Navy Sports?

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abrams

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It's a little confusing the way the sports work @ the NA to me. so if you play a varsity sport do you need to play other club sports or something in the off-season? or do you condition/lift/practice with that team all year long?

and for offshore and IC sailing how selective are the teams? cause i love sailing but don't have much experiance @ all with it but i'd love to do it if i went there
 
Someone will answer you re: sailing, but I can tell you that Mids who participate in varsity sport don't have to do a club sport, and probably don't have time for one. My son is a 3/c on the USNA crew, and he practices all year (and works out in the weight room, etc.). In addition, Mids take PE classes which rotate through various sports. Everyone is tested for swimming multiple times, and I believe takes swim classes to improve skills.
 
typically, to play varsity sports at the academies you have to be recruited to the team, and once your a recruited athlete, your life is dedicated to that sport so there's no time for much else. As a swimmer i'm looking into banking 20 hours of training per week for the academies which is the ncaa limit, so as you can see your pretty busy.

BUT recruited varsity athletes at the academies undoubtedly do receive some 'priveledges' that are pretty worthwile
one example is freshman athletes at Annapolis don't have to 'chop' or run to everywhere they need to go, and they also get to sit with their team which means they're not going to have to know their 'knowledge' which is wonderful thing
 
how many of varsity players "walk on" for lacrosse? for IC and OS sailing?
 
Harrison, are you @ USNA now? Something like 35% of the Mids play a varsity sport, so athletes are not so different from peers. Recruit -v- walk-on depends on the sport. There's an NCAA limit on how many recruited athletes a school can have (25%?), so around a third of the athletes walked-on.
There are privileges to athletics, but no chopping? My Mid chopped through his plebe year w/ his classmates, though not @ practice.
 
NorthernCalMother said:
There's an NCAA limit on how many recruited athletes a school can have (25%?), so around a third of the athletes walked-on.
Click to expand...
25% limit for the entire academy or 25% on each team?
if the former, then these athletes are prob concentrated into certain teams?
 
Many if the Teams have walk-ons, Crew, XC, Offshore sailing, even swimming. Not all varsity Athletes eat at the varsity tables. A varsity athlete will still be rated by the upper class, have to know their professional knowledge and still chop in the Hall.

Any Athlete who goes to USNA thinking that they will be "protected" plebes will be in for a rude awakening.
 
indeed, but its true that the experience is different then that of non-varsity athletes. another example is that due to practice schedules, cadets and midshipmen are sometimes excused from certain parades and marches. considering they're working to be at their best to represent their academy in the field of division I sports, i don't see whats wrong with some of these special priveledges
 
Everyone has different experiences depending at which activities one participates in, and remember Everyone participates in something be it Intramural, club, varsity sports; EC's, academic EC's etc. It is when one expects to get privileges based on being a varsity athlete that one will find a tough road. What happens when you think you are being protected and never participate with your company mates - your company ranking will be compromised and that will hurt your OOM. That kind of attitude will not get you very far in the Company or Brigade.
 
OOM? :confused:

Interesting conversation... what 'privileges' do Varsity athletes get then?
Are there non-Varsity teams that are "above" club sports?
 
Katienavy

Every Semester we get an Order of Merit. The over all order of merit (OOM) takes into account academics, military aptitude, conduct, PE, Athletics & EC participation and a rating by your company mates and company officer. You also have a separate Academic Order of Merit which is based on grades, and a Military Order Of Merit.

Yah Varsity Athletes, in season do get a few perks but really not that many. In my company they still chop in the Hall. Dont go thinking that if you can make a varsity team or are recruited that it is going to get you out of being a Plebe. LOL!

Some teams have JV squads. Club sports compete against other colleges. Intramurals compete within the Brigade.
 
OOM = Order of Merit.
It's a Mid's class rank. Someone will have to remind me how it's computed -- academics plus professional (military) knowledge, performance w/in company, and ... ?

Don't know if there's a pecking order among non-varsity athletics.
 
OOM, from my recollection at USNA, is calculated from academic scores, physical fitness scores (physical readiness tests), military performance (company grades) and can be adversely affected by demerits awarded for conduct or honor infractions.
OOM becomes very important senior year when class standing is used to start handing out service selections and assignments. The basic goal is to be high enough in the class that it helps get you get what you want and are cleared for physically. Service selection is Navy air, surface, etc., or Marine. Service assignment is flight school or TBS class date, ship/homeport, etc.
Had one of the "sponsor sons" pass through the family a few years back. Stood in the top 25% of the class, looking good for aviation, then stepped in it big time and racked up demerits, plunging him way down in the class. He did not get selected for aviation but powered on and is a successful surface warfare officer. Learned a lot from the 2nd and 3rd order consequences of his mistake.
 
For those of you reading this, as a current plebe at the academy i can tell you that varsity athletes who think they are too good for the plebe stuff, that is chopping, knowing their rates, basically being plebes are the ones who are hated the most by their own classmates and get into the most trouble. Yes they don't have to go to squad tables, but they still have the chop.

Also, there is no leniency given to these varsity athletes, they get into conduct or honor action it gets sent all the way up because no one likes varsity athletes who come only to play a sport. As my LT put it, "I didn't throw any touchdown passes in Iraq", once you leave the academy your sport doesn't mean anything.
 
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