AN OCEAN AWAY
OUR ATHLETES, OURSELVES: THE IMPORTANCE OF SPORTS IN 2021 By Commander Kurt Albaugh ’06, USN
36 SHIPMATE • OCTOBER 2021
especially when adversity pulls us towards our own narrow concerns or the outcomes don’t play out the way we would have hoped. Sports also demonstrate a special joy that can be found in careful preparation and precise execution. Part of this is physiological: competitive runners are familiar with the “high” that can occur several miles into a race. Another part is moral: the feeling we get from leaving it all on the field, and the feeling of fulfillment that greets us when we look ourselves in the mirror afterwards. Finally, sports demonstrate the power of positive example. Displays of sportsmanship that will play out this season—like when Army and Navy gather to sing together after their annual football duel in December—remind us that sports provide opportunities to display real character. These values of athletics are of course familiar to Annapolis graduates. The physical component of the Naval Academy mission helps to promote these values among many others. The Naval Academy’s “Strategic Plan 2030” lists “decisive leadership, teamwork, character and resilience and a passion for winning” as benefits of a focus on athletic excellence. What 2021 demonstrates is that these values are not just important to a career of military service, they are essential to all of us, especially in trying times. Holding athletic competitions safely may be more arduous than it once was, but that difficulty underscores the importance that we continue to do so.
PHOTO COURTESY OF LT MICHAEL FALLON, USN
T
he fall season has long been synonymous with sports, nowhere more so than at the Academy. College football is well underway and the Class of 2025 is counting the days to Army-Navy. Each week brings new contests and renewed hope as Annapolis feels the first crisp days of autumn. Sports will dominate this October’s social landscape but the entire year has played host to notable competitions. In 2021, college, amateur and professional sports carried on under the most challenging conditions here in the United States: rosters were sidelined with illness, schedules were altered and events played out in front of thousands of empty seats. Such was also the scene in Tokyo this past summer. However, those games also showcased something important: the grit and tenacity of Olympic and Paralympic athletes from all over the world, including Naval Academy alumni Lieutenant Brad Snyder ’06, USN (Ret.). and Captain Eric McElvenny ’06, USMC (Ret.). Snyder and McElvenny’s character, as well as that of their fellow athletes, prove that sports are not just a diversion. Rather, they express human values that are especially important to remember today. Indeed, sports demonstrate the value of transcending our own individual circumstances. Sports demand athletes forge on through pain, fatigue and fear in support of a larger goal. Regardless of the contest’s prominence, such competitions ask us to “forget ourselves” for a time. In doing so, sports remind us of our obligations to the community,
In Colorado Springs, CA—LT Brad Snyder ’06, USN (Ret.), at right, has competed and won in various athletic events from Warrior Games to the Paralympics. He competed in the triathlon during this year’s Paralympic Games in Tokyo winning gold.
The virtues of sports are the virtues needed of leaders in the Navy and Marine Corps—and that we all need in 2021 and beyond. a CDR Kurt Albaugh ’06, USN, a Surface Warfare Officer, commanded DEVASTATOR (MCM 6) and is currently a doctoral student in Georgetown University’s Department of Government under the Navy’s Arthur S. Moreau program.
