<p>My DD was a talented and passionate soccer player from a very early age. She was on showcase teams and we traveled all over the country to college showcase tournaments starting in 8th grade. She was heavily recruited by some big D1 programs with the opportunity for some very nice scholarships. This was happening primarily in her sophomore year which I'm told is when a lot of the scholarship money is committed (verbally). She went on a couple of invited visits and had a real eye-opening experience about how huge a committment playing D1 sports is. After spending a couple of weekends at these colleges with the team and coaches and seeing what their college experience is like she decided she was not interested and walked away from it all. (2 a-day practices, room checks by the coaches to make sure you're in bed, wake-up calls for morning weights, no free weekends, etc). We were devastated at the loss of the great scholarship opportunities, but glad she was able to see what it would be like and make a decision about this on her own. She is now at an excellent liberal arts school with no inter-collegiate sports at all and focusing on her academics and throwing her passion into politics, literature and other academic pursuits.</p>
<p>So, my caution is that even if they are very talented and recruitable for scholarships, they may decide that the "job" of being a scholarship athelete is not the college experience they want.</p>
<p>A friend of mine won a state HS wrestling title several years in a row. His dad was so excited about the scholarship opportunties that materialized....only my friend had no desire whatsoever to wrestle in college.</p>
<p>I know a lot of kids now who plan to walk away from their sports in college and others who probably want to but their parents are really pushing the sport.</p>
<p>Ask yourself this question when considering athletic scholarships: do you want your child to get an education, or do you want him or her to be an elite in his/her sport? </p>
<p>With rare exceptions it is a choice that has to be made. Athletic scholarships are a deal with the devil IMO--the students put in countless hours and are expected to sacrifice their time in class and labs for practices and travel. Honestly you are better off working a minimum wage job if you need money in college--the per hour rate is probably higher.</p>
<p>The ONLY reason to consider an athletic scholarship is if you think you have a shot at the pros. You are basically signing up to major in football, or golf, or whatever. It will be difficult to get a degree on top of your major in your sport.</p>
<p>I can name three kids I know who did the same thing. One even turned down a Division I scholarship to be a walk on because she mistakenly thought it would lessen her commitment level to the coach/team. She lasted one week before quitting to pursue other college activities.
Coaches do not always find kids, even the good ones. I think it depends on the sport. In the sport my son competed in, most of the initial exposure came from the club circuit instead of high school competition. Interested athletes should feel free to call the secretary or recruiting assistant at the college and just ask where they recruit from or what events they generally attend each season. I know some athletes who got offers after sending a letter of introduction/resume/dvd to the head coaches at colleges they were interested in attending. If you want to do this, then choose carefully. Obviously USC or FLorida will not be looking for letters from unknowns to fill out their football roster. Sometimes the school that would want you is a school that does not have a recruiting budget that allows for extensive travel/scouting and one that is generally not at the top of the heap. Still, if it gets you into the school you wish to attend, then all the better.
As some one mentioned above: Always choose the school, not the sport.</p>
<p>My son applied to ED to an Ivy as his first choice knowing that there was no position for him open (i.e., they weren't going to recruit him). It was a risk he wanted to take and figured even if he wanted to play he could probably do so pretty easily at a DI school through club or intramurals.</p>
<p>When that rejection came, we went back to the drawing board and while we are considered late to the table, he is very much being wooed to eat at a few schools he was applying to over others.</p>
<p>In our case, we targeted schools he was already applying to or wanted to attend. Those schools that "found" him were schools that were well below his academic interests, even those with good football or lacrosse programs.</p>
<p>So we'll see. As I keep saying, I have plenty of opinions, but have no acceptance letters in the house to back up the thought process.</p>
<p>Golf is an expensive sport. Private coaching/lessons, clubs, shoes, balls, practice time... And the year-round junior tours, even local ones, add up. And there are alot of these tours. They seem to be rather profitable for those who put them on. Add to that the expense of travel... Then there is the temptation to go to the next level up in junior tournaments. They get further away, are more multi-day overnight events. I have seen families invest heavily in golf in this neck of the woods. Many times, the scholarship dollars did not add up to the dollars spent "refining" that student-athlete's swing....</p>
<p>If she LOVES it, if she starts feeling a need to play more, if it is a passion AND she has natural talent, you will know.</p>
<p>Sometime they adjust Merit $$ based on other (athletic) scholarships. And what if she does not feel like playing anymore? My D started with club sport, which she could easily quit without any consiquences, which she did, because of other interests and academic requirements. She was also straight "A" and a swimmer. Most of her swimming friends quit varsity because of time contraints and other interests in college.</p>
<p>One of my wife's students has been accepted at a mid-level Division I college on a golf scholarship. Last week she tripped and came down hard on both hands while playing for the varsity volleyball team. First report was that she had shattered both wrists. Upon further examination it was determined she had broken only one of her wrists and had badly sprained the other. Prognosis is favorable that she will heal without any lingering impact on her game. She has been reassured by the college that they will stand by their scholarship offer and hopefully this will be the case.</p>
<p>A local woman/girl, Mina Harigae, has been long touted as one of the up and coming stars of the game. She won the California Women's Amateur 4 times, the US Public Links, and numerous junior titles. </p>
<p>She just announced that she is giving up her scholarship to Duke and turning pro. You might find her story interesting (especially some of the history). </p>
<p>D1 plays DIII soccer for a perennial LAC national powerhouse. They practice all year long and she loves it. She continues to be a top honors student. She receives wonderful merit aid that I believe was offered more so for her athletic ability than academic. She has plenty of time to socialize, work and do internships. D2 will sign her NLI next week for a D1 program. You have to love what you are doing. Neither thinks of their sport as a "job" but more as a passion, a part of them that can't be separated from who they are. Many don't understand what makes a competitive athlete tick. In our case athletics and academics go hand-in-hand. Both girls love to compete both on and off the field.</p>
<p>At some point, your student needs to make a major decision: are they an athlete who takes college or a student who plays sports? I can think of very few who don't have to make that choice; one is Chris Joseph, former center on the UCLA football team, who was recently selected as a Rhodes Scholar. Joesph had something like a 3.95 GPA for four years. </p>
<p>The typical "good" student on the football team has a 3.0...not going to light up the scoreboard at the most competitive grad and professional schools and will be behind the curve vis a vis better prepared competition anyway. As other posters have noted, athletics is a way of life, not an activity, what with the two-a-days and a generally grueling schedule that doesn't have many breaks.</p>
<p>The injury consideration is limited to athletics per se. My D was a pretty serious ballet dancer, probably the equivalent of a AA ballplayer (not going to make the big leagues [pro] but nothing to sneeze at) and saw one of her teachers who had blown out a knee which ended her ballet career and was instead teaching ballet and dancing in Broadway musicals. D figured she'd need the academics no matter what. Though I think trying to keep D from being seriously academic would have been a Herculean task.</p>
<p>We have a good family friend who plays DI women's basketball at a big well known university. She has just suffered her second ACL injury and is finished. She is a senior but she negotiated a five year scholarship because her major requires some classes that were impossible to schedule with basketball. The school/coaches will honor their comittment and pay for the fifth year as she was injured playing for them. Don't assume that the scholarship will be revoked if there is an injury.</p>
<p>Very good point. One of the challenges of playing a sport like golf (or baseball) at the major college level is that you will be away from school for weeks at a time. You will also have every afternoon booked for practice - which makes class scheduling extremely difficult. </p>
<p>For the most part, being an athlete on this level means you probably can't major in things like engineering or architecture. There will also be challenges in taking science classes with labs as many schools schedule the labs in the afternoon. Obviously there are exceptions to this - but they are far from the norm.</p>
<p>
[quote]
For women's golf the total number on offer in the NCAA is 1,812.
[/quote]
That is the total number of scholarships that <em>can</em> be offered ... some schools will offer less than that. That total is also the overall total of students from all years ... so for frosh the total will probably be more like 450 scholarships. Is your daughter in the top 500 in the country for her age ... if so she's probably in the hunt. (Although I'm not sure how many non-US golfers eat into that total).</p>
<p>sunnyflorida, you mentioned junoir tournaments and that's where my daughter is. I'm trying to find that balance between spending on these tournaments and her academics. There is only so much time in a day (and money!) One thing I have learned from reading the replies is that if golf truly is her passion, it will lead to something - whether it is a place on a team or a hook to get into a desired school. </p>
<p>All my husband and I want for our kids is for them to have choices. And we've always stressed that if they work hard in school and get those grades (and maintain a healthy schedule of EC), they will have a good choice of colleges. My husband and I both had wonderful experiences in college - the opportunities to study a host of subjects, meet different people, travel and gain different perspectives - the journey is certainly just as important (if not more so) than the destination.</p>
<p>scualum...but you can major in engineering, architecture or pre-med! Know several DI scholar athletes working at it now and others who have graduated. That's why some negotiate for the five year scholarship.</p>