Some of this might be dated. I was a wrestler at VMI and my son will enter as a wrestler this fall. The main difference is military duty. Most military duty is after classes and before SRC (Super Roll Call). When you are offseason, you have certain practices but also some military duty. When you are in-season, you have very little military duty. Athletes also miss SRC and dine with their teams after the Corps. You also may do some morning practices that would get you out of Breakfast Roll Call (BRC) formation. Sports is more time consuming than a non-athlete but with military duty and the formation requirements of rats it's not much more. Plus, practice is a good mental break from the hill that the non-athletes don't get. The big issue is missing classes during games, matches, meets, etc. I had some brother rats that were very good wrestlers that chose to do the full ratline instead. Sports was big with me. I wanted to wrestle and see what I could do. I don't regret it but I do think back sometimes. It's all what your son wants. It's a trade off. Athletes definitely miss some of the yelling but also miss out on some neat rat training experiences too. Swimming is tough physically like wrestling, but at least he won't have to cut weight... Good luck!