Many of those D1 athletes that eat up the enrolling classes are also great students that finish top of their class at USNA.
Well said. Many athletes are on Supe’s List, Dean’s List, etc. and have excellent past history on their applications in all desirable areas.
One of our current sponsor family, a recruited athlete, has earned a stellar GPA every semester to date, plus As in military aptitude (difficult for varsity athletes because of away-from-company time and the occasional choice of some to lump all athletes together in a negative stereotype - this person invested time in company and showed up) and some other top-of-pack accomplishments that would likely make them identifiable.
I would gladly let varsity athletes like these into the class every time if I had the magic wand. They bring expertise and high performance in an area associated with many attributes of high-performing leaders, and clearly had the academic and military chops to make it through. They brought all their skills to the table as military leaders in the combat zone and paid the ultimate price for serving.
When best friends Travis Manion and Brendan Looney died defending their country, their families honored their unbreakable bond in the most profound of ways: by
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And Becky Dowling Calder, women’s basketball captain both as a 2/C and 1/C, winner of the ADM Larson Leadership Award, outstanding in academics and all-around midshipman performance. One of the best games I saw her play, delivering amazing stats, she played sick, with a fever, pushing herself through because she knew, as an athlete, what her body could take, and put her team first.
In 2002, on her first combat deployment during Operation Enduring Freedom, Cmdr. Becky Calder, née Dowling, flew her F/A-18 Hornet over Afghanistan on a challenging mission. When friendly forces on the ground were ambushed; Calder and her wingman were tasked with supporting them in the air.It...
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There is room for all kinds of skill sets in the class. There is an affinity between military leadership and many of the traits needed to excel as athletes. Others gain the same skills outside athletic endeavors, which enriches the class just as well.
Of course, there are poor-performing mids among the varsity athlete population, just as there are among the non-athlete population. They should be considered as individual cases, not necessarily as a representative of a group.