<p>Yes, definitely. It is the competitive nature of sports that is of interest to the academies. Make yourself the best swimmer possible. Qualify for post-season meets. Love swimming. Also, one way to get stronger as a swimmer is to play water polo. A season of polo could very well help your swim times.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>As the mom of a swimmer (and former waterpolo player and coach) I would suggest joining whichever swim team is going to make you the better swimmer. The beauty of a sport like that is that you just have to show your times in order to demonstrate results. If your city team is good (quality coaching) then go for it. Depending on your area, your high school team could be in a very competitive district which may limit your opportunities to shine. Who has the best training program for you? Talk to the coaches of both, tell them what you hope to accomplish and ask if they have any success in helping students gain admission to service academies. They should be able to answer those questions readily. </p>
<p>Bottom line? Where will you be happier? That is the best indicator of success.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>High school Swim team definitely. You can do club if you want to but the high school team is so much more fun and offers a lot of social experiences for you. Track might be fun in the Spring. My son only took the 2 years of Spanish. I think that orchestra is a plus as well. Just make sure to take the most rigorous Math/ science mixture you can. Weight training class is good too! My son took it all 4 years. FYI, he just took regular English for the 4 years but did IB physics 1 and 2 and Completed Calculus. Also took IB History. The music might even be IB as Jake's choir was. If orchestra goes to State, so do you!</p>
<p>Hey Guys,
thought I would ask this since we're on the subject of sports & what the academy likes to see, etc. Anyway... I am a soon to be junior in high school. I have a strong GPA & involved in clubs w/ leadership. The only thing missing is a sport. It's not that I didn't want to participate, it's more of a I couldn't because either A) there weren't enough people for a team (not enough for a freshman girls bball team & I was not good enough skill wise to make the jump to JV or Varsity yet) or B) The sport was not offered due to schools financial problems. (no spring sports season!) </p>
<p>So, what do I do, get into track ASAP? It's really the only thing left I can do. I have been running/ swimming on my own (my aunt has a pool. There's no YMCA around here though, otherwise I could swim year-round), but I could do that till I'm blue in the face & I really wouldn't get anywhere (except good CFA results! :)<br>
Any input whatsoever would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>The key is to exhibit a degree of fitness. I ran in AAU track events and ran in road races from 4-5 milers up to a marathon. I also made sure I could do a decent number of pushups/pullups and was admitted though I did go to NAPS where I ran x/c and track. If you school or schedule doesn't permit participating just ensure you do it on your own and explain it to your BGO. I would probably be impressed with a student that has to do it on their own with documented results, eg here is my running log, and here are the races I ran and times. I worked my senior year after school but ran before school with a school club and I "believe" because I could document actual running races and did "well enough" on the fitness test that it wasn't a show stopper. </p>
<p>What they are hesitant about is admitting a student who has no athletic background and who doesn't exercise or workout on their own for no apparent reason. That person would be setting themselves up for failure; has shown no inititative or drive; and, would most likely spend Plebe Summer on crutches due to a stress fracture or shin splints. If you show some initiative and some results, you stil have a chance. Remember, varsity athletes still make up 89-90% of the class and many are multi-sport athletes as well. A well thought out and documented program would be beneficial to you but it would have to be followed, eg if you were a HS triathlete who trains on their own or with a club, that would work in your favour. HS sports aren't a necessity but they certainly are a bar that many reach and that is who you're competing against for a spot. Best of luck.</p>
<p>For those of you that have been admitted or your realitve has been admitted to the academy, how many sports have they played and were they involved in any student government?</p>
<p>i played 3 seasons of varsity sports, was captain in two and the one of only two girls on the other. senior class president, student council president, and student council vice president the year before. (ended up not going to USNA, but it did get me an LOA last september).</p>
<p>Our son was a swimmer. Swam with the USS team from 6th grade on, made a National Age Group Consideration time, swam high school varsity each year (Captain Sr. year) but always returned to the year-round team and swam through all school breaks. No student council since there was no time with the swimming, but was NHS and was the state senior swimmer rep to the FINA conference where swimming rules etc are established. It is not the number of activities, but the commitment and leadership you show within those activities. Hope this helped.</p>