BGO opinions please

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BGO
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Aug 27, 2014
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Can a couple of BGO's please assist me. I have been contacted by a parent who has a DS , who on paper looks like he would be great candidate for any of the Academies. Good grades, volunteer, will attend Boys State, two sport athlete, etc you get the picture.
(The potential candidate has expressed an interest in attending the academies. IE Applied to summer seminars for USNA, USMA and USAFA.)
However the parent has said DS wishes to quit his spring sport (FR. and SO. letterman and team award winner) The parent is concerned that this may impact his application to the Academies. Candidate states he has just lost the passion for the sport.
What suggestions could you offer on the smatter and how would you suggest I help the parent and more importantly the potential candidate?
 
Not a BGO ... my son got burned out with a sport but stayed with it because he felt like he had a commitment to his teammates who he has played with since fourth grade. Starting captain and very good - team would have suffered.

If he wants to quit, imo that’s ok. Goofing off after school or spending time with a girlfriend shouldn’t be the alternative. Volunteering 2 hours after school every day? Playing another sport? Joining clubs or other activities?

What’s the alternative?
 
Not a BGO here either, but a parent so will put in my 2 cents worth anyway.

The parent is concerned that this may impact his application to the Academies.

It seems as though the parents want the child to do things for the purposes of academy admissions. I think that's not really the right way to look at this.

It's similar to loading up the ECs so as to improve your chances for college admissions.

I would think the right thing to do is to participate in activities because they're fun and you enjoy it. Also, you do it because it helps out other people (eg Habitat for Humanity) and gives you a sense of satisfaction.

My humble opinion is to participate in sports or activities for the sake of college admissions is doing things for the wrong purpose. What happens if he doesn't get in? Then he'll feel like he did the sport for nothing. If he did the sport because he likes it and doesn't get in to an academy, then he won't feel it was a waste of his time... he did something he enjoyed.

Losing passion for a sport (or any activity for that matter) so as good a reason as any to not continue. I would make sure he's truly lost passion for it though. I know a couple girls at my DD's HS who quit cheerleading because they were bullied.
 
Not a BGO. I lost my love for my sport my sophomore year but I continued to play all through high school because I felt I owed it to my companions and teammates. Also, I feel like it can show commitment even if you end up losing love for the activity. I would say it depends on how much he has lost the love for the sport.
 
If he wants to quit, imo that’s ok. Goofing off after school or spending time with a girlfriend shouldn’t be the alternative. Volunteering 2 hours after school every day? Playing another sport? Joining clubs or other activities?

What’s the alternative?

I agree with A1....find another productive activity that will help them grow as a person (sport, club, etc.) and try to take on a leadership role within that activity
 
It's not a sin to lose passion for something that you once like or even loved. People change direction in life, burn out, realize it was never really the passion they thought it was, realize they can't go further in the sport/organization . . . all sorts of things. Most of us BGOs here also preach that you should engage in activities you enjoy, and not participate in things you don't enjoy just to "look good" for SAs or colleges.

I fully agree that what's important is what the young man does instead of his sport. Does he join another sport? Does he add ECAs or become much more involved in one? Does he take on an after-school job? IOW, he wants to be able to say, "I stopped participating in X b/c my heart wasn't in it. I now use the time I previously spent on my sport to do Y" and how Y is beneficial, etc.

I also would counsel him that he should have SOME sport junior and senior year. It's not mandatory, but 90% of successful applicants do a varsity (or equivalent) sport in or out of school. If he already has another sport, then dropping one isn't a huge deal. If no sports, he also needs to be able to discuss with the BGO what he does to maintain his fitness.

Not a good answer to the above would be, "I'm taking the time to focus on my academics." At USNA, you have to do LOTS of stuff beyond academics so USNA wants to see you can balance things in h.s.
 
However the parent has said DS wishes to quit his spring sport (FR. and SO. letterman and team award winner) The parent is concerned that this may impact his application to the Academies. Candidate states he has just lost the passion for the sport

The OP refers to "Spring Sport" ... is Candidate involved in Fall/Winter sports ? Lack of any organized sports would be a concern (you can look at the Class profile and see that athletics is a common factor), but I wouldn't think that dropping one , and picking up another worthy activity, would be that important. I also agree with all the comments about participating just to support the application --participating without 100% commitment usually doesn't fare well, and could have an negative impact itself.
 
I shared the comments with the parent so far. They stated that the prospective candidates answer has been I want to explore other things. They brought up that to join another spring sport this late is not possible at the varsity level of this competitive school. I detect there may be some bullying with the sport. JMO. The prospective candidate told parents he wants to "focus on his academics" and get a 36 on ACT. Has not given them any idea of what his plans are just that he does not want to play the sport. Is doing a winter sport currently. The sport he quit in SO. year to concentrate on the sport he now wishes to quit.
USNA1985 They loved and asked him to answer... "I stopped participating in X b/c my heart wasn't in it. I now use the time I previously spent on my sport to do Y" and how Y is beneficial, etc. but prospective candidate does not have the answer to the "Y" or how "Y" is beneficial.
Thank you for the comments and suggestions I will pass on anything else offered.
 
The prospective candidate told parents he wants to "focus on his academics" and get a 36 on ACT

Well . . . as I mentioned, this may not be the best answer/approach. Since you suggested the young man is a good candidate for a SA, I assume he is doing well academically while active in his sport, which I'll assume took 2-3 hours per day plus maybe some WE time -- probably in excess of 20 hours per week. I strongly suggest he either add something new or increase his efforts in something he's currently doing because at USNA, you have to manage to do it all. Even if you don't play varsity sports, you have club/intramural sports plus all of the mandatory administrative and military stuff and still must do well academically.

If he takes an ACT/SAT prep course and puts in 1-2 hours studying each night specifically for that . . . maybe. But most kids take a course or study on their own PLUS play sports and do ECAs, etc. And there's no guarantee that will garner him a 36 unless he's already pretty close to that (IOW, someone might improve from a 27 to a 31, less likely from a 27 to a 36).

As I said, the question of why he quit his sport will probably come up in the BGO interview (if the BGO is paying attention) or USNA will notice it on his activities record. So he will want to tackle it head on as being a net positive, which is done by moving on from the sport to something else that he enjoys. Saying that he just didn't feel like doing the sport any more and now doesn't do anything specific for all of that time won't be a net positive -- just being honest. IOW, it's one thing to want to do something other than his current spring sport to occupy his time; it's something else just to drop it and do nothing (substantial) in its place.
 
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