Being a Division I Athlete in a Fraternity

[Fratlete]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

As a former Division I athlete who thrived, along with many other Division I athletes, in my University's Greek system, I find this to be one of the stupidest things I've ever read here on GC--and that's saying a lot.

Would you care to go into some detail about being both an athlete and a fraternity member and any difficulties about overlapping commitments? Any opinion/experiences of an athlete-fraternity member would be a big help

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Fratlete

The point is that I want to be a part of a brotherhood that is based on something other than being an athlete. I think having a balanced life is helpful to keep my sanity. In high school I had things other than being an athlete. There are very few crossovers between athletes and frats at my school. Normally an athlete will quit/be cut from a team and then join a fraternity, which just plays into the stereotype that they are lazy, so athletes then then being to think all fraternity members must be lazy and must only care about partying.

HS and college athletics (even if you are at a higher level of HS athletics) is SO different - even if you know that it's hard to realize how much until you're actually in it. Not to mention people who were super involved w/ athletics at their HS and then completely drop it in college.

Our school was D2 except swimming (both sexes) and wrestling were D1. The swimmer (that is singular) who was in a sorority I rarely if EVER saw at Greek events - except for Greek swim - IMO the group took her for the prestige. The guy swimmers and wrestlers, I can't think of any who were Greek. The way you described your teammates is really sounding familiar, I'll put it that way.

You sound like you have a really good head on your shoulders and know how to balance your life, so do what you want to do and don't let anyone put you down.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by Fratlete

Would you care to go into some detail about being both an athlete and a fraternity member and any difficulties about overlapping commitments? Any opinion/experiences of an athlete-fraternity member would be a big help

Well, I have a different situation--so I'm not sure how much my experience could help you. Although I was a D-I athlete, it was in a conference where there are no athletic scholarships--while people were recruited, they were ultimately there to be students. As a result, you could drop the team and not worry about having to leave school.

So, the campus culture was much more accepting of athletes having lives outside of the sport. There were fraternities known for being the "track," "wrestling," and "football" fraternities. The fraternity leaderships worked around the sports schedules. They tended to recruit from their sports. The sororities had a mix of women from different sports. I will admit, however, that some sports did not have any Greek representation, in part because of the close-knit nature of the sports (rowing comes to mind).

It really, really, really has more to do with your campus's culture than anyone's general experience. Good luck!

[BROcrastinator]

At my school, a decent amount of student athletes tend to rush either fraternities or sororities. In the majority of cases I have seen at my school, the student athlete eventually drops the sport after a year or so due to the heavy time commitments. A lot of these kids who drop the Varsity sport join the club team which requires less of a time commitment, still with the fun or playing. From my view, it looks like they enjoy Greek life in college more then a Varsity sport... but then again, I am not a Varsity college athlete and I'm sure it also depends from school to school.

It's all in your priorities though. You only have so much time on your hands, whether you choose to spend it playing a Varsity sport or holding some type of role in Greek life, it's up to you.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Are you considering an NPHC group or not? That may also help posters here give you a little more advice.

[DrPhil]

Nah, the advice is the same. It varies by chapter and by athlete. The OP has probably figured out how to contact the chapter(s), do some research, and take it from there.

[lemony]

It's not unheard of for student-athletes at my school to participate in Greek life. One of the other Panhellenic sororities on campus had one of their members even participate in the X Games! There are girls in my chapter who are athletes on the Rugby, Water Polo and Track & Field teams and as long as they keep the chapter informed on their schedules, they can be excused from meetings and other things appropriately.

[TSteven]

NIC Fraternity Members in College and Professional Sports