<p>Hi all:
I was talking to a coach from a DIII school the other day and asked him if he felt that the work/hours/level of commitment required at his DIII program was less than what an athlete in his sport would face in D1.</p>
<p>His answer, "No. If a kid has the talent to go D1, he should go D1. It is more fun to compete with the big dogs and the training for DIII is just as intense as it would be in D1."</p>
<p>Since this runs counter to oft-quoted conventional wisdom here on CC, I thought I'd pass it along..</p>
<p>Maybe that is just specific to his particular program, but I do know that the NCAA does not allow as much practice time for DIII sports. As an example, my daughter is a DI gymnast. Her school season begins the third week in August with “voluntary” practice (this is actually mandatory if one wishes to be on the team). Mandatory, NCAA regulated, 24-hour/week practices begin around the 3rd week of September and continue until March-May (depending on how far into the post-season you get). You are then back to the voluntary/mandatory practices. And, in the sport of gymnastics, you then have to practice at your private club gym at least 20 hours per week throughout the summer. Those hours do not include the running and weight training (3xwk running and 2xwk weight training) that is required while in most DI gymnastics programs. My daughter has several club teammates who compete for DIII programs and it is a different world. Mandatory practices don’t begin until much later in the season (per NCAA rules) and it is less intense. I know soccer is similar. It just isn’t the year-round commitment.</p>
<p>What he said was that everyone gets around the NCAA restrictions and the kids practice just as much and as hard (just not as officially) as the D1 kids. That said, I am sure this varies from sport to sport.</p>
<p>I have a daughter who plays DIII soccer for a very competitive LAC. They practice just as much as DI athletes that we know. They are “required” to have off season workouts and play in tournaments…just not with the coach. They call these “captains’ practices”. This coach also says he runs a DI program at a DIII school. They scrimmage DI programs and win! There is definitely a year round commitment.</p>
<p>With baseball it varies greatly by program rather than level. There are certainly DIIIs who require as much time or more than the average DI. Actually Junior Colleges require the most time of all since they are in many ways unregulated.</p>
<p>The whole level concept is very misleading in baseball (and probably other sports as well) - DIII programs can be more time consuming and have a higher level of play than DI or DII.</p>
<p>DI is usually a much more intense program than D3. DI means: your sport takes precedence over everything except academic eligibility itself. No semester abroad, little time off, etc. Coaches, and often athletes, assume it is always better to compete at the highest level but I think not every athlete needs or wants to compete at the D1 level. scualum is probably right about each program being different. Athletes should ask coaches exactly what the time commitment is, including “voluntary” workouts/conditioning that go beyond the NCAA allowable practice hours.</p>