Saturday, December 30, 2006

What is the NCAA III?


As I recruit for Maranatha, I hear this question alot. I thought I would post a little information about the league in which we participate. The NCAA Division III is made up of over 450 public and private colleges nation-wide. In D III, all athletes are non-scholarship. Some athletes receive scholarship money, but the scholarships are tied to to academics or courses of study. There are many players who have had opportunities in D I or D II, but have chosen to attend a DIII school. I estimate that there are 10 to 20 players in the Northern Athletics Conference alone who could have competed at the DI level. Some of those players have played at Maranatha. Why would a player who is being scouted by D I teams chose to play D III? Here are some reasons:
- commitment to a particular course of study
- commitment to earn a Bible college education
- the opportunity to dominate rather than sit the bench
- sometimes the costs are the same, even with a scholarship at a bigger school
- an athletic scholarship comes with a high price tag: TIME - most D I teams have 20 hrs of workouts every week, even in the offseason
- relationship with the coaching staff
- proximity

Here are a couple of interesting stories about soccer players who are in the NCAA DIII:
Banghart Plays for the U-20 National Team
Harrison Tries Out for the Crew

At Maranatha, we seek to provide rigorous academics, consistent discipleship and high level athletics. Are you up for the challenge? - C

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Coach, I just stumbled across your blog and read the ncaa D 3 blog. Another interesting story is about a former player at Wesley College in Dover, DE. I forget his name, but he is not in the MLS. Thought you might be interested, the story is on Wesley's sports website.

Anonymous said...

to follow up that last comment, I meant to say he is NOW in the MLS. Sorry for the misprint.