I've been playing and coaching water polo in Canada for nearly the past 9 years. An oppurtunity has come up with school transfering from here in Victoria, down to an American College for a year and play for a season. My club hosted a tournament last weekend and I had the oppurtunity to play with, and against various div 1 and div 2 players, and honestly I found the differences werent all that enormous. <
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Idealy, i'm hoping to find a team that trains hard, has fun playing in a competitive division, but also has time to be successfull academically. Competitive sport is not my entire life as it has been, and I'm trying to strike a balance. <
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For those of you that have played competitive sports in college I wanted to hear your comments on the attitudes other players had, and the coaching staff in the various divisions. Even if you had friends that participated, I'd like to hear your comments.<
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More than likely, the school id be looking at would be in California, or somewhere on the east coast. I'd be heading down in second or third year.<
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I really see this is a chance to realize a few goals I havent been fully able to meet due to some injuries that only recently have shown signs that I can train and play full time again. Thanks in advance for your replies. <i>Edited by: Jamin Jamiro at: 2/18/06 3:33 pm<
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There is a difference between the divisions. It is sorta like the difference between a also ran NBA team and the teams in the playoffs. Div 2 you make have one really good player and a bunch of so-so people even on the best teams. In division 1 the so-so people are much better. I have a few friends that played div 1 basketball and at least 1 that played div 2 football. Div 2 was much more relaxed. <
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Small hijack- the best advise I have ever seen in the paper regaring sports.<
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U coach seeks driven recruits<
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BY CHARLEY WALTERS<
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Pioneer Press<
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J Robinson has found the right guys again.<
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"You can win anywhere in any division in any sport if you find the right guys," the Gophers wrestling coach said Thursday.<
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Robinson's guys are ranked No. 1 nationally. In his 20th season at Minnesota, Robinson has coached two national championship teams. His method is basic: Have a great staff and pay the price of success.<
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"You go out and find kids who want to win," he said. "Not just good kids, but kids who want to win, kids who are willing to pay the price. There's nothing more common than unsuccessful men with talent.<
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"A lot of contests are decided by emotion, not by talent. You've got to get guys who will do 12 reps instead of 10, who'll run six laps instead of four."<
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Robinson has no alibis.<
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"You hear people say it's hard to win at Minnesota," he said. "If that's the case, then how did Northwestern win the Rose Bowl? You've got to find people who want to win."<
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Then he got personal.<
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"It's like this: If I told you to win a Pulitzer Prize in the next three years, you would work hard at it," he said. "But if I told you that I know for a fact that if you don't win a Pulitzer Prize, you will die within three years. You think you'll try any harder?"<
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I'm trying. <i></i>

Personally I played NCAA division 3 College football. The biggest things to know about the athletes was that division 1A, 1AA, and division 2 all give scholorships to their athletes. They get the best of the best, and dang near all of them go division 1. The ones who aren't quite tall enough, or strong/fast enough go to division 2. They are VERY good athletes, and know their sport extremely well, but just aren't quite the player a D1 athlete is. The difference could be a couple tenths of a second on their 40 time, 3 inches in height, or 50 lbs on the bench press. Who knows, but the competition is very stiff regardless. WHen you get down into division 3, there are no scholorships. Schools will toss out HUGE grants to attract athletes to their schools. Personally my school was over 20k a year to go to with room and board, and I think after like 3 years of repayment I owe around 5k. The rest of it was taken care of by a large grant from the school.<
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When I first went to college I was thinking that the competition was going to be like playing at a very large high school, but I was completely wrong. The kids are good. They weren't NFL or CFL good, but there is a large gap between big school high school footballl, and division 3 college football. I played against guys in high school that were going Division 1 at places like Penn State, University of Cincinnati, Ohio State, and Miami. The guys I was with in college weren't that good, but they would still ring your bell if you weren't up to the challenge.<
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With that being said there was also a big value put on your education. PLaying for a small school all of us knew we weren't going to be playing professional, so we needed to get ahead in the classroom. Yeah, we fucked around some, but for the most part we went to class and such. After the first week was over anyway:P<
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Hope this helps some. <i></i>

As far as money/scholarships, i'm not to concerned about the money aspect of it. I see it as more of an oppurtunity than a financial investment.<
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I am going to have to do some research about the teams where i could wind up playing. Prior to playing in our most recent tournament I had been lifting for about a month and a half, with very minimal in-pool training (like maybe a practice a week). It was frustrating as fuck playing with a few of the div 2 players that came up. They were in shape, and strong, but just didnt know how to play with intensity. I think that was moreso a product of a smaller school with a very new polo team, but the competition coming out of Cali was alot stronger. But honestly, I'm feeling div 2 would be better for what I'm looking for.<
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I've just sent an email to the transfer office to see what they have to say about where I can go. <
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Thanks for the replies. <i></i>

I played college football but passed up the more prestigious football schools for a smaller school with an excellent engineering program who offered me a lot of cash for academics and an alot right chunk for athletics. I just want to point out to you to not make the mistake some people do and think smaller schools/divisions= less work/dedication etc. I had numerous close friends in the best d2/d1 football programs out there and my program actually had us doing more work and hours then most the big name teams.<
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I honestly can't speak much for water polo as I do not know the requirements but for football I was putting in 4-8 hours a day off season year around except xmas and spring
eak. This plus a full school load/work study definitely adds up fast, make sure you truly love it before you get into the commitment. Personally I had to get a L5 back fusion and now have titanium rods and bolts in my back because of college sports, but when I look back on it I still think I would have done it. Then again when I can't tie my own shoes in 10 years I will probably be singing a different tune <
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Oh and to add to what calten said, smaller schools definitely do have some great talents. My partner in crime transferred to WYU and was slated as the starter until he got into 2 fights with fellow teammates and got the boot. A lot of the time the players just do not get the attention in high school or the recommendations from their coaches even though they the same talent level as a lot of D1's.<
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Good luck, just curious are Canadian athletes allowed to transfer into the USA straight to a D1 school or do they have to do one year at a d2/d3 school first like other out of country schools?<
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(what pos. you play calt?) <i></i>