Sports Advice

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EchoSierra

5-Year Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2014
Messages
12
Hello! I'm a rising Junior and I've been working my tail off to get into the Academy since Freshman year. I have a 4.0, robotics team captain, hundreds of hours of volunteer time, student pilot...pretty much the same as anyone else on here, except for something that has me really nervous. I've been trying for two years now to get a sport--my high school has no sports program (no really, we don't. Nothing) and at my age the only sports clubs that would accept me are competitive and looking for prior experience, and also very expensive (because they're private). My parents are not willing to spend the time or money on getting me to do a sport, and honestly I'm freaking out a little. I keep in shape, and I run 3k and 5ks. Is that something I could put on my résumé in lieu of sports? Does anyone know if the Academy will recognize my situation and cut me some slack? Just in case the answer is no, I'm looking around everywhere for any sport my parents would support but so far they've all been a no-go. Any suggestions or information?

Thank you all so much!
 
Maybe you could start a sport at your school. Cross country would be an inexpensive start up. All you need is a school colored t-shirt and a pair of running shoes. Get a few other kids in your school interested. Organize and hold an open meet at your school. That would be impressive by showing you are athletic but also a determined leader/organizer. Just a thought. There may be other options out there as well. Wish you all the best.
 
Thanks!

I'll talk to the school management about it. The school has said very firmly that they intend to never have an athletic department, but maybe a club would work. Thank you!
 
You do not need a club to participate in XC and Track. You can compete as "unattached" (as an individual). I coach club track and see this all the time. Look into joining USAT&F or AAU. You "might" be able to use officially recorded results from sanctioned meets. The best thing to do is contact admissions and ask what your options are.
 
Another option would be to look at other public schools in your area and see if you can join a sports team there. I home-schooled my kids for many years and discovered, as a tax payer, my kids have legal access to clubs and sports at public schools. Since your school does not offer a sports program, I would bet you can do this as well.

Mom to DD, USAFA Basic Cadet 2018
 
Great advice here. Yet another option is to join a local running club. You can usually find these through social media (Facebook, Meetup.com), or check with a local running store, if your town is large enough to handle one. No option like that? Start one! One of my plebe year roomies came from a tiny town in a sparsely-populated state of tiny towns. Her high school did not offer AP classes and had two sports: football and basketball (both for boys). She started a running team for middle-school and high-school-aged kids like her, and they pooled their bucks to enter races, buy gas for the van, etc. I can't help but think that made her stand out on her application, although that certainly was NOT why she did it. She was just very gregarious and loved running, so it made sense to do it with other people!

Anyway, you're getting some great options here. If you also like running enough that it would sustain you in your effort to build something, give it a go!
 
These are all great ideas! I'll look into contacting public schools for sports, and talk to some schoolmates of mine about getting a club together. I heard what the Academy really looks for with sports is evidence of both leadership and physical fitness...do you think I could satisfactorily prove that by perhaps creating a fitness club of some sort?

Thank you all again for the amazing help!
 
Many local communities, especially if there is no opportunity for school sports, offer running clubs, martial arts, or even recreational leagues.

Start a fencing club in your town!

Pair up with like minded students and start a fitness club.
 
Track

As mentioned by meant2be, you can compete in some track meets as "unattached". Both of my sons ran in track meets "unattached" one year. They went to a school with a track team, but didn't run track for the school because they were playing baseball and the seasons conflicted. Most of those meets will be at area universities - they'll have a high school division and there will be a decent range of skill levels (meaning some will be world class, others not so much). There will be indoor and outdoor meet options. You can generally just pay a fee and participate in the meet. Since you like to run anyway, assuming there is a university that hosts track meets in your area, that might be an easy addition.
 
special consideration

What I haven't seen anyone mention in their replies is that the Air Force Academy, at least, will give special consideration to those whose school doesn't offer sports or to those who have jobs after school. It says so right in the candidate package. We paid special attention to that because my son either works after school or was involved in his AFJROTC drill teams.
 
This is true USAFA, because they will request a school profile. However, there are many candidates like Fencers twins and my DS that did not do traditional HS sports, yet had them on their profile.

My DS did TKD and Lifeguarding(job) The AFA accepted both of these as sports, and acknowledge that his job as being senior lifeguard of 17 guards with 23 saves was equivalent to athletic leadership. I am not sure what fencers kids did :shake:

My point is the lack of sports at a school is not going to give them a pass. Homeschoolers typically don't have the ability to play on HS sports, but they fill the square still.

The question becomes has he thought outside of the box.

The other thing to remember is how appointments work. The highest WCS wins on that MOC slate. If the AFA deems them competitive they will be sent to the NWL pool. Again, although he won't get directly dinged because of the school profile, he probably will be dinged because as I said earlier there are kids that do nontraditional sports.
 
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