Athlete

Greystoner in the Spotlight

Greystoner Ryan Scott will be was recruited for the football team at the US Merchant Marine Academy! He'll be sporting the number 48!

Alumni In the Spotlight

Midshipman Gerrit Porter, USMMA class of 2016 was named Landmark Diver of the Year in his plebe year!

During WWI, General Douglas MacArthur observed closely how officers and enlisted men alike with experience in team sports (football, baseball, basketball, etc.) and some individual sports (boxing, fencing, swimming, etc.) performed better under combat conditions.  This observation left a lasting impression on him. When General MacArthur served as the Superintendent of the Military Academy at West Point, he initiated the expansion of their competitive sports program.  The focus of this effort was to provide cadets with the physical discipline required to compete in academy-level athletics as well as team skills and sportsmanship.  From this activity, cadets expanded their understanding of leadership as well as a belief that “the game is not over until the game is over.”  Even today, West Point graduates are known for their tenacity – on and off the field – and it is with tenacity that these cadets graduate into commissioned officers who are skilled leaders, gifted team players and warriors who do not know the meaning of surrender or quit.  It was not long after West Point initiated their expanded focus on team sports that the other academies followed suit.  This is why all of the academy admission boards seek outstanding young men and women who are proven scholars; they must also be proficient athletes as well as leaders.  All federal service academies have also incorporated sports and physical conditioning into their overall academy experience and for this reason Greystone was directed to create a challenging sports program as part of its Physical Fitness program.

All Greystone students are full-time Schreiner students and as such, they are eligible to participate in all Schreiner varsity, JV and intramural sports.  Due to the conflicting time demands of the Schreiner varsity and JV sports teams and the Greystone program, most Greystone students participate in Schreiner intramural sports.  Since the academies do not send their “Blue Chip” athletes to Greystone, the focus of the Greystone program remains on academics.  Over 87% of all Greystone students were varsity athletes in high school and therefore many aspire to become varsity athletes at the academies.  The trick to making this happen for the candidate is to first get them “qualified” to enter the academy.  We do this by providing them with the academic skills they will need to excel academically - the key to enabling them to participate at the varsity level at the academy.  Once an athlete is able to succeed academically at the academy, varsity sports participation becomes a reality; however, unless the athlete can survive the academic rigor, even the very best athlete will run the real risk of being separated from the academy.  Over the course of the last eight years, several Greystone students made the dream of academy varsity sports participation possible by employing the skills they mastered while at Greystone. They were and are exceling academically.

From the very beginning when the Greystone concept was nothing more than an idea, a challenging fitness and sports component seemed like a natural fit.  Not only would such a program help to prepare students for their Candidate Fitness Assessment (CFA), Physical Readiness Test (PRT) and Physical Fitness Examination (PFE), such a program would also serve as a bonding mechanism to help bring the team together as a tight unit – something that is essential to our goal of high achievement for our candidates.  From 1998-2000 while serving as a Naval Academy instructor, the Executive Director of Greystone, Commander Dave Bailey was able to speak to several officers and coaches within the Academy sports program.  They were intrigued with the possibility of elevating the level of physical conditioning and sports involvement of candidates entering the Academy and therefore willing to freely contribute their advice and counsel.  It was not until he spoke with Lieutenant Stewart Smith, former Navy SEAL and now a world-renowned fitness consultant, that the Greystone Physical Conditioning Program took shape.  Stew provided Greystone with a fitness plan specifically designed to target the muscle groups needed to excel through the CFA. The workout plan was then implemented into a morning workout routine using the Schreiner University quad and the campus loop (the one-mile road that circles the campus).  For the last eight years, Greystone students have followed this workout plan designed by Stew Smith and all have significantly improved their CFA scores as a result. Although the CFA only represents approximately 10% of the candidate evaluation score, Greystone is committed to “leaving no stone unturned” because our candidates are completely motivated to maximize every opportunity to earn their academy appointments. The CFA is administered monthly beginning in August.  For those candidates in need of the PRT or PFE, Greystone also administers those assessments on a monthly basis. The Executive Director is authorized to submit CFA/PRT/PFE results to the academies.