<p>I was contacted by the track coach at the college I will be attending. I am a sprinter and my times are no where near division 1 athlete sprinters. It turns out my track team is probably one of the worst in socal. Emailed him back saying that I thought my times were slower than most d1 athletes but that I would love to be on the team if he wanted someone who loved track and would train hard to become better. Then I looked at the roster and saw a girl with times that were even worse than mine. Should I try and pursue this? What is d1 track like because all I know about is high school track? What are the seasons etc?</p>
<p>D1 track will be a big, and by ‘big’ I mean huge, time commitment. You’ll probably get on campus a week or 2 before the rest of the student body, 2-3 hours of training each day for most of the school year and traveling on weekends during season (early Dec - mid May).</p>
<p>The positives, even if you’re not a top tier athlete - the social / team camaraderie aspect can make your college experience much more fulfilling. The time commitment required will force you to develop good time management skills and participation in D1 athletics is a great thing to have on your resume.</p>
<p>Yeahh seems like its something I have to think about if I can even for sure make it on the team. I really wanted to play tennis but my schools tennis team is really good and even though I am a ranked player I was not good enough to be recruited and I can’t reach the coach to ask if I can try out as a walk on. I am much worse at track, even though I still really like it, so I just think it’s funny that I have more of a chance of get on the track team than the tennis team even though I consider tennis my main sport. Thanks for the info I guess I will see what happens. The good thing is I am already cleared by NCAA because I was planning on trying to play tennis in college.</p>
<p>I would suggest you ask the track coach more questions, like why he wants you if you don’t think you are good enough to meet those times? What will be required of you? Any anything else you can think of. As varska said D1 is a HUGE commitment and if you are training hard and not getting to compete that could get VERY old fast.</p>
<p>I already asked him your first question and i now know he wants me because their track team is tiny and they have a lot of room on their team for people so he was looking for people who ran track in high school to join the team. But yeah I like the other question and I’ll ask him today. Thanks for the advice everyone.</p>
<p>Practice is mon - thurs 2-4. That actually sounds pretty reasonable to me. And a little longer in season.</p>
<p>Hi rayray,
I think much of the decision about whether to compete in college comes down to how you picture your perfect day. Does it include running? For many high school athletes, the idea of NOT going to practice, being fit, having the team family, identity as an athlete and so on, is just not imaginable. Other kids, by their senior year of high school, are fantasizing about being free from the grind of the sport. Figuring out where you are on this spectrum may inform you about whether to pursue running in college.</p>
<p>rayray,
You may have practice from 2-4. But you will also have weight training, mandatory study hall, team meetings, team service projects, etc, etc, etc.</p>
<p>And if the coach’s watch is similar to every coach my D has ever had the “2” is synched up to normal time but the “4” seems to be somewhat later in real world time. :D</p>
<p>I actually talked to the coach and little more and decided I would join the team. Thanks everyone for your input! :)</p>
<p>Outstanding! - sounds like you’re going in with your eyes wide open - enjoy</p>