OK, I was lucky enough to have an amazing high school athletics experience-- playing in front of huge crowds, fantastic teammates, unforgettable atmospheres and even a state championship. In my mind- there was absolutely nothing that could top how I felt after my senior season. Well, right now, as of this moment, as difficult as it might be for some people to imagine, I am more in love with basketball than I ever was in high school.

This answer is aimed at the kid that played a sport in high school and is definitely good enough and has some interest in playing in college but it would be a Division III school and the athlete is unsure if they would rather give up their sport and go to a large state school university.

Well, I am here to say- give it a shot, play the sport. At the DIII level we aren't playing because each contest has 3,000+ people there, we aren't playing for recognition from the boosters, we aren't playing to have everyone on campus recognize us, we aren't playing to have professors cut us a break on tests and homework problem sets, we aren't playing cause we are trying to make it onto Sportscenter that night, we aren't playing cause we feel obligated to by our scholarship... we are playing for another reason: we love it.

If you love what sport you're playing but you're not sure if you want to try and carry it on to college because you don't want to lose that big school atmosphere- give it a try! You will be surprised by the talent at the DIII level and by the people you will surround yourself with that LOVE the sport the way YOU LOVE the sport. You still are a full fledged NCAA athlete, but at the same time you can spend your summer at home, build your own academic schedule, and have tons of friends outside athletics. If you end up realzing you don't love it like you thought you would you can get out of it the next year and get that atmosphere you felt you needed. As it is, there is a very small percentage of high school students that play high school sports and an even smaller percentage of those kids that are able to move on and play a sport competitively in college- if you have the opportunity to play at that next level, don't pass it up and look back the rest of your life saying "what if..."

This post was originally written by Sean Wallis
Washington University - St. Louis · Finance · 14 Apr 2007