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Hoosierhawkeye

Hoosierhawkeye

HB King
Sep 16, 2008
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So I have a friend at work who claims that since he played LaCrosse on a club team in college (Ball State) that he considers himself a college athlete.

So I suppose my question is, if you played a sport on a club team in college does that make you a college athlete?
 
Hoosierhawkeye said:
So I have a friend
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Hoosierhawkeye said:
So I suppose my question is, if you played a sport on a club team in college does that make you a college athlete?
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No.
 
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fredjr82 said:
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No.
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Umm seriously I didn't play college Lacrosse.

I was asking partially because I did ballroom dance with a club team and that made me think about it, but there is actually a guy at work that played LaCrosse with a college club team at Ball State. I'm not making that up.
 
There are club programs that exist in some sports that are highly competitive and that actually recruit on a varsity-like level. There are many ACHA club hockey programs like that. If you haven't played junior hockey and haven't been recruited you have no shot at being on that team, much like a varsity sport. I am sure there are other sports and other schools where that is the case as well.

Then there are club programs in many sports and schools across the country that are pretty much sign up and you are on the team.

When I hear somebody describe themselves as a "college athlete" I instantly think that they must have participated in a varsity sport. I would say being a varsity athlete is the accepted definition so that is the answer I would give.
 
Hell, in college I did intramural wrestling, golf, and badmitton. Does that make me a college athlete?

Just kidding. I'd like to know more about a "friend" that worries about or raises as a topic of conversation, the fact that he played club sports at the college level. Seems rather.....odd
 
BABiscuit said:
Darn it, I was going to crack a joke about club ballroom dancing not making you a college athlete, but you beat me to it.
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I admit that's the main reason I asked because by his definition then I would fit as a "college athlete" but I'm not BSing in the fact that there is a guy at work that was on a club LaCrosse team and said that he was the first person in his family to be a college athlete.
 
ICWestfan said:
Hell, in college I did intramural wrestling, golf, and badmitton. Does that make me a college athlete?

Just kidding. I'd like to know more about a "friend" that worries about or raises as a topic of conversation, the fact that he played club sports at the college level. Seems rather.....odd
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I knew before from conversation (we share an office) that he played LaCrosse on a club team in college. But he never called himself a college athlete before. He said that and I raised my eyebrows and said "So because you played on a club team you think that makes you a college athlete?" And he smiled and said yes. I mentioned that I would count as one too under that definition.

This isn't intramural because they played other schools or at least teams from other schools, not teams from inside their own school. But that was the same with me.

He mentioned playing Buffalo, Miami of Ohio, Purdue, and Pitt.

Anyways I admit I asked because I was on a club ballroom dance team. But I'm not inventing this person.
 
Lacrosse is one of those sports that is highly underserved as a varsity sports offering. Some club lacrosse programs are highly competitive and recruit and operate much like a varsity program would. Not just anybody can walk off the street and sign up for one of these types of programs.

In his mind he probably does feel like he was a college athlete.
 
After all this time I'm finally realizing the Hoosier is the best troll on HROT. Ballroom dancing?!
 
Hoosierhawkeye said:
This isn't intramural because they played other schools or at least teams from other schools, not teams from inside their own school. But that was the same with me.

He mentioned playing Buffalo, Miami of Ohio, Purdue, and Pitt.
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Well that's a horse of a different color although it doesn't make him a college athlete in my opinion. I have some friends who played on the U of I rugby club team. They played teams from Ohio State. I've never heard one of them indicate they're a college athlete.
 
fredjr82 said:
Well that's a horse of a different color although it doesn't make him a college athlete in my opinion. I have some friends who played on the U of I rugby club team. They played teams from Ohio State. I've never heard one of them indicate they're a college athlete.
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That was sort of my opinion. In ballroom dancing we competed against teams from other schools as well. Purdue, Iowa State, IU, Michigan, Ohio State, Illinois, Notre Dame are the main ones that come to mind. But I never thought it made me a college athlete. I do think of it as a sport but there is a difference in how competitive it is. Club teams who have to pay for their own coaches simply can't afford to be and are not as competitive as the school's teams.
 
SoDakHawk said:
Lacrosse is one of those sports that is highly underserved as a varsity sports offering. Some club lacrosse programs are highly competitive and recruit and operate much like a varsity program would. Not just anybody can walk off the street and sign up for one of these types of programs.

In his mind he probably does feel like he was a college athlete.
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To be fair that's not one of these teams, I think it's the first time he played LaCrosse and He'd even tell you he wasn't very good.
 
Reminds me of the club baseball team at Iowa. They used to (and likely still do) have their team ball crawl in February when the real Iowa baseball team was on the road. Each year, hundreds of girls bought t-shirts and went bar to bar thinking they were with the Iowa baseball team.

Club baseball sure as hell doesn't make you a college baseball player and playing club la cross doesn't make you a college athlete.
 
2bagger22 said:
Reminds me of the club baseball team at Iowa. They used to (and likely still do) have their team ball crawl in February when the real Iowa baseball team was on the road. Each year, hundreds of girls bought t-shirts and went bar to bar thinking they were with the Iowa baseball team.

Club baseball sure as hell doesn't make you a college baseball player and playing club la cross doesn't make you a college athlete.
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Interesting. . . I went to a smaller school so this concept is new to me. There are club teams at schools in the same sports that the school already sponsors?

I always thought of a club team as being one for a sport that the school didn't already sponsor. Inventing your own club team in a sport that is already sponsored just seems a little silly.
 
If he's a college athlete, then anyone that played intramural sports is also. But, he's not a college athlete. A college athlete is someone that participates for the college's athletics department. Club sports are sponsored by "student activities" not athletic departments.

A better question is would anyone here consider cheerleaders, and the rest of the spirit squad, college athletes? At Iowa they aren't a varsity sponsored sport. But they are managed by the athletic department, are coached by athletic department staff, and have all of the same access to athletic trainers and academic support that our varsity athletes have access to. Also, in some situations they even receive scholarships(partials) from the athletic department.
 
Herky T Hawk said:
If he's a college athlete, then anyone that played intramural sports is also. But, he's not a college athlete. A college athlete is someone that participates for the college's athletics department. Club sports are sponsored by "student activities" not athletic departments.

A better question is would anyone here consider cheerleaders, and the rest of the spirit squad, college athletes? At Iowa they aren't a varsity sponsored sport. But they are managed by the athletic department, are coached by athletic department staff, and have all of the same access to athletic trainers and academic support that our varsity athletes have access to. Also, in some situations they even receive scholarships(partials) from the athletic department.
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I would say the element of competition is an essential part of being an athlete. If they went to competitions and competed against other schools then they are. If not then no.

I disagree I don't think being on a club team is the same as intramural sports. I can still get not giving them the label of "college athlete" but while club teams are no where near as competitive as a school sponsored athletic team, they are still far more competitive then an intramural team in my experience.

I've been on a few intramural teams and they practiced like 1 time if even at all. For me ballroom dance had a practice schedule that was 2 or 3 times a week. More when we got near a competition. Now that isn't anywhere near what a school sponsored team does, but it's way more then an intramural team.
 
SoDakHawk said:
Lacrosse is one of those sports that is highly underserved as a varsity sports offering. Some club lacrosse programs are highly competitive and recruit and operate much like a varsity program would. Not just anybody can walk off the street and sign up for one of these types of programs.
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Agreed. Lacrosse is a sport where there aren't very many D1 teams, and the athletic scholarships are typically only one-quarter scholarships so there is still significant costs involved for the athletes. There are far more D3 teams than D1 teams, and there are no athletic scholarships there at all. I think as a result a lot of lacrosse players who are good enough to play in college pick a college for reasons other than playing D3 or D1 lacrosse, but then play on club teams with good coaching and which are very competitive. I know a number of very good lacrosse players who were offered to play in D3 programs but instead chose to go to one of the Minnesota state schools and play on the club teams. Its nothing like intramural sports. That being said, it OP wants to argue that they aren't college athletes, I guess that works.
 
Hoosierhawkeye said:
So I have a friend at work who claims that since he played LaCrosse on a club team in college (Ball State) that he considers himself a college athlete.

So I suppose my question is, if you played a sport on a club team in college does that make you a college athlete?
Click to expand...
All of those football player in the 1890's played for college club teams, then the colleges decided to police things by creating the NCAA. These guys compete against others from different schools. Their games simply are not sanctioned by the NCAA.
 
MplsHawk said:
Agreed. Lacrosse is a sport where there aren't very many D1 teams, and the athletic scholarships are typically only one-quarter scholarships so there is still significant costs involved for the athletes. There are far more D3 teams than D1 teams, and there are no athletic scholarships there at all. I think as a result a lot of lacrosse players who are good enough to play in college pick a college for reasons other than playing D3 or D1 lacrosse, but then play on club teams with good coaching and which are very competitive. I know a number of very good lacrosse players who were offered to play in D3 programs but instead chose to go to one of the Minnesota state schools and play on the club teams. Its nothing like intramural sports. That being said, it OP wants to argue that they aren't college athletes, I guess that works.
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I think of Arizona State or Penn State hockey when I think of highly competitive club teams. Those club teams were competitive, recruited, even had funding from alums to offer some scholarship money, now both have been elevated to D1 varsity sports. I understand Iowa State club hockey is pretty competitive. Hockey, Lacrosse, and Rugby are what I think of when I think of sports that have club teams that operate very much like varsity sports underneath the athletic department.

Some here might be surprised to find out that both North Dakota and Minnesota have club hockey teams. There are club teams as well as varsity teams in some sports. Watched the Iowa club baseball team play a doubleheader against South Dakota at Prentis Park in Vermillion a season or two ago.
 
fredjr82 said:
Well that's a horse of a different color although it doesn't make him a college athlete in my opinion. I have some friends who played on the U of I rugby club team. They played teams from Ohio State. I've never heard one of them indicate they're a college athlete.
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I played rugby for the Hawkeyes, but I too never called myself a "college athlete". More and more collegiate rugby players will be able to adopt that moniker as the game grows though. More and more teams are becoming varsity. Hence, the rugby union championships are now televised on NBCSN and ESPNU, while collegiate 7s championships are televised on ESPN3 and NBC. These feature club teams (like when Iowa surprised people at last year's national 7s tourney) and varsity teams (like the dynasties of Cal-Berkley and BYU).
 
MplsHawk said:
Agreed. Lacrosse is a sport where there aren't very many D1 teams, and the athletic scholarships are typically only one-quarter scholarships so there is still significant costs involved for the athletes. There are far more D3 teams than D1 teams, and there are no athletic scholarships there at all. I think as a result a lot of lacrosse players who are good enough to play in college pick a college for reasons other than playing D3 or D1 lacrosse, but then play on club teams with good coaching and which are very competitive. I know a number of very good lacrosse players who were offered to play in D3 programs but instead chose to go to one of the Minnesota state schools and play on the club teams. Its nothing like intramural sports. That being said, it OP wants to argue that they aren't college athletes, I guess that works.
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I'm actually not arguing one thing or the other. I've just never heard someone who played on a club team in college call themselves a "college athlete". Since I did ballroom dance competitively on a club team it makes me curious as to if I could call myself a college athlete or not as I believe what would apply to a LaCrosse Club team would apply to me as well.

I think with both we where not competitive enough to say we recruited people to the school for our team or anything like that. But some have compared them to intramural sports and I don't think they are the same. I've done both and in any intramural team that I've been on they've practiced like 1 time and then played their games. While ballroom dance for me was 2 or 3 practices a week, more if it was close to competition date. Certainly not what a school sponsored team would do, but more then any intramural team I've ever been on.
 
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Hoosierhawkeye said:
I'm actually not arguing one thing or the other. I've just never heard someone who played on a club team in college call themselves a "college athlete". Since I did ballroom dance competitively on a club team it makes me curious as to if I could call myself a college athlete or not as I believe what would apply to a LaCrosse Club team would apply to me as well.

I think with both we where not competitive enough to say we recruited people to the school for our team or anything like that. But some have compared them to intramural sports and I don't think they are the same. I've done both and in any intramural team that I've been on they've practiced like 1 time and then played their games. While ballroom dance for me was 2 or 3 practices a week, more if it was close to competition date. Certainly not what a school sponsored team would do, but more then any intramural team I've ever been on.
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I don't know about your friend the lacrosse player, but I definitely think you should call yourself a ballroom dance college athlete.
 
Hoosierhawkeye said:
The current team has warm ups that say Valparaiso University Ballroom Dance team.
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The current team looks kind of dorky. I'm sure they're cool though.

BTW, wood the chick on her knees in the blue skirt in front. Looks like she's got some feeders.

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I just remembered a story of a young man who went on Twitter to announce that he had just committed to play hockey at Iowa State. LOL
 
tarheelbybirth said:
Well, if you don't have a jersey...pffft...you're no athlete, sir!
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Well warm ups should count for something. Wrestlers don't have jerseys and I'm not going to be the one to tell them they aren't athletes. Maybe dance in singlets?

Still, jerseys would elevate their dance game.
 
MplsHawk said:
Well warm ups should count for something. Wrestlers don't have jerseys and I'm not going to be the one to tell them they aren't athletes. Maybe dance in singlets?

Still, jerseys would elevate their dance game.
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Would be easier to dance in actually. We usually practice in short sleeves but at a competition the guys have to wear button up shirts and ties.
 
MplsHawk said:
Well warm ups should count for something. Wrestlers don't have jerseys and I'm not going to be the one to tell them they aren't athletes. Maybe dance in singlets?

Still, jerseys would elevate their dance game.
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I was gonna say there were a few girls in that photo above I wouldn't mind seeing in a singlet...then I clicked on it. Now...not so much.
 
Hoosierhawkeye said:
Would be easier to dance in actually. We usually practice in short sleeves but at a competition the guys have to wear button up shirts and ties.
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Do you have any pictures of you dressed up in your dance outfit you'd share with us? How about any of your dance partner (if it's a female of course)?
 
Hoosierhawkeye said:
So I have a friend at work who claims that since he played LaCrosse on a club team in college (Ball State) that he considers himself a college athlete.

So I suppose my question is, if you played a sport on a club team in college does that make you a college athlete?
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I have written letters to the editor, and I keep a journal. So by the most literal use of the term, I am a writer. And your friend is a college athlete.

But when people say they are a writer, there is an assumption that they are published. And when somebody says they are a college athlete, there is an assumption that they are on a varsity team. So your friend is both correct yet dishonest at the same time.
 
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