A question about sports

Hello. I know this might be a stupid question, but I was wondering if Cross Country is a sport that AFA would appreciate? You see, I'm currently a freshman that's interested in attending AFA but I don't have any sports yet. So right now I'm deciding what sports I should do for next year. I was thinking I could join the local swim team during the summer and then to Cross Country in the school year. Does this sound like a good idea? And does Cross Country do the whole varsity letter thing? Thanks!

 

There is a cross country team if you want to try getting in through that route. Otherwise, they just want to see a good, well-rounded applicant.


Good luck,

 

more than half the wing was on track/cross country in high school. lol

they dont look on it any higher than any other sport.. each school has their own letterman program

 

Thanks for the help you guys! I just don't know much about sports. (Obviously!)

 

Cross country is a valuable sport. You gain a lot of endurance and patience. I currently do Track and I believe it played a major role in my appointment, especially being 2 years varsity and 1 year captain. On the other hand, I have been told that wrestling is a highly favorable sport, so you might want to consider that as well.

 

i do cross country and it completely takes care of the cardio/endurance. also, it really builds character as workouts can be brutal...

like you, i also do swim team during the summer, which is a great all around exercise for sure

do a sport you will enjoy though, otherwise your life will be miserable

 

I recommend soccer instead of cross country, and then indoor+outdoor track. I say this not to insult those that ran cross country, but soccer is really more about the team and not just yourself. I also feel that to be captain of the soccer team would be way more valuable than captain of the cross-country team since, like I said, it's less about yourself.

Oh, and I say join indoor and outdoor track to keep yourself fit throughout the year and that way you will have a much better chance of getting better a soccer + getting that endurance the academies look for. It's like one sport helps all the other ones.
if outdoor track doesn't work out, join the lacrosse team (I heard they like contact sports too).

 

I would recommend endurance sports, especially Cross Country Skiing (although I'm a little biased). Any activity will look good, as long as you keep with it. Chose something you'll enjoy.

 

I agree, it really doesn't matter what sport...

 

As you can tell by the many different responses, there are 2 separate categories when it comes to athletics and the academy.

1) Physical Fitness/Team Attitude
2) IC: Inter-Collegiate Athletics.

The first one doesn't really matter what you do. It could be track, tennis, football, baseball, swimming, wrestling, etc. NONE is more valuable than the other. I believe the number is like 95% of all academy students have a varsity letter from a sport in high school. The academy wants to see that you did a sport for a NUMBER of years. That you wound up on the Varsity team. That you were good enough to get a varsity letter. (Which isn't that hard at most schools). That you have leadership and team attitudes in playing/working with others. And of course, that you are physically fit.

The second category is for recruited athletes who will be looked at to play inter-collegiate representing Air Force against other schools in the country. Not only did you accomplish everything in the first category, but you are considered one of the best at it. You were definitely one of the best on your high school team. In this category, the academy is definitely interested. Some sports more interested than others. Some sports, the academy has a difficult time recruiting for. e.g. fencing, wrestling, gymnastics, water polo, ... Other sports like football, basketball, baseball, track, etc... they get a lot of applicants.

Not just to the OP, but anyone interested; Realize something however if you are interested in playing a sport inter-collegiate for the air force academy. None of the academies GIVE ATHLETIC SCHOLARSHIPS. Any athlete they recruit will still have to meet all the same "minimum requirements" to receive an appointment as anyone else. Also; based on NCAA/NAIA rules, only so many athletes/money can be given athletic scholarships. So if you get recruited on scholarship to the "University of Wherever"; you are on contract and you know college is paid for the next 4-5 years, and you will probably participate because they aren't going to waste money on you if they aren't going to play you. With the academies; they don't give scholarships. Therefor, there is NO LIMIT on how many they can recruit. I.e. A normal college will recruit around 18-20 football players for the team. The air force academy routinely recruits 50-60 football players a year. It is not uncommon for almost HALF of those recruits to NOT be on the team come their 2nd year. They will be cut. You don't lose the academy. You're still a cadet. Just like everyone else. If you're cut from the team, you just won't be playing for them.

I bring this up because there are some athletes that are recruited that were choosing between an athletic scholarship to "XYZ" university and the Air Force Academy. They considered them EQUAL except for the academy being a better school. The difference however is; at the "XYZ" university, you have a 95% chance of staying on the team. Because you are part of a small group and they are PAYING FOR YOU. At the academy; depending on the sport; you could have a 50% chance of not even being on the team after the first year. And you could be cut any time in the 4 years. For those where athletics is very important to them, this can sometimes be very discouraging. There's a lot of athletes recruited to the academies who show up for the first practice after BCT and realize they aren't the only one to be recruited and they aren't as special as they were made to feel. Some of these cadets leave the academy if they get cut from the team. Many stay because the academy means a lot more to them than playing sports. You just need to know that Inter-Collegiate athletes at the academy are a lot different than a normal college.

 

and that's the long answer

 

Now kiddo; did you honestly expect a "Short" answer from me? LOL!!! Mike....

 

Cross Country is great.. for both individual and team... AND if is better for different muscles then soccer..

My daughter played soccer for years, this year she quit soccer and chose to run cross country when she realized she was not "running" prepared for the CGA or the MMA with all the PT they do.... She started running on her own in August... then with a few friends on the team.. her first 5k run wasnt great, BUT after a few more runs and 8 miles each day in practice she had her 5k run down 8 minutes!
She ran her 1 mile CFA in 7.30.

It was a great thing for her that she chose CC over Soccer.

 

I ran track along with soccer, and for my school, track was always the let's-compare-times and I-didn't-make-states-because-i'm-not-fast-enough. It really didn't matter if your team won or not as long as you made it to states. I know that (again, at least at my school and district) it didn't matter whether your team got won the meets as long as your name was highlighted in the papers. Because colleges, coaches, and other students don't look at what teams won, they look at who ran the fastest.

I didn't run cross country (I did indoor and lacrosse), but I'm sure if one guy from a team takes first place with an amazing PR, he's not going to care if the team won or not, he's going to be happy because his name made it in the paper.

I guess soccer could be the same in some ways (I scored more points than you, therefore I'm going to make the papers as MVP) but in order for you to make that shot, someone must have passed it to you unless you made the run all the way across by yourself (something absolutely difficult to do in lacrosse since the rules and the players are different). VSoccer captains were looked up to to lead the team to victory more.

But then I guess this is my biased opinion.

 

I don't think it's better for different muscles than soccer. Soccer needs both upper body and lower body build as well as great stamina to create a proficient player. A soccer player needs quads, gastrocs, hams, and ankle muscles to preven injury from the constant change of direct, kicking the ball better, and sprinting faster. A soccer player needs upper body mass to keep other players from taking the ball. They need stamina, because even though a game is usually 90 minutes with a ten minute break at half, if you ever see a good game, there's rarely anyone standing still. This is why players are often replaced every 15 minutes. Some can't take the running and constant sprinting that long.

Would I be wrong to say that Cross country just needs lower body muscle to run a path?

I think women soccer games are not as intense as men's (at least in high school) even though some chicks are beasts. My girl friend played soccer, ran indoor and will run track this spring (all of that all 4 years). Usually the problem with soccer is that there are also many players in the teams, and the coaches have their favorites. Perhaps your daughter wasn't putting 100% in the games and the coach wasn't putting her in more, or maybe the coach didn't like her (happens to lots of people). Another reason your daughter saw a fast increase in her time was maybe because she played soccer for the season then remained stagnant the remaining of the year leaving her at the same place she was when she started the previous season.

Whatever the case, It worked out for me and after playing soccer I would be more tired and hungry that if I had to run several races in one track meet.

Congratulations to your daughter on her mile time, I guess cross country worked for her. I guess it just depends on what you want to do, and whatever it is you do, to try your best at it.

 

my dd does year round sports..

Summer league basketball, Basketball, Track and field (shot put, discus, javelin and 100 and 200 sprints), weight lifting, soccer and this year cross country..

Cross country taught her some skills she didnt learn previously running short lengths in track or the other sports..
as well as the longer runs certainly helps with endurance.

 

Ah I see now!
Yeah, I don't blame her for switching to cross country to get her stamina. The 100 and 200 sprints need very little endurance. I got put in the 800, 600, and 400 where often I'd have to do up to all three in the same meet.So my options were to either run a lot in practice or get ready to puke after every race. It's not so great freshman year when you start out of shape.

 

How is rugby as a sport? I already do year-round taekwondo and have done nordic (cross country) ski racing for my high school for the last two years. As a spring sport I ran track last year, but I am thinking a team sport would be more fun and a good learning experience. I also noticed that the academy has rugby as an intermural. On the other hand, I don't want to get too injured and disqualified from an appointment next year. Input?

 

Well that figures, a Minnesotan who's biased for winter(y) stuff. There are times I enjoy it, but otherwise, global warming would be great up here!

back to the thread, I'd say cross-country and swimming might be one of the best combinations. Both are cardio but IMO swimming can do more because it works all muscles and it's a little lower impact on the body. Although I'm a little biased with this one because i'm a swimmer/diver.