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Message: [QUOTE="HooperScooper, post: 3959596, member: 10"] I don't know what school your kids went to, or when they were there, but I haven't seen what you're saying for a long time. The school I went to in the mid-1980s was a basketball powerhouse (13 straight NCAA Tournaments, 2 national championship games in the 4 years I was there) and a good academic school and generally what you're saying is what happened. The season ended and that was it. Today, from everything I've seen, it's much different. I know a lot of kids who play D3 sports. There certainly are offseason "voluntary" practices, as well as weight training sessions, and you are expected to attend. If you're going to go abroad you don't do it during the semester your sport plays. So winter sport athletes usually don't go abroad since their season overlaps both semesters. You're expected to play your sport in a summer league. There is no time off and the dedication to their sport is much higher than when I went to school. My 2 kids go/went to NESCAC schools and academics are certainly a priority at those places so there definitely is more latitude with sports when taking into consideration academics. Academics come first. But they're still pretty serious and the commitment is very real. As an example, the son of a friend of mine is a freshman baseball player at a NESCAC school and he wants to work during the summer. He was specifically told by the coach that he can work if he wants to, but he also has to play in a summer league and he has to have a job that will let him work around his summer league commitment. Maybe other D3 schools treat sports closer to what you're saying, but I haven't seen or heard of that at any of the schools where I know D3 athletes. No matter the sport. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach