Athletics in Greek Life
 

I was wondering if this as happened at any school before?

At University of Hawaii at Manoa some coaches from different sports have taken a stance upon there players joining any greek organization. We have has a couple of athletes attempt to pledge yet the coach would stop it.

I am not too sure either if any of our brothers are allowed to join any of these sports because they are already initiated with us. None of us have tried but I know one of my brothers wants to try out next year. I find this kind of funny because one of the coaches is an Alumni of our fraternity from a different chapter.

Even though Coach Wallace is a Kappa Sigma he probably won't change his stance. Has he even bothered to get involved now that you guys are on campus?

We had members of the track, cross-country, and sailing teams in my chapter before. The coaches had no problem with it, but then again their practice schedules and away time were more flexible than that of, say, volleyball, basketball, and softball.

I can understand why a coach would prohibit his/her players from becoming Greek, especially if the athlete is on scholarship. The athlete is committeed to school first, then athletics. Joining an extra-curricular could compromise that.

True.
I was not going to say the coaches name.
But yes everything you stated is true yet I dont see why the coaches can not work with us rather than downing us. I mean yes if the initial obligation due to things such as scholarships and everything is to the sports than I think we can make acceptions for it.

Many Coaches don't want their Jocks to be taken away from The Team Mentality. Concentrate on the team so to speak.

Funny our last President played football and was a Acadamien All American with a 4.0.

He learned more from being a member of a glo than playing football.

All many of these neanderthal coaches have to do is go to web sites and see how many key players were members of glos.:rolleyes:

Ummmm....are you talking about Clinton? Clinton was in a co-ed social fraternity and played intramural rugby at Oxford. Where did you get that he was an AllAmerican football player? He went to Georgetown and Oxford???


.........and I don't even know what this means.

My daughter competes at the intercollegiate level. Her sport's college team has 100% Greek membership for the sophomores through seniors. The freshmen have to wait for deferred recruitment so we'll see if the tradition continues. What's nice about many of the women's teams at her school is that the team members tend to pledge as individuals thus resulting in membership in all the groups. The boys at her school seem to have more of a mob mentality about the process as certain fraternities are known to be the baseball, the lacrosse, et al groups.

What school is this? I've never heard of that sort of anything anywhere. I have experience with college baseball.....and I don't see how it would be possible to even have the time think about joining a fraternity.

When I was at Texas, when chapters took athletes they pretty much excused them from most pledge activities. It is the trade-off of having the prestige of athletes in the fraternity.

Besides, someone who dedicates himself to something as demanding and rewarding as college athletics is the kind of guy you want in your chapter anyway. So why not make some compromises so he can do both?

One thing is for sure, anyone doing collegiate athletics is already getting a lot of the education pledgeship provides.

It's a D3 school. Obviously there aren't quite the demands on D3 athletes but they still are putting in 20 hrs per week between practices and competitions.

My brother played baseball at MIT, was a 4 year active member and officer of his fraternity, and graduated with a 4.0. Most of his fraternity brothers were baseball and rugby players. Again, just Division 3 but still extremely time-consuming.

My chapter has had a bunch of athletes go through. Currently, there is a basketball player and a baseball player in the chapter, and a recent grad played football. In my chapter's history, the school's first Black quarterback was a member as well as hall-of-famers throughout the years.

But NO ONE gets any special treatment. We respect obligations to athletics(or any important student group for that matter) but no responsibilities are shirked or compromised.

Maybe there is a lot of things you do not get.

This a Greek Site, not a President site.


Dont Make Fun of Brother Bill, at least there were good times and people had more than change in their pockets, DAH!

i'm an athlete and also in a sorority, granted its a DIII school, but i'm captain of my school's very successful crew team as well on the panhel council.

on my team we have always had girls in sororities, my co-captain is president of her sorority. and in my sorority we have other rowers, basketball, soccer, lacrosse and volleyball.

but greek life and sports are quite common for some sports here - rowing, women's basketball, volleyball, baseball, but others the coaches frown upon it - mens basketball and lacrosse.

:) Maybe it is because that when the Jock period is over there is another alternitive, being a Greek where one can learn many more things!:D

1. How to work with people.
2. How to manage people.
3. How to run official Offices.

Oh, you don't get brusied and beat up as easly too.!:D

I agree with this. I mean even if they have to wait till the next semester to pledge I think Athletes should be able to pledge.

Let me add a comment on this subject. My freshman daughter currently rows for the University of Alabama, an NCAA Division I program. We advised the Bama coach of her interest in joining a sorority and participating in varsity crew. She currently rows, is an active DZ, and a Committee member with the UA Student Government. Her grades are excellent. Below are the exact words of the Alabama crew coach:

Regarding your mention of the Greek system, Kristen needs to be aware
that membership in most sororities is not compatible with being a
varsity athlete. While some of our club athletes have been and are
sorority members, it is the exception and not the rule. These same
athletes will need to adapt to more defined practice times/schedules, if
they choose to be part of the varsity squad. Most sororities are not
flexible when it comes to their meetings and activities. As coach, I
expect our varsity rowers to defer to the requirements of the team and
academics, not to voluntary pursuits. Kristen must be very selective if
she is intent on both sorority and varsity participation. She will need
to be adept at time management, something not usually the forte of most
freshmen. This is advice from the voice of experience encouraging
caution.

Note to 'speedsters': Kristen rowed stroke in Alabama's highest-placing novice eight at last week's Head of the Hootch. The Alabama novice team has 44 members. Since the Coach's original e-mail in August '06, he decided to keep all freshman on the novice team.