Sports in ROTC

hello-there

Navy '26
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Jul 7, 2021
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Would playing a varsity sport in college interfere with ROTC? How would morning practices work on the days you have PT?
 
At my unit athletes are given an exemption from the twice a week PT; in large part because they have 5x a week PT with their team.

Every year out of the ~15 MIDN we commission, 2-3 of them are on a full D1/DIII team. An additional 4-5 are on very active club teams.

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It is VERY doable to do a sport and ROTC. The important factor is; can you balance them? If you truly want to, it will work out.
 
At my unit athletes are given an exemption from the twice a week PT; in large part because they have 5x a week PT with their team.

Every year out of the ~15 MIDN we commission, 2-3 of them are on a full D1/DIII team. An additional 4-5 are on very active club teams.

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It is VERY doable to do a sport and ROTC. The important factor is; can you balance them? If you truly want to, it will work out.
Thank you so much for the feedback!
 
Know that your cadre notices when there always seems to be a practice/meeting during the hard/difficult unit PT, Training, meetings. Got to be committed to both even if it is more work.
 
I would say that if you are a D1 athlete it's going to be hard to do. Not impossible and I am sure there are plenty who do it. But still hard nonetheless. There is going to be a competition between sport, rotc and academics. I guess it also depends on your major. You are going to have your coach and Rotc command work with each other.
 
It is not insurmountable, but it may also depend on your major and how well you can adapt to ROTC responsibilities with your academics. There were a a couple of students at my mid's school who started with the team sport, and realized that it was too hard to balance both the sport and ROTC with the academics, since if you don't maintain your gpa you risk losing your scholarship. As aside, there is always a 'happy medium' by participating in a club sport instead. This gives you the opportunity to continue the sport, but without the stress of a full time team commitment. Best of luck!
 
This really comes down to how your unit and coaching staff/ team address ROTC participants also being on an athletic team at your university. At the same school, coach can be very accommodating say in Football, Women's Soccer, while the tennis coach, baseball coach may be a buster about the ROTC participant arriving late after ROTC labs, etc. I'd talk to existing ROTC athletes doing this sport and this service branch at this university and see how the vibe is. Keep in mind for some ROTC programs you'll be attending a televised all day football stadium event, and then cleaning the stadium for hours. How does this match with your Saturday no-pads practice or team run. And, the factors you cannot control are that you may pick a university and sport where everyone is chill and accommodating, and then the cadre or coaching staff changes and you have a headache on your hands. Find out what you can about your specific goals - good luck.

Buddy's beast (loving term of admiration) of an athlete young adult women's lacrosse player thought all would be chill when being recruited and in talking with coaches and the cadre, but then she started getting her chops busted when the coach's ego got offended when she texted to remind him she'd be late when NSO and pre-semester practices/ meetings overlapped. He started questioning her loyalty to the team -- in front of the team she was just joining. She ended up dropping the sport. Just one example.
 
Would playing a varsity sport in college interfere with ROTC? How would morning practices work on the days you have PT?
Although it was many years ago, I had two cadets in my class that were D1 athletes (one wrestled and the other was on the cross country and track team).

They both did very well in AROTC. They were excused when they had college meets. Most of the time they were present for PT. I have to say that they were exceptional athletes and had no trouble scoring very well on the PT test.
 
I agree with @Herman_Snerd. Do your homework. If your goal is to compete in sports while in college, you may want to entertain a service academy since their coaching staffs choose to work in a military setting.
 
My son is Playing D2 Football and doing Navy ROTC. He talked to his Cadre Leader and he was fine with it. As we have told him, his scholarship is coming from ROTC so that will have to take precedent.
 
DS reached out to his potential Golf coach and ROO at the school when waiting for the 3rd board results. Golf coach was fully onboard.

The ROO mentioned and others can chime but the CG of Cadet command had placed Varsity sports as a priority over ROTC.

Meaning if there was PT. In season sports training would count.
If there was a golf tournament during a weekend ROTC event. Golf is where he is going.

 
D1 doable but tough, D2/D3 not uncommon to be an athlete and pursue a commission.
I do not think many cadets who are D1 at the Citadel or VMI pursue commission. TAMU and VA Tech are probably the same situation.
 
My DD is a contracted MS1 and playing women's soccer at a top D3 program. She spoke to both the battalion and to the soccer coaches prior to committing to either at her university of choice. The soccer coach has three women who do ROTC in each Army, Navy and Air Force and they all work it out, although it's not always perfect.

Her particular battalion apparently likes the athletes given their ability to excel physically and their value of teamwork. It is not always perfect but she is loving both and has occasional conflicts (example - last-minute change to a soccer practice), but if she over communicates it seems to be okay so far. Her battalion asks that during your sport season that you attend at least one PT weekly (instead of 3) and weekend activities when you don't have a game/competition. The expectation in the off season however, is that you fully participate in ROTC as primary.

She is not in a major that requires a lot of "lab time" which is also helpful for the schedule.

Bottom line - definitely talk to coaches and the battalion as well as other student-athletes doing ROTC, and see how they respond. For my DD, having two other women on the team already doing ROTC was very encouraging. She had also spoke to coaches at other universities that had no idea what ROTC even was, so that would not have been a good "match."
 
@Herman_Snerd hits the nail on the head. It just depends on the ROTC cadre and the coaches. My DD had a good experience but their just as many horror stories.
+1. Even in high school there has been conflict between DS’ NJROTC instructors and coaches and other time commitments. Every coach wants 100% of you. Some will work with you and some will not. I would say give it a try. You can drop either one for at least the first year if you can’t make both work.
 
Would playing a varsity sport in college interfere with ROTC? How would morning practices work on the days you have PT?
Hey, I am an MS4, senior cadet, and I run track at the D1 level. This is very cadre dependent in my case and if you explain to them your workouts and do well/max each PT test, they will likely be very accommodating. Communication is key in being able to balance both ROTC and a D1 or D2/D3 sport. I'm not going to lie it has been tough, but it has taught me a ton of time management skills.
 
Has not worked out well for my son. He is still playing D2 Football but something is going to have to give and since ROTC is his scholarship it may be football. Commander had a frank conversation with him. They like him and see great things from him but it will be hard to elevate him and he misses things. Told him he needed to make a decision. Not to hard of a decision considering his team stinks and he was being redshirted anyways.
 
Has not worked out well for my son. He is still playing D2 Football but something is going to have to give and since ROTC is his scholarship it may be football. Commander had a frank conversation with him. They like him and see great things from him but it will be hard to elevate him and he misses things. Told him he needed to make a decision. Not to hard of a decision considering his team stinks and he was being redshirted anyways.
That fact that the team sucks and his is being redshirted isn't the point. I am sure he point a lot of effort to play high school and college football. Its a shame he cant continue it became Rotc is having a fit. They should be able to compromise. But with a lot of people in charge, it they t think you arent giving 110% of your time, then they have problem even if its isn't hurting anything by splitting your time.
 
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