Understanding the Different Levels of College athletics.
NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association is the largest and most widely recognized athletic organization in the United States. The NCAA is split into 3 different divisions, Division 1, Division 2, & Division 3. Within those three divisions there are more than 500,000 athletes that compete for 1,100 Universities and Colleges. If you are wanting to compete within the NCAA and before you begin talking to college coaches, you need to Register with the NCAA Eligibility Center.
Division 1
Division 1 or commonly referred to as (D1) is the highest level of competition, within the collegiate level. There are currently over 350 schools and 190,000 student-athletes competing in Division 1. Typically Division 1 schools are some of the largest universities or colleges in the country and tend to have the largest athletic budgets.
Sizes of Division 1 schools can range from the tens of thousands to just a few thousand students. We can really see the size range of Division 1 when we compare the twelfth largest university in the country, Purdue, with more than 50,000 students to University of Southern Indiana with 5,500 students or to the University of Evansville with just barely 1,700 students.
In division 1 you’ll often hear about the Power Five Conferences or just as “Power 5.” These conferences make up the best of the best in college athletics and are as followed: ACC, The Big 10, The Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC. These universities are typically the ones with the best athletes, the most resources, the biggest budgets, and routinely in the run for National Championships.
Competing at the highest level means this is going to be the toughest on the Student-athlete. You should expect to spend more time training, volunteering, and studying at the Division 1 level, with less time to work outside of your sport and schooling.
Division 2
Division 2 has 293 member college and universities that has an almost 50/50 split of private and public members. Division 2 offers a broad range of competition, some of which is able to compete against some of the better Division one talent. You are more likely to get an athletic scholarship at the Division 2 level than at Division 1.
It is common for some Divisions 2 universities to not have track and field facilities or use a local high school’s facility.
Division 3
Division 3 is the largest division within the NCAA, with 437 member schools and over 200,000 student athletes. Division 3 is considered the lowest division of the NCAA but still can offer excellent coaching and athletic competition. Unlike Division 1 and Division 2, Division 3 institutions can’t offer athletic scholarships but, they are still able to give need based scholarships. According to the NCAA around 80% of student-athletes still receive institutional aid. Division 3 is a great choice for individuals that are very academic conscious but still wanting to compete in athletics, at the collegiate level.
Compared to Division 2, NAIA, and even some small Division 1 universities, Division 3 schools can often have better facilities to train and compete at.
NAIA
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) is a stand alone athletics association and has actually been around longer than the NCAA. Typically NAIA universities are smaller and average around 1,400 full-time students with 82% being private institutions. There are more than 250 college and universities that have more than 60,000 student athletes.
NAIA is similar to the NCAA D1 & D2 in that there is athletic scholarships available and may even be a cheaper option for the student-athlete. For Track and Field the NAIA allows each team to give 12 scholarships, however, the school can choose how to divvy up the scholarships and can technically offer more than 12 depending on students grades or weather an athlete is JV or Varsity.
The competitive nature of NAIA is on par with NCAA D2 and higher D3.
The NAIA is less restrictive than the NCAA when it comes to how coaches recruit, so it is more likely that you will be called and texted multiple times per week compared to a NCAA coach. If a coach is reaching out to you in excess or you’re not interested, make sure to communicate with the coach on how you’re feeling.
It is common for some NAIA universities to not have track and field facilities or use a local high school’s facility.
NJCAA
National Junior College Athletic Association (commonly referred to as JUCO) has over 500 member college and universities, with 60,000+ student-athletes. Junior Colleges offer a great opportunity for student-athletes, as they allow a cheaper option to get a college degree or the ability to stay closer to home. Many Junior colleges, such as Vincennes University, allow individuals to continue participating in athletics while getting a highly useful technical degree.
Junior College’s allow an individual to come in and compete right away. With junior college only being 2 years, there is a higher need to constantly fill roster spots. This allows student-athletes to come in and make an immediate impact on their team, where they may have to wait a couple years before competing at a 4 year school.
USCAA
United States Collegiate Athletic Association was formerly known as the National Little College Athletic Association. They are host to 72 member institutions across 21 states.
3C2A
The California Community College Athletic Association is a stand alone athletic association that has 108 member institutions within the state of California. The 3C2A has nearly 24,000 student athletes. The 3C2A is similar to the NJCAA in that it can be a cost-saver and good first step into a 4-year university.
NCCAA
National Christian College Athletic Association is an athletic association where most members are either in the NCAA or the NAIA. Most highly competitive members of the NCCAA don’t actually compete in the NCCAA post season tournaments because they are competing in the NAIA or NCAA post season, because of this you may see a very limited number of schools in the national rankings, which is especially the case for NCCAA Track & Field and Cross Country.
Can you succeed not at the Division 1 level?
As a student there are numerous college and universities that will help you excel, into a rewarding career. The same goes with athletics, however, the key is making sure you get connected with the right coach. You need to make sure you are asking a lot of questions throughout your recruitment process, because the goal of a 4-year school is to stay and succeed all 4 years.
Making it to the highest level of competition depends on a few factors, work effect, good coaching, and God given ability(genetics). If you are able to put all three of those together with a healthy career you may find yourself asking. Can I make it to the national level? We know that is possible from the Division 1 level but is that your only option? No. According to the NCAA 25% of Olympic athletes have not competed within the NCAA. Here are 3 links of 2020 Olympic athletes that didn’t come from the Division 1 level: NAIA Olympic Athletes D2 Olympic Athletes D3 Olympic Athletes
The importance of stand alone Facilities
Lets talk about the importance of a university having their own facilities. When you are searching for a university you want to compete for, it would seem obvious that the school would have their own facility. Why would a school offer basketball without a gym or baseball without a baseball field? For track and field that isn’t always the case.
Over the last several years, universities have started adding sports like track and field to help increase enrollment and have neglected to add facilities. This is fine, when the program only consists of Distance athletes from cross country, but creates several issues once you add in sprints, jumps, and throws.
Universities have also started striking deals with local high schools to use their facilities. This sounds like a great alternative to building their own facility, however, the schools often fail to upgrade runways, install netting, or other requirements needed for a safe and functional collegiate facility. Another issue that arises from using a different school’s facility is how restrictive the agreement is. This can range from being able to use it anytime a competition isn’t taking place, to only being able to use it late at night or early in the day, which can prevent the coach(es) from giving the proper instruction to all athletes.
We believe that college and universities that do not have a track facility on campus and do offer track and field is hurting the long term growth of the athletes and the sport. If a university does not have a stand alone facility, we would advise the prospective college student-athlete to look elsewhere.
