Hi, I wanted to get a general idea of the time commitment for intramural sports in college ; I want to continue playing tennis in college as much as I can, because I absolutely love the sport ; at the same time, I don’t want my academics to suffer.
Any help / insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks to all!
In general club sports require less of a time commitment in terms of practice and travel within a smaller radius for meets. But the time requirements are different by not only by college but by the club sport within a college. It is a question you should ask when you go on college tours and perhaps even contact the coach of the club sport at colleges you are interested in etc.
I have 2 kids that were HS sports stars, and went to Northwestern. They both played all of the IM sports, which had few practices, and club sports- not their HS sports BTW - and both really enjoyed the experience and found it helpful. BTW - Club sports = @ 1 hour per day practice, vs varsity sports @ 4-6 hours a day.
My Ds club sport got her to play in Europe - where she met some other teams & players that later became an “instant friend group” when she did study abroad later. She was also invited to try out for Team USA in her sport! My S’s club team played all over the US, & regularly traveled over breaks. One of the reasons S wanted to stay for 4 years and get masters rather than graduating after 3 years was because he wanted to play senior year with his club team.
AS @HAPPY1 posted above - all teams are different - you just have to find one that works for you. Have fun & Good Luck!
My son is also a high school tennis player interested in club tennis in college. Someone on CC recommended the website tennisoncampus to us, and it is a great resource for seeing which schools have club teams (some of which were not listed on the schools’ websites but turned out to exist anyway!).
Although it can vary by campus – “club” teams at D1 schools often refer to highly competitive (require tryouts) programs for athletes not strong enough to compete at their school’s D1 level but still interested in competing with other strong “club” programs. At D3 schools, “club” could be synonymous with intramural/rec league – it all depends on the school.