<p>There’s alot of talk among my son’s older friends who play his sport. Most of them say that they’d rather go to a less prestigious school that’s tops in the sport (they’d play) vs. an Ivy or other school where the sport is Div. 2 or 3. What do you think? (I know what I think but my opinion means ZERO to my son so once I voice it I shut up)</p>
<p>I can only tell you that my son was not good enough in his sport to play at the level (D 1) where he really wanted to attend school for the academics. He chose to not play rather than give up on what would be a life long investment.</p>
<p>Other friends of his chose schools based on their sport, whether it was the “best” program or just where they thought they would get more playing time or even just the only one that recruited them. Many regretted their decisions. Some ended up dropping the sport (burned out on it), some had to drop due to injuries and then were “stuck” at the school, and some were so dissatisfied with the school they forfeited the sport in order to transfer.</p>
<p>Of course there have been the ones that chose the “best” program with the nationally recognized coach and are extremely happy, on ESPN frequently and will probably have pro offers–but these are the rarities.</p>
<p>In some sports those TOP prestigous schools and Ivy’s have the best teams - but that is sport dependant also - but I certainly hope these kids are top D1 athlete prospects - or they won’t be playing at that level.</p>
<p>thanks for your perspective, guys. Any other opinions, experiences out there? My son’s coach is an example where he went to a mediocre U. for the top sports, and injured himself. He’s now unable to play but can still teach…at 23…</p>
<p>This is funny since S is sitting over on the couch dissing the schools some of the top kids in his sport have picked for next year. His theory was to use his sport to get into the best academic school he could attend. Of course, it is more of an individual sport, and his college has an excellent coach. He really doesn’t “get” going to Arkansas for any reason whatsoever, even if they ARE tops in his sport.</p>
<p>Thanks, Momofwild. I couldn’t quite express myself to him, but we’re thinking the same way here. We want him to use his sport as a hook to help him get into the best college/U. he can. He’s still young (13) but his coach is already PUSHING all of this stuff on him so much that we’re thinking of moving him to work with someone else. He’s even telling our son that he should only focus on one sport for college reasons and career. Ridiculous…at 13?? I can see narrowing to one sport if its your passion in high school, but not in middle school. Life’s too short for that.</p>
<p>My son started out with a list based on his sport … D1 top 20 … but also needed a school with a business program. His junior summer he was received phone calls and letters from over 50 programs. Obviously 50 schools can’t be D1 top 20 … but he slowly narrowed the list as the schools narrowed theirs.</p>
<p>He ended up with an acceptance to a well known school whose rank hovers between 18-22 – and he was a legacy at the school and with the sport team – but he elected to do a PG year and the second time around was recruited by D1 top 10 schools with great academics. </p>
<p>There were several schools where he could have played right away – either they weren’t academically suitable, or the athletics weren’t the right caliber. It’s hard to find the fit for both the academics and the athletics. My son decided (and we agreed) that it was OK to make the athletics the priority and find the academic fit second. Your mileage may vary!</p>
<p>(Oh yes … he ended up with a school ranked between 2-8 for his sport and a really top academic institution as well. I agree with MOWC that you use the sport as a hook to get in to the best school you can. )</p>
<p>I think 13 is too young to really know how things are going to shake out. My nephew “knew” from age 9 that he wanted to play D1 football and then be in the NFL. He is big and strong, but has a form of Tourette’s and gets very anxious in certain situations. Well, this is finally his junior year in high school and time to start making tapes, etc. Two games into the season he came home and announced that he had quit football. He had a “screamer” coach, was getting “tics” and decided to respect his disability. He said he felt like a piano had been lifted off of his back. He simply was not enjoying it (also had seniors who were mean to the underclassmen) and packed it in. No amount of coaxing could get him back out there. He is happily wrestling (he is good but not recruitable) and looking forward to trying to make the baseball team at his high school.
I can’t tell you how many great middle school or high school athletes don’t want to continue their sport in college. Just play it by ear.</p>
<p>DKE - are you saying your son’s coach is 23 and telling your 13 yo to concentrate on 1 sport?? woah there - I would certainly be questioning this attitude of his at this point as your son is in Middle school. He has not evan had the opportunity to participate in high school sports/varsity level athletics - to have the opportunity to show growth and choice in his best sport - which could change at this point realistically - your son doesn’t even have the academic opportunity to make that choice at this point. </p>
<p>To me - this coach is certainly off the mark and inappropriate in his advice to a young teen. He needs to back off and let your son enjoy where he is at at this point - experience being a teenager and student and athlete.</p>
<p>I’d come down on the side of best school where the sport would be the most fun to play. Then I’d let him decide when the time came. 4 years of hell coach is still hell , no matter what you are ranked.</p>
<p>My H was a D1 athlete in gymnastics. Although everything else about him made him a competitive candidate, he (and I) believe that his sport put him over the top. During his 4 years in hs, all the members of his hs boys’ gymnastics team went D1, ranging from Stanford to Iowa to the US Service Academies.</p>
<p>My D, OTOH, wanted to do her sport in college and knew she didn’t have the qualifications for D1. She ended up at a D3 school where she was able to make the team and have a wonderful time.</p>
<p>For young teenagers, you have to worry about physical burnout as well as emotional. Repetitive motion can cause stress injuries.</p>
<p>My H was a D1 athlete in gymnastics. Although everything else about him made him a competitive candidate in the college application process, he (and I) believe that his sport put him over the top. During his 4 years in hs, all the members of his hs boys’ gymnastics team went D1, ranging from Stanford to Iowa to the US Service Academies.</p>
<p>My D, OTOH, wanted to do her sport in college and knew she didn’t have the qualifications for D1. She ended up at a D3 school where she was able to make the team and have a wonderful time.</p>
<p>For young teenagers, you have to worry about physical burnout as well as emotional. Repetitive motion can cause stress injuries.</p>
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<p>Seems to me that there are several other questions that need to be answered before answering this one.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Money - does the kid need an athletic scholarship to make college a reality? If so that would push toward bigtime D1 or other scholarship-offering programs rather than non-scholarship Ivy League or D3 programs.</p></li>
<li><p>Talent and Aspirations. Assuming that we are talking about an Olympic sport and/or a sport with a pro league, does the student aspire to the Olympics or to a pro career? Does a realistic assessment of his/her level of talent suggest that such a thing is feasible? If both are yes then that would push toward a bigtime D1 program.</p></li>
<li><p>Big Program vs. Playing Time. Does the student value getting in the game over the level of the league and competition? If the student wants to get to actually play a lot, then a smaller program may be the ticket. There is greater competition for starting slots with increased risk of being relegated to riding the pines at bigtime programs.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>That is such an individual question. The answer is easy if you place a clear priority on either academics or athletics; but if you care about both, it becomes an agonizing decision. </p>
<p>The most commonly heard advice is “Go to the place where you will be happy even if you never play in a single game”–the thinking being that things like risk of injuries, coaching changes, other top recruits elbowing you out, and other scenarios are so high that you shouldn’t place first priority on the sport because it is just too “iffy”. </p>
<p>I’ve told my son’s story ad nauseum so I won’t repeat it here. He is one of the few who chose a program that seemed almost inaccessible to him, because the school had everything else that he wanted. (Basically he followed the advice above). Long story short, he has been able to achieve excellence in his sport AND still loves everything else about the school. But those are the dream-come-true stories that get written up on the school’s website as the “feel good story of the year” and not anything to base a decision on.</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback. I’m going to print this thread and give it to H. It amazes me how early all of this talk starts. H is going to talk to his coach tomorrow and tell him to chill out with all of this competitive business. S is on the Varsity team in his sport, but I agree with what you were saying that its just too early to narrow down!</p>
<p>This may not help with your immediate decisions, but is something to ponder.
Our son was a talented athlete from early years–swam competitively, soccer, baseball, basketball, roller hockey, etc. As he got older, the sports became more and more time consuming, by 12 he dropped all but basketball and soccer. Then he was encourage to “pick a sport”. He continued with bb until after fresh. year HS and then dropped it to concentrate on soccer (which had been year round for several years already). By the end of high schoo, he was so burned out on soccer that he wouldn’t consider playing in college.</p>
<p>One of our close friends is a retired major league pitcher. He strongly feels that we (Americans today) are doing our youth a great disservice by propagating the year round sport clubs/leagues. He contends that by 14 and 15 many children have not discovered their true talents. By channeling them too young into one sport, we are denying wonderful athletes in some sport they never got the chance to consider or attempt.</p>
<p>MKM56, we were just talking with a guy at H’s company who was a pro in the sport our son plays, and he said the same thing. He said to hone in early on one sport is the absolutely wrong thing to do, and he encouraged his son to participate in different sports for as long as he could. My sister lives in Latin AMerica ( although she’s a US citizen) and she remarked on how young our kids started soccer (4). She said in the country she lives in the organised sports start much later and burnout isn’t nearly as much as a factor there.</p>
<p>The college lacrosse coaches I have spoken with have said that they prefer multi-sport athletes. They particularly like to see three sport athletes – the cross training is valuable. If you check the rosters with bios at some of the elite lacrosse schools you’ll see many kids who played two sports or more.</p>
<p>…By channeling them too young into one sport, we are denying wonderful athletes in some sport they never got the chance to consider or attempt…</p>
<p>I found this to be very true - my guy started his ‘passion’ sport at 12 - actually kinda late for his 1 passion sport - and it is still his passion - he now works/coaches in his sport as a profession. My gal did the multi-sport athlete all thru school - started all her sports at the earliest age that she was eligable - then off to college and had no interest in any of them - she was burned out beyond belief - and she was a varsity athlete for 5 years/10 letters - in all of her sports!! (our 8th grade was at the high school - so she was eligable). She also played on an off high school season traveling team - to nationals a couple of times, etc… She actually dropped 1 sport for 2 seasons - so she could learn another non-school sport - she needed a break from the competitive high school stuff - so we had no problem with that at all. In college she didn’t want to be owned by any coach - and just wanted to be able to enjoy whatever she found in college. She has played intermurals in a couple of sports and had a blast - was on her own terms tho - so not stressful - and has actually taken up some brand new activities/sports that she had never been exposed to. Very competitive she is LOL.</p>
<p>One of the things she was looking for in a college tho was a snowboard team - her absolute freedom passion - had never competed but wanted to try to compete in something she had never been involved in - tho she is an avid and good boarder. She found the right school - with a snowboard team and has competed to the national level - and is actually ranked in the top 10 of college boarders (3rd-6th actually) LOL during her college career.</p>
<p>Your guy is way toooo young to be pigeon holed into just one activity - he needs the time and freedom to explore and make good well informed personal choices for himself. Being a well rounded athlete is just as important - IMHO - as being a well rounded student.</p>
<p>How do kids have time in high school to participate in 3 sports? Is it that they’re spread out during different seasons? That plus 3 hours of homework.ugh…I think I’m glad I went to school when I did!</p>