Is it typical for incoming freshman to be matched with other teammates as roommates? S’s friend (D3 athlete) had not made any requests but was matched with 2 teammates. He is a little bummed because he will be with them quite often and wanted to expand his social group.
I was just curious whether that happens at all schools.
My daughter’s coach let them decide, but so far all have roomed together. I don’t think it’s a good idea. Too much drama and yes, they are on the field together, in the weight room together, doing service projects together. One group of 4 had a blow up and one kid had to be moved out of the suite just before the start of the season. All stayed with the team, all played all 4 years, they just didn’t speak to each other.
My daughter’s ‘out’ was her sorority. If she wanted to get away from the team, she had sorority stuff to do. If she wanted to get out of sorority stuff, she had practice, games, film, etc.
Her second year she lived with athletes from another team. That worked great as they were all in training so kept similar hours, but the others all traveled a lot so she’d have the whole unit to herself almost every other weekend. She then returned to living with her teammates in a house for the last two years. That was okay too except they were slobs.
When I was in college I roomed with a teammate as a freshman. My son’s freshman year he lived in a seven person suite with two other athletes, neither of whom were in the same sport. I think it is normal to live with teammates in the non high academic world, and somewhat less so in the Ivy/high academic world, at least in D1. D2 and D3, in my very limited experience, seem to be all over the map.
Honestly, I don’t know how much real difference it makes. As an athlete, your natural social group at first is the team, because it can be pretty all consuming, at least at the start. One way or another, to extend your social group outside of the team will take some effort.
My D3 athlete was told they could either choose to room with teammates or go through roommate matching process. We’ve heard all combinations at other schools – teammates must, or cannot, or may, live together. My kid was, I think, one of the few incoming teammates who went through roommate matching instead of choosing teammates as roommates, but they all had good housing experiences. That group of recruits, including my son, have chosen to live together every year after first year, though some good friends from outside the team have also been in the housing group.
The advantages, especially for fall athletes, include: you all move in together during preseason, and have roommates to suffer through 2 a days, wake you when you oversleep for 7am practice etc. You are all on the same schedule, for practice and games/travel, so you aren’t disturbing a non-teammate roommate with your schedule. You don’t get lulled into a false sense of flexibility, when you come back from practice and see your roommate socializing – they have already done their school work, and you haven’t – when your roommates are on your team, you all know when you have to sit down and get work done. Disadvantages? You may be competing for time/spot with a roommate, or you may be excelling and your roommate is having a rough time, and it is hard to deal with that team competition back in the room. Also, it takes more effort to meet other people but, basically, the first few months of first year are all about meeting new people everywhere – in class, dining hall, parties, events. So a D3 athlete rooming with teammates will have plenty of other opportunities to meet people.
Interesting discussion. My S is an incoming freshman and will be rooming with a teammate; someone he knows from a different HS at home; they’ve been competing against each other for 4 years but will now be teammates. Their choice; coach did not offer advice either way. He wanted to do it for the reasons @Midwestmomofboys said–same 6AM lifting sessions, 8AM Sunday workouts, etc–thought it would help him get up early, not worry about disturbing anyone, etc. He figures his social life will revolve largely around the team anyway. I guess we’ll see how it works out.
My DD’s coach pushed them to room with another athlete, but maybe not someone from the team. She gets the benefit of an understanding roomie when it comes to balancing the life or it’s got to be quiet the night before a game, and it’s an easy introduction to another world of people to meet that you aren’t spending all your time with today.
As one who spent far too many years with roommates, I always espoused my conventional wisdom that one should not room with your best friend, and therefore not with teammates. So two of mine did not room their first year with teammates. They both did for the three succeeding years. They were far happier in the years rooming with their teammates. I never said a word to my third about roommates. Trust your kid.
My daughter lived with a teammate last year, and is living with her and another teammate as well as a couple other girls this year – no real issues she seemed to like it.
My dd lived with a teammate freshman year. No issues even when competing for time and when one traveled and the other didn’t. She’s continuing to live with the same roommate for next year. Maybe they just got lucky but they are the best of friends, including having the same major and similar interests.
D1 roomed with the same D3 teammate for 3 years; they were matched by the coach and are still great friends. She lived off campus with non-athletes senior year, but they had different schedules so it didn’t turn out like she expected. Her sport has 6 am and afternoon practices.
D2, same sport, matched by coach. Roommate dropped out due to injury, moved in with boyfriend in the spring (parents didn’t know). Soph year didn’t want teammates so went random and ended up pretty compatible. Moving into a house with non sport roommate, but sound sleeper and keeps regular hours (in bed by 1 am)! Soph roommate moving into house in the spring after study abroad.
My daughter is heading into her senior year and will room with teammates as she has the previous 3 years. It has worked out well. I’m sure it helps that they all suffer through 5:30AM practice together. The team is very tight knit. They study together, take classes together, etc. Most also belong to sororities/fraternities, clubs, have jobs and/or do research, which helps to expand their circle.
My youngest had a single last year. Most first year housing at his school are singles. Next year he will be with a team mate by choice. His team does not have rules. They do not have to live together.
My oldest chose a team mate as a room mate his first year. He did not want to choose someone who he would be competing with for playing time so he choose someone at a different position. He lived in a single in his fraternity house is 2nd and 3rd year. His senior year he lived in an apartment with a mix of team mates and non team mates.
My son’s school requires the football players to room together freshman year. I think it makes sense - they move in a month early, so they want them to have someone to live with during that time.
When my son was thinking about wrestling in college, most coaches recommended rooming with a teammate but didn’t require it. The main reason as above - 6am lifting when it’s pitch black, a foot of snow on the ground and below 0 is much easier when your roommate is doing it too!!
Agree that outside academic elite this seems standard. A friend’s son made varsity his freshman year (winter sport). As it turned out, one other freshman also made varsity, and it was his roommate. The dad made a comment to one of the coaches that it was lucky that it turned out that way for them. The coach just laughed, and told the dad that they were roommates because when roommates were assigned they were the 2 most likely to make varsity so he put them together.
S talked to more athletic elite coaches than academic ones, and most put teammates together first year and then let the guys figure out roommates for upperclass years. One coach did say he retains final approval on roommates all 5 years. Mostly he doesn’t want his varsity guys rooming with the partiers.
My D2 son roomed with 2 randomly assigned non-athletes but was next door to 2 of his teammates who had known each other previously, along with another random non-athlete. It turned out to be a good mix. That whole group minus one of the random kids ended up staying together in some form along with added teammates for his time in college. He was very fortunate that his team had an amazing group of young men who got along very well. They spent a lot of time together outside of their sport and I can’t think of a single teammate who was ever excluded. There were a lot of science majors and a lot of musicians so they studied together and got together for jam sessions. He was in a fall sport and always had to be on campus 6 weeks before school started (the UC’s start at the end of Sept. so their season starts before school starts.) Since on-campus housing is not ready for move-in that early, all on-campus fall athletes are housed in one set of dorms on campus for the first 4 weeks and then have to move again to their assigned dorms. It gave him a chance to get to know athletes from other sports. While my son did have a lot of non-athlete friends, he did tend to hang out more with those playing a sport, including club sports, as I think they had so much in common in their schedules.
Yale purposefully does not house athletesfrom the same team together but my son is very tight with his teammates and ended up switching his RA so he could live with his best buddy who is a teammate. I’m not worried about his extending friendships beyond his team as he seems very social with many walks of life at his college 