Just for your information... my son is back from school and we are enjoying our thanksgiving vacation together. He plays on a top 20 DI college team and he tells me that out of a class of 17 Freshman, he is the only freshman who is 18 years old (on age for his grade). He is generally a year younger than every other Freshman on the team.
Some were held back when they were very young. Some were held back in 8th grade and some took a PG year or decided to wait a year between high school and college because of the availability of scholarship money.
To his knowledge no one is getting a full ride. Most are getting 25% scholarships or just $10k or $15k and many will not be receiving them next year. Receipt will depend upon their performance.
Know that each family has to 'donate' money to the team and so far this year we have been asked to donate to several charities the team sponsors.
While neither I nor my son I wouldn't change anything, there is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow here other than the friends he will make and the experiences he will come away with.
Thank you for sharing. Nothing we don't know but everything rarely summarized so cleanly. College sports such a business now. Inflated rosters hurt more then help. Difficult to use more than get used. Compete against your teammates more than opponents.
Great post. I have a college Junior who hates Lacrosse and would love to quit. My son is a hard worker and starter on the team. It is even worse for the othe boys who don’t even have a shot of seeing the field and are getting very little money. All the coaches are nasty bastards, they are not at all what you see at the recruiting visits. They are unreasonable with their expectations. We have encouraged him to stick it out, although he insists that Lacrosse is ruining his like. The one good thing is the friendships he has made, they will have that bond forever.
Its tough now, but once he is done, he will look at it a lot differently. There is so much to be said about the perseverance it takes to complete 4 years of college athletics. I used to hate getting up and practicing on frozen grass at 6am in February and March. It felt like the worst job ever at times, but we pushed through it for our teammates. If they are going through it, we cant stay in bed with a clean conscience. When I have to do things I hate doing for my job or any other aspect of my life, I always remember dragging myself out of bed at 5am, breaking into a sweat in 15 degree weather, then standing and listening to our coaches talk while freezing our [ChillLaxin]es off for the remainder of practice. Everything else seems easy compared to that stuff. Wasn't overly excited about it back then, but would not trade the experience for anything now. Once every man gets to the age where they can no longer compete at that level, your appreciation of the adversity you pushed through increases 10 fold. Then you try to help your kids understand how important that commitment and work is later in life.
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