Varsity Sport Requirements

[Prouddad2020]

So my son is on his HS Rowing team - they do fall club season and spring competition season and he did it his Freshman and Sophomore years. In his Junior year He is also the new XO of his High School ROTC, Academic team commander and does PT team- he is burning out in his Junior Year and would it negatively impact him if he took a break for half a season from Rowing? He does currently have a 4.0 unweighted GPA and is top 2% of his class so his academics are high and he has a challenging curriculum this year. I also forgot he is working on his Eagle Scout (should be done in May)- Thoughts? I don’t want to push him if I don’t have to. I will also be reaching out to his Blue and Gold, but would like other insight. Thanks in Advance

 

[MidCakePa]

No one on this forum can tell you how that would affect his candidacy. We don’t have enough facts, and offer of appointment hinges on Whole Candidate Score, not any one factor.

Contrary to your headline, varsity sports are not required. But 93% of Class of 2022 played varsity sports. How many seasons or which seasons — impossible for us to know.

Very well-informed admissions expert told my DS: Academies favor students who put themselves in high-stress, heavy-workload contexts — academics, athletics, extracurriculars, leadership — and excel. Those students, he said, demonstrate that they have the makeup of successful mids and officers.

 

[OldRetSWO]

I am a BGO and if you asked me this, I'd advise him to stay on the team while balancing the rest. That is what his competition will be doing.
Crew is a hard workout but all of it fits well with what he is trying to do. Plenty of candidates do similar stuff AND have a job or do musical group/drama.

 

[FMHS-79]

I don’t want to push him if I don’t have to. I will also be reaching out to his Blue and Gold, but would like other insight

IMHO - let your DS decide if he enjoys the rowing and if he can be successful with his academics and others ECs if he competes this season. Also, he should be the one communicating with his BGO. The successful candidates are those which are internally-driven and manage the application process.

Thank him for his interest in serving. I hope he has a good junior year (no matter what he decides regarding the rowing).

 

[Prouddad2020]

Thank you all for the thoughts - he is meeting with his BG in a few days and said he will continue the fall season, he wanted to join the air rifle team at JROTC it turns out hence the push back on fall season. I will let him decide after he talks with his advisor - sometimes there isn’t enough time in the day

 

[usna1985]

First, didn't the school year start about a week ago? How is he already "burning out?"

Second,

sometimes there isn’t enough time in the day

This is life at USNA. Welcome to it.

Third, the above said, no one should "overcommit" and sometimes you do have to make choices. If your DS really finds he can't do everything, he should continue to pursue the activities he most enjoys rather than do any of them solely for the sake of college/USNA admissions.

Fourth, sports are very important for USNA and, if he's going to give up something, it would be better if it were not his (apparently only) varsity sport. If you told me he would row in the spring AND do a winter varsity sport AND resume rowing again next fall as a senior, taking off a single season isn't great but would be manageable.

Finally, fully agree that your DS needs to reach out to his BGO, not you.

 

[CrewDad]

So my son is on his HS Rowing team - they do fall club season and spring competition season and he did it his Freshman and Sophomore years. In his Junior year He is also the new XO of his High School ROTC, Academic team commander and does PT team- he is burning out in his Junior Year and would it negatively impact him if he took a break for half a season from Rowing? He does currently have a 4.0 unweighted GPA and is top 2% of his class so his academics are high and he has a challenging curriculum this year. I also forgot he is working on his Eagle Scout (should be done in May)- Thoughts? I don’t want to push him if I don’t have to. I will also be reaching out to his Blue and Gold, but would like other insight. Thanks in Advance

Prouddad2020

Your son sounds like an excellent candidate. I like him just by reading your CV presentation. I think it is best to stick with one solid sports and demonstrate achievements over time than to show many interests. Rowing is a solid team sports and even harder to do because most high schools don’t have it unless you are in boarding school. Hence it is considered a sports for the privileged since most schools don’t have the proper facilities to accommodate.

My vote for your DS would be to stick by Crew and row through senior year. Rifle team is nice to have but if he didn’t do it for 3 years don’t start now. My DS did Marksmanship for 10 years, Swimming for 10 years, MMA for 11 years and XC for just 2 years. And he competed at the County State National and International levels. And made Eagle Scout in 8th grade so he achieved through 12 Eagle Palms through last Spring. He’s joining NESA at Annapolis to continue his training of other young Scouts in the greater Annapolis community. So you can do a lot as long as you are dedicated and can time manage. He couldn’t drop his sports because he really enjoyed them all. But he had to make sacrifices in academic time. He slept late hours and didn’t have real weekends and holidays like other kids had. It was all catchup time during weekends in his junior and senior years to maintain his 4.0 with heavy course load.

But now he’s doing Rowing at USNA with no experience. What is more crazy, he was recruited to Rowing by the Coach. Maybe his school having reputation as top Rowing school has something to do with it but he had zero experience in Rowing before USNA. So you can do anything you like once you are admitted. Same is true if you went to Princeton or Yale. You can do walk on if you were not recruited.

Your DS is headed for something great. I would recommend he stays focused in completing his current accomplishments and stay in Varsity Team Sports that USNA places high value such as Rowing. USNA Rowing is Division 1 Sports and it is a top team that competes well against Harvard and Yale, the 2 traditional rivalries and leaders. Annapolis was once Number 1 but now is a close competitor to these blue chip schools in Crew.

 

[Prouddad2020]

So my son is on his HS Rowing team - they do fall club season and spring competition season and he did it his Freshman and Sophomore years. In his Junior year He is also the new XO of his High School ROTC, Academic team commander and does PT team- he is burning out in his Junior Year and would it negatively impact him if he took a break for half a season from Rowing? He does currently have a 4.0 unweighted GPA and is top 2% of his class so his academics are high and he has a challenging curriculum this year. I also forgot he is working on his Eagle Scout (should be done in May)- Thoughts? I don’t want to push him if I don’t have to. I will also be reaching out to his Blue and Gold, but would like other insight. Thanks in Advance

Prouddad2020

Your son sounds like an excellent candidate. I like him just by reading your CV presentation. I think it is best to stick with one solid sports and demonstrate achievements over time than to show many interests. Rowing is a solid team sports and even harder to do because most high schools don’t have it unless you are in boarding school. Hence it is considered a sports for the privileged since most schools don’t have the proper facilities to accommodate.

My vote for your DS would be to stick by Crew and row through senior year. Rifle team is nice to have but if he didn’t do it for 3 years don’t start now. My DS did Marksmanship for 10 years, Swimming for 10 years, MMA for 11 years and XC for just 2 years. And he competed at the County State National and International levels. And made Eagle Scout in 8th grade so he achieved through 12 Eagle Palms through last Spring. He’s joining NESA at Annapolis to continue his training of other young Scouts in the greater Annapolis community. So you can do a lot as long as you are dedicated and can time manage. He couldn’t drop his sports because he really enjoyed them all. But he had to make sacrifices in academic time. He slept late hours and didn’t have real weekends and holidays like other kids had. It was all catchup time during weekends in his junior and senior years to maintain his 4.0 with heavy course load.

But now he’s doing Rowing at USNA with no experience. What is more crazy, he was recruited to Rowing by the Coach. Maybe his school having reputation as top Rowing school has something to do with it but he had zero experience in Rowing before USNA. So you can do anything you like once you are admitted. Same is true if you went to Princeton or Yale. You can do walk on if you were not recruited.

Your DS is headed for something great. I would recommend he stays focused in completing his current accomplishments and stay in Varsity Team Sports that USNA places high value such as Rowing. USNA Rowing is Division 1 Sports and it is a top team that competes well against Harvard and Yale, the 2 traditional rivalries and leaders. Annapolis was once Number 1 but now is a close competitor to these blue chip schools in Crew.

Thanks Crewdad- we are lucky we have a strong Rowing team and are a public school that has its facility used by not only some of the top colleges but the Olympic teams during winter months. He has decided to stay both seasons for Rowing since his executive officer duties keep him busy enough outside his academics... I can take him to the range when he gets down time...thanks

 

[Prouddad2020]

First, didn't the school year start about a week ago? How is he already "burning out?"

Second,

sometimes there isn’t enough time in the day

This is life at USNA. Welcome to it.

Third, the above said, no one should "overcommit" and sometimes you do have to make choices. If your DS really finds he can't do everything, he should continue to pursue the activities he most enjoys rather than do any of them solely for the sake of college/USNA admissions.

Fourth, sports are very important for USNA and, if he's going to give up something, it would be better if it were not his (apparently only) varsity sport. If you told me he would row in the spring AND do a winter varsity sport AND resume rowing again next fall as a senior, taking off a single season isn't great but would be manageable.

Finally, fully agree that your DS needs to reach out to his BGO, not you.

Thanks for input - burning out was probably a wrong choice of words on my part- he does it year round so I was looking to see if taking off a season (non competition season) would negatively impact him so he can do other things. He is a coxswain so it seems he is always in demand which isn’t a bad thing since he is good at it.