What varsity sports are easiest to walk on?

[trivioz1323]

This may be a stupid question, but I have seen in some threads that rowing/crew is a sport that take a lot of plebes during plebe summer and is generally something you can walk onto without prior experience in the sport.

Are there any varsity sports that take a lot of people w/out prior experience or that are easy to walk on as opposed to sports where athletes have already been recruited?

Thanks.

 

[Usnavy2019]

This may be a stupid question, but I have seen in some threads that rowing/crew is a sport that take a lot of plebes during plebe summer and is generally something you can walk onto without prior experience in the sport.

Are there any varsity sports that take a lot of people w/out prior experience or that are easy to walk on as opposed to sports where athletes have already been recruited?

Thanks.

No dumb questions!

I'd say Crew. Crew has a pretty high attrition rate. Also, Offshore Sailing is pretty much all walk-ons. There are a few people who come in with racing experience, but to my knowledge, there really isn't recruiting for Offshore Sailing. Intercollegiate Sailing is mostly recruited though.

If you are just looking for something to do at USNA, I'd say stay away from varsity athletics. It is a really big time commitment. A decent portion of recruited athletes don't compete all four years. Varsity athletics and USNA alone both have very demanding schedules and sometimes conflicting priorities. I have nothing but respect for the student-athletes at Navy (I was one as a Plebe via Offshore), but it is something you really have to have your heart in to make it worth it. There definitely are some benefits to being an athlete such as excusals, teammate camaraderie, and all the leadership/professional development that comes with competition. However, there is no premium to being an athlete.

For me personally, I enjoyed sailing, but I didn't like the schedule. I missed being with my company and I came to USNA to fly and not to sail (even though I still love the sea and ships). At the end of the day, I realized me getting little sleep to knock out homework and a less than awesome diet (my dinners were sometimes just a couple bowls of cereal since King Hall was closed) wasn't worth it for me or my future. Come service assignment time, the 3.0 NARP is looked at the same as the 3.0 athlete.

Again, this is not to dissuade anyone from becoming an athlete. Plenty of athletes were and are phenomenal mids and officers. I am just saying that playing varsity sports at Navy is not easy. Plus the real warrior sport is intramural dodgeball! It is played in a racquetball court, so there is nowhere to hide!

 

[SOLL]

Sprint Football. Varsity sport. Full College football rules for those under 180 lbs or so. A lot try out but most don't make it though. Many on the team were recruited by Div II/III college teams so most have to have had quite a bit of competitive High School football experience. I think they now get to have 2 recruits per class but may not use them since they've won the championship the last 2 years.

 

[Dr. Strange Love]

.
I just did a search of professional Badminton … and found this interesting bit of information about the Annual Salary of the athlete:

Top Earners - $56,500
75th Percentile - $42,000
Average - $40,260
25th Percentile - $33,000
.

 

[OldRetSWO]

Are there any varsity sports that take a lot of people w/out prior experience or that are easy to walk on as opposed to sports where athletes have already been recruited?

Thanks.

.
I just did a search of professional Badminton … and found this interesting bit of information about the Annual Salary of the athlete:

Top Earners - $56,500
75th Percentile - $42,000
Average - $40,260
25th Percentile - $33,000
.

This is very good info for the people who want to try out for the Varsity and/or club badminton teams at USNA *
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
* That is if Badminton was a Varsity or Club Sport at USNA

 

[OldRetSWO]

Are there any varsity sports that take a lot of people w/out prior experience or that are easy to walk on as opposed to sports where athletes have already been recruited?

Two separate questions here.

1.

Are there any varsity sports that take a lot of people w/out prior experience

From what I saw as a Varsity athlete at USNA, I'd say pretty few. Most varsity athletes at USNA did their sport prior to coming to USNA and did so for some time. Even if their High School didn't have that sport, they typically competed prior to USNA outside of school or in a related sport.

2.

Are there any varsity sports that are easy to walk on as opposed to sports where athletes have already been recruited

The sports that have few or no recruits might be looked upon as "easier" to walk on but remember, there are a LOT of classmates
who also want to compete at high levels and might already have mid to high level experience in that sport.

 

[USSEnterpr1se]

If you are just looking for something to do at USNA, I'd say stay away from varsity athletics. It is a really big time commitment. A decent portion of recruited athletes don't compete all four years. Varsity athletics and USNA alone both have very demanding schedules and sometimes conflicting priorities. I have nothing but respect for the student-athletes at Navy (I was one as a Plebe via Offshore), but it is something you really have to have your heart in to make it worth it.

You didn't do varsity athletics at USNA? I thought USNA was all about varsity athletes and that every single one of their students being an athlete in some shape or form.

 

[Cville24]

You didn't do varsity athletics at USNA? I thought USNA was all about varsity athletes and that every single one of their students being an athlete in some shape or form.

Every mid is an athlete, yes, but the athletic requirement is not that you are a varsity athlete- it's just that you play a sport- that can be club, intramural, or varsity.

 

[MidCakePa]

I thought USNA was all about varsity athletes and that every single one of their students being an athlete in some shape or form.

You might be mistaking the fact that the SAs put much emphasis on appointing high-school varsity athletes. About 90% of all mids/cadets earned a varsity letter in high school.

Once at the SA, mids/cadets are expected to continue their athletic participation, but at various levels: varsity, club, intramural.

 

[NeverSayNever]

Very few in my company at USNA were varsity athletes at the boat school. We had 1 football player, 1 swimmer and a couple on the wrestling team. Everyone plays sports but most were on club/intramural teams. It is much easier to walk onto teams at the smaller academies. My brother went to USMMA as a recruited soccer player but walked onto two other "varsity" teams with little to no experience. I was able to walk onto the squash team but never past JV because we recruited to the varsity level and then pulled tennis players that washed out of their sport. I was also able to play club hockey, cycling and a host of other activities on the yard. Varsity athletes usually just do their sport when in season and intramural in the off season.

We have lots of varsity athletes that attend to play a D1 sport and then barely hang on above academic probation. It is far smarter LONG TERM to just do intramural sports and keep a high GPA that will possibly open doors in the future like competitive grad schools.