College D3: Just need some town soccer and you'll be fine

[Unregistered]

Anyone who has been here for a while knows exactly what happened and why his kid isn't at a more competitive D3 where she so obviously would have been a better soccer fit. No need to belabor it.

Then why bring it up?

[Unregistered]

I have no connection to any NESCAC school. In fact, my kid plays D1 in exactly the kind of school that would likely be beaten by a top NESCAC.

Fiction. Go ride your unicorn.

[Unregistered]

Then why bring it up?

Perspective just couldn't resist, that's why.

[Unregistered]

Perspective just couldn't resist, that's why.

Gotcha

[Unregistered]

"Now on the flip side, one of the big issues at the D3 level that she has always bemoaned is the lack of commitment by the players. She has literally had starters come back for the start of the season so out of shape that they would be puking on the field during the first couple of games."

Pretty strong statement -- "...one of the big issues that she has always bemoaned...."

Understandable that you might want to retract the statement, but it is what it is.

All he wrote was the his daughter has a pet peeve. You jumped to the conclusion she wasn't happy with D3. Big difference.

I have pet peeves at work but I still like working there. I don't dislike the place because someone ALWAYS leaves dirty coffee cups in the sink. I bemoan about it. But I still like my job.

Get it???

[Unregistered]

All he wrote was the his daughter has a pet peeve. You jumped to the conclusion she wasn't happy with D3. Big difference.

I have pet peeves at work but I still like working there....

Get it???

In ordinary English, there's a significant gap between what was described as "one of the big issues" and what you're calling "a pet peeve."

[Unregistered]

If Perspective says she was unhappy that's good enough for me.

[beentheredonethat]

Good to have you back BTDT. Your comments above are remarkably consistent with everything that has been getting posted from your point of view while you have been away.

I disagree with you on several fronts.

The alleged touting of choices you references only has occurred in response to the wildly exaggerated "intramural-like" aspects of D3. Maybe you've seen them. Maybe not. Your references to just a "healthy diversion," "a personal pleasure," and not needing club soccer are all consistent with many of the posts some of us thought were authored by you. At any rate, you (and these other people) seem opposed to considering that the data presented has been truthful. I guess when links are provided to D3 rosters of 30 or so kids and all of them played at a high level of club, including frequently DAP, you must believe that the links are phony.

It is then interesting that you mention at the end that your kid is not satisfied with low D3, which suggests she would have found the "environment" much more to her liking at a top 50-75 D3 program. Of course if your family could handle the costs then anyone can understand a choice made based on financial hardship.

I found your thoughts on being a teacher/coach and just needing to pass an exam interesting as well. In general, all things being equal, are you going to have more confidence about your kid's 5th grade teacher graduating from Bridgewater State or Trinity, Union, SLU or Wheaton/Stonehill?

I don't have a lot more time so I'm going to try to wrap this up quickly. You have always projected way too much of your own agenda into what I write. I find that you assume intent behind words that I don't actually have and as a result you end up thinking that you know things that you are not remotely on target with. My older daughter's situation is a prime example. You are just wrong with what went down with her and why we made certain decisions. For some reason you then use your interpretation of what you think happen to attribute a certain mindset to me that I don't actually have. Yes I shared a little bit of personal experience and insight but you don't have the whole picture so quit trying to slice and dice my words. You keep trying tell me that I am lying when in reality you just don't know the facts and quite frankly those facts are none of your business.

The one thing that I don't think you take into account is that I have sat and watched a fair amount of D3 soccer games. I am not understating what I saw by any stretch of the imagination. Honestly in my opinion my younger daughter's NEFC team would have probably been able to beat them from about the U14 stage on. The only point that was trying to make is you are not speaking for the entirety of the D3 level. I actually think that you are speaking about a very narrow range of teams and broadcasting your observations much too generally.

You are again putting your own spin on my words when you are assuming my daughter wasn't happy with her D3 experience. She was very happy but it wasn't nirvana. It was like everything in life, there was some good and there was some bad. One of the issues she didn't particularly like was the lack of commitment by some of the other players because they literally did absolutely nothing in the off season and just showed up way out of shape expecting to play. It hurt the team. I would just categorize that though more of like a workplace irritation than a generalized condemnation of the entire D3 level.

As far as that last piece about exams. There are certain professions out there that when you net down what it takes to get into the work place it comes down to just passing exams. Though there are many other examples, becoming a teacher is a good one. You can go to Harvard or you can go to Framingham State to become a teacher but at the end of the day all that you really need to do is pass the certification exams to become one and once you pass those exams you are basically going to get the same amount of money to start regardless of where you did your under graduate work. Yes there are minor difference between towns but generally the starting pay for teachers is fairly relative. Presuming a kid actually goes out and gets good grades at Framingham State so they are prepared to pass those exams I fail to see why that is such a bad choice. Financially I see it as rather a no brainer if you ask me. One thing to consider, paying off a couple hundred thousand in student debt is not that easy on a starting teacher's pay.

One thing I would quibble with you over is you seem to be saying though that you wouldn't want your children being taught by the sort of teacher that would come from a Framingham State. To that I would say as a former teacher, that sort of background is the rule rather than the exception and if you want to argue against that background you really need to argue against the whole public education system in this country (which we would probably agree on a lot of things) because that is precisely who is teaching most of our kids. Some of the best teachers that I have ever met had modest educational backgrounds so I wouldn't just look at the diploma on the classroom wall and read too much into it as far as ability.

[Unregistered]

It does not matter where they graduate. What does matter is the effort they made to be successful at the school.
Graduating from Harvard does not make a better teacher; they just think they are.

Anyone who pays 240k for a teaching degree needs to have their head examined.

[Unregistered]

This is all I will say to this rant:
1) Your daughter went from a low level DI to a low level DIII. The lack of commitment and other things you mention that make the DIII experience such a waste of time are a reflection of THAT school and program, not the entire division. May I also point out, with no disrespect to her, that she did not go from the DI to the DIII and suddenly find herself as a starter, did she?

2) The players who are great and successful at the DIII level do it because they WANT to. Because they WANT to be great and successful, they have the drive to be in the weight room at 7 am in the summer despite the fact no one is keeping track; they have the drive to do the lifting all winter despite the fact it is not mandatory; they have the drive to bust their asses on the field and do well in academics and still usually find time to work on the side and all of this without getting paid to or having to. They play just as hard and give as much blood, sweat, and tears as the DI athletes even though at a Tuesday afternoon game they are only playing in front of 30 people in the stands. They are "want to", not "half to" type of athletes. And in the "end" as you describe it the pay off will be the lessons learned, character instilled, transferable skills gained that will have a positive affect on the rest of their lives.

How dare you continually belittle those athletes. You are seriously one of the most egotistical and arrogant jocks I have ever come across. And I make a living in college athletics; that's a lot of arrogant jocks to deal with.

I am not Btdt.

A lot of people spend a ton of time and effort working very hard at things that they are not "elite" at. People who run marathons, triathlons, crossfit, tennis, golf, among many others. No matter the effort they will never be considered the best. They do it for their own satisfaction. I honestly do not understand the mentality of those feel belittled when someone simply points out the fact that D3 is not D1 and it is not supposed to be.

Many on here are fine with making academic distinctions but bristle when people make athletic distinctions. Also seems like a lot of folks need to be told how great their choice was. If you need to be stroked about where your kid goes to school, it says a lot more about you than anyone else.

[Unregistered]

I am not Btdt....

LOL! You just regurgitate and attack the same straw man claims.

[Unregistered]

LOL! You just regurgitate and attack the same straw man claims.

Nope. Pages upon pages stating the vaunted status of d3 soccer. Not straw men. A lot of parents who need to believe that Jr. Is better than he really is. No one could possibly know how competitive and difficult D3 soccer is, how hard they work, the discipline it takes. Blah,blah,blah.

Seems like good practice for the sales pitch at the neighborhood cocktail party.

[Unregistered]

Nope. Pages upon pages stating the vaunted status of d3 soccer. Not straw men....

Yep. And here you still are, in a D3 thread--determined to make no real distinction between top and bottom D3 levels, just like that "other" guy self-justifyingly does.

[Unregistered]

Yep. And here you still are, in a D3 thread--determined to make no real distinction between top and bottom D3 levels, just like that "other" guy self-justifyingly does.

"My kid plays D3. Not regular D3, "good" D3. It is actually better than any other D3 and better than most D2 and even better than a lot of D1. Not the good D1 the bad D1. The good D1 has crappy academics, except for the really good D1, which have both excellent academics and great soccer but not as good as my kids D3. The really good academic D1 (IVY) has really bad soccer, nowhere near the level of my kids D3."

[Unregistered]

this thread should be killed via some sort of "mercy rule".....way past its useful existence