D1 Team "Walk Ons" for AF cadets?
- Thread starter pv123
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May be due to a concern that a scholarship student may encounter a severe injury playing contact sports. Other than this concern - participation on organized athletic teams typically results in better academic results, and fewer problems outside of class. It gives the students more structure, and more support from upper class and adult mentors. It would seem even more important at a large university where students can easily be lost and subject to peer pressure to do stupid things.
Thunderbolt462
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Because Academy Athletics and the Cadet Wing fall under the same organizational structure and thus can coordinate their activities. If the football team has an away game and thus misses a mandatory training event, the Academy creates a special session for every Cadet on the team to make it up. University athletics and ROTC don't have that coordination. If you have to miss a month of practices for LEAD, then too bad. You're not gonna be a starter. Gotta miss LLAB for weights? Too bad again. You're going to LLAB. Unless you're a star on the team despite constantly missing practice for ROTC no coach is going to keep you. It happened to two cadets in my det, both of whom walked on their respective D1 sports teams but were cut after one season.
Pima
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I am going to go with the injury route, especially if the det. CoC is a rated officer. They know all too well the perils of any injury.
Let's say your AS100 yr goes fine, you are not an AFROTC scholarship cadet. AS 200 rolls around and assume you are on the swim team (non-contact sport), but you have now pulled out your rotator cuff and will require surgery, which means you may be medically DQ for SFT aka LEAD. That places the cadet in a precarious situation....can't be a POC without SFT.
Now let's say you want to go rated. You play soccer. Your AS 300 yr is just like your AS200 year. Boards and medical clearance. Repeat the scenario as above, however for rated they go to WPAFB for an FAA FC1 physical. Hard to be cleared if you are in a cast with pins in your ankle until you are out of the cast and cleared medically for the DoDMERB level.
I always ask this, which one do you want more...serve in the military or play a sport? I am not saying you can't do both. I am saying that on this site, especially on the SA side we jokingly say to posters when they get their appointment to wrap the appointee in bubble wrap. There have been many cadets that play spring sports and get injured, making them a medical turnback, thus which one do you want in the end. Is the risk worth the reward when you are in college.
Let's say your AS100 yr goes fine, you are not an AFROTC scholarship cadet. AS 200 rolls around and assume you are on the swim team (non-contact sport), but you have now pulled out your rotator cuff and will require surgery, which means you may be medically DQ for SFT aka LEAD. That places the cadet in a precarious situation....can't be a POC without SFT.
Now let's say you want to go rated. You play soccer. Your AS 300 yr is just like your AS200 year. Boards and medical clearance. Repeat the scenario as above, however for rated they go to WPAFB for an FAA FC1 physical. Hard to be cleared if you are in a cast with pins in your ankle until you are out of the cast and cleared medically for the DoDMERB level.
I always ask this, which one do you want more...serve in the military or play a sport? I am not saying you can't do both. I am saying that on this site, especially on the SA side we jokingly say to posters when they get their appointment to wrap the appointee in bubble wrap. There have been many cadets that play spring sports and get injured, making them a medical turnback, thus which one do you want in the end. Is the risk worth the reward when you are in college.
If playing a sport is important to you, you may want to consider a D3 school. The time commitment is generally less than what you find in a D1 school. There are 2 AROTC and 1 AFROTC athletes on my DS's swim team (D3). The coach understands the ROTC commitments for these swimmers. Yes, DS has missed a swim meet for AROTC, but he has also been excused from an AROTC event so he could swim at the conference championships.