Sport Recruitment

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Peeki_the_chicken

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Um... So I am new to a lot of this and still figuring out how everything works... but if you are applying to USNA and are very athletic, playing three sports and and competing at states in all three etc., should I be contacting coaches? I keep seeing posts about recruitment. Is recruitment for a sport necessary or helpful for admission? Am I even good enough to compete on a Varsity team? And how do I get recruited if I should be trying to...?
 
Are you being recruited by other colleges? Do you want to play a college sport? It is not required to play a D1 sport at USNA. If you are not being recruited for your sport by even DII schools, the chances you will make the cut at USNA are slim. And the level of effort, time, energy, etc required at a DI sport is immense. If you think you can play at the DI level and want to fill out the form on the Navy Sports website for potential student athletes. It can be helpful for some recruits. There are lots of older threads on this topic, recommend you use the search function about recruiting to understand how it works. Overall it works like any other school in the sense that you ‘recruited’ can me many things from you are the number athlete they want this year to if you get in on your own, you can come out for the team.
 
@NavyHoops offers excellent advice, as she was a recruited athlete herself.

Here’s one link:
https://www.usna.edu/Admissions/Sports-Instructions.php

https://navysports.com/sb_output.aspx?form=9
(Sample form for squash)

The independent organization, Naval Academy Athletic Assn (NAAA) oversees NCAA D1 and club sports activities at USAA.
Their website is www.navysports.com
That is where you can find coaches’ contact information.

If you haven’t yet read every page, link and dropdown and hamburger menu item on www.usna.edu I strongly recommend it.

Most USNA midshipmen played organized sports of some kind, which is valued not just for the physical training aspects, but for the leadership, teamwork, mental focus, discipline, performance under pressure and time management skills involved. Once at USNA, some are skilled enough to continue playing at the D1 level. But it’s not required! Everyone else plays club sports and intramurals. Team sports can still be part of your life, or you can try something new. Lighter HS footballers go out for sprint football or rugby, etc.

During Plebe Summer, there will be tryouts for walk-on opportunities.

You can research Navy sports team past performances and stats to see if you are competitive. You can contact the coaching staff.

Yes, being a recruited athlete is one path, but it’s simply a variation on the main path everyone must travel: application, test scores, transcripts, teacher evaluations, essays, various nomination processes.
 
NavyHoops said:
Are you being recruited by other colleges? Do you want to play a college sport? It is not required to play a D1 sport at USNA. If you are not being recruited for your sport by even DII schools, the chances you will make the cut at USNA are slim. And the level of effort, time, energy, etc required at a DI sport is immense. If you think you can play at the DI level and want to fill out the form on the Navy Sports website for potential student athletes. It can be helpful for some recruits. There are lots of older threads on this topic, recommend you use the search function about recruiting to understand how it works. Overall it works like any other school in the sense that you ‘recruited’ can me many things from you are the number athlete they want this year to if you get in on your own, you can come out for the team.
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Yes, I am being recruited by D1 schools and am planning on running or swimming in college. Thank you for the info!
 
What is your interest in USNA? No need to answer, but make sure your motives for applying are to serve as that’s what you will ultimately do. It kind of sounds like the sport is coming after your interest to serve and apply, but not sure from your post.

The challenges and sacrifices of a varsity sport, at a service academy, are unique. There are benefits to being on a varsity team. There are also downfalls. Additionally, even if you are on a team, you can be cut. Any of the years. Everyone is on a ‘scholarship’ so a SA doesn’t necessarily have the same rules for athletes as ‘normal’ colleges.

TONS of info, as already stated. But ‘recruiting’ to a SA for an athlete is different than for a regular college. And to your point about 3 varsity sports...that’s a good percentage of applicants to a SA. These kids are all very competitive, athletic achievers. The competition is fierce!

Good luck to you!
 
DD's plan A was always to achieve an appointment to Annapolis AND to compete on it's intercollegiate team. Plan B was to earn appointments to USAFA, USCGA, or USMA AND compete for one of them. Her love of her sport was always a factor in her consideration of college choices. When putting together her list of plan C schools, it was based on a combination of academic reputation and the strength of their athletic team. She wanted a top tier STEM school and a solid, but not top 10 athletic program.

She was good enough to compete for many D1 schools and was recruited by a number of them, but none of those schools met her criteria. She was not actively recruited by any of the SA's. In her particular sport, Navy has the strongest team of the academies, so she knew it was going to be a reach.

During the course of compiling and submitting her applications, she emailed all 4 coaches and expressed her desire to compete for them. She received positive responses from every coach, EXCEPT Navy. As a result, she resigned herself to the fact that competing there was not an option and moved one of the other academies to the top of her list.

Time rolls by, all SA applications are submitted, all nomination source applications are submitted and interviews completed (with appointment preference stated). Luckily, she received competitive nominations to each academy.

Then, seemingly out of the blue, the Navy coach contacts her. He had waited to review her completed application. Based on the strength of her overall profile, not just her athletic prowess, he offered her a recruiting trip and a spot on the team. While he did not use one of his slots to advocate to Admissions for her, he was confident she would receive an offer of appointment. Which she did.

Fast forward 8 months and she has just finished up six week exams and is deep into training with the team.

The moral of the story is that if you don't try, you won't succeed. Go ahead and reach out to the coaches. You might be pleasantly rewarded for your audacity.
 
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Being an athlete at a SA is not for the faint of heart. Yes, there are advantages. Team tables, trips that take you a way from the yard, team mates to lean on, missed drill and some other items. What others don’t see is the day after Christmas when we are back at it (if in season), practice on Thanksgiving morning, missing the first three weeks of a class when you have no idea what is going on, arriving back at the yard at 2 am and being in first period like everyone else. Every sport has its own demands, some more than others. It’s also important to note there are more former athlete in the brigade than active athletes. My class started with 9 and had 3 play 4 years. The football team starts with around 75 freshman each year and has around 25-35 finish after 4 years. I had my ups and downs as an athlete. It wasn’t always fun. Missing nearly all leave periods, my body hurting (sometimes badly), trying to do well academically. It’s a lot. But I contribute my success today to what I learned those 4 years. It becomes a balance of what is important to you.
 
DD has found her club sport to be the perfect balance. Not as demanding as the varsity commitment, more disciplined than the intramural options. Practice is only a couple hours a day, but the away games are time-consuming. Though she has more study time and free time than D1 athletes, she still must navigate a packed schedule. The point: While the glamor and romance of being a varsity athlete can be enticing, a lower-level athletic option may lend itself to a more manageable, more enjoyable academy experience.
 
NavyHoops said:
Being an athlete at a SA is not for the faint of heart. Yes, there are advantages. Team tables, trips that take you a way from the yard, team mates to lean on, missed drill and some other items. What others don’t see is the day after Christmas when we are back at it (if in season), practice on Thanksgiving morning, missing the first three weeks of a class when you have no idea what is going on, arriving back at the yard at 2 am and being in first period like everyone else. Every sport has its own demands, some more than others. It’s also important to note there are more former athlete in the brigade than active athletes. My class started with 9 and had 3 play 4 years. The football team starts with around 75 freshman each year and has around 25-35 finish after 4 years. I had my ups and downs as an athlete. It wasn’t always fun. Missing nearly all leave periods, my body hurting (sometimes badly), trying to do well academically. It’s a lot. But I contribute my success today to what I learned those 4 years. It becomes a balance of what is important to you.
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This pretty much nails it. To be honest, I ended up with a closer relationship with my varsity teammates than with many of my companymates which is only now, after 40 some years changing to the point where I see my companymates more than my teammates.
With teammates, I find that the bonds are across class years to include all the classes that I intersected with and even a few from classes a little outside that (so teammates who started at USNA after I graduated) while with companymates, the bonds seem to be largely just my class year.
We also saw a pretty big reduction in numbers during our four years and some of the people who moved off of the team were pretty strong competitors so it was definitely choices regarding academics and free time.
 
MidCakePa said:
DD has found her club sport to be the perfect balance. Not as demanding as the varsity commitment, more disciplined than the intramural options. Practice is only a couple hours a day, but the away games are time-consuming. Though she has more study time and free time than D1 athletes, she still must navigate a packed schedule. The point: While the glamor and romance of being a varsity athlete can be enticing, a lower-level athletic option may lend itself to a more manageable, more enjoyable academy experience.
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Nothing wrong with playing club sports especially somewhere like the SAs. DD has several friends that play D1 in Big Ten schools and it is a job for them. It seems that the club sports at Navy are pretty good.
 
The other thing about all this, is that the athlete can choose to leave the team should they find themselves overloaded, having to make choices. Not the case at regular college for an athlete on scholarship. They cannot quit and still maintain their scholarship.
 
Being a D1 athlete is a full time job. When I was at USNA max hours of practice was 25 hours a week by NCAA rules. Throw in 2 games a week... that is a minimum of 31 hours. Throw in pre game walk through... 33 hours. Throw in training room time... 5-6 a week. This doesn’t include early warm ups, dressing out for the game, post game media, showers, and another cold pizza for dinner. If you are hurt... that can easily increase to 10 hours or even more. There were times I was hurt doing 3 a day treatments that were easily 15 hours a week. Throw in extra film, extra weight room time, oh good I am in a shooting slump... another few hours a week. This doesn’t include time on a bus or plane. If we had two away games during the same week, we could easily be spending 50-60 hours on your sport. It is a full time job just as it is for the coaches. If you think about it, coaches feed their families by a bunch of 18-22 year old young adults. Their jobs depend on our performance. Many get to the D1 level and honestly the feast or famine mentality isn’t worth it. Throw in maybe not getting any playing time or even not on a travel squad... it can be tough to stay on. The good news... you stop playing, you go about your business, no major bills all of a sudden.
 
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Peeki_the_chicken said:
NavyHoops said:
Are you being recruited by other colleges? Do you want to play a college sport? It is not required to play a D1 sport at USNA. If you are not being recruited for your sport by even DII schools, the chances you will make the cut at USNA are slim. And the level of effort, time, energy, etc required at a DI sport is immense. If you think you can play at the DI level and want to fill out the form on the Navy Sports website for potential student athletes. It can be helpful for some recruits. There are lots of older threads on this topic, recommend you use the search function about recruiting to understand how it works. Overall it works like any other school in the sense that you ‘recruited’ can me many things from you are the number athlete they want this year to if you get in on your own, you can come out for the team.
Click to expand...
Yes, I am being recruited by D1 schools and am planning on running or swimming in college. Thank you for the info!
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As a runner or a swimmer, it should be very easy to compare your times to those of the corresponding USNA teams to see where/if you have a shot. Of course you can and should contact the coaches but you should already have a pretty good idea of where you stand with regard to making the team
 
OldRetSWO said:
As a runner or a swimmer, it should be very easy to compare your times to those of the corresponding USNA teams to see where/if you have a shot. Of course you can and should contact the coaches but you should already have a pretty good idea of where you stand with regard to making the team
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This. As a swimmer/runner you have a little bit of an advantage over the really quirky world of D1 team sports recruiting. Man, what a maze.

As pointed out you should have a good idea if your times are competitive. If they are above average make sure to put them in the subject line of the email. Since it sounds as I you are being recruited this is probably the case.
College coaches get absolutely inundated with emails. If your times are not well above average you will probably need help from high school/club coaches to get noticed by the college coaches. Even if your times are great reach out to your current coaches and get them involved.
I would also highly recommend attending one of their sports camps if it’s a logistical and financial possibility. You need to make sure the coach knows you can be competitive at the D1 level and are interested in USNA.
 
I have no experience with Navy Athletics (yet), but my eldest is a D1 athlete. To add to the advice above, I would spend some time looking at the rosters of both sports and try to figure out what the coach's needs WILL BE coming up. If for example you are a distance freestyler and the team's current distance swimmers are graduating this year or next, you have a more compelling case.

Sometimes it's not just a question if you are good enough, it's really if you are good enough and the team has a need in that event that you might fit well. Good luck
 
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