Walk on athlete (lacrosse)- USNA

attacklax17

5-Year Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2009
Messages
70
At the Academy, if you aren't recruited what are your chances of being able to play? I've played with kids from St. Mary's, West Islip and other powerhouse school's from the "hot bed" at Navys lax camp. I'm pretty good at lacrosse, but these kids are ridiculous. If being above average but not an 18 year old pro, will they let you walk on? Or is club a better option? Thanks!
 
First, if you don't try you'll never know how good you are. If you don't make varsity, there always are the intramurals - which play at a fairly high level.

Go for it! Best wishes!
 
Am also interested in this...will "apply" to be recruited but probably will end up trying to walk on/do intramurals...from what I've heard, it's really hard to be a walk on to a varsity and it's easier to be recruited. Question: can you be "recruited" by varsity coaches if your seen to be very good in intramurals?
 
Am also interested in this...will "apply" to be recruited but probably will end up trying to walk on/do intramurals...from what I've heard, it's really hard to be a walk on to a varsity and it's easier to be recruited. Question: can you be "recruited" by varsity coaches if your seen to be very good in intramurals?
FWIW, I have been told by USNA baseball staff their players are heavily recruited, to "walk on" is very rare.
I would think lax is equally competitive.
 
any varsity sport at usna is hard to walk on but crew has the biggest walk on percentage..club lacrosse is a pretty good deal so if ur not recruited u can play club but they too have tryouts..i think they played scotland's national lax team earlier this month so it's a pretty legit deal
 
Thanks! Hopefully, when I go again for camp this summer, I'll have an opportunity to talk to Coach Meade about this. Yeah, as said above I've heard walk on is about 5-10% of a team, so its pretty small.
 
From someone with personal experiance, Meade generally does not take walk on's, if you're a goalie that's about the only exception. I would still recommend trying out if you're not recruited, because they'll get you in shape even if you thought you were, just don't get your hopes up.

Club and intramurals are both good options but the availability of those vary from year to year.
 
Yeah, if I get into USNA I'm definitely not walking onto the lax field thinking I'm making it because, as I said, I've seen the level most of the recruits are on. But hopefully Club and intramurals work, because I just want to play lax for Navy, if you know what I mean.

Did you or a family member play for him?
 
Yah, crew doesn't have as many spots as the other sports for recruitment. Alot of the boats getting filled up depends on walkons.
 
Since everyone is required to play a sport, wouldn't walk ons essentially be a norm? Maybe not in all the sports, but something like Track and Field and Rowing seem like exceptions, considering how huge their programs are...
I know a couple of mids who walked on to the Rowing freshman team, and it wasn't a problem for them. At the same time, intramurals and club sports offer a chance to improve, and maybe get on to the varsity level in a different year. There are a couple people from what I've read who were not on teams like CC their plebe year but walked on in their 2/C and 1/C years...
 
Anyone know how feasible this is?

My son is a firstie who played HS lacrosse in Northern VA. Not the hotbed of lacrosse that is Long Island, but he made it to the final Plebe tryout as a walk-on. Got cut, but then played for the Navy Club team beginning youngster year.

The Club Team is very competitive, they have adult coaches, travel to a lot of the same schools that the varsity team does to play their club teams, and does very well in the National Club Championships.

Last year, they went to the Final Four at the University of Virginia (UVA) in Charlottesville and got beat in the semis by UVA.

If you want to play competitive lacrosse, but can't quite make it to the varsity team, this is a good alternative. My son has loved it, and this year he is Club president.

Be warned: they also cut people from the Club team when they have too many come out, so it's not a guarantee.
 
Since everyone is required to play a sport, wouldn't walk ons essentially be a norm? Maybe not in all the sports, but something like Track and Field and Rowing seem like exceptions, considering how huge their programs are...
I know a couple of mids who walked on to the Rowing freshman team, and it wasn't a problem for them. At the same time, intramurals and club sports offer a chance to improve, and maybe get on to the varsity level in a different year. There are a couple people from what I've read who were not on teams like CC their plebe year but walked on in their 2/C and 1/C years...

No, remember these are still NCAA Div 1 programs. Rowing seems to be the exception, as they actively recruit walk ons from the plebe class. Track and CC will occationally take walkons just because there are people out there good at running that just never did it as a sport. Football also seemed to take a couple walkons each year from tryouts.

For Attacklax, I was not recruited and planned to play club but I tryed out for the hell of it, then of course the club team was disbanded that year, but as far as I know it is back again.
 
thanks for all the answers so far. definitely helped. I'll look more into club, as that seems as a more likely chance
 
thanks for all the answers so far. definitely helped. I'll look more into club, as that seems as a more likely chance

With the way they're playing this year, you probably could walk-on and make an impact. :wink
 
Last edited:
My son is a firstie who played HS lacrosse in Northern VA. Not the hotbed of lacrosse that is Long Island, but he made it to the final Plebe tryout as a walk-on. Got cut, but then played for the Navy Club team beginning youngster year.

The Club Team is very competitive, they have adult coaches, travel to a lot of the same schools that the varsity team does to play their club teams, and does very well in the National Club Championships.

Last year, they went to the Final Four at the University of Virginia (UVA) in Charlottesville and got beat in the semis by UVA.

If you want to play competitive lacrosse, but can't quite make it to the varsity team, this is a good alternative. My son has loved it, and this year he is Club president.

Be warned: they also cut people from the Club team when they have too many come out, so it's not a guarantee.


What about a walk on for football or basketball? For all their recruiting, results have not been too good for basketball. :frown:
 
Back
Top