I have played four years of high school football and lacrosse. Next year, I’ll be going to a small DI or DIII college where I’ll spend most of my time focusing on pre-med studies.
I’ve decided that I won’t play football or lax because the time commitments will interfere with school work, plus I’m pretty burned out and I’m looking to get involved in something else. I’d like to maybe get into track (55/100), just to have something competitive to be involved in, and to have something to train for.
I don’t have any current sprint times, but I have a pretty good strength/bw ratio (Sq=385, Bench=245, VJ=31", BW=170). I’ve done mostly heavy weight work for the last 3 years, and any sprint training I’ve done has been somewhat disorganized. So if I decided to get involved, then I will have to begin some serious sprint training once my current lax season is over.
My questions for those who are involved in college track or were involved at some point:
What are the time commitments like?
To what extent do you get to train on your own schedule, and to what extent do you have to follow your coaches program?
Do you think that it will be too difficult to get involved in track now even though I never ran in high school?
I had college hockey practices for 2 hours everyday and it had no effect on my commitment to school. It was one of the best experiences in my life. Don’t let an opportunity like this pass you by unless you truly don’t like the sports.
I can see where you’re coming from though, and I bet track would be a good change from team sports. You really have to make an educated decision.
I would agree with Blinky wholeheartedly. I played four years of football and lacrosse at a NESCAC DIII school many years ago, and it was an integral part of my college experience. I was not pre-med and times and perhaps time commitments have changed considerably since I was in college…nonetheless, if you love either/both of these great sports, keep playing; you won’t get a chance to duplicate the experience later.
I agree with everyone! I was pre-med and I still was able to train and compete in track and field in college. I had many friends that were student-athletes in all types of sports. The point is it can be done; it just requires some discipline and self-organization. I never regretted my time in college!
You shouldn’t have much trouble “making” the team at a small DI school. My freshman year some of the football players that ran indoors were so slow, I could have beat them in a 60m. These were DB’s and WR’s mind you. At a lot of DI schools the level of talent is well below that of a solid DIII school. They’re DI in name only. Trust me you will have more time than you ever had in high school. I couldn’t imagine what I would have been up to if I didn’t have sports. Even if you’re taking 20 hours you’ll be in class about half of what you were in school for.
It isn’t so much that I don’t love playing…it’s just that I love training as well, and often I feel that with team sport commitments on top of my own outside training, there is no time/energy left to study.
What I’m really looking for is a sport/event in which I’d be able to compete and organize my own training schedules so that my energy reserves wouldn’t be destroyed or my study time wouldn’t be taken from me.