The Student Athlete (part 1): What to Know About NCAA Div I + II + III, NAIA, Club, and Intramurals
This is part 1 of an 8 part series of posts on college athletics.
The NCAA supports over 500,000 college athletes competing on more than 20,000 teams across 1,000+ member colleges. But as large as this number may seem, it is an undercount of the number of students that participate in collegiate athletics. There are other leagues, such as the NAIA, that enable competition at a high level among college athletes. And, there are club and intramural sports too, both of which enable participation at a less competitive level.
Key takeaway: there's probably a way for you to become involved in college athletics, should you want to participate. Here's what you need to know about athletics in NCAA Division I + II + III, NAIA, Club sports, and intramurals.
High Competition: Varsity Athletics in College
You’ve probably heard of the NCAA, the National Collegiate Athletics Association. You may not have heard of the NAIA, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. Both are organisations that regulate college and university athletics. They create the “rules” by which student-athletes, coaches, and participating college programs must abide. They create the “championships” structure by which teams compete and participate, e.g. the Division I NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship (basketball), the Division III Tennis Championships (tennis), etc…
Most colleges and universities that you will look at are members of the NCAA. The University of Washington competes in NCAA Division I athletics, as do Vanderbilt University and Princeton University. The University of Colorado - Boulder competes in NCAA Division I athletics while the University of Colorado - Colorado Springs competes in NCAA Division II. Some colleges may participate in higher levels of competition only in particular sports. For example, Colorado College is a NCAA Division III school, except for ice hockey and women's soccer where they compete in NCAA Division I. Some colleges you may consider could be members of NAIA, for example Evergreen State College (in Olympia, WA in my home state).
Within these umbrella organisations, NCAA and NAIA, colleges typically form and participate in competition leagues. For example, the SEC conference and the Ivy League (which is actually an athletic league) are both NCAA Division I leagues for certain sports.
Student-athletes that participate and compete on teams governed by NCAA and NAIA rules are generally referred to as varsity athletes. Rules around scholarships and eligibility differ by governing body, and division.
Within the NCAA there are three divisions - I, II, and III - and only the first and second divisions may offer student athletes athletic scholarships. Division III schools do NOT offer athletic scholarships (they may offer other forms of financial aid, though - more on that in a follow-up post). Generally, larger schools compete in Division I, and smaller schools compete in Divisions II and III.
The NAIA has two divisions and there are athletic scholarships available in both. NAIA and NCAA Division III offer a pretty similar level of competition. NAIA membership consists mostly of small liberal arts colleges.
Participating as a varsity athlete is a significant time commitment. Think: 30+ hours/week during the season. There can be significant off-season commitments too. Most athletes participating at the varsity level were recruited during high school by the school's coaches and programs. Some teams may have spots for un-recruited athletes, known as walk-ons, but many do not.
More Relaxed Competition: Club Sports and Intramurals
Outside of these organisations, colleges and universities themselves can offer athletics programs for their students. There are two levels: club sports and intramurals.
The former, club sports, typically involves inter-college competition (between colleges) while the latter, intramural sports, is restricted to just students at a single college or university. Club sports are not governed by a single national body or organisation, leading to quite a bit of variation depending on the sport. For example, club skiing and snowboarding teams are governed by the United States College Ski Association (USCSA) while club golf is governed by the National Collegiate Golf Club Association. The level of competition can vary by how seriously your school participates, and in which sports. Intramurals are recreational sports whose primary purpose is fun, not competition.
The time commitment for club sports and intramurals is significantly less than varsity athletics. Club teams tend to practice 2-4 times per week (some more serious than this, others less). Intramural teams may not practice at all - just participate in games.
Junior College Athletics
There is also the NJCAA, the National Junior College Athletics Association, which governs athletics at community colleges and junior colleges and has three divisions. I’m going to suggest that those interested in this specific path start with that website for information.
SUMMARY
So to recap… there are eight levels of competition, generally flowing from most to least competitive, which means there are options for athletics participation for pretty much all students. NCAA Division I and II, NAIA, and NJCAA offer athletics scholarships to some athletes; NCAA Division III does not offer any athletic scholarship opportunities.
Level of Competition | Governing Body | Athletic Scholarships? | How Do I Join? | Which Sports? |
NCAA Division I | NCAA | Yes | Recruitment and/or tryouts | 19 men’s sports (football, soccer, basketball, wrestling, etc…) 21 women’s sports (rowing, soccer, basketball, volleyball, etc…) 3 are co-ed: fencing, rifle, skiing |
NCAA Division II | NCAA | Yes | Recruitment and/or tryouts | |
NCAA Division III | NCAA | No | Recruitment and/or tryouts | |
NAIA Division I | NAIA | Yes | Recruitment and/or tryouts | 16 sports (13 for men, 13 for women, 2 are co-ed) |
NAIA Division II | NAIA | Yes | Recruitment and/or tryouts | |
Club Sports | Various | No | May require tryouts | Large variety - including sailing, cricket, badminton, rugby, etc… |
Intramurals | none | No | Open participation | Similar to club sports in variety (think: quidditch aka quadball) |
NJCAA | NJCAA | Yes (Div I & II only) | Recruitment and/or tryouts | 17 sports |
