By James A. Brown
The decision to pursue collegiate athletics has a huge influence on the school a student chooses to 
attend. There are thousands of college athletes across the country from schools of all sizes.
Many of the top high school athletes end up playing at division 1 schools. The percentage of athletes that go D1 is slim leaving student athletes looking for more options.
Division 2 schools offer great athletic competition but are known to not be the best academic institutions. Division 3 schools offer top notch academics while providing athletes with good competition as well.
Different Faces, Same Places
Former men’s lacrosse player Tai Foster chose to play here at Hood as a double major in law and biology. When asked about choosing a school, Foster said “I chose to play division 3 because Division 3 is the only level where school comes first, and your job is to learn. Lacrosse is my passion but my career comes first”. Student athletes enjoy not being overwhelmed with workouts, practice, and long road trips.
Athletes still have free time to use as they please.
Current men’s lacrosse player Nick Druelinger said “Division 3 has allowed me to further my athletic venture in lacrosse while keeping up with other activities that I enjoy such as working on cars and chilling with my friends”.
Academics are not the only factor when student athletes decide on a school. The size of the school influences a student as well.
Big Fish, Little Pond
Many division 1 schools have tens of thousands of students with lecture halls that fit up to 650 students. Classes being so large makes students not able to get the individual attention they may need from the instructor.
Division 3 schools are often much smaller. Salisbury University has one of the largest undergraduate enrollments at 7,500 approximately five times that of Hood. With an enrollment of 1,400 undergraduate students, Hood is a bit on the smaller side for a division 3 school.
Student athletes benefit from being on a small campus because professors know their students by name and not simply a face in the crowd. Hood’s small classes make it easy to identify which students aren’t in class. Many coaches alert professors that one of their athletes is in their class.
Professors and teachers communicate with one another regularly if a student is not doing well or hasn’t been attending class. In other words, it difficult for student athletes to do anything wrong without their coach being informed the same day.
Parents are the last people to find out due to the lack of communication between parents and professors. There are many students from different states and even different countries. Student athletes choose to move away from home looking for a change of scenery or stay local.
Gio San Fillipo who plays on the men’s lacrosse team, is from Rochester, NY approximately five and half hours away. When asked why he chose to attend Hood he replied “Division 3 gave me the perfect opportunity to venture away from home. I knew that I would be able to balance my athletics, academics, and social life without causing myself too much stress. Hood has become my new home.”
Athletes such as San Fillipo like the idea of a change of scenery but some enjoy being in the comfort of their local community. Nick May ’14 decided to continue his soccer career at Hood after living in Damascus his entire life.
May had other schools to choose from in Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. May said “I don’t do well with change. Once I’m comfortable somewhere, it’s hard for me to leave” when asked why he stayed close to home. May was also influenced to play division 3 because of friends at division 3 schools that told him he would be able to play good soccer and still have time to himself.
Junior soccer captain Chris Sloan also chose to stay local for his collegiate athletic career. When asked why chose to play division 3 soccer because “Hood is in my hometown and I know where everything is”. Location was a factor and Sloan said “division 3 allows students to focus on their life goals and their future rather than the now”.
Division 1 schools often don’t put academics at the top of the list. University of Delaware guard Devonne Pinkard said “they don’t really care. Most times if you just got to class, you’ll be fine”. Pinkard explained that between practice, lifting, and film he spends an estimated 40 hours a week doing basketball activities.
He also said that he typically doesn’t have any free time until about 7:30 pm every day during the week. Pinkard was heavily recruited out of high school by numerous division 1 teams but not everyone has that luxury.
There are many good players who are under recruited and play at a level of competition they are better than. Women’s basketball coach Jack Mehl believes that it is essential to the development of a program to reach on players better than your level of competition.
Mehl has recruited players he knew could possibly play division 2 basketball and has often told those recruits the same thing. Mehl said “I don’t guarantee these players playing time, but I do tell them they have an opportunity to be a big fish in a little pond”.
There are cases where division 1 players transfer to division 3 schools.
Sydney Moss, formerly of the University of Florida, transferred to Division 3 Thomas More and has enjoyed a ton of success. Moss played her freshman season at Florida and looked the part of a future SEC all-conference player. The reason for Moss leaving Florida is unclear but shows that high caliber players are willing to play at lower division schools.