<p>How much of a time commitment are DIII sports? Does it vary widely from school to school?</p>
<p>Yes, just as it does with any school D1, D2 or D3. Some D3 conferences are more competitive than others, and some teams are perennial national powerhouses that are expected to go to D3 College World Series. D3 has it all.</p>
<p>I know many D3 baseball players and their time commitments vary considerably…their results also varied considerably. Before you verbally commit or enroll, it is very important for incoming freshmen to understand what is expected of them and the time committment involved. Some majors are more difficult and time consuming than others. These are really important things to know ahead of time by talking to the coaches, touring campus, talking to current and former players. There may also be expected commitments to play summer college baseball, and off-season workouts with your team or position group, etc… Once official practices start, you are no longer a recruit and you will be expected to work hard for your team.</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.d3baseball.com%5DD3baseball.com%5B/url”>http://www.d3baseball.com]D3baseball.com[/url</a>] - Great website with all D3 baseball teams and their conferences by region.</p>
<p>Best of luck.</p>
<p>This is very helpful information, fenway. If it gets that far and my son really is considering this school and the coach really thinks my son is qualified, my son will need to ask a lot of questions. This is an academically extremely intense school.</p>
<p>This is an academically extremely intense school.</p>
<p>If that is the case, it becomes even more of an issue depending on the major. If his skills are in demand, he will hear from other schools as well. Check the rosters of any interested school to see how many players have your sons major from freshmen to seniors. How many freshmen engineering majors, and how many senior engineering majors for example. Those numbers tell a big story. In addition, ask the coach about a specific major to double check your research. At some D1 schools we were told by the coaches (in a round about way) that our son would have to change his major. </p>
<p>I would also look at their historical baseball schedule. How many total games do they play in a spring season? How many mid-week and mid-week travel games do they play? How much state, regional or national travel is involved? Do they have internet on their charter buses? In my son’s conference they play a double header on Saturday and a doubleheader on Sunday. Non-conference games are played during mid-week. The away games are limited to 22 players on the 35 man roster, so as a freshmen your son would have to earn a spot to travel during the mid-week and weekend games. You should ask how your son’s conference handles away game roster limitations. All of this leads to how much time does he have to study. Each one of these factors is huge in a difficult major at an extremely intense school.</p>
<p>Best of luck!</p>
<p>Probably varies by school. Need to evaluate your priorities when in college. It is one thing if you plan to play in order to get scholarship money, however if that is not your chief motivation, best to understand that college is about getting a degree, sports and various EC’s are things to do in your spare time. </p>
<p>If you don’t plan to become a pro athlete in your sport (and most never do), check into the club/intra-mural programs that many schools have. You can still enjoy being athletic without the time committment of a varsity sport.</p>
<p>It does depend on the school and the conference. For example NESCAC schools are not allowed to have off season games or activities other than non-required “captain’s” practices. Allows for the athletes doing semesters abroad and other activities. In some cases it can actually be less of a time commitment than it was in HS. Check the schedule and the policy of the school your son is interested in.</p>
<p>IMHO DIII sports can really add to the college experience - an instant peer group to start with (that will be expanded upon), and practice with time management.</p>
<p>Thanks very much for the responses. You’ve given my son lots to think about and discuss should this go any farther than the initial email from the coach. My son hadn’t planned on playing DIII in college. He was considering club baseball but also thought he’d try football as it’s something he always wanted to play. He’s been a baseball player since age 9 but wore out his shoulder pitching freshman year and was an outfielder this past year but on a very small team and wasn’t even planning on playing this year. Eh, we’ll take it a little at a time. Being that his biggest EC is music, I’m thinking DIII may be too much even at a school known to have lousy sports teams.</p>
<p>This team’s in the SCIAC league and they didn’t win any games last season. Sounds like my son could play there. LOL We’ll see. He’ll talk with the coach next week.</p>
<p>My son is a freshman at a D3 school. He has been at college only two weeks. He met witih the coach yesterday and withdrew from his team and I am in shock. Has anyone been through this? My husband accepts his decision, saying that when he was in college, his friends who played on school teams (also D3) had too much of a time commitment. But my son hadn’t even started playing yet. He had said that there were too many emails from the team, and he felt too much pressure already. He had gone to one practice and some team meetings and when he saw the schedule for the school year, it was a lot more than he expected. I think he should have given it a chance but he felt he was the worst one on the team after one practice. Any parents out there who have experienced anything like this?</p>
<p>My son was heavily recruited by several D3 baseball teams. He chose his college based on the coach who said that he would be an integral part of the team. To make a long story short, he tore his ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow during Fall practice freshman year, underwent Tommy John surgery and intense rehab for the injury, and “fell off the coach’s radar” . He spent sophomore and junior years making an immense time committment, especially in the Spring with 40 games and six -days- a -week practices, and pitched 3 innings sophomore year and two innings junior year. He ended up as bullpen catcher (he was an all section catcher and pitcher in high school). He felt that the time put into baseball wasn’t worth it. He decided to quit baseball senior year, much to the chagrin of my husband. Baseball was always a huge part of my son’s life. My son has never been a quitter, but felt his time was better spent pursuing all the things he missed during his first three years of college (like extracurricular activities, pursuing internships, and even just some free time to hang out with friends) because of the time spent with baseball. Your son will have to make many decisions in his life - it’s part of becoming an adult. As much as we like to help and guide our kids, we need to let them make their own choices. College sports, even at the D3 level, is a much greater time committment than in high school. Unless your son feels that it will be something that he will enjoy, it isn’t worth making that committment.</p>
<p>Thanks for your story and some much needed perspective. There is always the risk of injury in any sport and as a parent of three kids, who have played baseball, soccer, basketball and volleyball at various times (my kids are 22, 18 and 12) that is my biggest concern. My kids have had overuse injuries in the past but nothing as serious as you describe. Since they all started sports very young, we have attended hundreds of games and have seen our share of kids getting hurt during games and being carried off the court or field and then being out for months.</p>
<p>My son plays D3 baseball - to answer the original question, he averages 40 hours a week on baseball year around. </p>
<p>In the fall, the number of official practices are limited - but “optional” captains workouts, weight lifting etc adds up to about 30 hours a week. </p>
<p>During the season, it increases to more like 45-50 for a home series and 60+ for an away series (due to bus rides etc.) He plays in the NWC which has some really long distances between schools.</p>
<p>Hope this helps</p>
<p>40 hours a week year round??? When does he possibly take classes and do homeswork? What about other ECs? What about work? My son will need/want to work during college There’s no way my son will want to play if it’s like that.</p>
<p>The school in question is Caltech and they had a terrible team. I can’t believe they would want that much commitment from students. Well, he’ll ask these hard questions when he talks with the coach. That kind of time commitment would suck the love of baseball right out of him. My son has too many interests to just commit to one EC.</p>
<p>This has been very enlightening, thank-you.</p>
<p>No way 40 hrs a week even in season. The rules usually limit practices and days of practice. If you’re counting travel time, kids at academically rigorous schools get a lot of work done on the bus. Also check the schedule. I’ve found that in some sports there are actually fewer games and scrimmages than in HS.</p>
<p>Many D3 athletes had been 2 or 3 season athletes in HS and actually find D3 less time consuming. Don’t forget that HS classes run for at least 30 hours a week plus hw. College classes meet fewer hours and may have more hw ( altho I would imagine that a caltech prospect took a heavy hs load). Some are even 2 season athletes in college. I would have your son talk to a kid on the team (maybe do an overnight) and get the real scoop.</p>
<p>My son has played soccer since he was four, pretty intensely since 10, and although he was on a sort of big deal club team, and a big deal at his school and in his division, he knew division I soccer was not going to happen. He looked at DII and III and NAIA (is that right?) schools, but in the end, the best fit was a D I school where be could play club soccer. </p>
<p>It’s only been two weeks, but it seems perfect. He already has an arm injury, but it’s from the " B boy" (break dancing) club; something he loves but would never have time for with a varsity sport and engineering major. Fortunately he does not use his arms for soccer.</p>
<p>Caltech spends minimal time on baseball - I think they carried fewer than 20 players on their roster in previous years. If you have the chance to matriculate at caltech and dabble in baseball, there is a unique opportunity for a life experience! And isn’t that one goal of college?</p>
<p>While I agree it may vary from place to place, it would be a big mistake to underestimate the time and commitment involved, even in DIII athletics. Depending on how active a student wants to be in other activities, it can really take a toll. No matter what level, there is generally a major step up in time and effort between high school and college sports.</p>
<p>I don’t think the time commitment at Caltech are all that intense. DS was interested in the school and a sport and it was really not too big a deal. Frankly, the coach was so desperate to fill his team (actually did not carry a full complement last year), I’m sure he would have been happy to have DS show up whenever he felt like it, even if it was just for the meets (not that he would have done that). It’s not easy filling 9 varsity men’s teams with about 650 students total, majority of non-athletic flavor.</p>
<p>To get a good idea about sports at Caltech, watch the trailer for Quantum Hoops <a href=“http://www.quantumhoops.com/index2.htm[/url]”>http://www.quantumhoops.com/index2.htm</a> about Caltech basketball.</p>
<p>However, also understand that the coach has <em>no</em> pull and your son will have to gain admission in his own no-athletic merits. In fact, DS, with requisite stats, was not admitted despite being the top ‘recruit’ in his sport.</p>
<p>Right. I understand Caltech is incredibly competitive and that this contact doesn’t mean much. I was just trying to see if even considering playing (not talking about getting accepted) a DIII sport is feasable. My son isn’t even playing baseball this year as of now since the homschool team he was on last year won’t have a team this year.</p>
<p>It’s just that Caltech wasn’t on my son’s list (Mudd and MIT are, though) before this contact and I’m all about following up on stuff like this just to see what they say.</p>
<p>I did read all about Quantum Hoops-great story.</p>
<p>sbjdorlo,</p>
<p>A friend’s son plays baseball for MIT. I will ask him about the hours. </p>
<p>As I stated earlier, I think it will vary considerably among D3 schools. Son plays for a D1 Ivy, and I would guess Scualum’s numbers are 15-20% higher overall in my son’s case last year because he was s a starting pitcher (only) once the conference season began. He did not have to go to mid-week games because he would only pitch on the weekend. This year may be different as his role may change and more is expected of him.</p>
<p>I totally agree with FLVDAD…don’t underestimate the time and commitment. It has been said many times over that you can have at most two from the following: academics, athletics and social activities. We’ve found statement that to be very true especially in an acadmically rigorous environment.</p>