Sports

Hey everyone I just have a quick question regarding my athletics participation...

I have played sports my entire life, I love playing them and watching them, etc. However, Currently I'm a Junior in High School and only playing one sport, Football. Though I doubt I'll be a Captain next year, I'll definitely be starting both ways on varsity.

My Freshman year in High School, I played football and ran outdoor track, Sophomore year I did football, indoor track, but did not do outdoor track that spring, so I could lift weights in the off season. My reason for this is my experience in outdoor track got me in shape, but I found I lost a lot of strength and mass- with not much time (or energy for that matter) to lift. Mind you I wasn't an all-state runner per say, but still did pretty decent. Football on the other hand is my passion, and I wanted to be the best I possibly could for the upcoming season.

Back to where I began, I'm now in my Junior year of high school and only playing football. I'm definitely not planning on receiving a scholarship to a D-1 Football SA program, but I am seriously committed to wanting to attend a service academy. This brings me to my question..

Will only playing one sport hurt my chances of getting into a SA? Football requires a large amount of dedication in the off season. Though there's no lifting team, I'm up in the weight room 4-5 days a week for 2 hours. I just don't think that I could count this as a sport though.

I guess I'll give you some other facts so you can consider them; I'm an AP Student, I do a decent amount community service, haven't got my SAT scores back yet (5 days left) but I believe I'll be in the 600-700 range. I was accepted into into the USAFA SS and USNASS. My dad is a USNA alumni, put 36 years in the Navy, retired as RADM.

Opinions are appreciated, thanks.

From everything that I have read or heard sports is definitely important, but really just having a varsity letter in ONE sport will do nicely. I would not worry about not participating in multiple sports. Its difficult to do (and letter) at large high schools anyway. Good luck!...and I would focus my efforts on "leadership" points going forward.

I have read:

ECs and athletics are reported to account for 10% of the "Whole Person" score.

SAT Math score is 31%. Class rank is 21%. SAT Verbal is 15%.

I would not sweat "only" doing one sport....unless you are already maxing out those other Big 3 and you are just trying to polish the rock.

In other words, there is more ground to be gained for most folks by spending their time improving their academics (especially the Math).



Tim

Source?

Tim/Tarbe,

That's significant information; where did you come across it?

In my opinion you have noting to worry about with just one sport. Football is a huge commitment of time and energy. Your other credentials look good so keep up the grades and be involved in in other activities in some leadership role. And don't dismiss the idea of playing football at a SA. When I was at USMA one of my classmates played intramural football, walked on to varsity football and went onto an impressive career. And depending on your weight you could play sprint football. If you can go to multiple summer seminars do. My son went to USNA, USMA and USAFA. He was pretty worn out after that but got a great perspective of the three schools. You also want to do well on your CFA at SLS or NASS as they will count for your application. Good luck!

mmb5 said:

Tim/Tarbe,

That's significant information; where did you come across it?

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One of the BGOs that posts here.

I tried to find it for you, but I keep getting a "fatal error" when I try to search.


Tim

Here is the whole scheme, as I wrote it down in my notebook when I came across it:

SAT Math: 31%
Class Rank: 21%
SAT Verbal: 15%
Strong interest inventory, technical interest: 12%
Extra-curriculars, Athletics: 10%
Teacher Recs: 8%
Strong interest inventory, career interest: 3%


Tim

I'm assuming the "31% SAT Math" applies to ACT as well?

Tarbe, if your percentages are correct then that means they don't even consider your transcripts. For some reason I can't believe that's really true. And if it is, I'm in trouble with that 31% SAT math.

^

They use the class rank to eliminate the bias from schools that grade inflate/deflate.

I suppose the Math is factored so high because the USNA does want to graduate more than just a few engineers.

I am sure there are more than a few Mids who scored below 650 on Math. Plenty of other places to make it up!


Tim

Why don't you throw discus/shot? Do that during indoor and outdoor and voila, you have three sports. Neither disc or shot will keep you out of the weight room for any reason and while you probably won't be great, unless your HS is really competitive at track chances are they will have room for throwers.

so where would CFA results factor in to those percentages?

Ahart7 said:

so where would CFA results factor in to those percentages?

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Great Question

tarbe said:

I have read:

ECs and athletics are reported to account for 10% of the "Whole Person" score.

SAT Math score is 31%. Class rank is 21%. SAT Verbal is 15%.

I would not sweat "only" doing one sport....unless you are already maxing out those other Big 3 and you are just trying to polish the rock.

In other words, there is more ground to be gained for most folks by spending their time improving their academics (especially the Math).



Tim

Click to expand...

The percentages can be found in a thesis by Thomas Sheppard titled "A Validation of the Strong Campbell Interest Inventory as Part of the Admissions Process at the United States Naval Academy." The thesis was published in March 2002 by the Naval Postgraduate School. The table with these percentages says they are the weights used for the Class of 2005 - so would have been applicable in 2001. The thesis is really interesting (at least to a data geek like me ), but the current admissions board may use the same process and weighting or they may not.

brass strings said:

The percentages can be found in a thesis by Thomas Sheppard titled "A Validation of the Strong Campbell Interest Inventory as Part of the Admissions Process at the United States Naval Academy." The thesis was published in March 2002 by the Naval Postgraduate School. The table with these percentages says they are the weights used for the Class of 2005 - so would have been applicable in 2001. The thesis is really interesting (at least to a data geek like me ), but the current admissions board may use the same process and weighting or they may not.

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Agree with the potential difference in selection criteria with the USNA stated effort to raise diversity and bring in kids from underserved areas of the country.

Some day that won't be an issue, I hope.

If SAT's were the only way to select future leaders and officers, the services would really be hurting for career officers since SAT's are not a good predictor of success at college.

If SAT's were the only way to select future leaders and officers, the services would really be hurting for career officers since SAT's are not a good predictor of success at college.

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I agree and thank you for stating this, Dad of Nominee. My son's SATs were adequate, but he has taken several college courses in advanced math and sciences and has excelled far beyond what his SATs and ACTs would have predicted.

Wow!

brass strings said:

The percentages can be found in a thesis by Thomas Sheppard titled "A Validation of the Strong Campbell Interest Inventory as Part of the Admissions Process at the United States Naval Academy." The thesis was published in March 2002 by the Naval Postgraduate School. .

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OK, brass strings, there are a lot of obsessed, nervous, over-the-top candidates and parents on here at this time of year, me included. But digging out and reading this....??

And, of course, the rest of us just eat it up.

We're getting to the point where we may all need meds.

I know - it's really kind of embarrassing. The report actually wasn't that hard to find; I think I googled "whole candidate multiple." In my defense, I work with a lot of statistics and analytics in my day job and find the whole thing fascinating. The Navy spends a lot of time and effort studying what makes a successful midshipman and officer, not only as a candidate but throughout their time at USNA. Besides, now that I can't check DodMERB every 10 minutes I have a lot of time on my hands ...

Ahart7 said:

so where would CFA results factor in to those percentages?

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I'd have to swag, because I don't really know the answer to this...


The CFA is Pass/Fail....so maybe it is not even part of the score. If you fail, you go straight to Jail, do not pass Go.


Tim

I'm a BGO and I've never heard of the percentages you mention. In fact, we were told that the #1 think considered by the Admissions Board is class rank and courses taken. Those two go together. Taking all sociology and art and ranking high won't help as much as taking AP Calc and AP Chem and AP English and ranking high.

Second most important thing is math SAT/ACT. Why? Because all schools and all classes are not alike. Thus, comparing a kid who's #1 in School A vs. a kid who's #1 in School B, even with mostly the same courses, may be like comparing apples to oranges. The SAT/ACT is the same test taken by everyone, so it somewhat levels the playing field -- at least in USNA's view.

As for the CFA, it is pass/fail. However, doing extremely well on certain sections (pushups, crunches, and mile) can get you bonus points as can a high overall score. Conversely, barely passing, especially w/o sports during h.s., can hurt you.

As for the OP, playing one sport is not a negative. USNA looks at h.s. athletics for several reasons. First, it HELPS demonstrate physical fitness. Second, you do a lot of sports at USNA and the fact you've done them during h.s. suggests you probably like them. Third, it shows teamwork (for team sports) and dedication to a goal (victory). If you play competitive varsity sports (even only one sport) and are otherwise fit, you'll probably be fine from a sports standpoint.