cadet blogs

Combat Arms Team and Club Sports

(Athletics, Class of 2012) Permanent link All Posts

I’d like to tell you about Club sports at the Academy. To make it simpler to understand, there are three types of sports teams at the Academy in which 100% of cadets participate in some form. First are Intercollegiate or NCAA sports. Most of our “varsity” sports compete Division III because of the size of our school; however, select teams, primarily on the waterfront, compete Division I. Second are inter-company sports, or “IC’s” as they are often referred – the equivalent of intramural sports. There are five IC seasons, two of which we must participate in during each semester for sports credit. Sports credit is something that must be earned for both the fall and spring semesters for athletes who choose not to participate in varsity sports or certain credit-giving club sports.

This brings me to club sports, which I participate in. I am a member of the Combat Arms Team, which does not grant sports credit. Therefore, I also play IC sports with my fellow company members each fall (softball and flag football) and each spring (volleyball and ultimate Frisbee). Being a part of a combat weapons team is an incredible opportunity that you can only find at the service academies. However, it is much easier to join the weapons team and learn at CGA because we have a team that compares in size to the DoD academies (usually around 14 members) but we only draw from 900 cadets instead of over 4,000. We practice six hours each week in the firing range built in the basement of the Chase Hall barracks. Our primary weapons for competition are the Sig Sauer P229R DAK .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol, the Colt M-16A2 5.56 mm assault rifle, and the Remington M870 12-gauge pump shotgun.

For anyone who would like to be a part of the Coast Guard’s homeland security or law enforcement missions, join the FBI after your obligation is up, or simply just learn more about weapons, I would highly recommend looking into trying out for the CGA Combat Arms Team by emailing me at Hunter.C.Warren@uscga.edu. Once again, please contact me if you have any questions about the Academy at all…even if I do not know the answer, chances are I can find someone who can help you out.

More about Hunter.

Posted by Leann Strickland at 2/2/2012 3:37 PM