Sports Tryout

C

CJP

NAPS '25 USNA '29
Joined
Nov 29, 2023
Messages
141
Are you able to tryout for multiple sports over plebe summer or during the academic year?

I shoot Rifle, and i also play football but i want to tryout for the USNA sprint football team. I dont really enjoy rifle all that much but it is something that i could 'possibly' grow into because my high school coach is really rude and doesn't know what he's talking about which makes it unenjoyable, and the academy has an olympic shooter as its coach and has genuine experience coaching and shooting. I'm stuck having to choose between spring football, which i would much rather play, and rifle, which i have way more experience in. I want to do a physically active sport but im a little worried i wont be able to make the Sprint football team and i wont have a chance to tryout for rifle as a second option.

Any Advice?
 
Are you already accepted ? If not, may be a bit early to be worrying about sports and ECA. In fact, even after acceptance I wouldn't waste a lot of time planning out your Academy career. Take it one step at a time, get through Plebe summer, get a fast start academically, be a good classmate. There will be plenty of opportunities for these questions .... from people who really know the answer in real time rather than a group of Old Grads, Parents, and other Candidates who may give anecdotal stories.

USNA offers a lot of activities and opportunities , many of which you may never have heard of or considered. A lot of people attend and discover something that fits them. Its fine to "have a plan", but my advice is to hit Plebe Summer with an open mind, and follow the path that is best for you.

All that said, I will leave it for the current USNA athletes to weigh in, but would expect that any Coach that is coaching at the D1 level is going to expect their athletes to be all in. With a few exceptions (didn't Navy QB also play Lacrosse?), the days of multi-sport athletes are gone.
 
Old Navy BGO said:
All that said, I will leave it for the current USNA athletes to weigh in, but would expect that any Coach that is coaching at the D1 level is going to expect their athletes to be all in. With a few exceptions (didn't Navy QB also play Lacrosse?), the days of multi-sport athletes are gone.
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^--- this

Personally, I'm a very very competitive person and would opt for the sport where I'm more likely to excel. In the case of Sprint Football, you really won't know until you get onto the field since much of the team will be folks who "bump down" from the Football team. I've known many Sprint football folks who were high school all conference or better football players but were just a little too small for D1 College Football.
In the case of rifle though, can't you look at the scores of the current team and compare to where you are to see if you'd be able to compete at their level?
As for the physical activity aspect - Rifle team folks can find/make time to work out and get their physical activity in.
 
Rifle has a lot of recruits and a very strong program. Are you being recruited for rifle at the college level? If not, probably not going to happen. You would have to walk in the door day 1 and put up great results. Not work with a great coach for months to see what happens. Sprint football is highly competitive, but its the best bet for walk ons. It has a lot of players who had great high school careers, but 160 lbs at the D1 level is tough. It’s a fast, fun sport.
 
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NavyHoops said:
Rifle has a lot of recruits and a very strong program. Are you being recruited for rifle at the college level? If not, probably not going to happen. You would have to walk in the door day 1 and put up great results. Not work with a great coach for months to see what happens. Sprint football is highly competitive, but its the best bet for walk ons. It has a lot of players who had great high school careers, but 160 lbs at the D1 level is tough. It’s a fast, fun sport.
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Curious on thoughts of DS on sprint football - never heard of it until West Point Interview where it was mentioned. We are from the south and had to Google it.

DS is 6'1" 193ish lbs, started as G & DE, 1st Team all State Offensive Lineman. Clearly he doesn't have the measureables for D1 player and would have to slim down but slimming down wouldn't be much of an issue since he has to try hard to keep his weight in the 190s. Is this the type of player designed for Sprint football? Again, have no experience to know what the culture of sprint football is and what an ideal player looks like.
 
Bduett said:
Curious on thoughts of DS on sprint football - never heard of it until West Point Interview where it was mentioned. We are from the south and had to Google it.

DS is 6'1" 193ish lbs, started as G & DE, 1st Team all State Offensive Lineman. Clearly he doesn't have the measureables for D1 player and would have to slim down but slimming down wouldn't be much of an issue since he has to try hard to keep his weight in the 190s. Is this the type of player designed for Sprint football? Again, have no experience to know what the culture of sprint football is and what an ideal player looks like.
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It is impossible for me to say from what I know at this point but I've known very successful Lightweight (Now called Sprint) Football players who were similar to your son.
 
If I end up earning an appointment, I plan to walk on to the Rugby Team. Those guys are crazy athletic, and I'm not too bad myself All-State/ Region lineman for football and All-Region Keeper in soccer, but they are national champs. But ik by just being on that team I'd get in great shape and get to keep up the physicality I would get in football, so that would be worth it for me lol
 
Bduett said:
Curious on thoughts of DS on sprint football - never heard of it until West Point Interview where it was mentioned. We are from the south and had to Google it.

DS is 6'1" 193ish lbs, started as G & DE, 1st Team all State Offensive Lineman. Clearly he doesn't have the measureables for D1 player and would have to slim down but slimming down wouldn't be much of an issue since he has to try hard to keep his weight in the 190s. Is this the type of player designed for Sprint football? Again, have no experience to know what the culture of sprint football is and what an ideal player looks like.
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A lot of players do drop weight for games. Many Plebes also get into weight lifting too. So it will be a determination if your DS’s priorities, what makes him happy and if he is comfortable dropping weight. Sounds like he is the candidate and in terms of sprint football be a giant on the field! It’s a fun game to watch, super fast. The team is very tight and traditionally produces a lot of Marines.
 
What's the weight limit for Sprint football now ? Back in the day, it was known as "150's Football" and I think the weight was 158 lbs on the Thursday before a Friday game. My youngster year roomates were a a wrestler and a 150's player, imagine how pleasant it was when they were cutting weight !
Bduett said:
Curious on thoughts of DS on sprint football - never heard of it until West Point Interview where it was mentioned
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Sprint Football is pretty limited...I just checked and their are 9 schools that participate. (Back in the day, I think it was 4-5). Football is an expensive when not revenue producing -I've never seen it on TV, and I wouldn't expect stands to be full. That said, its fun to watch (it just seems faster) and a great way for someone who is of the right size to continue to participate.
 
Old Navy BGO said:
What's the weight limit for Sprint football now ? Back in the day, it was known as "150's Football" and I think the weight was 158 lbs on the Thursday before a Friday game. My youngster year roomates were a a wrestler and a 150's player, imagine how pleasant it was when they were cutting weight !

Sprint Football is pretty limited...I just checked and their are 9 schools that participate. (Back in the day, I think it was 4-5). Football is an expensive when not revenue producing -I've never seen it on TV, and I wouldn't expect stands to be full. That said, its fun to watch (it just seems faster) and a great way for someone who is of the right size to continue to participate.
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The weight is 178 lbs or 185 with no less than 5% body fat
 
Old Navy BGO said:
What's the weight limit for Sprint football now ? Back in the day, it was known as "150's Football" and I think the weight was 158 lbs on the Thursday before a Friday game. My youngster year roomates were a a wrestler and a 150's player, imagine how pleasant it was when they were cutting weight !

Sprint Football is pretty limited...I just checked and their are 9 schools that participate. (Back in the day, I think it was 4-5). Football is an expensive when not revenue producing -I've never seen it on TV, and I wouldn't expect stands to be full. That said, its fun to watch (it just seems faster) and a great way for someone who is of the right size to continue to participate.
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I don't know about USNA, but at USMA, Sprint is actually a recruited sport. Not sure how many cadets can recruit. Games are sometimes on TV, ESPN+, Friday nights.
 
at USNA there's a lot of opportunities to try out for teams and I remember sprint being a big walk-on sport. It's definitely possible to get on the sprint football team as long as you show grit and are very fast and fit.
 
CJP said:
Are you able to tryout for multiple sports over plebe summer or during the academic year?

I shoot Rifle, and i also play football but i want to tryout for the USNA sprint football team. I dont really enjoy rifle all that much but it is something that i could 'possibly' grow into because my high school coach is really rude and doesn't know what he's talking about which makes it unenjoyable, and the academy has an olympic shooter as its coach and has genuine experience coaching and shooting. I'm stuck having to choose between spring football, which i would much rather play, and rifle, which i have way more experience in. I want to do a physically active sport but im a little worried i wont be able to make the Sprint football team and i wont have a chance to tryout for rifle as a second option.

Any Advice?
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Plebe summer allows you exposure to many USNA sports. The coaches address all the plebes and they can rotate through their sport choices during daily sports period blocks. Some varsity level sports do let you practice during plebe summer and go through the tryout process at the end of the summer (sprint football, cheer, rugby, crew are all examples). There are many others and also Club level travel teams.

The number of spaces available varies greatly. In the case of sprint football it’s a 65 player/8 coach roster. Last summer, the coach knew he had a lot of seniors, so he brought in 11 freshman- some made roster, the remaining on a practice squad/coaching duties position.

That said, plebe summer is full of exposure to many of the opportunities available and you are given pathways to pursue them. Football was the one sport my son didn’t play, but always wanted to and he walked on during plebe summer.

If you have a favorite pair of cleats, throw them in your backpack on I-Day.
 
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I think you will figure out how you may fit in during PS, when you can experience different sports. My son was not recruited and started working out with the baseball team during PS. He heard from "someone" they wouldn't be taking walk-ons this year, so he went and tried rowing (never tried it before) and posted some ridiculously good time to where he was immediately put with the recruited athletes and was on track to join lightweight crew. Got an email from the baseball coach at the end of PS asking where he was (no phone/computer during summer) and to get to practice. Left rowing team and is now one of the few or only walk-on on the baseball team.

TL;DR son essentially walked on to two varsity sports without being recruited (baseball/rowing) and without any experience whatsoever (rowing).
 
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