Boxing

I am currently a sophomore with very strong academics, school clubs, community service, etc. However, I have run into a problem: I do not play any high school sports as I am not great at team sports. Instead, I have been training in boxing for the past year and am preparing for my first fight next month. I would be willing to suck it up and play a school sport just to boost my profile, but I do not want to be burnt out doing that and boxing plus other extracurriculars. I also feel that being a female boxer will make me stand out from other applicants and I am in great shape. Is competing in boxing enough for me to have a chance?

I forgot to mention that I go to a tiny school that's really artsy. There are no intramural sports, the few clubs we have are not a big deal, and the varsity sports are a huge commitment (especially track)

My DD is a boxer, and she is also able to be on the school varsity track team (she's a thrower, discus and shot put-boxing has given her great arm strength!). Her boxing coaches let her skip the running portion of the boxing training during track season since she runs at track practice.

Thank you for replying. Do service academies look down upon doing out of school sports? Do they count for anything?

Search this forum for "Chance me" posts, and that will give you a good idea of what the SA's are looking for.

Your grades, class rank, ACT/SAT scores, athletics and leadership are all important.

One thing that came up twice for my son in his interviews was the question about not playing a team sport. He was on the varsity wrestling team and three other varsity sports that are considered "individual" sports. Fwiw

When you say it "came up", do you mean that they did not like the fact that he didn't play a team sport?

Your reasoning for not pursuing other sports really does not hold water. At USMA you will be participating in sports all year long, every afternoon and boxing is only a winter sport. The reason the service academys want to see sports is not to create a box to be checked on your application but to see if a candidate has experienced gut busting physical strain and the challenge of failure again and again. If it is a team sport that is a good way to see if the candidate can do all that as a team member with a plan for victory. Individual sports are fine as that demonstrates personal striving and dedicated commitment without external support. What do you think a candidate who does both shows the Admissions Board? Remember you are competing against other candidates who do two and three sports. The academys also are very interested in what physical activities a candidate does in their off-seasons and summers. The classic answer of "I work out on my own" is pretty lame too. Whatever sports you do (especially ones that cannot be verified by your school) need to have documentation that you participated and an official in the organization that can verify it.

So if you are "burnt out" with one sport in high school, you will be fried to a crisp at USMA.

Spud said:

Your reasoning for not pursuing other sports really does not hold water. At USMA you will be participating in sports all year long, every afternoon and boxing is only a winter sport. The reason the service academys want to see sports is not to create a box to be checked on your application but to see if a candidate has experienced gut busting physical strain and the challenge of failure again and again. If it is a team sport that is a good way to see if the candidate can do all that as a team member with a plan for victory. Individual sports are fine as that demonstrates personal striving and dedicated commitment without external support. What do you think a candidate who does both shows the Admissions Board? Remember you are competing against other candidates who do two and three sports. The academys also are very interested in what physical activities a candidate does in their off-seasons and summers. The classic answer of "I work out on my own" is pretty lame too. Whatever sports you do (especially ones that cannot be verified by your school) need to have documentation that you participated and an official in the organization that can verify it.

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Thanks for replying. I box year round and am registered with USA Boxing. Providing documentation will not be an issue, as
I can provide a boxing license.

D-10 said:

When you say it "came up", do you mean that they did not like the fact that he didn't play a team sport?

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It was a direct question in two seperate interviews, we interpreted that to mean it was possible USMA values (or weighs) team sports more heavily or at least preferred to see both.

"I do not play any high school sports as I am not great at team sports."

A little friendly hint here from an interviewer: Never say that sentence anymore. When an academy interviewer hears that the first thing that pops into their head is "She wants to lead soldiers in combat and she can't function on a team? What does she think the Army is if not a team? What's the problem? Cannot get along with others? Too big of an ego? Is it her way or the highway? Is she a little above her teammates? Can she not fill a place in a team plan? And she wants to lead? She admits she has a problem here......I think I better dig into this as deep as I can."

I think you get the drift.

West Point has a Women's boxing team. You might consider contacting the coach and see what your opportunities might be there.

Track, wrestling, gymnastics etc. these are team sports. You practice together you compete together. Your team wins or looses the match/meet. You push yourself individually but you also work as a group to push each other.

Thanks for all the replies. I guess I'll just sign up for track this spring and see how it goes