Athletics support at Yale?

T26E4
Sat, 06 Dec 2014 01:38:34 +0000

I concur w/keesh. I went to a lot of FB and men’s Ice Hockey games and Women’s BBall b/c I had good friends on the teams – on my own, I probably would have gone to fewer. But I think this speaks to the full integration of many athletes into many facets of the student body. In my largish circle of good friends were: football, M Soccer, W Soccer, W BBall, M BBall, Ice Hockey, LTWT Mens Crew, Swimming. The athletes weren’t at team tables or at mandatory study halls – they were at the literary club mtg or piano recital or Fri night movie with everyone else. This IS athletic support – maybe not “rah rah” with TV coverage and roaring crowds in the stand – but something very meaningful – possibly more meaningful than to be an athlete at a big sports college, I would posit.

I dated someone at Stanford and almost her entire circle of friends were her fellow swim teammates. My experience w/athletes at Yale was completely different. I worked with athletes in big time teams at a big time University – and they lived in a rarefied universe – very cut off from the rest of the college.

@vlee12 – if your DD can visit and get a feel for what her possible future teammates’ schedules and lives are like – outside of the sport itself – I think that will be extremely useful to her. Best of luck to you all.

Somewhat tangential, but gold medal Olympian skater Sarah Hughes chose Yale, partially b/c her host during her visit, was presidential daughter, Barbara Bush – who lived a fairly normal life, which impressed Hughes. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/04/sports/figure-skating-hughes-is-busy-making-choices.html