Success isn’t uncommon for Amherst athletics. The college has brought home 10 Div. III national championships over the past 15 years and countless number of NESCAC titles. Just last year, the men’s tennis team won both the conference and national championship, while the men’s basketball team returned to the Final Four for the second straight year. Despite all these accomplishments, many athletes, at some point in their collegiate careers, have grappled with the fact that they are competing in Div. III and not Div. I.
We’ll never skate at the Boston Garden to compete for a Beanpot championship. 110,000 fans will not pack the “Big House” every Saturday to watch us take on a powerhouse like Ohio State or Notre Dame. Our players don’t become social media sensations or have the opportunity to party with Floyd “Money” Mayweather.
When athletes commit to don the purple and white Jeffs’ sweater for four years, they throw away the opportunity to live the glamorous lifestyle of a big-time Div. I athlete. The transition from a top-tier high school athlete to a Div. III freshman is often a tough pill to swallow. However, it is necessary to understand that Div. III athletics are no joke; in fact, they require the same diligence, effort and determination as Div. I athletics. On the Div. III level, Amherst is comparable to the Michigan’s and Boston Colleges of the Div. I collegiate world.
The adjustment period for any Lord Jeff freshman athlete is generally a lengthy one. A typical first-year student athlete possesses the mindset that he or she will walk onto their given playing surface and immediately dominate the competition. As a former governing force in high school, what would make them think otherwise? Many of the incoming students were all-stars at their respective high schools, sometimes even in multiple sports. The freshmen class of athletes has garnered a number of accolades throughout their high school careers, whether it be on a school, region, state or national level. With all of this recognition, it’s hard for them not to feel confident heading into college.
While an incoming freshman may think he is exceptionally special because he talked to the Florida State soccer coach his junior year of high school, most of his teammates experienced similar recruiting situations. The quicker freshmen can understand they are not a special case, the quicker they can begin their leap towards success as a Lord Jeff. I’m not saying that an incoming freshman should settle for mediocrity or statistical equality with his teammates. You should always strive to be the best. However, if you come onto campus thinking you’re God’s gift to the game, you will lose the respect of teammates and play with a sense of entitlement. After all, if you’re that much better than your teammates, why are you playing at Amherst and not at Wisconsin?
Freshmen, I’ve been in your shoes. I received a bevy of recruiting letters from various Div. I schools. I remember driving around in legendary Boston Univerity hockey coach Jack Parker’s car my sophomore year while touring the campus. At the end of my junior year, I went on an official visit with the Holy Cross baseball and hockey coaches.
Coming into Amherst, I thought I was going to be the Wayne Gretzky of Amherst hockey and the Babe Ruth of Amherst baseball. I was ready to step right in as a freshman. Plain and simple, the TL;DR is: I thought I was better than everyone else and that Div. III athletics were going to be an absolute mockery. What did that get me? Only seven starts between the pipes that was ended by a five goals on 15-shot performance against Trinity and the bare minimum playing time on the diamond until mid way through the season. I urge you to take a different path than I did, and maybe it won’t take you until your sophomore year to figure it out, like it did for me.
For those of you who have friends who play Div. I, being a Div. III athlete will be even tougher to cope with at first, especially if you had the option to go Div. I. While your friends will all be legends on their respective campuses, you’ll just be another student athlete at an elite academic institution. My high school hockey team would send several players to Div. I each year, and even though I was a senior captain, I was the runt of the litter. When I was graduating from the Belmont Hill School, this realization took a toll on my psyche. We played on the same teams and did the same camps for many years, so why am I a Div. III athlete?
When I expressed my concern to an assistant coach at my high school, I was provided with this statistic: 1 percent of kids who play high school hockey play college hockey, and 1% of those players end up in the NHL. Whether or not these percentages are actually true, he was trying to express two points.
The first being just playing college hockey is an accomplishment, considering you’re better than 99 percent of all other players in the country. His second, and more important point was, I’m going to the NHL in the future, so the education route was the best decision I could possibly make. Would I rather play several years of junior hockey and end up at Canisius (a Div. I hockey school you’ve probably never heard of) as a 21-year-old freshman? Or go to one of the best schools in the world and have the opportunity to play two sports?
When phrased like that, the decision seems pretty obvious, doesn’t it? For all of you fringe Div. I players, it’s important to have a long look in the mirror. Did you want to go Div. I because you thought you had a legitimate shot at the big leagues? Or just so you could tell people you play Div. I and not be embarrassed by friends’ superior success?
The point is: we’ve all made the correct decision being here at Amherst. You can only play sports for so long, whether you go pro or not, so having a world class education is far more valuable, both in the short and long term, than a cup of coffee with the Boston Red Sox.
The reason I included my personal story in this article is not to brag about the stud of a player I was in high school. That status means nothing anymore. I play at the same level as all of you. I share my recruiting process because for many of you freshmen, you were just in my shoes a few months ago. I know the feelings, and I know the mindset that is inherent in an Amherst athlete who had a couple of Div. I looks.
However, if you turn to the guy on your right or left in the locker room, I bet he had an eerily similar experience; thus, you’re no better or worse than he is. You’ll both charge onto the battlefield together as teammates, shoulder to shoulder, donning a purple uniform. You all love the sport you play, and once you put your ego aside, you’ll gel with your teammates and fight for a common goal, just like a Div. I athlete.
Maybe you were one step to slow to go Div. I, maybe you shouldn’t have turned down that offer after sophomore year, or maybe you’re a transfer. All that doesn’t matter anymore, because you’re a Lord Jeff now, and as a Jeff, you have a responsibility to not only be an outstanding teammate but also grind it out as a student athlete. Putting the two together, the Lord Jeffs are able to uphold our tradition of dominating Div. III athletics.
