College Sports

Are you looking forward to the March Madness tournament?  Today as the teams were announced for who would play in the boys basketball NCAA tournament I couldn't help but think of the fact that there are quite a few colleges in the list of 64 schools which many of us barely recognize.  And yet these are all NCAA Division 1 colleges.  There are so many other Division 1 teams that didn't even make the tournament.  Plus, of course, there are Division 2 and Division 3 colleges plus NAIA colleges too.  

We don't always stop to reflect back on just how impressive and significant it is for student athletes to have the chance to play at the college level.  Take boys basketball since that is what will be getting so much attention this week... According to the NCAA there are 540,769 High School boys basketball players and 1% of these will continue on to play at the Division 1 level.  (3.5% will compete at any NCAA level.)

Obviously, those aren't great odds.  Other sports have better percentages - for example, ice hockey has 4.8% of high school athletes playing at the Division 1 college level, Lacrosse has 3.1%, and Football has 2.9%.

For female student athletes, playing at the Division 1 level is also extremely competitive and ice hockey (8.9%), lacrosse (3.7%) and swimming and water polo are both tied at (3.3%) continuing on to play at the Division 1 level.

Going pro is obviously even more competitive and rare from those athletes who compete at the collegiate level.

Why do I point all of this out?  Because high school sports are a HUGE part of so many students lives (and for good reason).  It is important to be realistic about your future planning.  I am completely fine if you want to set the goal of competing in college sports and even if your goal is to become a professional athlete.  I just ask that you keep in mind that there may be the necessity to have back-up plans.  

If you are focused on playing college sports, it is important to remember that you need to take care of business in the classroom to keep your options open for the future.  Any college that is recruiting you as an athlete, will also want to know what your grades are like and if you will be eligible for admissions and for eligibility.  You can find out details on the NCAA and NAIA websites about what their requirements would be for eligibility.  Here is a link to the Division 1 requirements as one example.

For any of my students thinking about pursuing college sports at the varsity level (no matter what division), please feel free to stop and see me to talk about the requirements and so that I can help support you through the recruitment process.

And, if you're creating a March Madness bracket, good luck, I hope you have fun with it while also remembering that each of the athletes competing are also typical students just a few years older than you.