Division 3 NCAA?

[MamaSprout]

So my kiddo who I never, ever thought would consider college sports looks to be interested in joining the swim team at the D3 school that is her first pick. This is a very small (~14 women) team that is not competitive. She's being encouraged by an alum's parent to reach out to the coach because they always need women swimmers. 

My 10 seconds of research tells me that D3 schools are not as bound by requirements. Can she really just email the coach and say hi?

She will probably rejoin the local club team this spring since she's already at the pool swimming/ life guarding five times a week.

NCAA Eligibility for Homeschoolers - Homeschool Success

 

Edited November 28, 2021 by MamaSprout

[Lori D.]

There are no requirements by NCAA for high school students to be eligible to play D3:

"While Division III schools do not offer athletics scholarships, 75 percent of Division III student-athletes receive some form of merit or need-based financial aid. If you are planning to attend a Division III school, you do not need to register with the NCAA Eligibility Center. Division III schools set their own admissions standards."

These are the COLLEGE student requirements from NCAA to continue to be eligible to play:

• Remain in good academic standing with your school and make adequate progress toward your degree.
• Be enrolled in a minimum of 12 semester or quarter hours at all times.
• NCAA Division 3 academic eligibility requirements do not include a minimum national standard for maintaining competitive eligibility. These are the minimum NCAA academic requirements for Division 3 eligibility. (Division 3 academic eligibility requirements are independent of the overall NCAA academic requirements as schools feature their own admission standards you will need to meet in order to maintain your eligibility.)
 

It looks to me like yes, she can reach out to the coach. See this NCSA info.

Good luck! That sounds like fun! And as the above NCAA link mentions, while there are no sports scholarships for D3 athletes, a large number of D3 students are awarded other types of scholarships. 😄

[JennyD]

This was 30 years ago, but I went to a small D3 liberal arts college and was able to join the swim team simply by asking the coach.  (There was no email then 🙂 )  I can still remember her answer, "If you are willing to come to every practice and work hard then yes, you can join the team."   I was one of the slowest swimmers on the team but I swam for 4 years and was elected captain my senior year.   The whole thing was one of the most transformative experiences of my life.

Good luck to your daughter!

[teachermom2834]

My oldest played D3 baseball. My ds emailed the coach (he did a lot of this at many schools). He told the coach he was interested and told him a little about himself and when he would be on campus to visit. The coach arranged to meet with him on his visit. Then Ds kept in touch throughout the process. Like he emailed the coach when he got accepted, when he got invited to scholars weekend, etc. The coach invited him for a weekend visit with the team and at some point in the spring officially offered him a roster spot. 
 

It was pretty easy. You don’t have to do anything to qualify academically. 

[Alice]

My son is going to swim next year D3. He's doing a gap year this year so he's already gone through the whole application process. Last year when he was applying he emailed all the coaches at the places he was interested and that was a large part of his decision making. There is a big range within D3 teams. We met some coaches who do cuts after the first season or will not take everyone who wants to swim. And then other places where you could probably just show up the week before practices started and be on the team. One advantage to emailing now is that we found that having the swim connection helped when we went to take tours (especially on campuses that were closed during the pandemic) and it has given ds a connection to the school during his gap year, he's on their group chat and stuff and sort of already "knows" people.