College coaches and tough degree plans

[Vertigo]

Yeah, not sure if it had to do with this college being one of the top D3 SB programs across the country at the time, but it was a tough thing to hear at the age of 17 when softball was very important to me. Coach telling me I should consider another major; parents telling me I wouldn't be able to hack being a nursing major - there was no support whatsoever. Also didn't help that I was the first in my family to even go to college, so no one could even help me to understand what to expect. Oh well, live and learn. If I could do it all again I probably would have tried to play at least for one year.

 

[Coach JV]

Coach suggesting an alternate major should be a red flag unless the student athlete
already has academic struggles. Let's not lump all athletes into the same proverbial bag.
Last time I checked, Stanford and MIT have softball teams. I would be willing to bet that the
rigors of most, if not all academia at MIT is much tougher than Nursing. Take a look- at MIT
1 in 3 students play a varsity sport. Perhaps good time management is the key to being a successful
student/athlete regardless of the chosen field of study

 

[Vertigo]

I would be willing to bet that the
rigors of most, if not all academia at MIT is much tougher than Nursing.

And you are basing that on......?

Not quite so sure that can be objectively measured.

 

[Vertigo]

It also has nothing to do with the difficulty of the degree - it has to do with the time a nursing student has to spend in clinicals. Two to three eight-hour+ days in the hospital per week does not make it very easy to make practices or games.

 

[TamiAz]

I checked the website - Augustana ("Augie" to those of us who have lived in Sioux Falls) has 8 nursing majors on the roster. Very succesful softball program as they have been to the D2 WCWS multiple times over the past several years and are routinely ranked in the top 15 (off to a bit of a rought start this year). Amazing to me how some programs get it, and some don't. And the audacity of a coach to ask a recruit to switch majors blows my mind. "Hmmm. Well, I really wanted to be a nurse. That was my calling in life. But, gee, you are SUCH a good softball coach that I'm willing to throw that all away just so that I'd have the chance to play for you. Because you're THAT good." What an ego some of these coaches have. And if they aren't creative enough to find a solution, then they have no business being in the coaching profession.

Those of you with dds who want to be nurses (or doctors), consider putting Augie on your list. Sioux Falls is a great place to live and go to school (also two large hospitals, Sanford and Avera, and both are excellent). Great coach. The softball facilities aren't the best but other than that, it's an excellent school.

I told my daughter to check out this school add it to her list since she wants to play ball and wants to be a nurse.. Thanks for the info!

 

[PA SB Dad]

Coach suggesting an alternate major should be a red flag unless the student athlete
already has academic struggles. Let's not lump all athletes into the same proverbial bag.
Last time I checked, Stanford and MIT have softball teams. I would be willing to bet that the
rigors of most, if not all academia at MIT is much tougher than Nursing. Take a look- at MIT
1 in 3 students play a varsity sport. Perhaps good time management is the key to being a successful
student/athlete regardless of the chosen field of study

Yo genius, MIT is a DIII school. There are differences in the time committed by athletes in DI vs DIII schools, both in season and out of season.

 

[sluggers]

PA, you beat me to it.

MIT is D3. They play about 40 games a year. Their season starts on March 19, when they play 10 games on a spring break trip to Florida. Their season is over around the second week of May. So, more or less, MIT plays 8 weeks of softball.

Which is OK...if you are going to MIT, I think the degree is worth a lot more than the softball.

 

[Coach JV]

How do you quantify the season as being 8 weeks? If the team begins practice in January
5-6 days a week 3 hours/day and it ends in May this would be a long 8 weeks agreed?
The facts are the facts. Ray, I am surprised that you would jump to conclusions so quickly....

 

[BobInMadison]

The official season and the real season are two different things.

DS rows for a D-3 team. The official season starts April 9. Practices started late August. The team rowed in 4 regattas in Sept and Oct (DS rowed in 3 of those events and took home a gold medal in one event). The team practiced indoors all winter. They just got back from a week in Waco, rowing many hours each day. Also they raced Baylor (DS won both races he was in).

So, so far they've been practicing since August, they've had 5 races, they all spent a week rowing together during their quarter break, but the season doesn't officially start for another month.

One would suspect the MIT softball team also had a huge difference between when practice starts and when games start. Maybe not as big a difference, but a difference. Depends on how one defines things. The disagreement between the last two posts is a disagreement in definition.