Frequently Asked Questions

On each teams roster page, you can find a link with all of the contact information to your team.
Each hyperlink will take you to each person where you will find all of the contact information.  

Who we are

We are a professional group of former coaches and players that have the best interests of the players as our driving force. We are not affiliated with any one program or school, we want to increase the level of play for every player to be their best.  Club volleyball programs combine the best players from across every region , with one goal in mind, to become the best.

Here is what sets us apart from other clubs:

• Team bonding activities, seminars and group retreats outside of volleyball to foster team unity.
• Health and Fitness classes by USF Health care professionals on healthy eating, nutritional requirements, practice , tournament preparations, injury prevention and care.
• Professional workouts and an optional unlimited gym membership designed by one of the nations largest fitness providers with years experience to maximize your athletic potential and take you to the next level.
• Use key concepts and proven teaching methodology's to mentally prepare our athletes to learn to compete . 
• We use specifically designed drills to enhance their technical and mental mechanics through years of studies and research. 
• We have the resources, video libraries, drills and training from some of the nations largest volleyball clubs.
• We have the ability to advertise every player and they have their own recruiting page that is kept up to date and available to EVERY college coach ( you can view a demo page HERE ).  It enables us  to market our players nation wide. Most clubs have players pages that are never updated and some have none.  No other club in the region can give your player the exposure nationwide like we can.  Its an investment in their future and you need to give them the best chance.

About USA Volleyball
Founded in 1928, USA Volleyball is a Colorado incorporated non-profit organization recognized by the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the Federation International de Volleyball (FIVB) as the National Governing Body for the sport of Volleyball in the United States.
USA Volleyball is responsible for both the Olympic disciplines of indoor volleyball and beach volleyball. USA Volleyball has over 240,000 registered members, 12,000 teams and 5,000 clubs nationwide. With an annual budget in excess of $11 million dollars, USA Volleyball supports the USA men’s and women’s senior national team programs, youth and junior national teams, national championship events, coaching education and certification programs, grassroots development, and programs for the disabled and ParalympicTeams. USA Volleyball has a rich tradition of success as evidenced by winning an Olympic medal in every Olympic Games since 1984 and capturing numerous World Cup, World Championship and Continental Championship titles.
USA Volleyball is committed to and works toward opportunity for all to participate. It is an advocate for all Americans endeavoring to assure universal access to opportunities at all levels of the game.

USA Junior Olympic (JO) Volleyball or Club Volleyball offers athletes the opportunity to play volleyball after their high school season. Club Volleyball is an avenue for boys and girls 10 (or even younger) to 18 to play in competitive tournaments and get advanced training. Most JO Club seasons run from November or December until June. A few clubs continue training with their top teams until the National Championships, held in July.  Club volleyball provides additional training, knowledge, and tournament play. Players will be placed on a team based on their age and skill level. Most tournaments offer 8+ age group divisions (18's, 17's, 16's, 15's, 14's, 13's,12's and sometimes even 11's & 10's). This allows competition against each other in their same age groups. Younger players may play up in an older age group, but players are not allowed to play in a younger age group. Each player has a different experience as a club member. Naturally, some players are more successful than are others. Players who put more effort into the program get more out of it.
The following are some of the benefits of JO:
FITNESS & IMPROVEMENT
You will get better! That is a guarantee. Every time you touch the volleyball makes you better than your competition.
NEW FRIENDSHIPS
Bringing girls together with similar goals from various schools makes friendships. The relationships that have been formed through practice and team play will be friendships that last a lifetime.
EXPOSURE TO COLLEGE RECRUITERS
College coaches regularly attend JO tournaments. The majority of colleges now recruit directly from club programs. Last year over 98% of the high school girls from Florida and Georgia who received college scholarships played club. Remember, if you want to play in college, plan to play club!
TOURNAMENT PLAY
JO Tournaments are where the hard practice pays off and many favorable memories are made. Understand that practice and training is where you receive the most instruction and experience. Tournament play is only a supplement to participating in Club. Club tournaments are usually far more competitive and more physically demanding than high school matches.

We are re-inventing volleyball and pushing the boundaries.
Players are asking for more, and we are going to deliver more.
* More training
* More practice
* Smaller teams
* More competitive environment
* More tournaments
* Team building skills classes
* College recruiting guarantee
"Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming ."

USA Volleyball changed their policy regarding when you can actually sign up and when club season can begin.
USA Volleyball now allows a club to have Tryouts as early as August 22nd.

While some clubs may have tryouts early, they will get you to OFFICIALLY commit to their club , and not start practice until January 2010. Please be very careful of this , as once you commit to a club, you CAN NOT change your affiliation. 

We are going to have tryouts, and start our practices and seasons for some of our teams earlier in the year.  We will do team building activities, team building clinics, health and fitness clinics and working out MONTHS ahead of other clubs, well before they ever start practicing.

This change could have an affect on many players as they feel pressured to commit early to a club they may not really want to play for.
In the words of John Kessell from USA Volleyball "The best way to learn how to play, is to play".  We will be playing while others are sitting at home for months waiting to start.
 
 
 

We have spent many years involved in club volleyball ( 20 +)  and want to redefine and push the limits. 

 Ask your club these questions and see if they compare? 

1. Will you guarantee a college scholarship or give me my money back if I play for your club?
2. What do you do to help the players NATIONWIDE in order to further their volleyball collegiate search ?
3. Do you do background checks on your coaches and staff above USA Volleyball standards , in compliance with Florida State Statutes for those who teach kids ?
4. Do you have additional medical, liability, and other insurance, just not the basic that USA Volleyball or AAU provides?  Can you provide a copy of the policies in effect?
5. Are you a real business , an S Corporation, or LLC or just a DBA name ?
6. Is your volleyball website secure and doesn't release information about players without the parents consent ?
7. Is your website all under the same domain and you have a span of control over the data and guarantee the security of my daughters personal information ?
8. How do you train your coaches and make sure they adhear to the methodology of your training ?
9. Do you have a parents advisory board and mold your club and change your club to fit the needs of the players ?
10. Do you have a club rule that states any coach must have played volleyball in High School, Collegiate or Professionally, not just recreational ?
11. Do you offer health classes on sports injuries, prevention and nutrition to not only the players, but the parents of the athletes to help them compete ,learn and develop at their optimal level.
12. Do you offer team building clinics and skills pre-season and re-enforce those lessons learned all year long ? 

The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is one of the largest, non-profit, volunteer, sports organizations in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs.
The AAU was founded in 1888 to establish standards and uniformity in amateur sport. During its early years the AAU served as a leader in international sport representing the U.S. in the international sports federations. The AAU worked closely with the Olympic movement to prepare athletes for the Olympic games. After the Amateur Sports Act of 1978, the AAU has focused its efforts into providing sports programs for all participants of all ages beginning at the grass roots level. The philosophy of "Sports for All, Forever," is shared by over 500,000 participants and over 50,000 volunteers. The AAU is divided into 57 distinct Districts. These Districts annually sanction more than 34 sports programs, 250 national championships, and over 30,000 age division events.
Programs offered by the AAU include: AAU Sports Program, AAU Junior Olympic Games, AAU James E. Sullivan Memorial Award, and the AAU Complete Athlete Program. In addition, the President's Challenge program is administrated on behalf of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.

It is our firm belief that enrolling your son/daughter in club will give them the edge they need to succeed in volleyball in the future. The sport of volleyball is growing in popularity and expanding in its number of players each year. If your player is planning on playing volleyball in college or thinks that they might like to play volleyball at the collegiate level, then it is imperative that they play club, now. We cannot stress this enough! Even if they can only play for one season, that alone will improve her their tremendously.

Your player might be the best player at their school. If that's true, then great. The unfortunate thing is they always play with and against people that are not as good as them. They may never be challenged or, even worse, play at a level that is below her potential. If they play club, they will be playing with boys/girls that are equal to or better than them. This will push them and make them the best player they can be.

Junior Olympic (JO) volleyball programs have exploded all across the country. Only 19 years ago, the first National tournament was held, and only 20 teams made the trip. Today, in contrast, the National Tournament held in 2000 hosted 576 teams, was played on over 40 courts, and lasted 10 days. So successful are JO programs that most college coaches recruit exclusively from the JO program ranks. The fact is that if you plan to play in college, club is a MUST! We find that most girls have several goals.
Some players want to learn more about the sport, improve their skill level, and get playing time in tournaments. For others, it's simply to extend their high school season by 6 months. For others, it may be to challenge starters on their school team for playing time next season. For a few, it will be the exposure needed to compete for future college scholarship opportunities. Today you will find that literally all athletes who play in college participated in club volleyball during high school. All participants enjoy competitive tournament play. Many successful high school coaches are encouraging their athletes to play club volleyball for the experience, instruction, and additional training time.
Also, where you find successful high school programs, you will find players who participate in club volleyball. That is a fact! Is JO volleyball only for the college bound athlete? Certainly not! We are interested in building teams in the younger age divisions, as young as 12 and under (ages 10 and 11 and younger are encouraged), athletes who are just beginning their volleyball experience. For most players, JO volleyball is simply another challenging experience that should lead to a lot more fun on the court as playing skills improve. Many girls find that club ball is “their volleyball season” due to the fact that they experience little playing time during their high school season and find that tournament play is very rewarding.

Below is partial list of schools where our players are from. By no means, is this a comprehensive list.

Academy of Holy Names, Apollo Beach,  Armwood,  Bailey,  Barrington,  Bevis,  Boyette Springs,  Brandon,  Brooker,  Burnett,  Burney,  Burns,  Collins,  Colson,  Cork, Corr,  Cypress Creek,  Doby,  Dover,   Durant,  East Bay,  Eisenhower,  Fishhawk Creek,  Freedom, Frost,  Gibsonton,  Giunta,  Ippolito,  Jackson,  Jennings,  King, Kingswood,  Knights,  Lennard,  Limona,  Lincoln,  Lopez,  Mango,  Mann,  Marshall,  MacDonald,  McLane,  Mintz,  Nelson,  Newsome,  Pinecrest, Plant City,  Randall,   Riverview,  Robinson,  Rodgers,  Ruskin,  Schmidt,  Schwarzkopf,  Seffner Christian Academy,  Sessums,  Shields,   South County,  Spoto,  Springhead,  St Johns Episcopal, St Stephens Episcopal, Stowers, Strawberry Crest,  Summerfield Crossings,  Summerfield,  Symmes,  Tomlin,  Trapnell,  Turkey Creek,  Walden Lake,  Walton,  Wharton, Willis, Peters, Wilson,  Yates...

Anyone can sign up and register a club name and create a club, but that alone doesn't make a volleyball club.  
It takes countless hours and hard work to create a legitimate place for players to compete and develop. Not every club goes the extra mile, not only to protect themselves, but to do what is right for the players and families to protect the members.
See if any other club compares to what we do ? 

• We have a fully incorporated S Corporation and a Fully Federally Tax Exempt Not for Profit 501 c3 Status from the Department of Treasury as a Public Charity.
• We are sanctioned by USA Volleyball , Amateur Athletic Union and the JVDA.
• We have the most number of USA Volleyball Coaching Accreditation Program (USAV-CAP) CAP certified coaches on staff of any other volleyball club.  All of our coaches are also IMPACT certified.
• We have over $5,000,000 in Liability Insurance, Additional Medical Insurance, General Liability and Property Insurance above what USA Volleyball provides.
• We have our own staff Attorney, Certified Public Accountant and Private Investigator to conduct criminal , credit and driving background checks upon all of our staff.  We have found the guidelines USA Volleyball has in place are not up to the standards of our club.
• We have our own dedicated hosting environment running the latest  security software and host our own website.  We dont use any third parties to host our information, nor do we publish information about our players to places where everyone on the WWW can view it.  You have to be a member to see specific details of our club.  We do this to protect and safeguard our childrens information.
• We have Board of Directors of local community leaders that guides our business directions.
• All of our coaches are professional adults with experience that have either coached or played at the high school, collegiate or professional level.  We do not use current college players to coach teams.
• We have a Parents Advisory Board of 18 parents from our club, that assists in giving directions on how our club operates and what THEY want to see out of their volleyball club.
• We utilize a state of the art fitness facility , with professional certified fitness trainers with 20 + years of fitness experiance to prepare our athletes.
• We guarantee if you child plays for our club, they will receive a college scholarship offer, or we will refund their club expenditure.

Our coaches receive the highest possible training available to any volleyball program nationwide.
We have partnered up with the largest club in the United States, Sports Performance Volleyball Club. 
We utilize the time tested training techniques that trains over 1,000 juniors players in seven ages groups , on over a hundred teams every year.
Its teams have garnered 59 AAU or USAV national titles and more than 400 alumni have gone on to earn more than $20 million in scholarships at 130 colleges and universities.

Our coaches also receive USA Volleyballs IMPACT certification, and we also have the most number of USA Volleyball CAP certified coaches on staff than any other club in the region.   USA Volleyball CAP ( Coaching Accreditation Program ) is one of the highest and most prestigious certifications a volleyball coach can receive.

USA VOLLEYBALL COACHING ACCREDITATION PROGRAM

COACH - koch/n 1:  one who instructs or trains performers (Websters).  2:  all volunteers, teachers, players, people who administer, guide, create, inspire any athlete or person to compete and enjoy the skills, tactics, and interaction of volleyball.
 
The USA Volleyball Coaching Accreditation Program (USAV-CAP) provides an opportunity for professional preparation and advancement for the volleyball coach.  The curriculum    addresses the essential topics for the volunteer and the internationally aspiring coach.  Each course level includes a special emphasis on building the foundation and creation of a  well-prepared coach.  This knowledge coupled with hands-on coaching experience creates an ideal learning experience.
 
USAV-CAP has been helping coaches further their coaching education for the past 17 years.  In that time, more than 35,000 coaches have taken USAV-CAP courses across the United States.  USAV-CAP is happy to have you as part of our team in 2009.
 
We expect the USAV-CAP hosting experience to be great for you and your community.  This program assists in meeting the primary objective of the 1978 Amateur Sports Act, which is    responsible for allowing the National Governing Body of Volleyball to provide and coordinate technical information on physical training, equipment design and performance analysis.  USAV-CAP addresses one-third of these directives within its daily activities.
 
The USAV-CAP Hosting Manual is a step-by-step guide on how to organize a successful USA CAP course.  This manual describes host responsibilities before, during and after the course; and it includes necessary report forms, samples forms and instructions in the Appendices.
 
PHILOSOPHY

Any player who enters a volleyball program has the right to expect quality coaching and instruction.  USA Volleyball's CAP program strives to present an on-going, progressive format in which coaches at all levels receive the most current information available on volleyball.
 
USAV-CAP instruction is based on sound principles in the areas of skills development,     tactical systems, physical training, motor learning, sports psychology and administration.
USAV-CAP is intended to provide coaching standards for those administrators employing coaches to have a valid means for measuring the qualifications of a given volleyball coach.  It is a continuous education process due to the dynamic nature of sport and technology.

The four solid corners of the program are integrity, education, commitment and enthusiasm.  These are the qualities of any successful coach and program.

YOUR SUCCESS IS OUR GOAL! 

Our uniform package will be customized to each person and will be printed with your name.  Our packages will have about a 3-4 year life cycle, so if you continue to play for us, you can use your stuff the next year. 
$200 for players up to 15 years of age
$250 for players 15 and older- Includes a set of ankle braces.

A Long Sleeve Jersey
A Short Sleeve Jersey
Game Socks
2 pair of spandex
2 practice jerseys
Backpack
Warm Ups
Knee Pads
Ankle Braces - 15 and up
2 T-shirts for your parents
Optional Moisture Management Polos available.
We have our own custom embroiderer and printing service and can offer the highest quality gear at the most reasonable cost.

Since our club is dual sanctioned by USA Volleyball and Amateur Athletic Union, we will play in a combination of both tournaments. Tournaments are subject to change.
Citius- 7 Tournaments
Gulf Coast Invitational - Clearwater 
Tampa United Kick Off Classic - Tampa 
Tampa United Slam - Tampa 
Molten Pre-Qualifier - Tampa 
2-USA Volleyball Wilson Tournaments - Orlando
USA Volleyball State Regionals - Orlando

Altius- 8 Tournaments
Gulf Coast Invitational- Clearwater 
Asics OVA Invitational - Orlando 
Tampa United Kick Off Classic 
Tampa United Slam - Tampa 
Molten Pre-Qualifier - Tampa 
2-USA Volleyball Wilson Tournaments - Orlando
USA Volleyball State Regionals - Orlando

Fortius- 9 Tournaments
Gulf Coast Invitational - Clearwater 
Asics OVA Invitational - Orlando 
Tampa United Kick Off Classic - Tampa 
Tampa United Slam - Tampa 
Molten Pre-Qualifier - Tampa 
2-USA Volleyball Wilson Tournaments - Orlando 
Cloverleaf Invitational - West Palm Beach
USA Volleyball State Regionals - Orlando

Red - Overnight hotel stay , not required, but recommended.
Blue- 2 nights hotel stay required.

Citius - a developmental team focusing on teaching and learning the basics of game play.  The goals are teamwork and development. 

Altius- is committed to train and teach the game of volleyball so that players learn and understand the game in a positive, winning environment. The goals for each player are to enjoy playing, working as a team, and the love of competition. 

Fortius- for players who wish to play at the collegiate level or who are the most competitive athlete.  This level is designed for the players capable of competing physically, technically and psychologically against the best players in volleyball.  

The Olympic motto is the hendiatris Citius, Altius, Fortius, which is Latin for "Swifter, Higher, Stronger".

How does this website work ? 

This website is completely automated and controlled by you the end user.  Only registered members can see everything our site has to offer. We control the security to our members, because not everyone needs to know information about your child.  We keep it that way, always have, always will.

Upon registration at USA Volleyball, your account will be imported into this site and , you the parent or players , will receive an email about your account. 

Once you receive an account, you will complete your Players Roster Page and fill out all of the required elements. Once you complete the page , and select your team, you will be placed on that teams roster. 

Players Stats 

Each player has statistics tracking built into their profile.  Each parent will be responsible for keeping the individual players statistics, you can view our how to guide here.  Upon entering this information into your profile, it will automatically calculate your totals and individual statistic. 

Team Stats

Team statistics are compiled based upon players stats and upon wins/losses on how your team does vs other teams across the nation.  It will automatically display your wins / losses, points scored against you and your ranking in the region for each team.

Email Lists 

This site uses automated emails lists for each team to communicate, along with our forums. 

Upon registering , you have the ability to have 3 additional email addresses , located in your users profile.  When you enter those email addresses, you will receive an automated email subscribing you to that teams email list, and will receive further information about how to communicate with your team.

Players Recruiting Videos 

The club will create these videos for its eligible Juniors and Seniors and post them to them to the World Wide Web.  We also have the largest in house database of every college coach in the United States and will us this to help recruit your players NATIONWIDE.  

Club Synergys cost are less money than other area clubs, but offer much more  :

When comparing other clubs costs to Synergy Volleyball Club, it is important to realize the value for what it cost. 

How much do they practice compared to us ?

Do their teams only have 9-10 players or do they have 12 players on a roster ? 

Do they play in the same number of tournaments we do ( we play in up to 9 ) ?

Do they do the extra cirricular activities with the players OUTSIDE of volleyball to bond the teams and teach individual and team skills ?  

We are one of the only clubs around that is a full Not for Profit public charity 501 c 3. What that means for you is individuals and businesses can sponsor your players participation and write that amount off as a tax contribution. Every year we have numerous athletes receive FULL PAID tutions as a result of those donations.  
We will give you all of the forms for donations to your players account.

Citius - 10 Players
Altius - 10 Players
Fortius - 9 Players
We feel this is the optimum number to have on a team.
It  allows each player to receive the maximum exposure to learning the game and allowing them to participate when it comes to tournaments.  Most clubs have rosters or 12 players or sometimes more, but having rosters of 9-10 players allows for the most participation of ANY club in the region.
Having a smaller roster size is one of the most important aspects when developing players.  With smaller teams, a coach can average more individual time over a club season.  That is a HUGE difference in the amount of individual instruction our players receive.
Club Directors and /or our Parents Committee have the option of increasing / decreasing an individual team size to accomodate a special need or circumstance.

Most parents want or expect their child to play all the time during tournament play. This is the number one issue of clubs throughout the United States. We hope the following will resolve most concerns. Club Synergy has designed a program to offer everyone a choice. All players should get equal practice time. Club Synergy will give NO guarantee of playing time for the teams, they will offer fair playing time to each team player. Fair is not equal, we will play your son/daughter as much as possible taking into consideration skill level, competition, position and attitude.
 
The player and only the player can discuss playing time with a coach. The club and its coaches will NOT discuss playing time at a tournament. The time for the player is to discuss playing time is at the practice following the tournament with their individual coach. 

We have designed our team sizes to limit the players to 9-10 , and thus eliminates much of the problems around playing time.  Most clubs have rosters sizes of 12 + players.  Having smaller team adds a huge difference in how much competition time our players receive compared with other clubs. 

Another major concern for many players and parents is team placement. We can assure you that the tryout system we use is very fair and accurate. There will be players who are on the border between being placed on a higher or lower team. If a player is a number 7,8, or 9 player on the team, they could be the number 1,2, or 3 player on the next team. There are advantages to playing on a lower team, more playing time, being one of the top players verses the lower players, self-esteem, etc. Our entire coaching staff evaluates each player and a committee makes placement decisions. Teams from previous years are not necessarily kept together, each year talent is re-evaluated.

Travel is not included in the cost, as most, if not all players will stay with their family.  We have resources to secure rooms at very good group rates and most teams will communicate and stay at the same places. We don’t believe adding the rates of a hotel to the cost of a players account is reasonable, as the parents will still have to consume the cost of staying at the tournaments.   Clubs add the cost of the hotels to fees to increase their bottom line profit, not as a convenience to the player.  The parents still have to absorb the cost of the hotel to stay and watch their athlete. We don’t get involved in travel, we let you know when and where we play and leave those decisions up to the player and their family.

Our club fees are divided into a down payment of $500 when you officially accept a roster slot on one of our teams , payed via our online store.

You then will create another purchase under your account for the re occuring fees for your players account.  You will be able to track your payments in your account history in our site. 

We use the latest SSL encryption technology in our store, to secure your information.

Not always. We may move and train a player to play a different position than they played in school based on the need of the team. On our top teams, you must be willing to play any position.

We have 5 diffrent gymnasiums that we use all across the region.
We can practice Monday thru Sunday and typically practice in two hour blocks, from 5:30pm-7:30pm and 7:30pm - 9:30pm.  After we have tryouts we have a better idea of our practice schedules.  All of our schedules are placed on our automated online calendar, that only club members have access too.
 

The Real Differences Between DI, DII, and DIII

Thursday, May 21, 2009 at 1:30pm

This is the transcript from Radio CaptainU:
The Real Differences Between DI, DII, and DIII.
Hey everyone welcome to radio CaptainU I’m Avi Stopper. Well sorry the podcast has been on hiatus for a couple of weeks here but we’re fire it up again. We got an interesting topic on task for today we’re gonna talk a little about the different divisions. Division one, division two and division three. This kind of came out of an interview, a newspaper interview I was doing earlier today a little about what are the differences between those divisions and how do people end up making some of the most common mistakes that in terms of how they think about D1, D2 and D3.

So that’s what up on the table today, on the podcast hope you enjoy it, hope you're enjoying CaptainU we’ve seen a lot of really good recruiting outcomes in the last few weeks. A lot of people are getting in touch with college coaches. That’s really exciting for us to see.

Certainly if you have any questions feel free to email us at info(at)CaptainU.com you can also request new features or ask questions for future podcast by emailing us at that info(at)CaptainU.com email address.

Okay so onward with today’s topic D1, D2 and D3. So what are the real differences? Now the first thing that we have to do when discussing this particular topic, is we have to dispel the number one myth and that is that D1, D2 and D3 correspond directly with the quality of the play in the particular division.

In other words a lot of people seem to think that division one by virtue of being number one is best, D2 would be second best and D3 would be third best or awful by some accounts. But really that’s not the case, and so we’re gonna talk about what those designations actually mean to them and one thing that we’ve actually joked about for a while here at CaptainU is changing the whole D1, D2, D3 system and making it more like NCAA red NCAA blue, NCAA green. You know some color designation that makes it a little less like of a hierarchy than you see with D1, D2 and D3. So the first thing that you need to just get out of your mind is the idea that D1 is the best and D3 is the worst.

Alright so the second thing, the second thing to really take into consideration is what are the real differences between these three divisions and they really fall into kind of two categories.

The first is of course scholarships and this gets a lot of attention because athletic scholarships are a pretty hot topic, a pretty neat thing, you know something that people really like to discuss a lot.
Division one and two teams have scholarships, athletic scholarships. Division three teams don’t have scholarships athletic scholarships. However an interesting statistic that you should know is that the average division three athlete is receiving on average more financial aid through a variety of grant programs, loans, various awards than the average division one player. That’s a pretty fascinating statistic. As far as scholarships in division one go just because a team is allowed scholarships doesn’t mean it has all the scholarships that it is allotted.

The NCAA allows a certain number of scholarships per team and not every team necessarily has fully funded all of those scholarships. So you may be allowed ten scholarships for a given team and a given sport. But the athletic department may only have enough money to fund three or four in many cases and indeed this is the case. Many teams, many Division I teams while they are allowed to have scholarships don’t have the full allotment funded. So that’s another thing to take into consideration.

So of the two main issues that are the real differences between the Divisions, scholarships is certainly one. And the second one is the time commitment. And this is something that really should not be overlooked because it really gets to the core of what it is that you want your college experience to be like. Athletics in Division I should be considered basically a full time job. Athletes spend five, six hours a day doing various activities associated with the team whether that’s lifting weights, doing fitness work, going to the trainer practicing, traveling to games, playing in games. And they do this year round.

By contrast in Division III for example, the time commitment is much less. Now during the season it’s no doubt very intense in division three but the off season is much more restricted. The NCAA has very clearly restricted the amount of time that division three athletes can spend with their team.
And the effect that this has is that it dramatically changes the kind of college experience that you have. So if you’re playing sports in Division III, you will find that you have more time to pursue other college activities. Whether that may be student government newspapers or other student groups. And this is certainly something that a lot of people like to have. They like to broaden their horizons a bit when they get to school. Of course there are athletes who really want to go to school and focus on playing sports and going to school and for them Division I maybe a better bet.

So the bottom line is, before you just say reflexively that you want to play Division I because it’s the best, forget about that myth, that idea that Division I is necessarily the best, because to be quite frank, many, there are many top Division II and Division III teams that could beat many division one teams. It‘s not necessarily the rule and certainly the best D1 teams are usually the best teams in the country. But the quality in D3 and D2 is very high.

So first off all, drop the myth, forget the myth that D1 is necessarily the best, and also take into the consideration the real issue, the scholarships issue as well as the time commitment and then you’ll have a more realistic sense of what the whole D1, D2, D3 hierarchy is actually about.

AVI Stopper
CEO 
Captain U