<p>Hey - I'm just wondering who is planning on playing a varsity sport next year and what sport?</p>
<p>[I'm doing track & field -- the hurdles and pole vault]</p>
<p>My son is also doing Track and Field.</p>
<p>Would you two be willing to talk about the recruitment process? My D is a junior interested in Tufts and wants to play a sport. Most of her other schools are D1 and I understand (I think) how recruitment works for D1 but how was it for D3? I guess track is pretty easy to quantify (times and distances) but how did you approach the coach, what statements/promises did the coach make to you? Do you still have to try out in the summer/fall?</p>
<p>Dondi - what events does your son do?</p>
<p>DCMom - for d3 you don't have to fill out the NCAA Clearinghouse form, and you are either approached by the coach (through mailings usually) or you can just call/email them and set up a time to talk to them. And I wouldn't necessarily say Track is easy to qualify - you have to be able to run the times or post a good mark... Regarding promises/statements the Track coach she puts in a word at admissions for athletes she wants. No athletic scholarships for D3 though :( And some coaches make you try out in the summer/fall, some don't - it depends on the coach and the sport.</p>
<p>mjones- my son runs 400m, 800m and relays; not cross country.
dcmom- your daughter should e-mail the coaches of the schools she's interested in as well as send them a sports resume'. Her HS coach should be able to guide her regarding D1 vs. D3 and she can also ask her coach to call the coaches to get a feel for how she would fit in their program. D1 has many rules regarding when contact can be made and how many contacts etc. The NCAA website has the rules. D3 is a lot more relaxed since there is no money/scholarships involved. When we visited the schools we arranged a meeting with the coach. For sports other than track some coaches want a video. Some coaches seem to have more to say about admissions than others. You can ask them about how the process works at their school. We found most coaches pretty truthful about my son's chance of admission and being on the team. Technically D3 schools are not suppose to have tryouts.
Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Usually the web sites have a recruitment form to fill out with best times, awards, grades etc. My kids followed up with e-mails and mailed newspaper clippings written about them, pictures in the paper with quotes etc. My S did a sports resume as well to send with a letter. Both my kids ran /will run track and x-country in college so feel free to e-mail me any questions. They have dealt with Div 1 and 3.</p>
<br>
<p>Technically D3 schools are not suppose to have tryouts.</p>
<br>
<p>Does this mean that anyone can play regardless of experience?</p>
<p>Anyone probably could run with the team but to travel with them and be on varsity you need to be top 10 or so in practice. To get a good word in for admissions by the coach you would have to have good times in the past as they can submit only a certain amount of names to admissions.</p>
<p>Hey, good info on recruiting. And Mjones, I did not mean that track is easy to qualify for, I meant it's easy to quantify--you know what your times are vis a vis the times of runners on the team. </p>
<p>My D has done lots of recruitment questionaires for her possible schools, sent packets with clippings and a resume and talked to D3 coaches who should be jumping up and down based on her qualifications but what we have found at some D3 schools is that the competition is pretty stiff. We spoke with one boy "recruited" for baseball at a D3 school. He tried out and made the fall team of 40 kids (80 kids trying out!) but did not make the actual spring squad. Smaller D3 schools seem to take anyone on their squads. I guess my confusion is that with a D1 program, you know where you stand--the coach can say via a letter of intent that you are on the team. With D3, it seems more unclear, more of a gamble whether you will make the team, depending on who matriculates to that school. </p>
<p>She is not in a sport like swimming or track that a potential player can look at the times of those currently on the team and determine whether they will be competitive, so my question pertains more to how much a D3 coach can promise about whether a player will make a team.</p>
<p>--b-u-m-p--</p>
<p>four of my advisees are doing sports: swimming, XC, women's basketball and men's soccer.</p>