Competing on a NCAA team without scholarship?

[kaenhu]

Does anyone do this? Or are all the gymasts on NCAA teams recruited and offered scholarships? Do they have "try outs" or "walk-ons" and how do you find out about those? How often does a college take a "walk-on" on their team?

Just wondering how this all works since I am totally ignorant.

 

[gym law mom]

Does anyone do this? Or are all the gymasts on NCAA teams recruited and offered scholarships? Do they have "try outs" or "walk-ons" and how do you find out about those? How often does a college take a "walk-on" on their team?

Just wondering how this all works since I am totally ignorant.

Yes, some girls will compete without a gym scholarship at a Div. 1 school as a walk on. Being a walk on 1 year can lead to a scholarship for the next season.

 

[tweeters]

Yes, some girls will compete without a gym scholarship at a Div. 1 school as a walk on. Being a walk on 1 year can lead to a scholarship for the next season.

It can, but I think this is very rare. That is what happened for me though. Although my scholarship is more strictly a year long contract than girls who were recruited. However, I've been told that there's a possibility I may keep it for my remaining two years. In general though, scholarships are offered so far in advance and planned for that it's somewhat unusual to have a "free" one to give to a walk-on.

I don't think I was being very clear in that paragraph above, so let me try again:

1) Most schools don't like to give scholarships to former walk-ons.
2) There aren't usually scholarships sitting around to give to walk-ons.
3) It can happen that a walk-on would earn a scholarship, but it is rare and often is only for a single year. After that year they may return to walk-on status.
4) As a walk-on, you should never bank on earning a scholarship. It's unrealistic.
5) Walking on a team, if financially feasible, is still a great experience. At my school scholarship vs. non-scholarship lines are not talked about and everyone is treated pretty much the same.

I hope that helps!

 

[tweeters]

Does anyone do this? Or are all the gymasts on NCAA teams recruited and offered scholarships? Do they have "try outs" or "walk-ons" and how do you find out about those? How often does a college take a "walk-on" on their team?

Just wondering how this all works since I am totally ignorant.

I just wanted to address some of your questions:

There are no try-outs. It's not allowed at DI schools. However, prospective athletes should still send videos and try to sell themselves on the same time-line as those being recruited. That said, if you're "behind" on the process, it's okay for a walk-on. Sometimes walk-ons are added just a few months before school starts.

Depending on the school, walk-ons can make up as much as half the team or more! So, it's definitely a possibility. However, the higher level the school, the less likely they are to take walk-ons (IMO).

Good luck!

 

[kaenhu]

Thanks to everyone who responded.

I am actually hoping and pushing my daughter towards getting an academic scholarship but she did express wanting to do gym in college if she was good enough. So I wondered if you could make it on a team without getting recruited or being offered a scholarship.

It seems like if money were not an issue (let's say the gymnast wins an academic scholarship or she can actually pay for tuition or receives other financial aid), a gymnast can make it on a team as long as she can catch the eye of the right person? If she were to send in videos of herself to coaches, would they contact her if they wanted her? And she doesn't really need to be on any of those schools that are always in the top 10 or even top 20. She just wants to keep doing gym, but her focus would mainly be on school.

I believe I read also that she should try to go to camps offered by the college, so that she could meet the coaches and maybe catch their eye? So after that, do they contact her?

This is way way early, my dd is only 10 but I am a planner! LOL

 

[tweeters]

As far as walk-ons go, and sending in videos, I think it depends on the school. In general, I think most walk-ons choose their school based on criteria other than gymnastics. They then contact the coaches and say, "I'm interested in walking on your team. Here's some videos of me, will you please let me know if you're interested?" If replies seem slow (months go by and there's no answer), it's time to contact them again. You can e-mail and let them know you'll be coming on a visit and you'd love to meet the team, or watch a practice. But as you said, this is all very far in the future, so a lot can happen.

I hope that gives you a general idea of how that works.

Also, by all means, go to camps if your daughter wants to. It is a great way to meet the coaches and as your daughter gets older, a way to get on their radar. Plus they will be able to tell you with more confidence whether or not your daughter will fit on their team. Of course, that's going to happen in 5-6 years, not now. Nobody can predict where a 10 year old will end up!

 

[gracefulone]

I'm glad you mentioned academics. For many, it's much more feasible to get an academic scholarship than athletic. I was offered pole vault scholarships, but only at schools that featured mediocre academics. I ended up scoring a huge academic scholarship at a tiny private school that allows me to continue to pole vault and even join the cross country team despite the fact I've never done xc before. Best advice I can give is keep your grades up. My best friend was looking at volleyball scholarships-got injured and that wasn't going to happen and now she's at West Point Military Academy because she was a stellar student. Also, schools are often more willing to take on a true student athlete than an athlete who goes to school.

 

[tweeters]

Also, schools are often more willing to take on a true student athlete than an athlete who goes to school.

I 100% agree with this! Our walk-ons have two jobs: 1) Stay out of trouble and 2) Boost/maintain the team GPA.

It doesn't matter if they never make a line-up; as long as they are pushing the rest of the team forward AND getting good grades, they are doing their job. Obviously the goal is for them to break into line-ups, but if they never do, they are still an important part of the team.

I know walk-ons who have been asked not to come back at my school b/c of grades, even though they were somewhat contributing gymnastically. School is the most important area to focus on!

 

[gymkat]

It's really early to think about college recruiting at your daughter's age, but if your goal for your daughter is to focus on school and stay in the gym as more of an after-thought, or as a way to stay in shape, you might also want to look at NAIGC. It's a college club league that competes under a mixture of L9 and L10 rules. The best gymnasts are usually strong L9s, but there are a few former pre-elites and L10s in the league, as well. It doesn't give scholarships, so it's great for students with major academic scholarships, or people who aren't quite strong enough for D1.

 

[polevaultpower]

Although my scholarship is more strictly a year long contract than girls who were recruited.

All NCAA scholarships are strictly one-year contracts, it is against NCAA rules for the scholarship to be good for more than a year (you resign every year) but coaches don't usually make that clear.

In gymnastics I think it is pretty rare for a school to take away a scholarship, as long as the athlete stays out of trouble/works hard/keeps the grades up.

I don't think gymnastics gives partial scholarships, but track does, and you'd better believe at most schools that if an athlete is recruited and given a decent-sized scholarship, they'd better be performing at a certain level after their first two years (usually give them a year to adjust) or they're going to get their scholarship reduced or even eliminated.

It's not a huge concern in the gymnastics world, but any gymnast thinking about competing on a scholarship should remember that it is a conditional year-to-year contract, and if they end up quitting or having major discipline problems they will lose it the following year. Not usually an issue for most gymnasts

 

[Pogo]

I don't think gymnastics gives partial scholarships

Actually, all Division II gymnastics schools offer partial scholarships.

 

[Pogo]

There are no try-outs. It's not allowed at DI schools.

However, there are try-outs in Division III. For example, Rhode Island College held their try-out on September 2, 2009.

 

[tweeters]

All NCAA scholarships are strictly one-year contracts, it is against NCAA rules for the scholarship to be good for more than a year (you resign every year) but coaches don't usually make that clear.

In gymnastics I think it is pretty rare for a school to take away a scholarship, as long as the athlete stays out of trouble/works hard/keeps the grades up.

I don't think gymnastics gives partial scholarships, but track does, and you'd better believe at most schools that if an athlete is recruited and given a decent-sized scholarship, they'd better be performing at a certain level after their first two years (usually give them a year to adjust) or they're going to get their scholarship reduced or even eliminated.

It's not a huge concern in the gymnastics world, but any gymnast thinking about competing on a scholarship should remember that it is a conditional year-to-year contract, and if they end up quitting or having major discipline problems they will lose it the following year. Not usually an issue for most gymnasts

You clarified a point I semi-made...that recruited athletes tend to have their year-long scholarships renewed. This is very true, but as you stated, it does happen that the scholarship is not renewed. This happened to one of my teammates who gained a lot of weight her freshman and sophomore years and was unable to perform the skills she was recruited for.

Anyway, back to the point about former walk-ons earning scholarships...At my school in the recent past, all of the athletes who were walk-ons and then put on scholarship only maintained their scholarship for that year and then returned to walk-on status. I'm in something of a different situation since we had two girls go on medical from my class this year, and that's where my scholarship came from.

Basically, I'm just agreeing with everything you said.

 

[amygym]

I know here at OU there is one girl who is a walk on this year, but she didn't compete at all, Nitya Ramaswami. I saw her do beam at an intrasquad and thought she was good but to be honest OU is so deep this year they don't need her on beam.

Another girl, Julie Kramer, apparently contacted the coach herself. She used to be a power tumbler and wanted to possibly transition into NCAA gym, she learned how to vault and improved on FX and ultimately wound up transfering up here to OU! So sometimes contacting the coach can pay off!

I agree with what people have said already, sending videos of yourself seems like a great idea. Or also you can tape yourself and put it on a website with your contact info, put it on youtube and say this is so and so training, she hopes to garner a college scholarship, etc. Just getting your name out there is a good thing!

 

[Pickle's Mom]

A camp is a really good idea as well. Our local university has a strong D1 team and has a camp that a lot of girls from the gym go to. Aside from gymnastics, kids that age really like being on a college campus and feeling what it's all about. Usually the camps are very good and give the kids a chance to feel a different coaching style.

 

[Crystalflipz]

Div III schools do not offer athletic scholarships, but do offer academic scholarships, as their emphasis is on the "scholar-athlete".

 

[Tuduri]

Scholarships and walk-ons

Two of my nieces got gymnastics scholarships to Cal. One was a full ride and the other was a walk-on scholarship after two years. They were both real smart so I'm sure they had academic scholarships available. But I know the older one had a full ride until she got hurt and the younger one had the walk on in her junior and senior years.

My 14 year old daughter is going to be a freshman in high school and will be doing her first year level ten. We are certainly hoping for an athletic scholarship, but we are not counting on one. My daughter, Jamy, works just as hard at academics as gymnastics, maybe harder, and she does almost 30 hours a week in the gym. I've heard that most D1 schools want their scholarship girls to be good students anyway. They don't want to gamble scholarship funds on a girl who is likely to flunk out or not meet academic standards to compete.

So I think that all gymnists should strive to be good students as well as good athletes. They're not going to do gymnastics after graduating from college so they better have some intelligence and marketable skills when they graduate.

Julio Garcia,
Jamy's dad.

 

[Crystalflipz]

Since Div III schools don't offer athletic scholarships, that was not even an option for us. Caileigh did get a Presidential merit scholarship though, which covers 50% of her tuition every year she is at Wilson, as long as she keeps her GPA above 2.75 - she did have to have a 3.75 GPA to qualify for the scholarship. As a parent, I am much more comfortable with an academic scholarship anyway. My girls have dealt with enough injuries in their gymnastics careers already that the potential for not being able to return to a college after an injury due to financial constraints would be a huge stressor.