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Inside Hokie Sports
A
fter spending four, and sometimes five, years competing at the
highest level of intercollegiate athletics, many student-athletes
struggle after graduation to find something to replace that
“competitive fix.” After all, less than 1 percent of college student-
athletes go on to play professionally in their respective sports, thus
leaving unanticipated free time for other pursuits.
Some take up other sports on a recreational basis. Others simply
work out to remain in shape. Yet two former Virginia Tech student-
athletes found the utmost of challenges to satisfy their athletics urges.
Former women’s swimmer Holly Harper and former football player
Greg Jones recently graduated from the United States Marine Corps
Officer Candidates School held at Marine Corps Base Quantico outside
of Washington, D.C. The grueling 10-week course, which started Sept.
9 and concluded Nov. 18, tests a candidate in every way, especially
physically, academically and from a leadership perspective.
Harper and Jones—who once lived across the hall from each other
in Cochrane Hall—graduated as second lieutenants. This step served
as the first one for both toward a career in the Marines, arguably the
most prestigious of the four branches of the military.
“While I was at Tech, I was really looking forward to being pushed and
pushedbeyondwhat Iwas capable of—and they [Tech’s coaches] definitely
did it,” Harper said via phone shortly after the graduation ceremony. “But
once I was done, I was like, ‘Well, I’m not done being pushed.’”
Of course, there are many ways for one to push oneself. Harper and
Jones chose arguably the toughest. They navigated the undeniable
difficulties placed in front of them only to face a future that potentially
puts each in harm’s way.
So why?
For starters, both come from military families. Harper’s father and
grandfather served in the Marines, and her brother currently attends
West Point. She contemplated accepting an appointment to the Naval
Academy coming out of Albemarle High School near Charlottesville,
but decided to become a Division I athlete at Virginia Tech when Dr.
Ned Skinner, the head men’s and women’s swimming coach at Tech,
offered her that opportunity.
As for Jones, who grew up in Lorton, Virginia—just 30minutes from
Marine Corps Base Quantico—his father served in the Army for nearly
three decades. So both Harper and Jones understand the commitment,
work and sacrifice that it takes to be in the military.
Plus, both wanted to test themselves much in the way that they tested
themselves as student-athletes at Tech. They both are competitive,
driven people who enjoy—and actually thrive—on competition.
Yet mostly, they felt an unexplainable call to serve their country in
the most admirable of ways.
“I always knew I wanted to do something greater than myself,”
Jones said, also via phone not long after the graduation ceremony.
“The 9-to-5 job didn’t seem like something I wanted to do. Just serving
my country was the main thing that struck home for me when going
through this process of Officer Candidates School.”
So what does Officer Candidates School — known as OCS — entail?
As one probably expects, it features a physical fitness component,
with an array of hiking exercises and completion of various obstacle
courses. It also features classroom work in which candidates are taught
tactics, operations, land navigation and other military-related subjects.
In addition, the school focuses on leadership, with candidates being
evaluated on command presence, communication skills, decision
making and in leading subordinates.
Interestingly, leadership comprises 50 percent of a candidate’s
grade. Physical fitness and academics each are 25 percent of the grade.
Candidates get a feel of the challenges that they will face right from
the beginning. Instructors force them to stand still, stand in line for six
hours and/or to be quiet. They yell at them, and they only allow them
to refer to themselves in the third person. In other words, a candidate
must say “This candidate” and not “I.”
Former football player Greg Jones and former
women’s swimmer Holly Harper recently graduated
from the United States Marine Corps Officer
Candidates School and are excited about serving
their country as part of their future careers
by
Jimmy Robertson
SALUTING
two former
STUDENT-ATHLETES