I have known a handful of athletes who were walk-ons. One was a foreign student who had been on their national team and had to beg the coach to see what they could do. This one, after that initial battle, got meaningful playing time.
I have known soccer players who were walk-ons and recruits who didn’t get much playing time at all.
And I know many kids who were persuaded to give crew a shot and who made their way to the 1V boat in relativelyshort order. The coaches tend to be pretty good at recognizing “crossover” athletes who have the build to excel. Everything from tall soccer players to nordic skiers.
With that said, most coaches will give preference to recruits over walk-ons until they have a compelling reason to do otherwise. While coaches never promise starting positions or playing time, it has usually been a part of the discussion, so they usually try to at least see what the recruits can do.
We don’t need to get all Crew’d up in here, but yes, a ton of rowers (and some coxswains) at NESCAC schools (even at top competitors like Williams) walk on with zero experience in the sport. You can often see this in their Instagram posts, for example. The programs are too big and the recruiting numbers are too small to not have walk-ons compete for spots, and many of them will train in the summer to be competitive.
One story: in a tour of one (mid-tier women’s crew) NESCAC school this year with our non-athlete daughter, our (tall, athletic) tour guide talked about how she played basketball all through high school, came to college 100% planning to play pickup and nothing else, was spotted by the rowing coach during orientation week, asked multiple times to come out to try it, and ended up as part of the team (and, I looked, in the 2V/3V her sophomore and junior years). The daughter with us, who gets a little tired of all the crew talk in our house, was none too excited by that.
To things in perspective, there are 30 players on her team.
All of them were recruited. Her '23 class is like 7. All of them were the best on their HS teams and club teams. All-league, all-state, captains, mvp, ODP, ECNL, GA, DA etc.
There are players that have not seen the field in 2 years and probably will never see it. They don’t get to travel for away games. For whatever reason, they remain on the team and practice with the team.
My D finished playing with college/semi-pro team this summer. Many D1/D3 and players who want to go play international. She is also training with local college players.
So, if you want to be a walk-on on her team, are you doing this?
There is a good chance that she will not play much
this season b/c she needs to beat out seniors playing her position(s), let alone some juniors and sophomores. Then,
worry about the '24s coming in.
For a walk-on to come in, get on the team, and take a player’s minutes…possible, but unlikely.
None of the best players on the club teams of the 30 rostered players went D1? That’s an anomaly, especially for women’s soccer.
My son’s D1 team had a walk on for this year’s spring season. He did very well, and was told he would be rostered for the fall, and likely get some minutes. Regrettably, he tore his ACL playing USL2 this summer.
Well others could have gone to D1 schools. Most soccer teams have more than one captain, more than one all star, especially at different positions. But it doesn’t seem surprising that really good players wanted to go to D3 or D2 schools especially if they get more playing time. My daughter’s friend was a hs superstar. Went to BC and never saw the field. Stopped playing after 2 years because she saw that she was never ever going to play. My daughter, a good player but not a superstar, started every game for 4 years, and played almost every minute.
She picked the right school for her academically and athletically.
Sounds like your daughter made the right choice and had a good college experience!
In the other example, just noting that it still may have been the right choice. BC (Boston College) is a very good school with a lot to offer students, so even though she did not play, it still could have been the right school even though she stopped playing as soccer assured her admittance.
Oh I think she liked BC very much, but I also think she expected to play and that was disappointing. @GKUnion asked by the top players didn’t go D1 and one of the reasons is that they want playing time.
The playing time is often disappointing and an adjustment coming from pre-college. It sounds like it worked out as she likes BC very much.
I have seen it go the other way. They like the school when playing but a lot can happen, including unexpected injuries and they find out that they wish they were elsewhere when not playing a sport.
Another reason is that some very good players want more out of college than just soccer. At D1 schools, soccer becomes your life for four years. At D3, you have a spring semester to be a normal student, you can have a semester abroad, etc, etc. A lot of top club players are not completely fixated on D1.
That is why my son wants to play D3. He’s a serious student and wants to have enough free time to do things besides schoolwork and sports. He has submitted his materials to a NESCAC and is hoping for good news in August.
FWIW, the NESCAC coach wanted him to get a 34 on the ACT and gave us the impression that he would have to apply test optional if he got less than a 33. Johns Hopkins told him that he would need a minimum 34. The Ivy that reached out to him told him to shoot for a 32 and said that a score below 30 would be a problem. Of course, as others have noted, I think score requirements vary based on the sport, the needs of the team, the talent of the player, and the transcript (grades and rigor).
