Cadet for a Day

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Northwoods

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Oct 27, 2023
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I don't see any upcoming sessions on the website. How often do they hold CFAD sessions? Last one was Nov 30-Dec 1.

Looks like DS might not get to go to an athletic recruiting visit mid-Feb. Sounded like that was already full. And they probably give priority to football and basketball over track/cross country.

Bears Days are Feb 26 and March 18 (and Jan 29 but that won't work for us).

Should we sign up for Bears Day or hold out for a CFAD session?
 
Northwoods said:
I don't see any upcoming sessions on the website. How often do they hold CFAD sessions? Last one was Nov 30-Dec 1.

Looks like DS might not get to go to an athletic recruiting visit mid-Feb. Sounded like that was already full. And they probably give priority to football and basketball over track/cross country.

Bears Days are Feb 26 and March 18 (and Jan 29 but that won't work for us).

Should we sign up for Bears Day or hold out for a CFAD session?
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Your son could reach out to their coach or their AO to ask about upcoming CFAD. I know the Academy usually holds accepted student overnights in the spring, so might not have regular CFAD events. Is your son a Junior or Senior? If he is a Junior, then I would recommend applying for AIM or CFAD in the early fall.
 
Northwoods said:
I don't see any upcoming sessions on the website. How often do they hold CFAD sessions? Last one was Nov 30-Dec 1.

Looks like DS might not get to go to an athletic recruiting visit mid-Feb. Sounded like that was already full. And they probably give priority to football and basketball over track/cross country.

Bears Days are Feb 26 and March 18 (and Jan 29 but that won't work for us).

Should we sign up for Bears Day or hold out for a CFAD session?
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Bears day is a nice event. It’s the same basic thing but a little condensed and no overnight. If he gets accepted to AIM, he’ll get plenty of overnight experience. 😆. They have a nice parent track at Bears Day too.

My daughter did a Bears Day in late March of her Jr year in 2022. She also coordinated a coach meeting the afternoon prior to Bears day. The timing worked out great because her and the coach hit it off, he asked if she was applying to AIM, and offered to advocate for her. I think if a coach says they want to see a kid at AIM, it carries a little weight.

So even if he doesn’t make a full blown recruiting weekend, this is another option to get some coach exposure.

At the end of the day, attending any event is important for demonstrated interest, and it means even more if you’re traveling from far away.
 
He's a junior. Definitely going to apply to AIM (that opens Feb 1).

Sounds like the athletic department will decide early next week who to invite. He had a long chat with the track coach today. They're only inviting 20 athletes and it's likely (my personal opinion) they'll focus on football and basketball players over runners/jumpers.

If they're unlikely to run a CFAD this spring it sounds like a Bears Day might be the best bet if he doesn't get the invite to the athlete visit.
 
There are some advantages to being a track / XC over some other sports when it comes to getting coaches to take notice. How fast can the kid get to the finish line? Or what are the distances of throws, jumps, vaults? It’s all about the numbers. Look at the T&F / XC web page to look over results from last season. See how your kid would compare. Make sure the USCGA coaches know what your kid can do. Again, it’s all about the stopwatch and tape measure.
 
Less likely as a junior, but you could always reach out to the coach and see if an individual overnight could be arranged if the other dates don't work. Your son wouldn't get the briefings (and there would be nothing arranged for parents), but if the main point is for him to get a taste of Academy life, he might still be able to shadow a cadet and stay overnight in the Chase Hall.
 
Iwutke said:
There are some advantages to being a track / XC over some other sports when it comes to getting coaches to take notice. How fast can the kid get to the finish line? Or what are the distances of throws, jumps, vaults? It’s all about the numbers. Look at the T&F / XC web page to look over results from last season. See how your kid would compare. Make sure the USCGA coaches know what your kid can do. Again, it’s all about the stopwatch and tape memeasure.
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We live in the most competitive district in WA for high school runners, and he's not been good enough, yet, to make it to State for cross country. Which is too bad. He'd be a solid mid-pack runner at State we lived in another district where would easily qualify. His 5k PR is 17:20. It's hard to compare those times to other runners though because the course, weather, even who else is running can heavily affect times. But in our district he'd need like a 16:10 to qualify for State.

His goal is to qualify for State with pole vault this spring. He's being coached by the same guy that coaches the Moll twins. Plus he's attending a clinic locally that specializes in preparing high school athletes for competing in college and maximizing their potential.

The CGA track and field coach did say he'd need to do more than just pole vault if goes to the academy. High, long, and/or triple jump were suggested events. Nominally he'd probably prefer long distance running but the training for pole vault is too different and the 3200m is usually at the time as vault at our meets.
 
Northwoods said:
We live in the most competitive district in WA for high school runners, and he's not been good enough, yet, to make it to State for cross country. Which is too bad. He'd be a solid mid-pack runner at State we lived in another district where would easily qualify. His 5k PR is 17:20. It's hard to compare those times to other runners though because the course, weather, even who else is running can heavily affect times. But in our district he'd need like a 16:10 to qualify for State.

His goal is to qualify for State with pole vault this spring. He's being coached by the same guy that coaches the Moll twins. Plus he's attending a clinic locally that specializes in preparing high school athletes for competing in college and maximizing their potential.

The CGA track and field coach did say he'd need to do more than just pole vault if goes to the academy. High, long, and/or triple jump were suggested events. Nominally he'd probably prefer long distance running but the training for pole vault is too different and the 3200m is usually at the time as vault at our meets.
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What I meant was to compare his current times to current Coast Guard times. Whether he advances to the state meet in HS is irrelevant. Coast Guard runs mostly 8K for XC. Conference meet Fall 23 the CGA #6 runner was about 28:10. A 5K 17:20 is in the ballpark, but not quite there, yet. Look at CGA pole vault results and jumping results during Spring 23 meets. Can your kid do similar in 2-3 years? Or can he do it now? Those are goals to shoot for.
 
Northwoods said:
We live in the most competitive district in WA for high school runners, and he's not been good enough, yet, to make it to State for cross country. Which is too bad. He'd be a solid mid-pack runner at State we lived in another district where would easily qualify. His 5k PR is 17:20. It's hard to compare those times to other runners though because the course, weather, even who else is running can heavily affect times. But in our district he'd need like a 16:10 to qualify for State.

His goal is to qualify for State with pole vault this spring. He's being coached by the same guy that coaches the Moll twins. Plus he's attending a clinic locally that specializes in preparing high school athletes for competing in college and maximizing their potential.

The CGA track and field coach did say he'd need to do more than just pole vault if goes to the academy. High, long, and/or triple jump were suggested events. Nominally he'd probably prefer long distance running but the training for pole vault is too different and the 3200m is usually at the time as vault at our meets.
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Just saw that in the first indoor meet a year ago (Jan. 23), CGA had two freshman both vault 14-1.25” to finish 1-2 in the meet. Just something you can use for comparison.
 
Iwutke said:
Just saw that in the first indoor meet a year ago (Jan. 23), CGA had two freshman both vault 14-1.25” to finish 1-2 in the meet. Just something you can use for comparison.
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His PR is 13' right now. His coach thinks 14'+ is likely by the end if the spring track season. So I think he would be right there or ahead of those guys on an age matched level.

Really hard to say how his running times will improve. This past fall they didn't improve much but he also dealt with a concussion that sidelined him for most of a month during cross season. He'll be targeting sub-16:30's for sure for his senior year. Whether he achieves that is another matter.
 
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