{"id":16677,"date":"2026-04-15T18:28:38","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T18:28:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/?p=16677"},"modified":"2026-04-16T12:32:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T12:32:30","slug":"small-school-big-impact-why-athletes-choose-division-iii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/2026\/04\/15\/small-school-big-impact-why-athletes-choose-division-iii\/","title":{"rendered":"Small school, big impact: Why athletes choose\u00a0Division III\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Ella Weidenhammer, staff writer <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With high school graduations happening all over the nation in the upcoming months, high school seniors are starting to finalize where they will decide to thrive and build up a new life for themselves when they enter their new home at their chosen college.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While choosing a college, most high school athletes like the idea of finding a college where they can also play their sport.  Close to 7-percent of high school athletes play in college. With around 530,000 collegiate athletes in total, Division III stands alone with the largest percentage of athletes sitting around 39-percent of the total membership. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what makes Division III stand out to athletes?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

LVC is one of many colleges and universities to be a part of the Division III level to house 26 varsity sport teams that play in the Middle Atlantic Conference, which includes 12 women\u2019s teams and 14 men\u2019s teams. These sports host approximately 40-percent of the student population, which shows the significance of student engagement in athletics.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI chose to play Division III because it allowed me to have a balance between academics and competitive athletics as well as giving me a close-knit environment which made the college transition easy,\u201d Rebecca Lane, a senior on the LVC field hockey team, said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Out of 13 responses to a La Vie survey, 84.6-percent of these athletes said they chose to come to a Division III school, like LVC, because of the ability to balance sports and academics and LVC\u2019s team culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI chose to play Division III ice hockey because I love ice hockey first and foremost,\u201d Norah McCauliffe, a junior on the women\u2019s ice hockey team, said. \u201cI didn\u2019t feel ready to end my athletic career when I thought I had more to learn as an athlete. As a freshman, playing a sport also provided comfort in knowing that I have a community before stepping foot on campus.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, coverage of Division III sports has increased with many more websites covering athletics to different social media pages covering all different Division III sports. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI believe Division III athletes are extremely dedicated to taking academics extremely seriously while continuing on the sports they love,\u201d stated a first-year on the LVC baseball team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany people see Division III as a glorified high school environment, when in reality it is much more than that, and you will become family with the guys you work your tail off for.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Division III sports tend to group this division as a \u201cglorified high school\u201d environment, these athletes put in a lot of time and effort as well to help be a part of a successful team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur practice schedule is grueling, and we are still able to compete in playoffs each year,\u201d Elizabeth Morgan, a junior lacrosse player, said. \u201cIt is still a large time commitment and we take it seriously, even though it is not always seen that way.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One element that has made it hard for Division III sports to truly gain the attention it deserves is how they are perceived. All of those surveyed agreed that Division III sports are or somewhat misunderstood to people who do not play. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think people underestimate the time and effort DIII athletes put into their sports,\u201d a junior on the softball team said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In athletics, division does not necessarily equal ability level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a stigma that it\u2019s the \u2018lowest level\u2019 for a reason and division three isn\u2019t respected as much,\u201d Autumn Garges, a runner for LVC\u2019s track and cross-country teams, said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Division III has many competitive and talented athletes as well as conferences all over the nation. Many teams add higher division teams to their preseason schedule or play these teams early in their season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe even see that here in preseason when we scrimmage Division II teams and now we\u2019re even seeing a Division III women\u2019s basketball team, Scranton, even beating Division I teams and dominating their own conference,\u201d Claire Weidenhammer, a junior and rising captain on the field hockey team, said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Division III athletics also have a great sense of community. Teams at this level often are able to build tight-knit cultures where relationships between teammates and coaches thrive. Athletes are able to compete because they are passionate, which often leads to a more genuine and rewarding experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s awesome,\u201d a women\u2019s soccer player said. \u201cAll the athletics staff take good care of you, and you can balance academics with athletics and have a social life.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you really love it, then all the days of lifts and just really hard practices are all worth it,\u201d Shea Makosy, a junior men\u2019s lacrosse player, said. \u201cIt\u2019s all worth it because when you go through all those tough days with the people you\u2019re surrounded by, they become your best friends. Which makes it all worth it.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, Division III sports have a lasting impact on student-athletes. The lessons learned extend far beyond the field, preparing them for success in both their professional and personal lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ella Weidenhammer, staff writer  With high school graduations happening all over the nation in the upcoming months, high school seniors are starting to finalize where they will decide to thrive and build up a new life for […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":16663,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16677","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-campus-news","8":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16677"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16677\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16687,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16677\/revisions\/16687"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}