<p>During recruiting visits if the coach implies that your son should change his major…I think it is time for a reality check…The degree he earns will last a lifetime, playing sports should not be the main reason he goes to college.</p>
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<p>Will never happen at Caltech. Coaches there know exactly why the kids are there and where sports stand in relation to their academics. </p>
<p>The time commitment at MIT may be significantly higher. They take their sports much more seriously. For DS’s sport, the practices at MIT were 2hrs/day, 5x week compared to 1.5-2 hours 3x week at Caltech. The meet schedule at MIT is also higher, although they spend less time traveling to/from meets due to plethora of nearby teams while Caltech has to fly few times a year.</p>
<p>gusaspara:</p>
<p>Sorry that you don’t believe the 40 hours a week off season and more in season - but in my son’s case, that is what it is. </p>
<p>My son is one of those organized types who keeps a detailed calendar. Over the summer, he was talking with one of his baseball friends who went D1 and they decided to compare demands of the program - so he went through and added it all up. D1 is more like 45 hours out of season BTW.</p>
<p>What you may be missing is that, while the rules limit the number of practices, the serious players all workout extensively outside of practice. Weights, running swimming - none of those are supervised. Practices start at a particular time - but players get there an hour earlier and do their stretching and warming up.</p>
<p>The season is 11 or 12 weeks and 40 games. Saturday and Sunday daytime is fully consumed. If they are away, bus leaves on Friday, usually at 3 and gets back around midnight Sunday.</p>
<p>The running joke in college sports is Grades, Hockey, Social Life - pick any 2. It really isn’t that bad - but close…</p>
<p>Depends a lot on how good of a student someone is. If you fall behind or start failing classes, then your time spent on a sport will look like poor planning.</p>
<p>I would venture to say that for most student-athletes whose parents end up on this board, that is a non-issue. The time management skills that it’s takes to be an student that is athletically and academically qualified for schools like MIT, CalTech, Ivy League and top tier Dlll schools give these student-athletes an edge over most of their peers. They have been managing demanding training schedules, and the accompanying fatigue, along with rigorous course loads for many years.</p>
<p>Scualum - It’s not that I don’t believe that a kid could spend 40 hours a week off season at a DIII sport (although I do wonder how wise that is), I was referring to an academically rigorous school like Caltech. My kid probably spends 20 to 25 hours a week in season including unsupervised workouts playing a DIII sport at a top 20 LAC. Off season, they probably spend a bit less time except for those who are two sport athletes. And their teams in general have been among the best in DIII. I do know of kids at other DIII schools who spend much more time, including an offseason game schedule.</p>
<p>Looking at the Caltech baseball schedule, they played 27 games last year (if I counted correctly). Places like Caltech truly consider their kids to be student-athletes - student comes first.</p>
<p>I also agree with fishymom, these kids already have the time management skills, in fact when mine were in HS I saw it as a great opportunity to learn that - procrastination became deadly!</p>
<p>In the end it’s up to the kid, varsity sports and club sports both have their pluses and minuses - I just think that an eclectic approach to life is what really matters.</p>
<p>I don’t think you can generalize that everyone on these forums are top of their class students or assume that since it was right for your son that it is automatically the right path for everyone else. If time wasn’t an issue, I doubt this particular thread would have ever been started. As someone else mentioned earlier, h.s. is a LOT different from college.</p>
<p>gusaspara:</p>
<p>For what it is worth, my son is a 6 straight semester 3.5+ senior, likely to graduate with honors, with a double major in math and economics from a top tier (but not top 20) LAC.</p>
<p>His biggest love in life is baseball - that is how he choses to spend his time. So do his teammates - and his opponents on the field. Other sports require less time - baseball is widely regarded as one of the most time intensive of college sports. </p>
<p>To the original poster - here is a NCAA study on the subject - look about half way down the page:</p>
<p>[Second</a> GOALS study emphasizes coach influence - NCAA.org](<a href=“http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/NCAA/Resources/Latest+News/2011/January/Second+GOALS+study+emphasizes+coach+influence]Second”>http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/NCAA/Resources/Latest+News/2011/January/Second+GOALS+study+emphasizes+coach+influence)</p>
<p>Cal tech is an excellent school - but a major exception in baseball to the number of games played and the time required.</p>
<p>As I said - it is particular to the school and the kid ( mine’s a double major too).</p>
<p>And as an aside - I really appreciate the extra perk of getting to see my kid a couple of times a week during the season (love to go to the games) without carrying the helicopter title! also got to know the friends and their families well - something not that common for college parents whose kids are not on teams (music, dance art etc tend to have events, but not as often).</p>
<p>My experience with baseball is thus:
Nephew plays for Duke and has NO life. He plays year round. Summer leagues are pretty much mandatory, as well. He wasn’t loving it, but he does love the game. His grades were excellent. They don’t fool around. </p>
<p>S2 is looking only at D3. He plays two varsity sports in high school and, of course, baseball is year ’ round, so we basically never see him. If he didn’t love it and excel in the classroom, he wouldn’t be looking at playing in college. </p>
<p>Personally, I would be very happy to see him play club ball and have options. he wants to do this so we are backing him 100%. Meeting some coaches this week, and am interested in what the coach says compared to what the current players say regarding time.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the feedback. My son spoke with the coach who was encouraging my son to apply EA. I told my son not to feel pressured into anything. My son was plan on applying to one school SCEA and the rest RD but now he has to think about everything all over again. The coach made it sound as if there isn’t that much time involved; he said every day from 4-6 pm is practice and games are usually 1 on Friday and 2 on Saturday. He also said that kids can be involved in other things but he might just be saying that.</p>
<p>Too much to think about in college admissions. Sigh!</p>
<p>The best advice a DIII coach ever gave my son was this: “Spend some time here, and pretend that you have had a career ending injury. Would you still want to be at this school if you couldn’t play the sport?”</p>
<p>Son ended up at our state flagship playing club level of the sport and is very happy with that decision. </p>
<p>Every student athlete we know, girl or boy, DI, DII, or DIII school has had a reality adjustment regarding just how much time their sport takes at the college level.</p>
<p>In re-reading the above, the point I failed to make is that baseball is my DS first love. The concept of him not playing has stared him in the face several times - and the intense feeling of sorrow that comes over him approaches that of mourning. </p>
<p>He has gone through several serious injuries and each time has had to make the decision - the rehab to get back to playing shape will be hard - do I want to make the investment? Each time the decision has been to do the work to get back to the game. </p>
<p>So the question to be asked of the player is - what would it feel like if you walked away from the game now?</p>
<p>from my personal experience, it just is not worth playing on a division 3. The most compelling reason is a lack of any reinforcement. It basically boils down to playing it for the love of the game. That is fine then since you can join a club team. It simply takes up way too much time to do something because “you enjoy it.” In conjunction with academics, and other integral activities (like sleeping, social time/relaxing), it simply monopolizes the persons’ day. I would strongly advocate anyone in a division III sport to re-examine the role it has in college.</p>
<p>I apologize in advance for being so blunt, but that’s got to be one of the stupidest remarks I’ve ever read on this board. “playing it for the love of the game” should be the primary reason anyone participates intercollegiate athletics, not being paid to do so. In my book student-athletes are always students first. Undoubtedly there are bad programs out there with “no reinforcement,” but there are many fine DIII programs out there as well.</p>
<p>Competition is intense whether it’s D1, 2, or 3. Because, most of the time, it’s the coach’s career that drives the truck, not the student’s needs.</p>
<p>As far as quality of athlete, D2 is D3 that offers scholarship money.</p>
<p>What it usually comes down to, is that a college sports career is a job. If you want to get out in 4 years and have a demanding technical major, it’s next to impossible to do both in any college. Forget other activities, and maybe your offseason job/vacation. It’s a commitment. Behind in your labs? Coach doesn’t care, and the professor won’t care about your road trip to represent the school in the tournament.</p>
<p>There’s a long road lined with academic/athletic corpses; outstanding students who played varsity sports, lost their place in the class or with the team, that got in the coach’s or prof’s “doghouse” and lost their scholarships after soph year. It’s like the Seinfeld episode where Elaine & Jerry try to “have sex, just be friends”. </p>
<p>Thank goodness that a prof gazed in my son’s eyes at orientation and asked, “Do you want to be a professional soccer player or a professional engineer?”. My son is doing well in engineering, and really enjoys playing competitive club soccer (he’s at a d3 that plays d1 clubs), where there is no doghouse. Plus, he gets to play flag football, ski club, and other activities without guilt or pressure.</p>
<p>I have to reiterate - IT DEPENDS ON THE SCHOOL AND THE CONFERENCE. I am most familiar with the NESCAC. 8 of the 11 schools in the conference are in the top 21 liberal arts colleges according to the Newsweek poll (I’m not looking to get into that argument, but it does say something about the academic excellence of the conference). And 3 were in the top 10 in the Director’s Cup standings so their athletic programs are not too shabby. Kids I know there can do varsity sports (sometimes 2 or one varsity and a club) as well as great ECs and double majors. They have full, rich lives and learn how to handle it. Their successes after college are unparalleled. And yes, my kid played more than one sport in HS and found DIII varsity sports not to be any more demanding.</p>
<p>What your son heard from the Caltech baseball coach is accurate. They practice only from 4 to 6 pm. and schedule one game on Friday and a double-header on Saturday.</p>
<p>^^ While ‘official’ practice sessions may be limited, that obviously doesn’t count all of the hours in ‘unofficial’ preparations such as working out, lifting weights, running, etc. most likely year-round…in order to remain in top condition and keep their starting position on the team.</p>
<p>Who is still hearing from D3s??</p>
<p>Mine was ready to pull the ED switch, but he held off when four other schools asked for visits this month. We are going to two. The poor kid is getting nuttty!</p>