College athletes are the best at what they do. Motivated by nothing but their love of the sport, the discipline it requires to play at the next level is unmatched and is only achieved by a small percent of high school athletes. However, there is a separation once you reach the college level. Spanning three levels, the NCAA offers sports at hundreds of schools with each division fluctuating in skill and competitiveness.
As college athletics have expanded to more schools, the understanding of the difficulty to play college athletics at any level has been downplayed significantly. The benefits of playing at any level are absolutely immersible; the team spirit and camaraderie will carry much beyond college. So, continuing to pursue a sport should never be looked down upon, regardless of the school size or the competitiveness of the school.
There is a general stigma around those who chose to play a sport at the Division III level. It is not seen as an accomplishment in the same respect as playing at the Division I level, especially as many of these schools are smaller and tend to be more academically focused.
Choosing a school, possibly at a lower division level, for academic purposes is one of the best things an athlete can do.
The odds of playing a professional sport are on average 0.6 percent, according to sportsdigest.com. This means for almost every athlete college is the end of their career and for the few who choose to keep playing the numbers are against them from the beginning. Choosing the best education possible instead of just playing for wins can help in the long run.
DI coaches are employed to win. Numbers decide if they are able to keep their job; more wins produced means more money earned. This does not always prove to be true at the DIII level. If a coach can maintain steady progress and keep their team strong they can spend more time with each player and with more job security focus on the team and not just their record.
As an athlete in a less popular sport, field hockey, this rings even more true. Not many people attend sporting games at the DIII level or even outside of the biggest DI sports, so having constant revenue and support is not a problem.
This does not mean that DI schools should be seen as purely athletic schools and DIII schools should be purely academic. They should both be appreciated for the fact that they attract athletes who have dedicated their high school careers to be the best they can at their sport while maintaining their student title.
All these athletes should be praised for their work ethic and in the end have proven that they are elite. Playing DIII or DI offer different perks such as academic support or financial assistance but neither of these take away from the fact at hand: everyone who plays a sport in college is talented and deserves the spot they have earned on the roster.
