You replied much more nicely than I would have to the very ignorant "D3 is lame" comment. Thank you for that. Everything you said is spot on. I would add that, while it varies from school to school, the "off season" after the short fall ball period still includes a regular and heavy dose of weight room work and overall strength and conditioning. May not be organized softball activities, but it is hardly "3 1/2 months off until the Spring season".
It's lame.
The whole system is lame.
D3 is no exception.
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"Student-athlete" is a farce.
For decades we've put up with the P5 colleges - under a fig leave called they call the NCAA - charading about "students" first, "athletes" second, as a way to promote amateurism. But hey, don't look over here - where 80% of the NCAA's budget comes from March Madness and the SEC signed a $3 BILLION contract with ESPN for viewing rights from 2021-2030. So, amateurism for the athletes, profits for the universities.
As Justice Kavanaugh wrote: "Nowhere else in America can businesses get away with agreeing not to pay their workers a fair market rate on the theory that their product is defined by not paying their workers a fair market rate".
And pay doesn't mean just salary, it means monetization of NIL, adequate representation, adequate access to healthcare for injuries sustained while playing, and a host of other things, including, in the case of D3, adequate staff and facilities to keep the athletes in good physical shape year round.
Because that is what high-level sports performance requires.
And D3 is high level sports performance.
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Find me a collegiate student-athlete who doesn't value both of those roles equally, and I'll show you someone who's not going to play college sports for very long. Passion and desire does not break down by division, as much as we've been conditioned to believe it does --- even the NCAA acknowledge this, as the practice time limits for D1, D2, and D3 are quite similar.
What I'm saying is that, in every division, college athletes should be afforded adequate practice time and adequate study time, year round, because that's what a high level of sports performance requires. There shouldn't be such things as captains practices, 'optional' 6am lifts, 'optional' cage sessions that get around the restrictions, etc. The fact that these things are so widely used shows that the system is broken.
It is indeed, lame.
Also, last time I looked, coaches are university employees who seem to lose their jobs quickly if they don't consistently win. That is as true in D3 softball as in P5/D1 football.
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The NCAA system is centered around giving athletes the minimum, while requiring them to work their maximum, with all the profits flowing back to the university and none to the athletes. This unfair and imbalanced system presents itself in a myriad of ways. It's not just D1 football/basketball. The entire system is broken.
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