<p>Thank you for clarifying that curmudegeon's D WANTS to play basketball! Never had that in my family...so I could hardly empathize.Their idea of athletic pursuits is LIFTING a book up off their chests to read whilst lying in bed! Now if you want to talk academics....my S is studying GAELIC for fun!</p>
<p>I think (but am not sure) that D3 coaches can't contact (initiate contact) until after July 15th preceding senior year (this may simply be a NESCAC rule.) At Williams, a little over 40% are now involved in intercollegiate sports, and adding intercollegiate club sports, it is now a little over 50% (that's a lot of athletes!)</p>
<p>In gymnastics (that's the one I know), there are "college meets" once or twice a year when, beginning as early as 9th grade, gymnasts can go down and strut their stuff, and college coaches develop a "book". The college coaches can't talk to the gymnasts or their parents, but they talk incessantly to the club coaches (who often carry around video tapes for their gymnasts.) It's one giant meat market.</p>
<p>Here is the NESCAC manual - not particularly helpful, except that it makes clear that offers of admission and financial aid can NOT be made by coaches:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nescac.com/Conference/04Manual.pdf%5B/url%5D">www.nescac.com/Conference/04Manual.pdf</a></p>
<p>curmudgeon - We are in similiar situation to you and your daughter. In our case D is good enough to play D-1 in her sport but perhaps not top 10 teams in country. She is also an awesome student. We'd like her sport to be the hook to get her early admission into a school and program she will thive in academically and athletically. Whether that's D-1 and D-3 doesn't matter. It isn't that we don't think she would qualify academically without her sport, it's that in the top schools most of the applicants qualify and there are just too many applicants so without a hook admission is a lottery. We want her out of the lottery if possible. If she decides not to play collegiately then she will be back in the lottery and that's okay, it's just a very different ball game (excuse the pun). For us we are looking for a fit socially and academically and then a fit athletically. Here are some athletic questions we plan on addressing prior to deciding on a program:
1. expected playing time
2. does the style of play the team employ fit with D's strengths
3. do the coaches have a good reputation for honesty, integrity and repect the balance of academics and athletics
4. is the team competitive currently in their conference, region, nationally?
5. is the program improving, setting goals for improving?
6. does the team recruit locally, regionally, nationally?
7. will D be expected to participate in fund raising, if so how many a year (in some minor sports teams have to fund raise on weekends and over the holiday breaks)
8. will D be allowed home for T-giving, Christmas and spring break?
9. how is transportation to away games handled? by van or plane? Are the men's teams transported the same way?
10. is there any social contact with the men's team? Do they practice together, travel together, have a sense of school spirit?
11. how has retention of upperclassmen been? How many players continue to play after freshmen, sophomore and junior year?
12. Is there any support academically for missed work due to travel days?
13. what are the girls like that are currently on the team? are they generally good students?
14. what are the training requirements during the preseason, season and off-season?
15. what's a typical day like for a team member?
16. can D do study abroad for a semester or year and still graduate in time?</p>
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[quote]
BTW as to D's view of my humor, she's mortified. I have standing orders to remain a mute while within 20 feet of another teenager, cute boy-50 feet, really cute boy- I have to pretend I am her man -servant, Reginald. Which is really not that far off from our reality.
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<p>As for me, I trail 20 paces behind mine if we have to actually go someplace together where there might be another teenager. I am allowed to approach if a credit card is needed.</p>
<p>Yep, I recognize the subservient twenty paces back position, but does your's signal you about the credit card need with a showy snap of her fingers?</p>
<p>That's funny. When my D was in HS, she disallowed me from ever going down into the basement where she had her many "parties." Not that they were doing anything illicit (I hope), but that I was SOOOOOO embarrassing..soooooo 80's in my dress...and soooooo trying to be funny. Now that she is a freshman, I hear her say to her friends in the background of her telephone conversation with me..."It's my mom. She is SOOOOO funny. My mom just told me that after the results of this presidential election she was coming out to visit me for a rum and Coke. She said, 'I get the rum....you get the Coke!' She is soooooo funny!" What has happened in a mere three months?</p>
<p>Path1, that's a really good list. We haven't made it to that point yet. Is your student/ath a jr. or sr.?</p>
<p>I prefer the showy snap of fingers for my husband.</p>
<p>Here are the Division III rules. And it is clear that a coach may not contact you until after your junior year.</p>
<p>The parents I know when notified by their progeny that they are embarrasing are inclined to step it up a notch.
Example when trailing behind teens at a mall and told that they are too close, the dad is liable to scrape his knuckles on the ground and rock to and fro in a gorilla imitation until the kids get the message.:eek:
I would never try it, but my daughter generally allows me to shop with her, I have even be able to convince her that I need to see that her jeans will cover her pubic bone more or less before I agree to pay for them.</p>
<p>Boy oh boy!!!! What a helpful thread. There is sooo much to be learned here.</p>
<p>you make a good point about what would happen if none of the 10 schools ypu have targeted work out. I find it hard to belive than any division 3 would say "no she does not fit into our plans and we dont want her on the team under any circumstances" much less be told that by all 10!!!!!!</p>
<p>However just to what if that type of situation...I would have a list of the next 10 ready and yes its important to fill out the info on the schools web page recruiting form. They have no idea who you are its simply the best way to express your interest. 10 should be plenty, a back up 10 more would not be a bad idea but beyond that I really dont think you will find that necessary.</p>
<p>Check the web pages for the # of girls on a roster. check a bunch of them, whats the average...who has lots who is short? for example bowdoin and colby both have 12 women basketball players on thier roster Grinnell has 15 Macalester College has only 8!!!!</p>
<p>do they cut to 12? what are the confrence rules as to # of kids on a team.
the NESCAC league (colby and bowdoin limit football squads to 75) ask the coach in an email!</p>
<p>If you get told by a coach there is no place for her ask them where else to look where would she be welcome the coaches are in a position to know</p>
<p>make a visit to a school close by in texas drop in on the womens basketball coach unannounced even (worked for my son and I) that is a div 3 and get a feel for the process</p>
<p>I think your going to find that almost all the schols will be very interested</p>
<p>good luck</p>
<p>thanks, no she's only a sophomore. Our hs school just had a recruited athlete night and some of the q's came directly from that presentation. There were some funny and difficult stories of former students experiences relayed.</p>
<p>Still LOL. Haven't seen the snap of the fingers. It's "Mom!" in a tone of voice that anyone with an adolescent daughter can conjure up in a flash.</p>
<p>Starting a new thread...just for kicks!!!!! "Three ways parents select to EMBARRASS their Teenager!"</p>
<p>Cumudgeon, actually club sports is one thing to keep in the back of her (your?) mind. My D mostly cared about being able to continue to play her sports in college as they are lifelong passions and would have accepted club sports over varsity, though varsity is more enticing. We met with club team captains on college visits and actually, most of the players on the club teams were excellent varsity athletes like her who just were not on a national level or recruits. These club teams travel to other colleges for intercollegiate games and are competitive. In some cases, depending on the sport, they even play against a JV team from another school. There are less days of practice to commit to. But in any case, between varsity and club sports, there is sure to be opportunties for a kid like yours at many schools. </p>
<p>I also like reading about how she is a top student, not merely an athlete because the reputation I read on here often is how athletes got in on their athletic prowess, and have lesser academic qualifications, and while that is true for some college athletes, it is not for all. Frankly, I believe many athletes on my D's team are also excellent students who were well qualified for her college, as she was, without any athletics on their resume. </p>
<p>As far as following behind your D amongst her peers, while I did not have that with D1 (that Daughter number one, not to be confused with Division 1, lol)....the second D makes up for it. She gets into a tizzy if I merely talk to any of her friends, even if it is a minor greeting type thing when they call here or when they ride in my car, etc. I can be seen not heard. In fact, I can't even be seen sometimes. Recently we were dropping our D off in a city 50 miles from us to meet a male friend for an evening out (while we had to stay in that city and go out ourselves given the distance and she does not yet have a license, nor does he), and they arranged a meeting spot which was at a cafe and she was incensed that we waited there until he arrived as if we could not be seen for five seconds and then walk off. I mean this boy has ridden in our car five days a week recently all fall, to all hours of the night to rehearsals. Then, of course, she would NOT "allow" us to watch the same movie at the same theater they were going to. But naturally we were "allowed" to drive them the 50 miles home again late at night and pay her way. </p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>Patient, and when you hear "Mo uhm" out in public, you turn around and often it is some other teen pulling this same routine!</p>
<p>Mini, I couldn't see a reference on the link you posted--where is it precisely? Also, that is the 2002-3 guide, is there a more recent one?</p>
<p>"An athletics department staff member, alumni or representative of a college's athletics interests (boosters or representatives) may contact you in person off the college campus after your junior year of high school."</p>
<p>Haven't looked for a more recent guide.</p>
<p>Thanks to 3togo for the ncaa website link. Here is the specific link to the D1 and D2 calendars:</p>
<p>Mini: I just read the current NCAA guide for D3.
The rules for D3 are MORE relaxed, not less. Contact in the way of recruiting materials in writing are allowed at any time for D3, and there is no limit on calls as long as they are made by the college coach. Calls can begin on June 15 of a student's junior year, two weeks BEFORE D1 and D2 can start making such contacts (visits also). Recruiting materials are specifically defined/described in the guide, I believe, but can include letters on official letterhead from coaches. Much contact can go on in junior year. But again, for the D3 coaches, typically it does not happen until the fall of senior year for the reasons mentioned numerous times above.</p>