Can Division 1 Be OVERrated? Yes....

You'll see that only 7.3% of high school athletes go on and play at the NCAA level. Hey, team Alex Swinson here. Hey, thanks again for joining me. And if you're new to my channel, I'm A former Division 1 college coach, scout and recruiter with 11 years of experience and now I'm here to help you or your son play at the next level. And in today's video the topic we're covering might be a little controversial, depends on how you look at it. But I would love to hear any questions or comments you have down below. And the purpose of this video is for me to shine the things that are maybe overrated at the Division 1 level and definitely underrated at the Division 1 level, Division 2 level, Division 3 level, JUCO, NAIA, all of those things because I'm a former Division 1 coach and player and I love Division 1, but I love all of the levels because all of these things that we're going to be covering today and I'm going to throw some stats out there that's going to help as well as we go through. So if you get anything from this video, please smash that like button and subscribe to my channel. I put out a weekly video on recruiting and how to get better on and off the field. Alright, let's dive into it. The first thing that I want to make sure that I shine a light on is if you make it to the next level at any of the levels that is amazing, you're part of the very small percentage of high school athletes that make it to the next level. And the thought process out there with some, not all, but some student athletes and frankly parents that have if you don't make it Division one, somehow you're lesser of an athlete, a student or even person that is just flat out wrong. And again, I want to make sure that we're looking at this the right way. And again, shine the light of all the benefits that and major benefits, life changing benefits that you get at all of these levels, D1, D2, D3, NAIA schools in Jucos, we're going to shine a light on that. And the thing is this is the argument I know and understand that people want to go Division 1 and this is the argument that they have when I talk to these parents and student athletes is I want to play at the highest level that I possibly can. Absolutely I want you to go to Division 1, I want you to shoot for Division 1, but we also have to be realistic where we're at amongst all the other high school athletes and what coaches are looking for. So if I pull up the statistics here, which I will on the screen right here, and you'll see that only 7.3% of high school athletes go on and play at the NCAA level. And I would say it's probably around nine, nine and a half percent that of all the five division, so that includes now NAIA and junior college. So it's about nine, nine and a half percent. So about, about again, nine and a half or 90, 90 and a half percent do not make it at the next level. Okay? And you'll see that 2.2% of high school athletes make it Division 1, 2.2, Division 2, and 2.9 at Division 3. So it's about, where do I fit in here? And then we can go into, hey, there's probably about another 2%, 2 1/2% from junior college in AI. Okay, so again, it's finding a fit and seeing where it's realistic for you and finding that good college fit from there. Then if we go even into a little bit more, I know that people, hey, I want to go and play professionally and I want you to strive for these big goals, okay? But also want to know, understand what's realistic and what might not be realistic, frankly. Okay? Because not everybody's going to play at the pro level in mlb. Most are, most are not going to be playing. So out of the NCAA players, about 9.9% are going to go on and play. So 90% of college players are not going to play pro ball. And that number is actually going down because this is in 2019. This is when the draft was still at 40ish rounds. And now we're going to be around 20 rounds, give or take. So you can cut that in half. Frankly, that's about half. Now, 5, 6% of NCAA players will play at the next level. So what is my point in saying all this? Okay, so if your argument is, I want to play at the highest level, great, I want you to play at the highest level. Now it's finding the fit and being realistic. We're where that is and getting a true evaluation. But what are you trying to get out of this experience? Okay, what are you trying to get out of this experience? Because this is the main thing. This is an experience. It is. It's an unbelievable experience at the next level. And this experience in college baseball, all the things. So I want you to ask yourself, leave, leave. I want to play at the highest level out of this. Okay, I get that. I want you to do that. What are you trying to get out of this experience as a college athlete? Think about that for a second. So I'm going to give you an answer that I think I would have given if I was in high school, somebody would have asked me this question, okay? And I'm going to ask the question a little bit differently just to solidify my point a little bit more. And the question is, if I were to ask my old self in high school, again, why do you want to play at the Division 1 level? And if I'm being truly honest with you, I think I would have said status of what people thought of me, the status that it would give me, and I wouldn't have said all the things that I'm about to cover here. I truly believe I was kind of immature, but I haven't had. I didn't have any body. Kind of bring this up. And now a hindsight. All right? Hindsight's 20 20. And the reason why I'm doing this is to kind of give you that insight right now. And as a student athlete watching this or a parent possibly watching this, that they can convey to the student athlete. And the reason why I'm getting this is, again, my hindsight, but also talking to student athletes that have gone through college, the players that I've coached, the clients that I've helped and what they say, what do they miss the most? What have they learned the most? Okay. And what they miss the most, we're going to talk about the benefits. And what they learned the most is what we're going to get into right now. So let's cover the benefits. The benefits is first the mentors that you get right away. Okay? The mentor, the coaches, but also the players, the juniors and seniors and the captains. When you get into the freshman year, when you get into college, okay, you have mentors right away. Most guys get taken underneath someone's wing, definitely the coaches, but also the players. And those guys are just as impactful as the coaches, the players are as I will. The relationships that you give, okay, the relationships that you get will. Some of them are going to last a lifetime. I have several friends right now that I've been to weddings, raising kids with, in the sense of. As a friend and talking about fatherhood and all of that, talking to their wives and hanging out with them, but also networking sentence. There's a lot of opportunities that come with that. Okay. That it's just benefit for all. And I'm not just talking about job, but just helping you in certain ways. But there's nothing like the community of a team, especially at the college level, because you guys go through a lot, you spend so much time together. Okay, the next one is one of my favorites. Even though I'd probably say relationships is one of my favorites. All of them are number one in my book. And that is life lessons. This has been so impactful in my life. But all the life lessons you learn as a student athlete in college. And remember, this is at any level. And let's talk a little bit about what are those life lessons. One, it's teamwork, working together as a team. And this is a different level than high school guys. There's just something to it as being more of a. More being surrounded by more men and you turning into a man man, frankly. Okay. And having a goal and a strong goal that you're all going after. The teamwork behind that is powerful, man. And all the things that you learn that we're going to get into here is just amazing. But then there's also individual responsibility and ownership that you have to have. And if you're listening to your mentors from a coaches level and players level and even just watching that is. It's so impactful on that side that you take the rest of your life and how you deal with adversity and failure at the college level. And this could be from a team aspect, but this could also be from an individual aspect. Maybe, maybe you had a really bad day, really bad practice, really bad game, or somebody beat you out at your position. How are you going to deal with that? How are you dealing with that adversity? That is huge. And how you deal with it. Second everything. And the thing is, you got to keep working on it because usually as a younger individual, okay, it's hard to deal with that. But as you get better and as you see people deal with adversity watching your mentors, you can get better at it. You can. That's the thing. You can get better at it if you work it. But the thing is some people take it. They don't, they don't intentionally work on, on dealing with adversity, dealing with failure. Leadership. Leadership is huge. That you learn at the college level because there's going to be, there's going to be situations at the college level that you're going to be put in at a leadership role, whether you like it or not and how you handle that role going forward, the selflessness that you have to have for your teamworks. But even you just individually putting things above you, whether it's your team, whether it's your training, whether it's your goals that you're going after, your plans and putting other small things that you know in the long run are just not that important. Think long term, guys. And I know it's hard as a teenager but the sooner you can think more long term, whether it's a year, three years, five years out that is going to help you so much in the decisions you make in the moment and and are about to make. How is that going to impact your future is huge. And this is my point. With all of this, you can get all of this at all. The divisions and these benefits, these benefits are life changing, okay? Not just Division 1 and the status that you have and hoping to go pro. Guys, I'm going to be honest with you. Nobody really cares, okay? Everybody's kind of worried about themselves frankly. Okay? Nobody really cares. But what can matter to you is you learning all these benefits and helping yourself, but help helping others and just paying it forward, man, paying it forward, going forward. That's what I'm honestly trying to do and to help teenagers look in a different light and have a put a different lens on rather than just hey, what's happening tonight? Okay, That's a really big goal of mine, helping you through, just going through being, trying to reach the next level. So would love to hear your comments, try to paint this picture and think longer term of the real reason. What do you want to get out of this experience and hopefully you're looking. I want to get out of the experience of having a good mentor at the coaching level, players level, learning how to deal with adversity at a high level, the leadership, the selflessness, all of these top things. You can get that experience at all these levels, at all these levels and I believe that's what you should be striving for and of course be the best player that you can be, etc. From there on and off the field. Let me know if you have any questions. I look forward to hearing from you and I look forward to seeing you in the next video. Take care.