[College] Varsity vs. Club, pros/cons

[fossil8412]

So I'm headed to a small, DIII school next year who's prestige culminates from very high academic standards. I forsee my classes being pretty difficult, and am unsure of how much time I should budget for lacrosse. I've been offered a varsity tryout, and am pretty confident that I can make the time. Playing a varsity sport in college is, well, awesome and of course has many ensuing benefits. However, club is also available, which would leave more time for academics, fraternities, social life, etc. I was wondering, for those of you in college, which route did you take? Are you happy with your decision? Do you see any major pros/cons of choosing one over the other? Please discuss...

[UTlax31]

There is a major difference in club and varsity lacrosse. The main thing is that club is way more relaxed. For the most part there aren't going to be manditory weight lifting sessions, or a workout that you have to follow in the off season. Club can also be more frustrating though because you may take the team seriously and do all the things to make yourself better but there will be people that start that really don't care that much about practice or working hard outside of games. In club it's hard for the coach to force anything on you because you are paying to play and as long as you are one of the better players, regardless of work ethic, you will prolly start. At the varsity level practice isn't something you can skimp on, and there are more required workouts. Both levels take time out but club just takes a little less. I play club at UT and i love it. We have aot of fun and do alot of things as a team, but we also have quite a few kids in fraternaties. Lacrosse in college is a great experience, i highly recommend it

[RIT37FO]

apples and oranges my friend
Club lacrosse is more laid back but you dont really play much
Varsity is the real deal and you will be playing 5 times more
college athletics leave plenty of time for school work and some down time. its what ever else you want to do that can be a problem.
frat life is out of the question pretty much if you are a athlete unless its the sports team who runs the frat.
I know many kids on my team who work,play varsity lacrosse,do well in school and who are still very social.
its all time management
varisity lacrosse is great I recomend it. you can still do everything you want and it makes you keep yourself out of trouble. its just give and take

[fossil8412]

Just reiterating this, I am going to a DIII school. Do the same principals apply?

[smooth87]

What do you mean by the same principles?

[gordie]

I played Div III and was team captain as well as president of my fraternity. I had plenty of time for classes graduating with a 3.4. It is what you make of it. If you say you can't then you will fail. Choose varsity if you can make the team.

[oaktonlax23]

well for varsity ive heard that in college u get your own tutor to help you with classes, but i guess it depends on the college

[LiquidMercury16]

Alot of DI schools provide tutors for varsity athletics. Not sure if it's the same in DIII. I play club at my school and love it. It's a great way to meet people, visit other campuses, and stay in shape. We don't have a varsity team so it wasn't much choice there but I came in as a freshman and started the club team up and it's been growing ever since. I double majored, am VP finance for my fraternity, coach the rowing team, and play lacrosse and do finance for both teams as well as maintain a job and personal train on the side. You can do it all but you really have to be on top of time mgmt.

[Lurch22d]

i played club lax at my school and i really enjoy it. It is way more laid back then the varsity team is, but it is still a really good time. Though if you can make the varsity and manage time then you should go for that imo.

[moondog]

I'd try out for the varsity team first, then fall back on club if things don't work out.

I'd also advise against fraternities. Make friends--do not buy them.

[LiquidMercury16]

How is fraternities buying friends moondog? You are paying for food/parties/events. The friends you make there are true friends. You would have to pay for food/bar tabs/other events anyways if you weren't in one. A fraternity generally brings alot of like minded people together partaking in activites they enjoy i.e. parties, women, intramural sports. Kind of sounds just like a lacrosse team.....and you have to pay for that too if you're on club.

[egrlax10]

yeah moondog has it right. try out for the team and do fall ball, and then evaluate how much time youve had to do school work, be social, etc. i have a friend who went to a d3 school for lacrosse. he did fall ball, and then decided that it was taking up too much time and that he wanted to focus more on school. but i think i remember you saying youre going to washington and lee. so that would mean their club team is in the ncll, which i have heard a lot of bad things about. im sure its a fun thing to do, ive just heard that a lot of teams in the ncll cheat and that its not very organized.

[AquinasLAX]

heres a question. im not in this situation but lets say you are being looked at by a smaller d3 or d2 team, but on the other end you've also applied and been accepted to another school not athletically say like UF or univ. of michigan or some school like that which has a club team. because once your 4 years of school and playing lax are up, in the real world what education is going to look better you know. you have the 4 years of lax but then after that you have the rest of your life and going for job interviews and everything. and i dont want to start a big discussion because obviously you can go to a smaller school and make it in life but you know what i mean. i guess my question is....is going to a much smaller school to play varsity lax that much better then going to a school that looks better on paper i guess and play club?

sorry i know my post may seem unclear its just hard to get the thoughts in my head down onto the keyboard lol

[egrlax10]

it doesnt really matter what school you go to, its what you do while youre there. thats not to say that it doesnt help to go to a school that does look good on paper, but in the end, its all about what you do at the school you go to. and a lot of small d2 and d3 schools are well respected schools. its not like going to a small school will give you a worse job than someone who goes to a big school like michigan.

[AquinasLAX]

o believe me i know. i have plenty of friends that went/go to smaller schools and love it and the ones that graduated have turned out just fine. i guess it just comes down to what type of school fits your personality and how serious you want your lacrosse experience to be

[LiquidMercury16]

Go where you think you will do the best academically, socially, and in lacrosse. Enjoy college, you only get 4,5,...10 years of it.

[WAHOOWA_LAX]

Actually, small schools should look better on paper than say a UF. UF has a reputation as one of the biggest party schools in America. While smaller schools focus on education, and because of the size are normally more disciplined environments than the big schools. And if you tell whoever you get a job interview from that you have been managing your time between academics and athletics at varsity level and maintaining good grades since high school they will be more impressed than some kid who went to a well known huge party school like UF.

[moondog]

My advice is to avoid fraternities if you can. Once you're in, you're in--for at least 2 years, that is. I lived in my lacrosse house, and it was truly the time of my life. All the lacrosse players that I know that pledged for fraternities ended up regretting it.

If that small D3 school does not have a lacrosse house, you can help establish one, after you fulfill your residence hall requirements.

Where I went to school, we had a great lacrosse house with excellent camraderie/unity. Everyone was friends with everyone on the team, great lacrossetitutes, excellent girls when you got tired of the lacrossetitutes, etc...

I just don't think fraternities are necessary. If you are a nice person, you will make many friends. If you have any kind of game whatsoever, you will get more than your fair share of women.

Frats are just a waste...

[UTlax31]

Ok to end this fraternity discussion right now... Moondog i understad where you are coming from. At most places frats are a waste of time. however at most schools in the south being in a frat defines who you are. You have no social life if you are not in a frat. that is not the case at UT but i know that at Ol' miss and Alabama if you are not Greek then you ahve no friends. Liquid i take it you go to Ole' Miss judging from your sig. That's why you take offense to it. Nothing personal but lets try to give thsi kid some honest advice and not fight over if frats are cool or not. let him make that decision.

[moondog]

Allright--recanted...

At some schools, the Greek system is essential--like U of Ill., where 90% of the students are in the Greek system. I didn't want to label or put stigmas on the Greek system, I just didn't want a kid to get in too deep after making a commitment.

I suppose it depends on the school--but if I were him, I'd live in the lacrosse house, or at least establish a lacrossse house if one does not exist...

[UTlax31]

I whole heartedly agree... we are in the process of finding a new house...we kinda got evicted from the last one... haha

[RIT37FO]

there are some asinine posts in this thread i would listen to those currently in the game,at school now or who have graduated

d3 is no easier than d1. depending on what level you are at, i know for my team handles itself like a top tier d1 team how ever i know many lower level d3 teams that are pretty laid back.

mind if i ask where you are playing

[LiquidMercury16]

My advice is to avoid fraternities if you can. Once you're in, you're in--for at least 2 years, that is. I lived in my lacrosse house, and it was truly the time of my life. All the lacrosse players that I know that pledged for fraternities ended up regretting it.

If that small D3 school does not have a lacrosse house, you can help establish one, after you fulfill your residence hall requirements.

Where I went to school, we had a great lacrosse house with excellent camraderie/unity. Everyone was friends with everyone on the team, great lacrossetitutes, excellent girls when you got tired of the lacrossetitutes, etc...

I just don't think fraternities are necessary. If you are a nice person, you will make many friends. If you have any kind of game whatsoever, you will get more than your fair share of women.

Frats are just a waste...

Fraternities are not 2 year requirements. If it doesn't work out for you, you can always drop. There is no contractual agreement to stay in. Don't tell people to avoid fraternities when it may be a great experience for them (as it has been for me). It may not have been for you, but no sense in attempting to dissuade people when they may truly enjoy it and gain alot from it. Personally I've gotten to meet alot more girls than I would otherwise just for the fact that they have so many more social events planned with sororities (my roomate doesn't know as many or get as many dates and he is independent and has just as much game as I do), and had a great set of friends on top of my lacrosse friends. I've also gotten alot of business associations via their parents or other type of connections from people I've met in the greek world. Fraternities at your school may not be that great, I don't know where you go. At Ole Miss they are a way of life and we have one of the most predominant greek societies in America. I can honestly say that even though most people don't necessarily excel at school here they get connections via fraternity life and always land very good jobs.

So even though it didn't work out for you, don't bash it. Some places it's great others not so much. In the SEC greek life is a very big deal. Not as much up north and alot of the fraternity guys up north that I've met I would never give a bid to if they went my fraternity. Fraternity life provides a wealth of opportunites to meet new people and make great friends. It's like anything else, you get back what you put into it. So don't discredit the thought of joining a fraternity. If you end up playing club lacrosse you can most definitely do both and have more friends, more opportunities than you would if you just stuck with one.

[fossil8412]

Moondog and Aquinas, thanks for completely jacking my thread. Take it somewhere else.

RIT, I'll be trying out for Washington and Lee.

[LiquidMercury16]

Well fossil best of luck with tryouts. Ultimately do what makes you happy. If you're not happy playing varsity lacrosse and want a more relaxed atmosphere go play club. If you want the hardcore lacrosse go varsity. Both have pros and cons. Varsity will be better lacrosse, club will be more laid back and you can participate in other things.

[laxman1313]

There is nothing like the real deal! D1 or D III . Club can't even come close. I played four year DI and many years after at the club level. Nothing compares
the varsity experience. Go for it! That way you will never have to ask your self what if?

[LiquidMercury16]

Well obviously the competition doesn't compare, but there are other things in life besides lacrosse (yes I'm aware, I did just say that). By playing any varsity sport you sometimes have to miss out on other opportunities. So it's really what makes you happy and what will give you the best opportunites to succeed later in life.