<p>My D is on 2 varsity teams in hs (lacrosse and field hockey) and loves competing and being on a team. However, she isn't driven enough to pursue sports at the DI level. She is only interested in attending a big school, so DIII isn't an option. Can club sports really fill the void? She would like to attend a large school in the Northeast/NY/DC area. Any schools with great club programs?</p>
<p>I’ve wondered about this for the West Coast, as well.
Looking at college websites, it seems like the club sports would work out.</p>
<p>I have been told that they may have to practice at odd hours if a gym is involved. Seems like you D’s sports might not have that problem.</p>
<p>It all depends on the school … some have great club programs ( and pretty competitive too) – others maybe not so much. The best is to find someone actually in the particular club program at the schools you are looking at as there may not be much detailed ( and current) information about the program published - aside from that the program exists and maybe a schedule.</p>
<p>My daughter participated on a club gymnastics team this year. It was much more laid back than an NCAA team, but it met her needs to continue her sport. She enjoyed the practices and got friendly with her team mates. She would have prefered more inter-collegiate meets, but they did host two meets and traveled to one. She was able to get involved in many other activities, which was nice after commiting so much time to gymnasics while in high school. As CA parent suggests, your daughter will need to contact people on the teams at schools that interest her to find out how serious the club is. You can also check to see if there is a national web site for the club sports that interest her. We used the club gymnastics site [Your</a> Page Title](<a href=“http://www.naigc.net%5DYour”>http://www.naigc.net) to find out which schools had teams.</p>
<p>It is true that some schools have excellent club programs. My son played club baseball at his school in Florida and they actually had a “club nationals” in Texas.</p>
<p>Also, many DI schools have a “JV” version of the team which is usually quite active. Inquire about this as well.</p>
<p>all sports have club regionals and club nationals… Vanderbilt just a few years ago went to club nationals for soccer the year after they disbanded their division one soccer team</p>
<p>It’s really going to depend on the school that your daughter goes to. Some schools have very competitive club programs, while others do not. I would imagine at a large D1 school, you will not have a hard time finding a program that your daughter can continue to compete in while still having time to do other things outside of her athletic commitments.</p>