<p>Hi everyone, I wasn't sure if this was the right area to put this post, but I need some advice and was hoping I could find it here. Recently I have been contemplating whether or not to I should play basketball in college. I have been generating interest from a good amount of schools (D1, D2, and D3) but most of them are small and poor academic schools. I have pretty good grades and can get into my state school easily without being recruited to play. I have considered Ivy League schools, but I'm not sure if I am skilled enough to compete at that level. I have also been thinking about the time commitment of division 1 sports and realize that although I know I can handle it, I may want to spend my years in college finding other interests of mine and meeting people outside of the sports scene. In high school I pretty much just practiced my sport and studied. I feel like I want to use my college years to explore what other things I may be good at that I've never had time to try before. Yet, basketball has been such a huge part of my life and I don't know if I'm ready to give it up. If any of you have had to make a similar decision please let me know how it turned out for you and if you felt you chose the right path. </p>
<p>I think a lot of kids struggle with this question. My kid plays at an Ivy and her sport is one of her favorite things to do, but she was also a good student who would have been accepted to a good school ( though maybe not Ivy) on her own. When she started the recruiting process she was always very upfront with school being more important than sport and she wasn’t going to go to a lesser caliber academic institution just because they were recruiting her to play a sport. Things worked out well and she had a few great schools to choose from, but she realized early on where her priorities were. Three years in she’s still playing and loving it, though it does take a lot of time and it has kept her from exploring some other things she’s legitimately interested in. There are always trade-offs and sacrifices to be made to do what you want to do. Hope this anecdote sheds a little light on your problem for you. Good luck.</p>
<p>My D loves her sport also, and only considered D3 because of the lower time commitment. It’s the best of both worlds, she is busy during the season, but there is very little time required during the off season. She looked at the game schedule ahead of time, and chose a school with short travel time to games. She also chose a place where academics are valued over sports, in a conflict, class time wins over practice. She has friends on the team, but many friends outside of her sport also. I would not advise going to a poor academic school just to play a sport though! There are often club sports, but I don’t know about basketball.</p>
<p>I have 2 kids who played college sports, one a golfer who played D1 and is now playing professionally, all he wanted to do was golf, he was too busy to do well in school and be a top collegiate player so he did not explore other things and that was okay for him. My daughter went to NAIA D1 to play basketball, she did not LOVE it like my son loves golf, long story short she tore her ACL, her coaching staff that recruited her was fired and the new coach didn’t want her. It was hard to take at first but she was able to do lots of things she would not have otherwise been able to do, such as come home for Christmas break!!! Basketball is at the worst time really… Anyway, if you are wavering at all, its a HUGE commitment and if you are on scholarship for your sport they basically can run your life, if you love it no biggie but if you don’t it can be hard. </p>
<p>If you play D1 (except Ivy) you will get a full scholarship, and the team will own you. I think you have to love it.</p>
<p>My daughter plays D2 lacrosse, and this is her off season. She works out from 6-8 am every day except Sunday. She has study tables every night, 8-10 hours per week. Saturdays and Sundays they have ‘team events’ like swimming and paddleboarding. This Saturday she has an all day play day which conflicts with something else she’d rather do.</p>
<p>She does love it, and is happy with her choice. She’s happy with D2 because she wants to play, not just sit on a bench. She’ll start, and that’s important to her. She does have a conflict with her team as she’s joined a sorority and the team doesn’t like that she doesn’t spend all her time with them. She also studies a lot more than most of them, so that eats into her time too.</p>
<p>I have heard that some D3 schools have required study times also, my D would not have liked that. Her team has 4 weeks of practice in the off season, 3 times a week. She does some physical training on her own because she wants to stay in shape. They get together for dinner occasionally as a team, but her best friends she hangs out with are not athletes. I think the posts above give a good idea of the differences between D1, 2, and 3. Friends’ children who are on D1 teams travel much more, my student would not like missing classes for travel.</p>
<p>My son is a D1 athlete, and by virtue of the fact that he transferred, we are seeing the workings of two different D1 schools. There is enough similarity between the schools and the commitment required, that I can safely say if you are ambivalent, D1 is probably not the right fit for you. </p>
<p>At the D1 level you need to be very content with the fact that you will eat, sleep and breathe your sport. There will be required study hall (whether you need it or not), minimum 20 hrs. week practice and you will likely not be allowed to pledge a frat or sorority, you will also miss class many times when you are in season due to travel, and the classes you take each semester will be limited to make sure there is no conflict with practice times. </p>
<p>Most of the athletes I have met at the D1 level are doing it because they can’t imagine giving up their sport before they have to, and all seem to be of the same mindset, regardless of the sport/team they are on. </p>
<p>I think its great that you aren’t jumping at the schools that are showing interest just for the chance to play. You are thoughtfully trying to figure out what school environment is going to be best for you.</p>
<p>I know basketball players who are currently busy practicing with their teams now (out of season). The commitment doesn’t end in D2 or D3 out of season. I am hearing practice, regular pick up games and weight room. Not all programs are the same but, some are still big business. Sometimes you don’t know that until you get there. I think it gets downplayed a bit when its not D1.</p>
<p>Think of schools you would like to go to. If they aren’t showing interest, maybe you can generate your own and hopefully obtain the balance you are looking for. You have good grades so, it opens up things a bit. </p>
<p>Ontrack2013, all the athletes I know playing D3 (or any level) are doing it because they love their sport and did not want to give it up also. The D3 players just want more out of college than eating, sleeping, and breathing their sport. I think it is sad that the D1 team can dictate kids’ majors, classes, and activities outside the sport. The main reason to go to college is an education.</p>
<p>I thought of another advantage of D3 - easier to study abroad for a semester. </p>
<p>Mamabear – certainly didn’t mean to imply that athletes at other levels don’t love their sport too. Just wanted to call out for the original poster that there won’t be much else at the D1 level and you just need to know and understand the situation you sign up for. My son has no complaints on all the limitations, right or wrong, he knew it going in and is happy with his choice. </p>
<p>And I would add that while there are certainly limitations and a huge investment in time to the sport, my D1 kid has no study hall and no prohibition on joining any type of club. This is true of every single sport at the school. In season the kids can do little more than attend a few functions. Out of season there is enough time to contribute to the workings of the club. Many enjoy this break from sport. I think you just need to find out what’s expected of team member at each school you’re considering. It varies from school to school.</p>
<p>If you are somewhat ambivilent, I would look at D3 schools. It might give you a boost to a little better school.
Also, see if your colleges of interest have Club teams so you can play at a decent level but still have time for other things.</p>
<p>My son is playing a D2 sport and loving it, but it is a huge time committment. They play their regular fall season, team work-outs during winter, and then do a spring tournament season. They have to return to school after summer a full 6 weeks before the rest of the student body (UC’s start first week of Oct. and fall athletes returned on Aug. 16). My son knew all of this going in and has no problems with it, however it is definitely not for everyone, and each school varies in their athlete requirements. When my son was applying for schools, we really encouraged him to look at club teams at his schools of interest. They can be extremely competitive and often include top notch athletes who could probably play D1 but choose not to for various reasons. My son would have played club as a last resort but really wanted to shoot for a higher level, and was willing to make the sacrifices. I would think a club team might be a very good alternative for someone like the OP who is not sure about making a huge time committment to a sport.</p>
<p>@doubtful, I don’t know how your son has no study tables as they are required by NCAA.</p>
<p>My daughter is also loving her choice of a D2. She loves the structure of the morning work outs, class, then study tables. She did join a sorority, but the sorority understands that the priority is school, sport, then social life. Many of the other girls are also athletes or very busy in other school clubs like robotics or student government. It’s working out.</p>
<p>My niece played club and could easily have played D1. She just didn’t want to. She found club to be enough for her, but it wasn’t just like a Saturday league. She had practices and travel; I think she traveled more than my D2 daughter will (she’ll only have 4 away games next spring as all the other schools love to play in Florida in the winter!).</p>
<p>@twoinanddone I’m not so sure about that. Ivy league school, no real academic compliance issues, no team at school has mandatory study hall. In fact, there is zero academic support for athletes in particular, though the school has academic support for the general student population. I’m trying to google an NCAA mandate on study halls and not finding one, but share the link if you find it. You might be right, but my kid has no study halls, and when she was being recruited the coach made it clear that you were on your own as a student, just like everyone else at school.</p>
<p>I think the reason the Ivies don’t have mandatory study tables is that they don’t give scholarships. The Div 1 and Dive 2 schools require freshmen and transfer students to attend 8 hours/wk of study tables. If the student gets a certain GPA, the requirement drops to 6 hours (I think) and then goes away. I couldn’t find the exact rules (I pretty much hate the NCAA website), but I know I signed something that had the requirement on it (the NLI? the rules? my daughter is only 17 so I had to sign the drug policy and a lot of other things). One of my daughter’s teammates didn’t do her 8 hours one week and the whole team paid the price (suicides!). On her team all the freshmen are on scholarship, so all have to do the study tables.</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about mandatory study tables either- at least at his D2 school my son does not have any designated study periods at all. I would be interested in seeing the rule. </p>
<p>See page 6 about academic integrity.
It is Div 1. May be tied to scholarship?
<a href=“http://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/Combined%20Measurable%20Standards.pdf”>http://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/Combined%20Measurable%20Standards.pdf</a></p>
<p>And page 8 about academic support.</p>
<p>And here is sample agreement for athletic support
<a href=“http://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/FinAidForm.pdf”>http://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/FinAidForm.pdf</a></p>
<p>Thanks to everyone for replying! Your experiences and tips have helped give me a greater insight into what it would be like to play in college. </p>