Is one sport better than another?

[SoonerSteve]

The last thing I want to do is start a debate about whether tennis is better than swimming or whatever. I am curious though if one sport carries more weight on an application than another. For example, would a football team captain add more weight to an application over a cross country team captain? Please understand that I'm not picking on cross country athletes, this is just an example.

 

[stella]

Teamwork

A BGO told our kids that team sports that require endurance were ideal, in HIS view. Reasoning: You need to show that you can be part of a team and that you can lead a team (cpt.) and excel in a team enviornment (varsity letter) as all of these skills are part of SA life and beyond. The endurance for obvious reasons as the SAs are highly physical. So, he recommended sports like football, basketball, soccer over tennis, golf and wrestling. Swimming and cross country great ones for endurance, but be sure that you are getting the 'working as a team' aspect via another avenue (i.e. scouts or band leadership, for instance) or via relays in swimming.

Obviously, he suggested they go with their interests and strengths...but IF a choice were to be made look to be part of a team, to push your physical endurance and to start early and grow with the team with hopes to lead at a some point. Doing martial arts or fencing are great, but look also for 'team' opportunties and work on your endurance with running.

Our dd's friend played football for years but was on the bench by sophomore year. He decided to swtich to cross country to work on endurance and felt he had ample leadership and team work via his Eagle Scout. I believe he now has an appointment to West Point.

Not sure how accurate the BGO information is. He did not 'put down' any sport but did give insight into the importance of endurance, leadership, team work in whatever you do.

S

 

[SoonerSteve]

The team sport thing would make perfect sense. Thanks for the information.

 

[christiano241]

Cross Country would be the ideal pick in my mind. Individually, everyone is striving for their best time, but the team cannot prevail with merely one individual. In this way the sport is ideal because individual competition AND a team dynamic are crucial to victory. It's also rewarding mentally and physically, builds up massive endurance, and will give you friends for life aka your team. And I'm not just saying this because it's my sport

--AL Cross Country 6A State Champion team (for life), 4 letters, team captain

 

[BigNick]

All are good, but the best are team sports that involve combat-like activities. I would say that football is held in the highest regard with wrestling a close second. Over the years, I have noticed that - in general with some exceptions - wrestlers and football players usually have the least trouble with the physical aspects of Beast Barracks and West Point. Just my opinion.

 

[RSR]

I would agree with Nick, my DS (class of 2016) was told and noticed basically the same thing. Although being a captain of any team sport will help your application and overall score. I remember the anxiety we went through last year stalking the mailman. We thought that we had it hard but it seems that this year the wait and competition is even harder. At least my DS had received his BFE in early January (January 3rd) so he had some time to relax and enjoy the rest of his senior year. Good luck to all of you!

 

[wnal0311]

Do a sport that you will be good at. You'll have a better shot at getting a leadership position within a sport that you are one of the top players. Not trying to bag on cross country, but cross country requires the least skill to be good at. For example, most high school soccer players have been playing club soccer since they were little so if you don't have any experience, it would be hard making the team and becoming a key player. But cross country on the hand, many cross country guys who are good that I know of only started running in high school or late middle school. Not to mention the fact that you just have to be dedicated and run alot which will get you better while you cant really practice soccer too much by yourself.

honestly I would say pick a sport your going to enjoy, but if your doing it to get more points for West Point, be smart and pick a sport that you will have a better chance of becoming a key player at because that will give you some advantage to become a teammate that others respect giving you that leadership position. But I also have heard that WP generally favors "combat sports".