
My son thought I was silly to withhold the name of the sport. The coach called about squash, which I think probably requires less time than other sports, just because it is very intense. His other sport is tennis, and he wants to continue that at the club level wherever he goes. I think what he decides will have to depend on the situation at each school he applies to.
Yes, agree it depends on the school. My D found a wide range of time requirements for her sport at the LACs she was considering. She chose one that was very focused on academics, only allowing a few practices (maybe 12?) during a month in the off-season. The school she chose only played teams that were about an hour from the school, so not too much travel. But still, practice was every day in season, and after 2 years she decided it was too much; she wanted more time to pursue other interests.
@mamabear1234 love your profile pic
I think 12 is the amount of practice allowed in the off season, but that is ‘official’ practices. There can still be captain’s practices, team activities, lifting, etc., it just can’t be mandatory or coach lead. Right.
However, my daughter puts in that amount of time and more if you count her working out and running, playing on the beach, playing wall ball. She feels terrible (physically) if she doesn’t work out and run. She returns in the fall in shape, but many on her team do not. Her ‘bad’ food is tamales. Usually she snacks on tomatoes (any size, she loves them), packs her lunch every day for work, never drinks soda, rarely drinks alcohol. It’s just a way of life for her.
I agree that the travel schedule makes a big difference. A game can take a Saturday afternoon or eat up an entire weekend. Look at past season schedules and see how many overnight or all day trips there were.
I understand where @mamabear1234 is coming from. Similar to her daughter, I retired from swimming after my sophomore year seeing my major really required me to study abroad. I knew in my heart I was done, and that I didn’t have it in me to try to be D1 caliber when I returned. Although I was recruited, and the #2 in my events, I was blessed being a non-scholarship athlete. I was able to walk away and pursue my other goals when the time was right for me with no regrets, no strings. As he embarks on his own recruiting options in his sport and college search, I’ve said to my son over and over, “If it all ended tomorrow…injury, ready to leave the sport, study abroad, etc., would this still be the school you’d want to attend?” Hard to predict? Sure. And you can certainly transfer, but at the very least it gets him thinking about more than just the sport in his choice- he’s there for an education first. Something just to consider
One of my daughter’s friends was on the diving team at her D3 school. She had zero free time outside of her sport and her studies. Years ago, I was a swimmer at a similar LAC, and found plenty of free time to waste! I’d be in touch with the coaches before making this decision.
Note that squash is not an NCAA sport. It is governed by the College Squash Association, so the typical NCAA rules don’t apply. But having said that, the level of commitment would be no different from a D3 squash program vs a D1 program.
Captain practices typically start in October. Formal practices start in early November right before the start of the season. The season ends in early March with the CSA championships. The coaches are not supposed to have practices outside of the season. But they get away with having captain practices. The practices start around 3pm and last for about 2-3 hours, 5-6 days per week. Some schools mix in weight training and fitness along with hitting on the court. Keep in mind that as a varsity player he will be expected to attend all practices. This means that he will likely have to schedule all of his classes to start early morning so that they finish by the time practice starts. Classes that begin at night, or early afternoon would not be possible. This is good if your son is a morning person, but most teenagers are not.
The practice schedule and travel for games is a bit less for club level teams, but not much. If he misses a few practices or games on the club level, no one is going to care, since there isn’t a formal coach. Several club level teams advance pretty far in the CSA championships every year. So the club level squash is taken just as seriously as the varsity. But the only issue is that club level squash will get no additional advantage during admissions. You can find a list of all the club and varsity level programs on the CSA website.
Based on the description you gave, I think I know which college coach approached your son. This is a really good school, and I know the coach. This is a wonderful sign! So if you son really has any interest in this school the coach’s pull will be tremendous.
Best advice we ever got about D3 sports at a small LAC came from a coach who was recruiting my oldest son. He said, “While you are visiting campus, pretend you have a career ending injury. Is this a place you could see yourself being happy, even if you could never play this sport again?”
A student should not think, “I’m going to X College to play squash.”
There should be other reasons to pick a college, because a career in college sports can end on any given day.
Agreed-- we too were advised that the student should consider, if he/she had a career ending injury the first day of pre-season their first year, would they still be happy to be at that school.