Prof. To JuCo V-Ball Player: "You Play, You Fail"

Division 2 jucos can give out partial scholarships, often books and tuition. I was a juco soccer player in the mid-1990s, and all the teachers were cool with any athlete missing class as long as they knew in advance what days we would miss due to soccer.

 

One thing I was going to point out/suggest is that likely as not multiple conflicting policies/rules came into play here. For example, it is quite common for multi-section courses (e.g., a freshman-level intro Bio course) to have identical syllabi/course requirements. This is especially true at "lower" schools. I taught several courses at the junior-college level when I was an impoverished doctoral student. When teaching such a course typically I would be handed a syllabus that had been standardized for that course across the entire state. Further, it's also quite common for institutions to have over-arching policies regarding attendance, especially when those institutions have a heavy V.A. presence or have performed poorly in the past on, among other things, DofE student loan metrics.

 

NJCAA D2 can't can't give room and board as part of an athletic scholarship. But students can often get those covered with academic scholarships, meaning the combination athletic/academic scholarship can be like a full ride.

 

When I worked as an SID, our athletes had to present a slip explaining their absence and listing what work they needed to complete.

The problem is that some college professors don't understand that the college team has to play away games. This is an event between two colleges, and you can't play all of your games at home.

The professor in this case is flat out wrong. This may be the only section of a course which doesn't have a conflict the regular practice time. It is not always easy to change a course time.

 

I wouldn't even think it's so much college professors don't understand about road games, rather, than why schools schedule games on days when there are classes, rather than just on weekends.

Looking at my alma mater's D-III sked for sports such as soccer and basketball, most of the time, they're playing teams within a short distance, or at most, a couple hours' bus ride one way during the week. Their long trips of 4-6 hours one way, which usually are for two games in that area and require an overnight stay, are on weekends or during school breaks. That doesn't account for playoffs or anything like that, but it seems like most of the students should be able to make most of their classes.

 

No.

 

No, not at all. Those national championships are just as important to those people as anything the big boys do. Just because something doesn't live up to the snob seal of approval doesn't mean it doesn't matter. I was at a DIII women's game today. It was ugly as hell to watch, but I guarantee that game was just as big of a deal to the players as the UNC vs. Louisville game on TV.

 

The NJCAA basketball tournament is one of my favorite sporting events. A few days of tremendous hoops all in one building with big-name coaches milling around. It's also similar to the College World Series in terms of the local interest and the volunteers running the thing and taking care of the teams visiting town.

Competing in the NJCAA cross country and track meets was a great experience. And guess what, I was easily able to make up any school work I missed.

 

My wife referees at the women's national tournaments in Rochester, Minn., and Salina, Kan.
I've never been, but she says both are big deals, there is some good basketball played, everyone has a good time, and it isn't about a money arms race.