pledging as a varsity athlete
 

Hello all,

I want to rush and hopefully pledge a chapter at the school I am transferring to. I am also going to be in the cheerleading squad and I was wondering if juggling between these two time consuming activities might be too hard to handle.

Any varsity athelets who pledged a sorority here?

All the members of my daughter's intercollegiate team are GLO members. I would say that is the case with nearly all the athletes at her school. Of course it is Division 3...

A lot of cheerleaders at IU are in sororities.

When I was an active, we had over half the women's tennis team, a soccer player, a cheerleader, a pom and a swimmer in my chapter (DI school). Three members of the tennis team also held a position on chapter council (one was President!). They were expected to put forth the same effort as all other members, but were obviously excused when athletics coincided with mandatory events.

at my D3 school a large percent of girls in sororities are athletes and on our crew team of 35 women there are about 15 girls in 3 sororities. so it depends on your school and how you manage your time. i am captain this year as well on the exec board of my sorority, and my co-captain is the president of her sorority, so its do able :)

I always looked at women who were involved in other activites as a great addition to the chapter! A great resource for recruiting as well!! :)

I was on the dance team my first two semesters as a collegian and I had a hard time juggling my schedule during my pledge period. I joined in the Spring, so we were in the middle of basketball season -- which meant games on weeknights and on weekends.

I really wanted to be a part of that chapter and for a while I felt like I was missing out on a lot because of practice and games, but my sister-mom and Frat Ed Advisor reassured me I was still part of the chapter. Even though I couldn't attend all the pledge events, I could still try to enjoy my time 200% more at the ones I could go to. We've had cheerleaders and x-c members in my chapter before and it's never been a problem.

My daughter cheered varsity at her university while Greek and if anything, it taught her time management. Her grades were great but her squad only went out of town 3 times. I cheered university before I was Greek...it almost ruined my grades because we would frequently have to leave for out-of-state football games on Thursday morning.

At many schools, cheerleading can get really social with alums inviting you to parties, the school wanting you to do extra pep rallies aorund the state, high schools wanting you to judge their competition, etc. If you want to be Greek and a cheerleader, be strong! Remember you're at school for the education and not the parties!

:eek: I thought you were BORN Greek.;)

yes, I believe that's the rumor but due to recruitment being only for sophomores at Arkansas and then cheering, I didn't pledge until I was a junior...:D

we had some cheerleaders, dancers and majorettes in my chapter, but they participated in those activities after their freshman year.

at my daughters college, they have had cheerleaders and dancers who theypledged that were involved in those activities while they were rushing. i guess they managed to make the recruitment parties, and as far as i know they had no problems with chapter and new member meetings. i do know that the fall sport(soccer, cross country) coaches at her school decided that their athletes could not rush-my daughter knew several girls who were disappointed but complied with their coach's wishes. its a shame, because they would have made great members.

your best bet would be to contact the greek life office at your future school and see if any concessions are made for the cheerleaders during recruitment. i know of several schools where they try to work with fall athletes and band members.

I'm not a varsity athlete myself, but I think it's definitely possible to handle the two. Just try to keep the rest of your activities to a minimum because a varsity sport, a sorority and school can be a lot to juggle.

Though I don't play sports, I can still hopefully give you an example--I have a vice president position in my sorority, I'm a delegate for Junior Panhellenic, I'm on Panhellenic Cabinet (in case you're not familiar with it, Panhellenic is the governing body of all the sororities), I'm in 2 outside organizations, I'm taking 18 credit hours, and I go to every single sorority event and meeting we have, plus I still find a lot of time to go out and have fun. My grades are very good, as well. I'm exhausted a lot of the time, but it can be managed and you can have fun with it. :)

Just be aware that your first semester will probably be pretty tough and busy since you'll be a new member and that usually involves a lot of activities, plus getting used to your team...but I think if you work hard and stick it out, you should be fine!

Also, I know of at least a handful of sorority girls that are either cheerleaders or on the dance team that performs at the football/basketball games. :)

Good luck!

Our social chair (and we're a pretty darn social chapter) is captain of the cheer squad, 2 of our freshman are cheerleaders and 1 is on pom (yes, they were pledging during football season), and we have girls that are very very active in many of the gazillion dance and performance organizations on campus.

It's very possible, and I agree about the time management thing - you'll learn how important it is after your first week and the girls that are so involved are the ones who really have scheduling down to an art!

And personally, I think that's the epitome of what a sorority member SHOULD be!

I was a varsity athlete before I was in a sorority (I only lasted one semester due to a bad shoulder injury, and we has deferred rush). I'm not sure I could have done both. I think it depends on your practice schedule - I was in the pool 6 hours each day and still needed to go to class, do homework and work.

Courtney Kupets is an AOPi at Georgia. She is on the National Championship Gymnastics Team and an Olympic Medalist. If she can handle, I would reckon anyone can.

The active member who was mostly reponsible for me pledging ZTA was a varsity cheerleader. Smiles and enthusiasm are contageous. Why wouldn't a chapter want outgoing, involved members? You need all types..regular good girls, athletes, funny girls, crazy girls, spacey girls, brainacs and campus leaders. Everyone has their own place. (Maybe the cheerleaders weren't the most active due to their schedules, but they're usually good rushers.

It's not that, it's just that some people cannot handle both and it's not fair for one of the activities (either the sport or the GLO) to suffer. There are schools where if you're in a sport, that's basically ALL you have time for.

If you can fit it all in - great - but I don't believe in having sisters who are never at anything just so you can have a varsity athlete or cheerleader walk around campus wearing your jacket.

You're right. There was some division between the worker bees and the not so involved worker bees.

I think that the ability to commit yourself is the most important issue here. If you can communicate your ability to commit (time, finances, etc.) and determine a game plan (no pun intended) for potential conflicts (i.e. mandatory sorority function vs. a big game), then there is no reason why you would be automatically excluded from membership.

I think that being of strong mind and body is a desirable trait, and perhaps a welcome addition to any organization. If fact, some GLOs have specific nutrition/fitness programs that assist their members to live healthfully and maintain good health.

Research the sororities at your new school. Find out which orgnizations promote similar ideals, goals and commitments as you do. You may find one (or many) who share your own passions.

Good luck on your journey!

A number of girls in my chapter were in varsity athletics at the D1 level: soccer, dance team, cheerleading, crew and golf. Some of these girls were super active in the house, too. It definitely can be done---it's all about budgeting your time.

At Illinois, if you were a cheerleader or Illinette (pom squad), the chapters would fall all over you during recruitment. You could miss half the parties and get a bid anyway.

easy answer: it depends on your travel schedule and your level of involvement in your GLO

I was a rower (D1), so in the fall, and especially in the spring, I had an out-of-state race most weekends. I know for a fact that I could not have been an exec officer if I was gone that often. I just would have missed too much.

There are tons of leadership oppurtunities in any GLO, and I'm sure you could find an office that you could work around your school and cheer schedule. I would just be really REALLY surprised if you could have a high level position in your chapter and perform athletically at the level you would want to. That's just my experience.

WHen I was at college I was (D1) Swimmer and we had o ther athlets in the house as well especially cheerleaders.

We had a member of MSU Motion (dance team) in my chapter, and also a member of the varsity golf team. Both were involved members and able to keep up their commitment to the chapter. They were excused from chapter events which conflicted directly with athletic events (especially since our golfer had an athletic scholarship), but were otherwise expected to comply with the same chapter attendance policies as everyone else.

I had a roommate from another chapter (Kappa Delta) who was also on MSU Motion, but I don't think she was a super involved member. (Not to say that she was a bad member, of course...she just didn't hold offices, etc. But between her dance team obligations and having an excellent GPA as an engineering major, I'm not sure how she could have fit in holding an office in her chapter. :eek: I suspect though that her great academic record coupled with the cache of having a dance team member still provided great benefit to her chapter, even without holding an office...plus she was a real sweetheart.)

I was a varsity athlete and so were my big and little sisters. I missed some sorority events, but on the whole, there weren't very many conflicts.

Considering that we all had athletic scholarships, the chapter understood that the team had to be a priority.

It is possible, but you are going to have a lot of scheduling conflicts and less time for yourself and school.

Sororities are very welcoming of athletes, leaders, etc-- it adds prestige when they can include your accomplishments within the membership. And they'll be understanding your schedule.

But you may feel like you're missing out or not part of the sisterhood as much because you have other priorities that interfere. As long as you go in with that expectation, and make the effort to be friendly and engage other people when you can come to sorority functions (rather than hold a grudge "no one is friendly or seems like they want to know me"), you'll be fine.

I think athletes have a competitive time at recruitment, b/c of that prestige angle. Sororities want to recruit the best of the best that the campus has to offer. Varsity cheerleaders, tennis players, dancers, band members, theatre majors who are performing around campus, pageant title holders, student gov't officers, etc., are highly sought after.

At Ole Miss there are plenty of Varsity athletes who in sororities. AOII just graduated a varsity soccer player and they have two girls on the varsity golf team. Ole Miss is a DIV I, SEC school, so as you can gather, they do practice all of the time and travel a lot as well. There are also some soccer players who are in DG, KD, and Theta. There are some softball players and a team manager who are in sororities as well. I would say that as long as you tell the sorority up front, hey I am on the swim team and I won't be at certain things because of practice and competitions, you should be fine. There are also many girls on the Ole Miss danceteam (Rebelettes) and Cheerleaders who are in sororities. So it is totally possible.