Absolutely, sports take a toll...at least at more selective academic schools, including SA's...but the experience, at least as I understand it, tends to have significantly less drudgery relative to other SA students...less of BS (if one thinks of it as such).Dip&Dunk wrote: ↑Wed Oct 12, 2022 2:16 pmYes, but….MDlaxfan76 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 11, 2022 4:32 pmThat certainly sounds right to me.Dip&Dunk wrote: ↑Tue Oct 11, 2022 2:30 pmAnd I am not buying your comment either.
If they have the lacrosse ability and admissions package to get into a SA, they could go to many, many other schools for "lacrosse first". If lax is your number one priority, it makes not sense to go to a SA. Multi-year commitment, challenging life style, etc. etc. all argue against your claim.
Further, if just somehow someone made it to I Day with lax as their number one reason for being there, by the time they made it back to their room from T-Court that thought is gone from their mind.
I don't think anyone, if they ever did, goes to a SA for lax as the #1 reason and they certainly do not stay there for that reason either.
That all being said, it is never just one reason. Yes lax plays a part but so does "free" education, the challenge, service, etc. .
Of course, a few find that the various trade-offs, pluses and minuses, aren't what they'd hoped and transfer out, but most were certainly looking for a different experience than the more typical college time.
If I understand correctly, however, playing a sport can be a significant plus, especially in early years, versus the 'normal' SA experience. All sorts of benefits. More so, perhaps than the more typical college student versus student-athlete experience tradeoffs, especially at schools with no special accommodations for athletes relative to other students.
I know a young man who played squash at Navy, captain as a senior, (cruise missile division now) who, at least according to his dad, had a much, much more enjoyable experience than typical...lots of travel, a lot less drill, better chow. That sound right?
Yes you get training tables, usually when in season but for some sports, looking at you football, that is mostly year around. Of course you get to travel to away games and you may or may not march as much (winter sport athletes usually get the full marching experience).
However, time is your most valuable commodity and varsity sports are time bandits. Lifting, watching tape, 2 a days, rehab all take up time and your grades will reflect it normally. This is not unique to a SA but SA’s have other requirements that also take up time too.
An even bigger issue than time is physical exhaustion from training interfering with capability to concentrate, get enough sleep, etc.
From my buddies' description, the squash team, in particular, had lots and lots of travel, way less drill, not the same underclassmen BS at the food table, etc, etc. But of course they did need to train...squash happens to be a sport in which most of the training, including conditioning (which the NAVY kids tend to have at a terrific level), is mostly accomplished by playing the sport, drilling the movements, hitting the ball. I always though of lax as much more enjoyable to practice than say football, for instance, for much the same reason. But lax teams now do a lot of lifting too...and lots of film time too. Still more enjoyable to practice for lax!