<p>MY D plays a sport which is an emerging varsity sport, so it is varsity at a few schools, but still club at most. She chose a school which has it as club, though she was offerd $ to a varsity and no $ but varsity support to a top D3 LAC which does not give ahtletic $$...though who knows how the "need" was determined! Perhaps some money came her way as a D3 athlete because she was wanted, I don't know. Certainly the coach wooed her and she strongly considered the school, but did not like the distance factor.</p>
<p>Anyway, as a club player, she has sport commitments 6 days a week, practices, fitness training, club meetings, games, oh, and fund-raising to keep the costs low and the coach is part-time stipended, not full time, and the trainers are all volunteers getting experience. It is a compromise, but it can work for the right person in the right sport.</p>
<p>So, there is club for fun and club for "serious" Each school will have some sports in each category. D is having fun, but she also works a campus job and it is pretty stressful. One of the "bad" things about club is that her varsity sport friends get 2 units for their "sport" time, meaning she could be taking one less class and still be full time....bummer, because she would like to have more time to devote to studies, but their are only so many hours in the day. Her academics are supported to come first, if you have a mid-term or a study session, then you skip practice and even scrimmage games. If they are traveling and she has to miss class, her coach is allowed to proctor exams/quizzes or the profs are pretty good about flexibility in scheduling...and this is a flagship public, so no hand holding, but they still work with the clubs.</p>
<p>Every school we considered was a combo of her sport plus her academic profile, as a less common sport, it was an eliminating factor in our search. D was highly qualifed for top schools, but she definitely got some tips from some coaches. Some coaches had no pull at all yet she still got in, confusing, eh?</p>