Freshman Athletes

Athletic Recruits
21

I don’t think it is a violation if the student starts school. I know several athletes who being classes in the summer because then they can take a lighter load during the fall season. Some even being school in Jan if they graduate early.

I think there is a date for the fall sports to arrive early on campus and start training and workouts. Many schools play a game before classes even start. One of my daughter’s hasn’t started school yet (next Monday) and the football team has a game on Saturday; they’ve certainly been there practicing for several weeks.

22

My son is doing club sports instead of varsity at college. It is sort of like JV - still go to other colleges for games but commitment is much less. He has quite a few friends who settled for less competitive colleges because they focused on their sport. He didn’t want to do that, he wanted his major which is only available at a certain set of schools, and he wanted a tougher school than those that were recruiting at his level.

I agree that the early move-in, without a huge effort by the coach or athletic department, can be isolating. I would like to think that upperclassmen on the team would be supportive, but often athletes are competing for a starting spot so being supportive has to be enforced.

I wouldn’t rush over there. I’d ask her to wait it out until the other freshmen move in, and see how she feels. As for the injury, she needs to work with her coach, the trainer, and the team doctor about how and when to integrate into the team. I can understand if she can’t practice fully she must be frustrated.

I am confused about this statement: " that really isn’t the way walk ons work anymore in most programs."

because it seems to imply all levels. Our experience with D3 recruitment in particular was that walk ons are part of their “strategy”. For example, my son’s college is still looking for a goalie for this year, from current students (D3). They need a walk-on.

Yes, for the biggest money making sports at the biggest D1 programs, “walk-ons” especially those who were never recruits and never seen are rare. But a walk on is not the same as someone recruited but with no scholarship. A walk on may have no scholarship the first year, but may get one in the future.

Think about the “no scholarship D1” part - any Ivy athlete is D1 and cannot have an athletic scholarship, and cannot have an academic scholarship. So no athletic scholarship in D1 doesn’t mean you don’t play.

As for feeding athletes, most college campuses feed freshman for free for orientation week. If the athletes pay for it somehow, it’s not part of a scholarship. I know at colleges I am familiar with, they have cafeterias near the athletic complex but there never was any “special cafeteria only for athletes”. But again, not huge programs.

I checked a few universities, and across the board, if any program, department, or organization (including sports teams) requires early move-in, they charge a fee for room and board for each day early they arrive. Around $20 or so per day, from what I read.

23

It is a violation for the school to provide anything (food, training, lodging, etc) until the student is a student at the university. Once the student has started classes they are allowed to avail themselves of any of the resources of the athletic department. So, as soon as a student starts summer classes they can start training.

There is an exception for sports that start preseason before school actually starts (dates are determined by the NCAA based on the sport, date of first class and the date of the first game). For those students, as long as they are rostered and enrolled for the Fall semester they can start practicing on the first day of preseason practice as.

24

What sports don’t have a NCAA pre-season?

Why would an athlete be on campus at all if there wasn’t an official pre-season?

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I would assume all sports have a preseason - I think you misinterpreted what I was saying.

I’ll try again…Students can take advantage of campus resources once either of the following is true.
a) The have attended class as an enrolled undergraduate.
b) Preseason has started.

Coaches like athletes to show up early to take advantage of campus resources they might not have available at home. For example, strength and condition coaches, trainers for injury rehab or prevention, socializing with returning players.

26

In some cases the school can offer aid during the summer (from the NCAA D1 manual):

27

rhandco, there is a difference between being a recruited player at a D1/D2 and being recruited from the student body. In football, top D1 group, a team can have 85 scholarship players and 35 non-scholarship players, but it’s not like anyone can just walk on and be in that 35. If a player has had contact with coach, there might be a limit on what other types of grants or scholarships that player can receive, otherwise the school would just grant 35 need based or merit scholarships, and the school would get around the 85 limit. Division 3 doesn’t give athletic scholarships so there is no chance of violating this rule.

Feeding athletes was restricted by the NCAA until last year. Yes, they could eat in the regular dining halls if they had a meal plan, but the teams were restricted to how much they could provide outside the dining halls. Snacks were defined in such ridiculous ways that a bagel was fine but not if it had cream cheese. Pizza is not a snack but a meal, and even the amount of the food for meals was restricted. Last year they lifted the limits and now the teams can provide food trucks and gatorade and protein bars for everyone, not just the scholarship players. As Ohiodad pointed out, the practice schedules don’t always work with the cafeteria schedules. My daughter starts lifting at 6 am, before the cafeteria opens, and now her coach could (probably doesn’t) provide bananas or something more at the gym. When they start field practice, it is also at 6 am, but it is a mile off campus at the stadium, so no chance to grab breakfast. Now the coach can provide power bars or fruit, or something for them to take when they head to class after practice.

The question about moving in early was for a D1 swimmer. I took the question to be about moving to the school early, like mid-July, to start working with the college coaches. That would not be allowed. If the recruit registered and took summer classes, I think the coach could start the scholarship, but the work out NCAA rules would
still apply, that workouts can’t start until a certain date. The coach might be saying he won’t give out money for terms before the workout date. Once the student accepts money, the clock begins to run and the student has 5 years to play 4, so the coach may not want to start that clock early.

28

@twoinanddone

While it is true that coaches aren’t allowed to run/supervise mandatory practices, teams are allowed to organize “optional” practices run by players. Athletes are also allowed to participate in fitness sessions supervised by training staff.

There is really no reason (except financial) for a coach not to encourage a scholarship student to come for summer session before their typical first semester. Since the summer session is not part of any season, the 5 to play 4 rule doesn’t take away any eligibility (when compared to a student who starts in the Fall).

29

I have had two sons go to school as recruited athletes at D3 schools - one a fall sport (current freshman), one a spring sport (soph). I’ve talked to a lot of parents about what their kids went through in adjusting. I will tell you, many many kids go through what your daughter is thinking - sport or no sport. I would highly recommend that you do not rush up there. It does take a few months for many to find their way. On the sport side, most schools have training staff available to the fall athletes - make sure she is spending time with them. They are there to help with the adjustment and address whatever soreness and ailments come up.

30

Just jumping in with an update. One week into classes, a couple of games into the season, and she seems a bit better. Isn’t seeing field time, but she expected that going in. There are a few freshman girls that are playing, but the bulk of them are not – all of this seems to be '“business as usual”. However, she did mention that the group of freshman that haven’t gotten to play yet are often not even called into drills during practices? They do the running and conditioning, but not the drills – they basically just stand there while the “team” drills. I get trying strengthen the players that will be on the field, but I don’t see the logic in neglecting to build up the skills of the other players. Worth noting that this coach recruited and pursued every one of the freshman players this year, via films, game visits, and summer clinics with the team. It seems weird to me that she wouldn’t be developing skill sets of all of the athletes that she brought on board – unless it’s just too early in the season? I mention it only because it’s one thing to be expecting not to play and not playing, but entirely another to show up every day to practice and not be included in a critical part of the training with your teammates.

Additionally, since the start of preseason, 4 girls have left the team (3 of them were returning players, one a senior) because of how the program is structured and being run this year. I hate all this negativity, but I guess some of it comes with the territory.

31

Reps are precious commodities in college practices. I would not find that to be unusual at all in a well run college program. That is one of the consequences of the NCAA limits on practice time. The coaches want to use every minute they can to prepare the people who will play for the next game, As we have been discussing, it is very hard for younger players, even recruited younger players to get meaningful practice reps. There is an old saw that is very true “Don’t count your reps, make your reps count”

32

@Ohiodad51 You are my voice of reason – thanks! LOL. It’s a whole new world for athletes and parents; there’s a lot to learn.

33

My daughter chose a rather unique situation in that she picked a school with a new team. This meant DD was going to be a starter, but I warned her the team was going to lose. A lot. And they did lose, but not as much as I thought they would. From 9 recruited freshmen, 5 start. Some of the other players were/are on the soccer team, transfers, or at the school but hadn’t played since high school. Some really were (or became) just bench sitters, just extra bodies to have a team. I’d note that when offered the chance to go out and play catch, play wall ball, do some drills on their own time with the more experienced players, the bench sitters always decline. I asked my daughter what she did last Saturday (they are in off season) and she said she and the 3 other best players had been out shooting around all morning, and then were headed to the beach where they’d shoot around some more. My daughter is always doing drills off the wall on her own, almost every day. She gets plenty of time to shoot at practice, but she knows she’ll get better if she conditions and practices on her own too.

Many of DD’s friends went to D1 programs, and as freshmen they do not see much playing time. Maybe a few minutes in 3 games of a 15-20 game season? It’s tough because these were top high school players, top club players. They were recruited to top D1 programs. If they’d chosen a less competitive team, they’d play all the time. A transfer student on my DD’s team had been an All American in high school, went to a D1 program and played a few games as a freshmen but certainly not the playing time she’d been used to on her high school championship team. She is once again a superstar in this smaller program. She is very happy with the school and team. She is from the area so her parents can come to every game and it is just a better fit for her.

34

Update: So, 3 games into the season and she’s officially the only one who hasn’t played yet. So she’s back to being discouraged. The injury isn’t the issue since she runs and works out with the team, even if not included in the drills during practice. Unfortunately this experience is negatively impacting her love of the game, which is really hard to watch.

35

That’s a tough thing, @rightbehindher. Kids that have the skill to be recruited at the college level aren’t used to being treated like that. Faced with a similar situation, I would advise my daughter that there are two ways to handle it, either dig in, don’t complain and work even harder, or ask the coach for a sit-down to ask what she needs to do to get on the field.

For what it’s worth, dealing with stuff like this when they’re 18 can be a real benefit when they enter the workforce in 4 or 5 years.

36

Varska is spot on. Now in her 4th year of college sport, daughter will tell anyone she’s learned way more through her trials than she has through her victories. That said, her sport is truly in her heart and her teammates are the best kids she’s ever met. If that weren’t the case, I suspect she would have quit after her freshman year. And quite honestly, we’ve learned a lot through all this, too – certainly more than if her HS stardom had continued. Good luck to you and your daughter.

37

A couple of points. First, your daughter needs to take a look around and decide if she is not playing because of the depth chart? Is it because she is making mental mistakes? Is it because she is not as physically prepared given that she came in injured? All of these things are different, and have unique challenges. Some she can try and work on to correct, some she has to wait out. Given how fast college moves, it would not shock me if she is a bit behind the other freshmen either physically or mentally since she came in injured. In that scenario, she just needs to work to try and catch up as best she can. Unfortunately, that becomes harder to do as camp ends and the season begins. On the other hand, it may be a function of who is in front of her. For example, my son is buried on the depth chart this year, because he is sitting behind a senior three year starter and another senior. The world would basically have to stop spinning on its axis for him to get serious time this year. This is something he knew going in, although there have been times these first few weeks where it has bothered him more than he assumed it would.

Personally, I think the time to evaluate what your daughter wants to do going forward comes at the end of the season. Let the year run its course. Then as suggested by @varska, your daughter should sit down with the coach if she is still unhappy. Most likely, the coach will have some type of exit interview with the players after the season n any event. That is a great time to get a sober look at where the coach sees the athlete in the context of the program.

One thing to remember though is that in college everyone is roughly equivalent in raw talent. Often, the people who play are the ones who grind a bit harder, do the extra reps, run and lift a little more, etc. If playing time is the most important part of the experience for her, then she needs to really decide if she wants to do the work.