D is for Division I/II/III (and club/intamural!)

Happy New Year!
Let's talk athletics, though I am one of the least athletically-inclined people in the world. In this blog, we are going to explore the differences of the division levels, the process, and club/intramural for those who enjoy sports but don't want the pressure of a division. I also have for you an interview with the fantastic Lisa Boyce, who is a Division I athlete at Princeton, as well as some added comments from fencer Daniel Pearlstein!

The Divisions seem to be created based on the number of teams for each gender, spectator attendance, opponent requirements, etc etc. (aka, I read it four times and I am still a little fuzzy on the details). However, I shall do my best.

Division I: There must be seven sports for each gender (or 6 for men and 8 for women). Of those, there should be two team sports for each gender. In each playing season, both genders must be represented (that's why at Uni, there is girl's volleyball and boy's soccer at the same time, for example :D). There are a lot of regulations on how many home games basketball must play, how many spectators there should be, how many Division I opponents they must play, on and on. Division I schools must meet a minimum amount of financial aid for the athletic programs, but can't pass the maximum either.

Division II: There must be five sports for each gender (or 4 for men and 6 for women). Again, of those there should be two team sports for each gender and each playing season must be represented by each gender. Like Division I, Division II schools have regulations on attendance of spectators, schedules (but only for basketball and football), etc. but they are a little more lax than Division I. These schools have a max amount of financial aid for athletics, and the department is treated like any other academic department. Many of these schools concentrate on Traditional rivalries with schools in the same region.

Division III: The same number of sport requirements as Division II. The student-athletes receive no financial aid for their athletic talents/ability. These schools concentrate more on the impact the sport has on the individual athletes rather than the spectators or school. These schools focus on participation.

Now, before I get into the process, here is my interview with Lisa Boyce, who patiently dealt with my boneheaded, ignorant questions:

C: What is your sport? What Division?

L: I swim Division I

C: What kind of paperwork will the student need?

L: I don't recall having any special paperwork for swimming.

C: Is there some sort of audition [Blogger note: notice my very dance-y word I used there-->no idea what I am doing here. Hardly qualified]? Do you have to do it at the college or can you send a dvd or something?

L: For swimming, there's no audition or anything because the coaches can get a pretty good sense of how good you are by looking at your times. If they are really interested, they might come out to watch a meet or a practice. [Blogger note: In that vein, I believe a school will look at statistics for all kind of sports, such as running times, points/assists/rebounds, goals, etc. whatever your sport is]

C: Are coach recommendations necessary?

L: I don't know that coach recommendations are required, but I think that if you have a good relationship with your coach (or one of your coaches), then it's a good idea to include those because it shows how coachable you are. [Blogger note: this would fall under the category of supplemental recommendations, and can't be used in lieu of an academic recommendation, which we'll discuss later]

C: Did you meet with a coach on your college visit(s)? If yes, what kind of questions did you ask?

L: I didn't do any regular college visits. All of my visits were official recruiting trips, so I met with the coaches on those. Asking questions is definitely important. You want to make sure that the school and the team will be a good fit for you.

C: If you are not Division III, what kind of athletic scholarships can a student expect? Is there a special process for this?

L: Well, there are no scholarships for Ivy League schools. But for other schools, I don't know that it's a good idea to expect any kind of scholarship. With swimming, there aren't that many available per year, so it's really tough to get one. There's no real process for this. After your visit, you might get offered a scholarship by a coach, and if you choose to accept it and commit to that school, then you sign a National Letter of Intent during the signing period (there's one in November and one in the spring).

C: Anything else the juniors should know?

L: Just know that this process is very different from that of a typical college application, and it depends a lot on what schools you're looking at, what sport(s) you do, and whether or not you're being recruited.

Daniel: Get cleared (through the NCAA Clearinghouse) and do it early. I found out I wasn't cleared after the month-long grace period and then spent the next month and a half unable to practice. When I started going through the process of getting cleared, I didn't really know what I was supposed to do, and I didn't send the NCAA my transcript or test scores, both of which for some reason they need. Then when I did get them sent, it took them a solid month and a half to process them for some reason, and I only very recently got cleared, just in time to miss the last practice of the semester. Like I said, for anyone who wants to participate in div I sports, get it done early.

The process really involves the NCAA website, as well as keeping up your athletic work. Talk to your coach about Division sports, because high school coaches really are the middle man of college athletic recruiting.

Lisa mentioned National Letter of Intent (NLI), and I want to explain what this means. If an athlete (especially Division I) decides that a certain school is a good fit for them, enjoys the coach and team, and possibly gets a nice athletic scholarship, the student can officially sign with the school. It's best I think to think of it as being like ED, or a binding program. This is your written word stating "I INTEND TO ATTEND" (see what I did there??). These letters will come from a coach/institution that is interested in signing with you. You have two weeks to sign it. Two really important things I want to stress is conversation and research.

Conversation: If you are considering signing a National Letter of Intent talk with your parents. This is a big decision, and open conversation is key in making the right choice. You can make pro/con lists, research the school, have a discussion about your needs, etc. but conversation HAS to happen. You might also want to talk to Lisa Micele early next fall. However, conversation has to happen before you pursue Division sports and WAY before you get the NLI.

Research: The NCAA is really strict about the rules because they want to protect the young student athletes. This means however, that as a student athlete you MUST be informed in order not to break those rules and mess up your athletic endeavors. Check out the following links I provide for you, and read up before you pursue Division sports:
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/nli/NLI/Frequently+Asked+Questions/Signing+the+National+Letter+of+Intent/
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/nli/NLI/Frequently+Asked+Questions/General/
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/nli/NLI/Frequently+Asked+Questions/Releases+and+Transferring/

I also recommend that if you decide to be a student-athlete, sign up for NCAA.org, in order to do more thorough research, including the RULES of NCAA :]

Club/Intramural: PHEW! Got through all of that. Now I want to discuss club/intramural sports. These are the sports for students who don't want the pressure of Division sports, or aren't at the level of a Division sport. Club sports are open to all members of the college (students, faculty, etc.) and might even compete with other clubs at other schools. Intramural (intra meaning within) are teams that play amongst other teams within the same school. These usually are competing houses, frats, even academic departments! Both club and intramural are student led, giving the teams a lot of flexibility when it comes to practice time and competition.

Anyway, good luck if you are planning on a Division sport, and if not, don't rule out club/intramural! The most important thing to remember is that you are a STUDENT-athlete. Keep academics and your happiness at the school in mind as you begin your research, and keep your grades up, no matter what level or school you go to :]

<3 Celinda