What does it actually mean?

There are large amounts of students that attend college that used to play sports in high school, but few seek out their abilities at college for numerous reasons.  The athletics at different colleges and universities are stressed at different levels of intensity.  Which each Division, brings about different restrictions, qualifications, and rules.  Also, not only is an athlete expected to attend practices, lifting sessions, and team meetings there are a lot of other activities that one must complete as well.  Community service and volunteer opportunities come into effect along with meetings that are set up just for specific sports.  There are NCAA meetings, alcohol and drug meetings, as well as Title IX meetings.  One must also maintain thier grades to be elligible to participate in meets, games, and matches.  Each team may differ in the requirement for a minimum GPA, while others just strive to have the highest GPA on campus year round.  It takes a lot more of ones time to dedicate to a sport in college along with a lot of other adjustments.  While in high school practices might only be one hour each day with the weekends off, in college the intesitiy is increased along with practice time and the amount of days that practice takes place.  Even though it might be a little discouraging, at the same time there are a lot of perks that come along as well.  There will always be a group of friends for you turn to, a lot of respect is given to a college athlete, and one would get to schedule early for their classes just by being a member of the sports' team in college.  So, there is no reason not to give it a try if there is a desire to do so.