University sports in Europe (best, places, train, people)
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I understand that European university sports are nowhere near as prominent as is the case in the US (or Canada, Japan to a lesser extent) but I would imagine some sports academies failures that are nonetheless able to qualify for undergraduate studies in Europe would stock university rosters (soccer, basketball for example).
Yet only a small number of European universities seem to have decent athletic facilities (Loughborough, Oxbridge in the UK, Jagiellonian in Poland, to name those that I know about). Perhaps I am wrong but European universities seem to focus on the more obscure sports... if they have any competitive programs at all.
If Oxbridge is somehow representative of how European university sports operate with respect to athletic eligibility, student-athletes are allotted four years of eligibility at the undergraduate level and four years of eligibility at the graduate level. And European student-athletes are actually students first and athletes second, unlike some American university athletes (especially football and basketball, ice hockey to a lesser extent) who are treated as semi-pro athletes or, in the Power-5 conferences, as minor-league pro athletes, and where the academic aspect falls to the wayside.
And, somehow, European university championships exist in several sports but how do European championship teams stack up against American or Japanese university teams?
Little or nothing.
There the are the "facoltiadi" (wordplay of "facoltà ", i.e. faculty, and "olimpiadi", i.e. Olympic games) in which students from several departments compete in different sports but there's little more.
There's a "fitness card" related to the university badge but it's not so common.
No university sports in Europe. I think we had a thread on this sometimes earlier. In Europe the sports clubs (mostly football) have academies which in a way or another have affiliate contracts with the local universities.
There's simply not a Uni of Helsinki vs Uni of Turin, but HJK vs Juventus.
What little I know about European sports talent training can be summarized as follows:
Major sports teams operate academies, where athletes are trained from a more-or-less young age
The end of the road for an academy-trained athlete comes by the end of high-school age
Very few academy-trained athletes make it to the big leagues
That said, some athletic failures may be tempted to attend university (and play on the university's team) in an attempt to rebuild their lives after sports...
My university has the "CUS" (university sport center), which seem mainly a way to promote sport among students, but nearly no one cares about them. For example I'm an university student right now, and I don't have any idea about what do they really do (which sports they do, if there is some team...)
I think that the only uinversity-sport famous activity here in Turin is the rowing competition between the two universities of the city (Università vs Politecnico), along the Po river. In practice they just copied the more famous competition Oxford vs Cambridge on the Tames river.
Uni Vienna's sports facilities are pretty good, but the general public isn't really into semi-professional team sports here.
If you want to become a professional you'd have to join the youth wing of a professional club or an academy. Most sportsmen don't even attend university here.
A fair amount of young professionals decide to join the army or police. They are usually pretty supportive of young people, they get a steady income and they are usually allowed to train as they wish. They are not bound to the usual army schedule. Here are some sportsmen who won some olympic medals. Officially, they are soldiers.
Most, if not all, great sporters start their career at an independent local sport team. There are zillions of them in Europe, every small village has its independent football (soccer) team and in most larger (and a lot of small towns too) towns you can join every mainstream sport as you want it. Those who are good, go in regional selections. The best of them are picked up by a youth academy of a professional sportsteam. And only the best of them will earn a pro career.
Universities have no role whatsoever in this. In the Netherlands (and generally in Europe) university sportteams are amateurs and only a way to relax from your study. There are a only a few exceptions. In NL, the best teams in rowing are those from the universities. But they are amateurs too. If they get to Olympic level, they will earn a salary from the Dutch Olympic Committee. That's how it works for minor sports.
Most, if not all, great sporters start their career at an independent local sport team. There are zillions of them in Europe, every small village has its independent football (soccer) team and in most larger (and a lot of small towns too) towns you can join every mainstream sport as you want it. Those who are good, go in regional selections. The best of them are picked up by a youth academy of a professional sports team. And only the best of them will earn a pro career.
Universities have no role whatsoever in this. In the Netherlands (and generally in Europe) university sports teams are amateurs and only a way to relax from your study. There are a only a few exceptions. In NL, the best teams in rowing are those from the universities. But they are amateurs too. If they get to Olympic level, they will earn a salary from the Dutch Olympic Committee. That's how it works for minor sports.
This begs the question: are there any failures from youth academies that use university as a way to turn their lives around?
Do these youth academy failures actually stock university rosters? (Even as said rosters being amateur teams, if club-level)
This begs the question: are there any failures from youth academies that use university as a way to turn their lives around?
Do these youth academy failures actually stock university rosters? (Even as said rosters being amateur teams, if club-level)
Sure, some choose to attend university. Others don't. They get a job like everybody else.
They don't stock university rosters, because there are no university teams. A friend of mine who got chosen for an academy played there until the age of 18. Had to drop out because he of various injuries. He then attended university and played for an Austrian team in the third league.
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