Great at practice/tryouts, but just ok in games?

Right, there are minimum requirements for the OSU folks (and their peers at other schools) but they're pretty low. Definitely not a matter of needing "high" academic performance (as ehBeth said) along with high level sports ability.

The whole thing is kind of a mess. I love college football but something seems deeply wrong about the priorities and where the money goes.

Meanwhile, yeah, I'd definitely believe that girls who have less of a chance at mucho money in a future sports career would take the university experience more seriously.

And SOME football players definitely get a lot out of it too. More just that their academic requirements are laughably low.

Thanks for indulging my questions in your thread.

I understood about the difficulties in learning to play with new teams - new neighbourhood, new schools and all that - it was the college references that were throwing me off.

I switched schools halfway through kindergarten, halfway through gr 1, at the end of grade 2, at the end of grade 4, at the end of gr 6, at the end of gr 8 and then left town to go to university (and moved every 4 months in a co-op program). I remember the difficulties some kids had switching schools/teams etc.

I was thinking about this a lot around the summer Olympics when the Canadian athletes were being interviewed. They all just seemed so damned smart and insightful.


(not that other countries' athletes aren't - I just wasn't hearing/seeing them be interviewed)

One thing I think that great athletes have is drive and ambition - they also have to work hard. It is a personality sort of thing - competition and doing well - that at least in my opinion is why you see many athletes also being successful in academics - not all of course, but many use that same ambition with academics.

Some sports don't reap the same financial rewards with endorsements and so forth as well even those winning gold medals.

A big thing my daughter has learned with her demanding practices and weekend tournament schedules is how to plan. We expect her to still get good grades - if she doesn't then she wouldn't be able to play (we wouldn't let her). So she needs to plan to complete her homework and studying and still make practices.

She learned this early on - one time she "forgot" about a project and left it to the last minute. She had practice that night - we sent an email to her coach explaining the situation and that school came first. We also said, we expect since she missed practice that she does not start that weekend - she never did that again.

Most high schools too require a certain grade point average to be able to play sports.

I've known some AAU teams that require certain grades but that is rare - usually those that are in lower income areas to entice kids to study -

I didn't see the first day of tournaments this weekend, but went on Sunday. The first game - she was ok (they played a weaker team so it was a some what easier win). She wasn't put in the game as often as she was in the past. So that clinched them to play the second game for the championship of this tournment. So after that game - I noticed many of the girls hanging out waiting for the next game so I encouraged her to go with her team - they were a little segagated/a couple of different groupings but at least a start.

They played against a team they lost to the day before. Much better game for her. It was a very close game with a very aggressive team - it was a great match up for both teams. She played more like herself. She was in for almost the entire second half. Coach must have had confidence in her. She was selected (and some of girls mentioned to put her in) to be the free thrower for a technical foul on the other team. They did end up getting the win - there first for any sort of championship - I think the win did help them a little; just to gather a bit of team feelings. I did speak with a few parents and they seem to feel the same - that the girls just haven't gotten to "know" each other yet. So it may in part just be a matter of time.

Oddly, major US Universities seem to have more money to spend on athletic scholarships than they do on academic scholarships.

Here's my rough understanding:

Due to Title XI, they are required to spend as much on women's sports scholarships as they are on men's. This opens up a lot of opportunities for female athletes.

Meanwhile, academic scholarships are often based on need rather than merit. Even if you get one, merit-based scholarships do not usually provide for tuition, books, room, and board.

I agree on the need vs academic. Unless you are at the extreme top of your class you are unlikely to get much as an academic scholorship unless you have very low income. Put it to you this way...I was in the top 10% of my class; on the National Honor Society. My parents were middle class - my dad a mailman; my mom worked from time to time in a factory or at a retail store so basically a little over minimum wage.

Even with my good grades, I don't remember getting a scholorship. I did get a little in the way of a grant - but it didn't even pay for a quarter of my tuition. I had to take out loans and work for the difference.

Yes definately with the changes for women, athletic scholorships are huge.