Beyond any doubt, but not necessarily like we imagined. The challenge of playing D1 soccer, taking academics serious, and enjoying the college experience is grueling physically and emotionally and for us it took the strength of our whole family pulling together. Girls call each other, call dad for some stuff and Mom for other topics. Sometimes we sympathize and times we don't. But it has taught them so much about hard work, fighting through adversity when life didn't seem fair, dealing with social drama on their own, discipline, organization, talking to adults like an adult, multi-tasking, etc. The whole experience has so much more prepared them for life than a normal college experience. Honestly, even though 1 led her team in minutes this past year and the other saw plenty of action as a freshman, their lives and growth have become about so much more than just soccer.
This is getting off of the thread topic but I agree with a lot of what you say. Every kid has a unique experience, though. I have kids that participate(d) in collegiate athletics. One girl in D1 soccer, a boy that played D3 baseball, and a girl in D3 soccer. A lot of what you mention for your kids I can say would apply to mine as well. I will say, though, that the daughter playing D1 soccer is often envious of the experience my kid in D3 is having. The D3 player is experiencing most of what you mention as the positives - "hard work, fighting through adversity when life didn't seem fair, dealing with social drama on their own, discipline, organization, talking to adults like an adult, multi-tasking, etc." However, the daughter playing D3 has had more time to get involved on campus through student government, various service opportunities, playing intramurals, club involvement, and she does some work at a local hospital with a physicians' group that will give her some much needed experience when applying to medical school. Additionally, she attends a school that is undergraduate only so she has had the opportunity to participate in research with a member of the chemistry department faculty. There are no graduate students there competing for those research opportunities. If she had participated in D1 athletics I honestly don't feel that she would have been able major in chemistry and probably would be hard pressed to get into medical school. My daughter playing D1 wants to go to medical school as well but I feel that her resume will pale in comparison to my other daughter. I have a feeling that she will end up studying physical therapy or will become a physicians assistant or something like that. There is nothing wrong with that as both are fine careers. The point I'm trying to make is that "not one size fits all" and each kid must find the best fit for them. You mention that your kid's experience, you feel, has better prepared her than a "normal college experience" would have. That may well be for her but for many others a better college experience may be in a situation with not as much focus on soccer or in an experience with something like intramural soccer or club soccer only. It's a lot for kids to think about. First and foremost they have to want it. I've seen too many kids that pursued the D1 soccer life because it is what the parents wanted for the kid. More often than not that doesn't end well.
Agree completely. Both of mine are lower level D1. One had opportunities to go higher up food chain, but saw the experience of older sister at a lesser program. And we heard and saw so many stories of those who went off to the power 5's and very good mid majors. Soccer life, pressures, and time commitment increases exponentially. It takes not only special talent, but special mentally too to enjoy that experience. I know more than a handful of those players who were told or strongly advised to change majors because of soccer. The image and allure of the big name very often is not all it's dreamed of. Sorry we hijacked. I'll stop and somebody can start another thread if they want to discuss farther. Back to hot seats.
I wonder if the mod can paste those posts into a sticky thread called "Recruiting Experiences" or something. Then again, there isn't a 2017 vacant seats thread either. I should have asked in the other thread. I remember one of my daughters, I drove her around a campus after a one day id camp, turned the corner onto Greek Row, the sororities were all out among the porticos...."this is what I want!". In a flash, my soccer ego was dead. In all the travel soccer years, the sexy showcases, the marketing logos...I forgot.
First off this is meant for encouragement not discouragement, but your mentality will guide your perception of what I say next. I have observed that the environment sets the perceived standard. I have been at a strong academic school and the acceptable mindset was, "It's tough here", "You don't know how tough I have it", "I need to party because of the stress this place causes". It was a limited, restricted mentality in my opinion. At a different school, which was an even stronger academic school, the reputation was that it is very tough and you need to grind. The mentality of the whole student body was much different, more resilient. No one bitched or gave a sob story, you just get it done. For an example physically, I have seen a team where the whole team thought a Cooper test was impossible and they truly believed that they shouldn't be expected to pass. Then I witnessed a team that the whole squad blew away the Cooper test, but given a tougher test they showed the same restricted mentality. The best example was when experts said it was physically impossible to break the 4 minute mile. That restricted peoples mentality until one person broke it. I know a kid that to be one of the best piano players in the world trains 5-6 hours everyday, plus gets straight A's in top notch academics and plays soccer. This person goes to bed at 2-3am everynight and gets up at 6-7am. That is the standard and for this person it is normal and not an issue. For the rest of us that may seem out of bounds but it is just our environment that makes us think that way.
This is the last that I will mention this in the "hot seats" thread. The person that you cited is sleeping about 3 to 5 hours a night and you state that this "may seem out of bounds but it is just our environment that makes us think that way." That amount of sleep might work for that person but it isn't normal. Most will need a lot more sleep to perform at competent level in the classroom and on the field. My feeling is that the person you are referring to would perform better as well. When I did my residency I would sometimes be up for 24+ hours and I would maybe only be able to sleep for a few hours afterward. It wasn't healthy. My daughter wants to become a vascular surgeon. I would rather she save those nights of minimal or no sleep for her residency.
I played D1 and if I ever have a kid good enough to play in college I will absolutely steer them to include some D2 and D3 schools on their list. I loved my college experience, but it was athlete first, student second, college kid third.(My coaches pushed academics and I was a good student, but sports takes up so much time and mental energy when I think college I think sports). My friends who went lower levels had a much more well-rounded experience (internships, springs abroad, involvement) and sports were a nice addition, not the main focus. Yes, the travel and trips and perks were nice for me, but as an adult what I would value now influences how I would steer my kid. D1 has it's place and as a fan, it's great. As a parent, i would want a bigger scope at least in the consideration process.
The dilemma is large P5 schools offer a academic/collegiate experience all it's own which smaller schools can't provide. It sux that's off-limits to a good soccer player (either go there and be consumed by soccer or go small).
Guess I'm contributing to the highjacking of this thread but I have to say how much I appreciate these comments on the college soccer experience. I printed this page out for my Class of 2019 daughter. We (she) are operating under the assumption that the Ivy teams will be more similar to the high academic D3 experience. So hoping for that or a top LAC with a quality soccer program. Oh crap, just remembered how much this going to cost me....LOL
My experience was like this too 16 years ago (but with my youngest son.) He was being recruited at the D1 level but then had an epiphany (which utterly shocked me) and on the way home from a recruiting trip he announced that maybe he didn't want to play DI after all. (This after vocally and persistently setting his sights on DI and pro since 6th grade.) His recruiting experiences led him to conclude that he wouldn't have time to do other things in college that interested him. From then on we identified and visited D-III schools. He had his likes and dislikes (often on visceral first impressions) and settled on a school where he had 4 great years on the soccer team (captain for two years), but getting time off from practice to participate in the touring choir, perform in dance recitals, and major in computer science and physics. (Also nine months studying in Vienna and traveling in Europe with classmates.) He was a very busy dude, but enjoyed himself immensely, married a classmate, and is happy in his career and family (two kids). Soccer became a part time recreation. [My wife and my only dilemma is that they live 600 miles away...)
Albany makes it official, no surprise with the promotion: http://www.ualbanysports.com/ViewAr...01&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=211516988&DB_OEM_ID=15800
Nobody knows nor can accurately predict how a kid is going to act/react at college. That's the dilemma. I was first when I scooped the still unannounced Eleri Earnshaw (Yale) @ LIUB. Your welcome. But vacant seats aren't hot so the experiences discussion is just as relevant as vacant seats to this thread.
New to the Forum and might not be in the right Forum. Checking on information on the Head Coach at Wingate University? Has there been any good points or bad points that anyone know about Chip Wiggins?
Welcome your Holiness. No doubt you just received a post Jefferson Cup email/invite to their hosted Summer camp...they are very fast to get the "collegiate soccer potential" invites out...sometimes even during a tournament. The annual team vids makes it look fun, right? They do their due recruiting vigilance. From my ex-players, it's a hit or miss place. Love it or hate it. No in-between. I think you will find (and I recommend annual roster analysis) that their freshman to soph attrition is about 50%. Homesickness, largely. Not sure about Wig.
Coach is a very straight to the point guy which is why some love him or hate him I'm guessing. Doesn't sugar coat some people take that for him being a bit of a douche but it depends which side the fence you are on. Are we getting to the time to put the 16 and 17 hot seats threads into 1?
Still Open: Marist UAPB Grambling State Missed any? Also....have any of the D 1 cast-offs from 2016 landed anywhere?