Being a Division I Athlete in a Fraternity

[Fratlete]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

Some college athletes continue to actively participate in the sport after college. Some do not. That can be based on time, access to resources, or unicorns. This young man can invest in a GLO that can be (if he takes the lifetime commitment seriously) a resource regardless of whether this young man has decided to continue his athleticism (professionally or nonprofessionally) after college.

In contrast, many college athletes (across institutions) invest so much in the sport and the team that they don't do anything else.** If they aren't hanging with teammates or doing something directly related to the team and sport, they aren't doing anything. At many institutions, that impacts them academically and extracurricular-ly (new word?). Then they graduate and wonder what's next. I've tutored and taught many athletes across institutions and many of them have had no concept of nonathletic future prospects.

That describes most of my teammates very well. Being a DI athlete has been a dream and a lot of hard work, but I am the kind of person that is motivated beyond being an athlete and has high hopes for the professional field. Most of them don't take anything else seriously. I like most of my teammates but I am not that kind of person and don't want to limit myself.

Originally Posted by lucgreek

Many people have the same "you will leave this behind" viewpoint of fraternity membership once they graduate. There are many 40 year olds who were in fraternities in college who don't have brothers in their cell phone list.

At my school, club sports and D1 sports were pretty much their own fraternities. The guys hung out with each other, participated in service projects and the club sports even held formals. There was some crossover of members in sports and fraternities, but it wasn't much. I'm pretty sure those guys in sports will still be good friends once they graduate and will probably be friends for life.

You're stereotyping sports teams the same way people stereotype fraternities.

Those stereotypes of "you only do this for 4 years" seriously play into why my team hates fraternities. I know I will be good friends with most of my teammates long after I graduate. We are a brotherhood of sorts, and all of my teammates have put a lot sacrifice to be where they are now.

The point is that I want to be a part of a brotherhood that is based on something other than being an athlete. I think having a balanced life is helpful to keep my sanity. In high school I had things other than being an athlete. There are very few crossovers between athletes and frats at my school. Normally an athlete will quit/be cut from a team and then join a fraternity, which just plays into the stereotype that they are lazy, so athletes then then being to think all fraternity members must be lazy and must only care about partying

Has anyone here had any personal experiences with athletes rushing/getting initiated into a fraternity and how difficult it was to balance rushing/pledging with their athletic schedules? Any of that would help

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Fratlete

The point is that I want to be a part of a brotherhood that is based on something other than being an athlete. I think having a balanced life is helpful to keep my sanity. In high school I had things other than being an athlete. There are very few crossovers between athletes and frats at my school. Normally an athlete will quit/be cut from a team and then join a fraternity, which just plays into the stereotype that they are lazy, so athletes then then being to think all fraternity members must be lazy and must only care about partying.

HS and college athletics (even if you are at a higher level of HS athletics) is SO different - even if you know that it's hard to realize how much until you're actually in it. Not to mention people who were super involved w/ athletics at their HS and then completely drop it in college.

Our school was D2 except swimming (both sexes) and wrestling were D1. The swimmer (that is singular) who was in a sorority I rarely if EVER saw at Greek events - except for Greek swim - IMO the group took her for the prestige. The guy swimmers and wrestlers, I can't think of any who were Greek. The way you described your teammates is really sounding familiar, I'll put it that way.

You sound like you have a really good head on your shoulders and know how to balance your life, so do what you want to do and don't let anyone put you down.