Quitting high school sports to spend time to train for CFA

I'm a current junior and play soccer year-round. I think that being on a sports team is what grounds me during hectic times, like the overwhelming task of applying to West Point. In addition to soccer, I run in the mornings and go to the gym before or after practice. I know junior year is tough and senior year is going to be a lot tougher but I think it is best to prioritize. If your daughter is really lacking in the CFA aspect but is doing fine academically/extracurricularly, maybe cut back on those activities and focus more on sports and training for the CFA. For me, I prioritize training and sports over academics, which is my strength.
And from what I've heard, at West Point cadets are required to balance academics, fitness, and extracurriculars; I think part of the application process gets us ready for the busy workloads we will have there.
I'm assuming her two sports aren't in the same season, so it is possible to train for the CFA while playing a sport, it just requires more time and effort.
 
If your DD enjoys the sport, play. The CFA is not that hard. She has the summer to put together a plan and work towards taking the CFA before sports season starts. During the sports season she can supplement her training with workouts. It doesn’t take a lot. Take an inventory test. Find where she is weak and work on it. If you have the means have a trainer help develop a plan. Take a practice test to measure progress. CFA prep should not be a full time job. Do what she enjoys. They are only kids once. If she enjoys her sport, play.
 
Your daughter should absolutely not quit her varsity sports. That will not be looked at favorably by the Admissions Committee, particularly if her reasoning is simply to work on the CFA. In the current plebe class at West Point, 99.9 percent of all cadets participated in a varsity sport (or multiple varsity sports). In fact, a majority of that group were even team captains. She should develop a solid training plan to improve her CFA performance throughout this summer and early fall. There is plenty of time to prepare herself for the test.
 
jerryseinfeld said:
Hey y'all!

Long-time lurker, first-time poster.

DD is a rising senior two-sport varsity athlete. I want to say her sports don't match up well with CFA but that would just be a pathetic excuse. This summer, instead of training for those sports, she is thinking of quitting those sports and seriously spend time to improve her CFA performance. (I doubt she will be recruited for any sports in SAs... perhaps a walk-on for something.) Does not continuing her sports in the senior year look bad on her application?

Thanks in advance, y'all!
Click to expand...
Depending on what sport it is and what fitness she is at now, it is actually pretty easy to build CFA fitness while doing another sport. It’s definitely easier if she’s doing a sport like track or cross country, but really any sport will help. I would suggest just waking up 15-20 minutes earlier every morning and do a few pushups or sit up circuits. My favorite one is a 1,2,3,4…10,9,8…1 pyramid of close grip then normal grip then wide grip pushups. She can also start doing just one mile of running a day for 2 weeks and then 2 miles a day and so on. People over estimate how much speed work you need. If you are getting out there and going on 6 mile runs, speed will come with it (not olympic speed but definitely CFA speed).

One trick that people don’t really talk about is the kettlebell VO2 max ladder. This builds your VO2 max (which is directly correlated to how fast you can run distances) faster than most running workouts. And you can’t get shin splints from it so it’s good to do on your running rest days. Just lookup kettlebell vo2 max.

As far as pull-ups go, I would recommend starting with sets up pull-up shrugs on the bar and then working in assisted pull-ups with a band.

Lookup mountain tactical institute for tips on basketball throw.

Basketball shoes are pretty much your best bet for shuttle.

The main thing is you need to be consistent. 10 minutes of pushups and sit-ups a day is going to be way more beneficial than 1 hour of them once a week. Most schools senior year academics aren’t that tough. Don’t make a decision to quit a team until you absolutely cannot do it. Try it out first, chances are it’ll work out.
 
I agree with the comment above. Especially the kettlebell work; i don't know what it is about kettlebells but they get results.

Personally, I never trained anything for the CFA or NRTOC-MO PFT. I just stuck with my sport (year-round sport), rowing, which had 18 hours of organized practice and 280-350 extra minutes of work outside of practice per week. I also swam over winter as a double practice. Things depend on how physical your sport is, but extra work can't hurt.

Your personal fitness and CFA readiness are on you. Replacing the leadership opportunities a sports team provides is hard. Sports leadership parallels military leadership a lot more than other types (in my humble, not yet sworn-in, opinion). Coaches are also a great source of recommendation letters; two of the best ones I received were from coaches.

best of luck
 
jerryseinfeld said:
Hey y'all!

Long-time lurker, first-time poster.

DD is a rising senior two-sport varsity athlete. I want to say her sports don't match up well with CFA but that would just be a pathetic excuse. This summer, instead of training for those sports, she is thinking of quitting those sports and seriously spend time to improve her CFA performance. (I doubt she will be recruited for any sports in SAs... perhaps a walk-on for something.) Does not continuing her sports in the senior year look bad on her application?

Thanks in advance, y'all!
Click to expand...
Take a look at the max scores and shoot for those. Not only does it help your application, but you’ll be able to tell exactly where she needs to get to. The standards are a lot different for women and understanding that some of the exercises suck regardless- like that one miler that you just have to ultimately sprint and understanding that the basketball throw and shuttle run depend on form.

Good luck!!!
 
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