Success rate of the student-athlete vs non-student-athlete

Stiksdad. You are spot on. Many of the college coaches leave a lot to be desired especially at the D2 and below levels. while some like Peace College have great coaches many have women who played but have no idea how to coach ( big difference between coaching and playing) or men that don't have a clue how to coach the game and especially on the womens side. also many of the girls when they get there are getting there first taste of freedom from their parents and playing ball becomes secondary to social life

 

there is some great wisdom in this thread. I have seen parents be totally blinded by the dream. We almost were... one of the schools we looked closely at now has NO juniors or seniors on the team. And it sure wasn't about ability as one of their freshman pitchers two years ago had an offer from Alabama. You can hear stories of coaches threatening to pull scholarship money on other boards and I am not talking about individuals I am talking about the entire team. These people coach out of fear and and has been said playing ball is an incredible commitment. College adjustment is difficult enough without this type of personality in your life. Find a coach that cares about their kids.

I will leave you with two maxums to govern your softball life with:

"go where you feel the love"- Rodney Threatt

"don't let softball make your college decision for you"- Ray Chandler

 

Facts?

You must be dealing with a very small sample of girls. The FACT is very few college athletes (particularly D1, scholarship athletes) quit after one year. Even at lower levels most girls play more than one season. As for fun I think that has to do with the nature of the girl. If she's a girl playing softball then your probably correct. If she's a ballplayer then you're dead wrong. Real ballplayers love college ball as they want to test themselves against the best. However, for every 100 girls you see at TB tournaments fewer than half are probably ballplayers.

 

Totally agree with you on the girls playing softball and the softball players analysis. But as for the part about the majority of girls sticking it out 4 years your wrong. sorry don't mean to sound like a know it all or be rude but just do some checking and see for your self. Now in d1 yu will get a higher number who stay but d2 and lower very few do. I have personally know well over a hundred girls who went on to play college ball and can only think of 2 or 3 who made it 4 years and at least 90% only played 1 year.

 

Been there and done that with two DD's

One a walk-on athlete with no $$ the other a highly recruited athlete with a full ride; both in D1 highly competitive programs. Both loved their sports (distance running & softball) and did well in school. Most of their teammates felt the same. As faculty member in a D1 school with close ties to the athletic dept I can assure you that females athletes out-perform the general student body in almost every academic measure, including graduation rate. With rare exceptions, kids who say that give up the sport because of academics simply aren't sufficiently committed to one of the other.

 

NCAA data just doesn't support your claim

Attrition rates of scholarship athletes (male or female) in D1 schools don't approach the numbers you suggest. If they did most schools would be on probation for APR violations. I can't question your experience but can say that it does not reflect the facts as reflected in NCAA reports. I know at my university about 75% of the softball players play all four years. In fact, one girl who completed her four-year softball eligibility stayed around this fall and was starter on the volleyball team! She is a BALLPLAYER.

 

Another thought

If you're involved in HS or TB you need to ask yourself why such a large % of the kids you're associated with don't finish college ball. I can assure you these numbers are not reflective of what happens to an average group of 100 freshmen collegiate athletes. Were they burned out when they arrived? Did they love the sport to begin with or were they playing for Dad? Did they come from high schools that did not prepare them to deal with the demands of a student-athlete? Were they put on a pedestal in TB/HS and now not able to accept that they are not the queen bee anymore? Something's going on here because these number just don't jibe. If they did most schools would be able to fill out their rosters!

 

Another fact most people don't realize

The six-year graduation rate for 13 of the 16 public universities in NC is less than 60% . . . . . that's for all students; not student-athletes. In general, the graduation rate for student-athletes is almost always higher than for the general student population (as Charlie points out above).

 

The connection that you are trying to make: "female athletes" is backwards. It is not because they are athletes, it is because of who they are - high achievers. They are collegiate athletes because they are high achievers. Athletics is where they chose to put their effort. This is the point I was trying to make early in the thread but it didnt seem to "answer the question".

 

Agree

In general, female athletes tend to be high achievers across the board. Can't attribute it to athletics although I do feel that training and competition tends to hone those qualities that lead to success.

Generally, in today's society young women have more options than men. They are less dependent than male athletes on sport achievement for validation. Some simply decide 'it isn't worth it'. That's fine if they do it before they reach college.

I do have problems with high-profile kids who quit early-on. The coach has committed resources to these kids that could have been invested elsewhere. In our sport, if the kid happens to be a pitcher, her deciding 'her heart isn't in it' after she reaches campus may impact the coaches job and certainly will impact her erstwhile teammates. Parents, TB coaches and kids need to be very sure about the commitment to the game before hanging a college program out to dry.