Hello! So, I know at the USNA, all midshipmen are expected to participate in a sport (varsity, club, or intramural). I was wondering what type of people generally participate in the club sports. Let's say I wanted to try something new like boxing or fencing, would I have to have prior experience or are the coaches used to people new to the sport coming on? Thank you!
Clubs at USNA
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navy2022VA
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I have heard of mids at USNA with no prior experience joining varsity sports as a walk on
There are not a lot of Mids who walk on to varsity sports. Crew is one of the exceptions in this area. It does happen a lot at the club level in certain sports. Rugby and boxing are club sports that have a lot of athletes that have never competed.
My DD is participating in the fencing club. She had never done it before and loves competing. My other DD is in Drum and Bugle and played a string instrument since grade 4. She loves playing in the band-playing a new instrument. So, there are many opportunities to try new things. The quality of instruction, as most folks know, is incredibly impressive.
usnavynurse
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Besides Varsity teams sports, club team sports and intramurals there are many different clubs that Mids can join, some have try-outs some don't. My son just made the SOT - Special Operations Team, it was a week long try-out, highly selective. He also belongs to the scuba club and mountaineering club. Seems like there is something for every interest.
usnavynurse
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This is what is on the USNA website:
Special Operations Team
Our Mission: The mission of SOT is to conduct discussions and workouts in a team setting to better prepare midshipmen for the mental and physical rigors of future careers in a manner which exhibits quiet professionalism.
My son tells me they meet everyday (M-F) for 2+hrs and do training exercises, work-outs etc. On Sundays they do a swim. They also take trips and do training exercises in different environments. There are a total of about 50 members. (plebe - firstie)
Old Navy BGO
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There are several sports where no experience is necessary, and even where experience can be a hindrance...For example, with rifle the kid that has been shooting and around guns his whole life have to unlearn bad habits. I think Crew is another where they have always recruited the tall lanky athletic kids that have never rowed before, and many have turned into world class athletes. Club sports run the gamut...some of the club sports are every bit as competitive and time consuming as Varsity sports, and sometimes its hard to tell the difference. For example, in my time, Rugby and Hockey retained club status -- I don't know if they still do. Rumor was that the Rugger's wanted to stay independent of NCAA and NAAA , in part because off the great parties they had on Hospital Point after games.
pilot2b
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I'm forgetting the specifics, but I believe there might be an issue with the rugby team going varsity in part because despite the Men's Rugby team competing against some of the best teams in the country, the Women's Rugby team is not of the same caliber. Title IX, etc. Every club team, rugby included, hopes to attain good O-reps (officers who represent the team to the academy) who are well-placed and have the ear of the Dant, Supe, and others as well, which can affect things such as club status.
When I was at USNA the women’s rugby team was much better than the men’s. How times and teams have changed! Agree with things stated here. Club hockey and rugby acruallu have several teams. Rugby has many new comers who have never played. They start with basics and learn the game. Hockey I think had 3 teams when I was there. Crew starts out with tons and tons of Plebes. Work outs and time commitment sort of create a natural attrition and thin out the team. There will be exposure to a lot of the clubs and activities from upper class, other Plebes and open houses. Go explore them and have an open mind. You might surprise yourself what catches your attention.
I met my daughter (class of 2019) in Dahlgren last week for a quick dinner as I was bringing her a few things from home. The fencing club was there training. I watched while I waited on my DD. The fencers were impressive and looked like they were having a blast! My daughter is on the endurance team, and loves it.
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There's still 3 hockey teams. Men have a D1 and D2 team. The women's team just became a club in 2015, prior to that they were considered an "ECA." From what I was always told, a major part of USNA hockey never becoming NCAA is due to the facilities. Not big enough to support that.
College hockey is an odd thing compared to other NCAA sports. For hockey, most of the top players will play Tier I or Tier II juniors (under 21 league) for two years after high school. This is where NCAA teams recruit from. Tier III junior hockey is weak, and only a handful go to NCAA from that level, while several will go to ACHA D1 schools. That's why the freshman on the West Point and Air Force hockey teams are 21. It's almost impossible to play Tier I or Tier II juniors and go to college at the same time. Not only is it tough to fit enough classes in on Monday through Thursdays with mid-day practices, but there is a chance you can get traded to another team in another city. Frankly, I'm not sure how those players would get through admissions after being out of high school for two years with little/no college experience, but West Point and Air Force seem to get it done. But USNA's ACHA D1 hockey is pretty close to NCAA D3 hockey, so it's good hockey and fun to watch. Their home games are posted on Youtube.
Another thing to consider, as another poster pointed out, teams in ACHA are able to avoid Title IX issues, since it's a club sport in that league. I think the only issue with the seating capacity of the arena is that it needs to have enough seats to sell to support the program at the NCAA level (admittedly, I'm really not sure what that means for USNA). I may be wrong, but I don't think the NCAA has a stadium size requirement. West Point has a sizable arena that holds around 2,500, compared to USNA holding around 700. I haven't been inside the arena, so I don't know how much additional seating you can get from expanding the bleachers. Robert Morris (NCAA D1) has a small arena with about 1,500 seats. I'm sure USNA could rebuild the bleachers to support that level inside the arena.
Another thing to consider, as another poster pointed out, teams in ACHA are able to avoid Title IX issues, since it's a club sport in that league. I think the only issue with the seating capacity of the arena is that it needs to have enough seats to sell to support the program at the NCAA level (admittedly, I'm really not sure what that means for USNA). I may be wrong, but I don't think the NCAA has a stadium size requirement. West Point has a sizable arena that holds around 2,500, compared to USNA holding around 700. I haven't been inside the arena, so I don't know how much additional seating you can get from expanding the bleachers. Robert Morris (NCAA D1) has a small arena with about 1,500 seats. I'm sure USNA could rebuild the bleachers to support that level inside the arena.