OT: DIII sports experience

[Fishy]

I have filmed a lot of sports at Conn and it is like pulling teeth trying to get them to do anything sometimes. I haven't personally dealt with maintenance too much, but it seems like every decision made on campus has to be okayed by like 3 different people and everything takes forever.

When we film hockey there, we have to set up our camera in the same bleachers the crowd is jumping up and down on during the 3rd period. We asked about getting a table or something so the broadcast would be better (their student scorekeepers have one) but that got tied up in the bureaucracy somehow.

I honestly just think their maintenance department is bad. I feel like I could go there with five day laborers and be a 100% improvement.

Thanks Fishy. Will do. Appreciate it. We already noted the limited food options. But it’s valuable to know the “”schedule your test” is something happening in theory. Not usually.

What it’s really there for is finals. If a kid has two finals on the same day or if the finals schedule is somehow in conflict, they can reschedule; there are proctored rooms available and the student will be scheduled into one.

 

[WrenchFan69]

I work in the NESCAC. Awesome sporting environment but a huge investment in terms of time (and potentially money) compared to D1 club sports. An upper-echelon NESCAC education will likely provide awesome internship and employment opportunity down the line. Worth applying and see what they will give for financial aid. Trinity at $70k a year definitely is not worth it compared to UConn at $25k, but playing women's basketball for a Top 10 Amherst or Tufts or Bowdoin team for $20k/year would be realllly hard to turn down.

 

[giddyup]

My plan of sending daughter #1 to UConn is in danger of being derailed by the possibility of her playing D3 hoops. She's a 2024 and has interest from a few high academic schools in the NESCAC and NEWMAC.

Has anyone had kids that have played D3 hoops "locally"? Was the experience worth the extra $40-50k a year.

She's a huge sports fan and is torn about going to a D1 school (UConn, Clemson, UNC) and enjoying the sports environment and playing club hoops, trying to be a manager or something.... OR going small to continue playing on a real college team

I cant be the first to go through this... just looking for any insight

Any NESCAC puts your daughter in a fairly elite academic institution which will deliver a top notch education. If it’s Williams or Amherst you sell your right arm (assuming you want your kid to be set up pretty well for life… not guaranteed but the networks are outrageously good).

 

[HooperScooper]

I work in the NESCAC. Awesome sporting environment but a huge investment in terms of time (and potentially money) compared to D1 club sports. An upper-echelon NESCAC education will likely provide awesome internship and employment opportunity down the line. Worth applying and see what they will give for financial aid. Trinity at $70k a year definitely is not worth it compared to UConn at $25k, but playing women's basketball for a Top 10 Amherst or Tufts or Bowdoin team for $20k/year would be realllly hard to turn down.

I think you're using old numbers. Trinity is more like $83,000 a year. I'm not sure what the "General Fee" is but I didn't include that (could be student health insurance, which most families have covered already, and tuition insurance which many people waive).

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UConn is about $35,000 for in-state students.

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[The Yakk]

Some programs also offer partial scholarships/free books to the managers too. They also have 'practice player' spots for the basketball team that she might be interested in - assuming she would be qualified if shes being looked at for D3

I think the "practice players" for the UConn WBB team are dudes, though.

 

[huskypantz]

Lolz, it's about playing tough competition. There are great individual players in CT, outside of a few teams the competition is just bad. Playing against the best makes you better, there's plenty of prep options nearby which offer that.

I’m on soccer coach/parent forums (my daughter/team is U12). High school soccer is for playing with friends. They don’t need prep. It’s all about the clubs for competition and exposure.

 

[husky429]

I’m on soccer coach/parent forums (my daughter/team is U12). High school soccer is for playing with friends. They don’t need prep. It’s all about the clubs for competition and exposure.

I think this depends on the sport a bit. AAU is much less important for basketball, at least. I've heard about this for soccer though. No one cares about HS ball.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

My plan of sending daughter #1 to UConn is in danger of being derailed by the possibility of her playing D3 hoops. She's a 2024 and has interest from a few high academic schools in the NESCAC and NEWMAC.

Has anyone had kids that have played D3 hoops "locally"? Was the experience worth the extra $40-50k a year.

She's a huge sports fan and is torn about going to a D1 school (UConn, Clemson, UNC) and enjoying the sports environment and playing club hoops, trying to be a manager or something.... OR going small to continue playing on a real college team

I cant be the first to go through this... just looking for any insight

Have you looked at Connecticut College?

 

[upstater]

I’m on soccer coach/parent forums (my daughter/team is U12). High school soccer is for playing with friends. They don’t need prep. It’s all about the clubs for competition and exposure.

And even then, the clubs try to hard sell you into things like faraway showcases that don't really help.

It's on the parents to literally bring their kids to the college, maybe for camps, and to leave the coaches with video. Otherwise the chances of getting seen are minimal.

This even goes for Anson Dorrance at UNC. If people think the top coach in college soccer has the means to be thorough in his recruiting, well--he doesnt.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I have a buddy who went to BC I can ask him

 

[huskypantz]

And even then, the clubs try to hard sell you into things like faraway showcases that don't really help.

It's on the parents to literally bring their kids to the college, maybe for camps, and to leave the coaches with video. Otherwise the chances of getting seen are minimal.

This even goes for Anson Dorrance at UNC. If people think the top coach in college soccer has the means to be thorough in his recruiting, well--he doesnt.

Family friend’s’ daughter plays ECNL for CFC, she recently committed to Charlotte. If you’re playing elite club soccer, you get seen. To your point, the club costs really aren’t horrible for the year - it’s the travel to tournaments where you shell out the $$$ on family travel. There are also regional and individual college ID camps where you can get noticed. It’s not that high school soccer teams don’t have elite players, it’s just that most of those players honed their skills in club.

Differs by sport, of course - but that’s what I see as the path to college soccer.

 

[upstater]

Family friend’s’ daughter plays ECNL for CFC, she recently committed to Charlotte. If you’re playing elite club soccer, you get seen. To your point, the club costs really aren’t horrible for the year - it’s the travel to tournaments where you shell out the $$$ on family travel. There are also regional and individual college ID camps where you can get noticed. It’s not that high school soccer teams don’t have elite players, it’s just that most of those players honed their skills in club.

Differs by sport, of course - but that’s what I see as the path to college soccer.

We've gone through the whole ECNL and DA scene.

I know a kid who is on the USWNT for her age group.

She was not seen.

She was ECNL and even appeared in several games on ESPN. Did not have a single big college offer.

Dorrance was going to blow off the top 35 ECNL showcase game she was in (on ESPN), but decided with some fellow coaches to go at the last second. He thought his recruiting was done for the year. That's when he saw her. He was stunned that NONE of the other coaches had ever heard of her. This is a USWNT kid. She was also New York State Gatorade Player of the Year as a Junior.

I know a few D1 coaches who explain to me their paltry budgets. It's incumbent on the parents to get in contact with the coaches.

 

[husky429]

I know a few D1 coaches who explain to me their paltry budgets. It's incumbent on the parents to get in contact with the coaches.

I know D1 basketball coaches who sleep in their car orna friends house and then sneak into recruiting events because they can't afford them. Until you're at a P6 school, recruiting budgets are a pittance.

 

[upstater]

I know D1 basketball coaches who sleep in their car orna friends house and then sneak into recruiting events because they can't afford them. Until you're at a P6 school, recruiting budgets are a pittance.

Yep, the few HCs of soccer at D1 that I know are not at P6 schools. Obviously, the one coach I am describing here is (UNC) but this is how it is for most of them. They tell me they've recruited kids out of the MLS Academies sight unseen--and been very disappointed. They were hoping that was a way to bypass their recruiting problems, but instead MLS made things worse for them.

 

[huskypantz]

We've gone through the whole ECNL and DA scene.

I know a kid who is on the USWNT for her age group.

She was not seen.

She was ECNL and even appeared in several games on ESPN. Did not have a single big college offer.

Dorrance was going to blow off the top 35 ECNL showcase game she was in (on ESPN), but decided with some fellow coaches to go at the last second. He thought his recruiting was done for the year. That's when he saw her. He was stunned that NONE of the other coaches had ever heard of her. This is a USWNT kid. She was also New York State Gatorade Player of the Year as a Junior.

I know a few D1 coaches who explain to me their paltry budgets. It's incumbent on the parents to get in contact with the coaches.

That’s a crazy story. I will say that parents have an expectation that college coaches are attending these tournaments and they get upset when numbers are low. I’m a bit surprised that a quality ECNL player had no college interest. I’d question the club coach as well as they should be advocating, assuming it’s a goal of the player.

 

[upstater]

That’s a crazy story. I will say that parents have an expectation that college coaches are attending these tournaments and they get upset when numbers are low. I’m a bit surprised that a quality ECNL player had no college interest. I’d question the club coach as well as they should be advocating, assuming it’s a goal of the player.

Her club coach was a former HC for an NWSL team. He has a million connections. (His name actually appeared as one of the doofuses who was abusive in the whole women's soccer scandal). Obviously she's far and away the best player on the team and in the state. Players from this club have gotten top D1 offers. Last year same club had Ohio State and ACC schools.

Also, I didn't say no college interest. The whole region up here knows about her. It's that she had no high D1 interest.

I've known the family for a long time. They are professional people who were not heavily in tune with the ins and outs of recruiting (did not prepare videos, did not make contacts on the apps, did not travel to summer camps or meetings with coaches). This is why I think recruiting in the non-rev sports is more about the parents than it is the clubs.

It took an oddball decision by the best coach in college soccer to make it happen. He was already full with recruits, went to a game he had earlier decided to bag in favor of going to a bar (according to one of her coaches who heard it from him), and then offered her immediately after the game. (I watched it on ESPN, she was the most skilled, most athletic and most selfish player on the pitch, repeatedly storming down the flanks with absolutely no willingness to pass).

 

[Greedo]

I read most of the first page, but skipped a lot of the thread. Apologies if my reply is dated.

I was in a similar boat when I was in high school. I had the opportunity to play soccer at several D3 schools, and for some time was sure that was the route I was going to go. But the summer before my senior year I realized I really didn’t want to be at a small school and would only be going to play soccer. So I went to UConn instead and was very happy with my decision. I occasionally look back and say what if, but I don’t lose sleep over it.

D3 works well for kids that are happy with going to that type of school whether playing a sport or not. I would not have been happy there without the sport. I thought what if I get injured and can’t play anymore. Then I’m just stuck here or have to transfer. I had several friends that did play D1 or D3 soccer and many quit and transferred, or got hurt and couldn’t play anymore.

UConn has club sports which are fun and a good level of competition, and even the highest level of intramurals are mostly kids that could have played in college.