Some explaination of the US college system?
 

OK, im from the UK with no intention of playing college tennis but I read a lot of thread on here and have no idea what you guys are talking about sometimes.

Can a D3 team get promoted to D2 though?


Are the best D2 schools better than some of the weaker D1s?
What age are students when they first beginat US college?
What would a 4 start recruit be interms of UK ranking or rating?
How much do guys and girls train each week?
Who do the different colleges play and how often do they play?
Is it college leagues or cup competitions?

Is there much individual competition?
What do these players do interms of tennis after college?
Is there a league system in the US for the top adult players which don't make the cut for ATP or futures level or is it all individual (or doubles) competition at that point?

1) NCAA divisions are based on schools agreeing to be part of the division and abide by its scholarship limitations and other rules. Division I men's tennis gets 4.5 scholarships per team, I believe Division II is close to that or the same, and Division III does not offer scholarships for sports. The women's numbers are 8, 6, and 0 (based on memory) for these same three divisions. A school can decide it wants to change divisions, but that is an expensive multi-year process of getting approval, finding a conference to play in or starting out as an independent, etc. There is no promotion based on performance as you see in the English Football Leagues.

2) Yes, there is overlap across divisions in terms of strength, especially because not all teams offer the full limit of scholarships for their division. A Division I school might offer no scholarships at all for tennis. They are in Division I because they offer scholarships in most of their other sports.

3) About 18.

4) No idea.

5) 20 hours per week is the team training and match play limit, but elite teams circumvent this limit by having team captains organize unofficial physical fitness training sessions, and word gets back to the coach if you are skipping them.

6) Teams play 1-2 dual matches per week against other colleges, with about half their matches being within their conference and half being non-conference.

7) Colleges play for conference championships and qualify by computer rankings for the national championship tourney if they don't win their conference.

8 ) The autumn has nothing but individual competition, with team vs. team in the spring. Then there is a national individual tourney in May right after the team tourney finishes.

9) After college, some try to play Futures and work their way up the ATP ladder. Most get on with their post-college lives and do not play professionally.

10) Post-college, league play is not very close to professional level and exists nationwide as a competitive recreational activity.

thank you very much great post. So see post college do most guys just do individual comps if they have time and if they dont ditch the tennis competitions?

Yes, they can enter Men's Open tournaments hosted by tennis clubs, even win some prize money there.

are they pretty decent stanard wise?

wow ClarkC, great response indeed.

ClarkC, that was a fantastic post. :)

Sticky thread nomination!

stuck, enjoy.

Hi great very nice post Fantastic some explaination of the US collage sysrem
thanks to sharing............................:)
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