West Point, to thee
Liam O'Hara, Gymnastics
Through this letter I hope to give you an honest insight as I look back on my time at the Academy as an Army gymnast. Through all the challenges I have faced, I have been blessed with so many indescribably amazing moments along the way.
On October 9, 2015 I received my Certificate of Appointment to the United States Military Academy from head gymnastics coach Dr. Doug Van Everen while on my recruiting trip.
To say I was ecstatic is an understatement. I had always wanted to go to the United States Military Academy and compete for the gymnastics team. All I had ever heard about is how prestigious the academy is and how I could be part of something so much greater than myself.
Soon after reporting on R-Day, I realized what being in the Army entailed. Over the next couple months at Beast, I thought I had made a huge mistake. All we did was ruck long distances with heavy weight, run before the sun came up and eat meals from plastic packages. This wasn’t the college gymnast life that I was expecting at all! But I stayed the course.
It took me most of my first year at the academy to understand that it wasn’t all about gymnastics. Gymnastics was simply the tool that helped me get to a place where I could really make something out of my life. Gymnastics was the “getaway” during the busy academic day and military training. Gymnastics always had been and always will be a way of life. As Coach Doug always told us that while he, of course, wants us to succeed in gymnastics and live up to our full potential, the sport is teaching us a whole lot more than just gymnastics skills. It will make us tougher, more resilient and better prepared to deal with whatever comes our way as future Army officers.
Army gymnasts have less time to train than gymnasts on other teams. We go a few months with no training at all over the summer, while gymnasts on other teams across the country typically have two practices a day. We have less time every day during the academic year to focus on gymnastics. We take more credit hours, get less sleep and have less free time than the gymnasts we competed against. While it seemed at the time like we got the short end of the stick, I now realize that everything was set up right where it all needed to be, to prepare us for our future.
While West Point has strict academic policies and most teachers are Army officers, they are without a doubt the best academic staff in the world. Every teacher is very personable with every student, athlete or not. I am an Engineering Management major within the Systems Engineering department, and I enjoy going to every class in my major. The students and teachers make each day special. Without a doubt, my current and past teachers at the Academy will be some of the greatest mentors in life.
I’d like to shout out the seniors during my freshman year – Leo Genders (now 1st Lieutenant Genders) and Joseph Pritts (now 1st Lieutenant Pritts). While I was still trying to figure my life out plebe year, both of these gentlemen guided me through and set me on the right path. They showed me what it meant to be a true leader of character and compassion rather than an authoritarian one. The same goes with my sophomore year team captain, Nick McAfee (now 1st Lieutenant McAfee). He was known for the phrase “nobody cares, work harder.” While this sounds very blunt and careless, it meant so much to me. He was one of the only leaders I’ve ever come across who could be so rough and straight up, but who you knew also really cared about every single guy under him. He would say this phrase out of love, and to make you a better man. Nick was the most hardworking, disciplined person I have ever met, and I still strive to be more like him every day.
While I only mentioned a few individuals on the team, the point I aim to get across is that Army gymnastics is truly a family. If the Academy seems a bit scary at first, I would not let that stop you from making the decision to come here. The gymnastics team is really something special. The guys on the team will help you get through the rough patches and enjoy yourself along the way. You will quickly become friends when you are sharing a meal-ready-to-eat and walking up a mountain with a ruck on at 3 a.m. in the complete dark. Our team struggles together and are forced to endure worse conditions than most people experience in their entire lives. But we don’t even mind it because we are together. As one team with one fight.
All the meets along the way while traveling across the country with a large group of my best friends were the best times of my life. I can’t speak for the atmosphere on any other teams, but I can say for certain that the Army gymnastics team was the closest-knit group of guys I’ve ever seen or been a part of in my life. There were many struggles along the way, and many tough meets, but what’s special about Army gymnastics is that we can quickly put the hard times behind us and focus on what’s next. It is about the grittiest group of gentlemen that you can find anywhere, who all are an integral part of the team, and who all care about each other deeply.
Personally, I feel cheated that my last meet was the last meet of my career and I didn’t even know it. I never got that feeling of competing for the last time or doing the last routine of my life, landing and feeling grateful for the accomplished career I’ve had. What the season ending did teach me is to never take anything for granted. I completely appreciate what I had at Army - the coaches, my teammates, our physical trainer, our fans, all of it.
While COVID-19 unfortunately and abruptly ended my final season as an Army gymnast, I still consider myself lucky to have been able to be a part of the family long enough to appreciate what it was. I ended my final season on a high note, as the ECAC Co-Most Improved Gymnast, and with multiple personal bests on the pommel horse. The last meet I competed in was the best I’ve done in my life and received my final personal best of a 13.8. While ending the season the way we did was difficult, I am as happy as can be ending it with a personal best, without even knowing it at the time.
And if you asked me if I would do it all over again, I’d say yes in a heartbeat.
Gymnastics is more than just a sport. It is a way of life. It teaches discipline from an early age. It means going to practice when your friends are all hanging out on a Friday night. Going to practice instead of going to the beach during summer break. Going to practice when you have more schoolwork than time to get it done by class the next day. And if you asked me if I would do it all over again, I’d say yes in a heartbeat.
Army gymnastics has taught me to be gritty and never accept anything less than my best. It was not always easy to be a cadet at the United States Military Academy and NCAA Division I athlete, but it taught me to care for my family and to always be there for each other. This will stay with me forever. The relationships I’ve made will last forever. My love for the sport will exist forever, despite the unexpected and unfortunate ending for the seniors and the rest of the gymnasts around the nation.
If there is one decision that I cannot recommend enough to anyone in life, it would be to join the Army gymnastics team. It will be the toughest and best times of your life, but the best times far outweigh the tough ones. It will make you physically and mentally strong and ready to face anything that comes your way in life. But lastly, it will give you more meaning than any other school in the nation because upon graduation you will commission as an officer and leader of character into the United States Army.
I hope this letter resonates with young gymnasts across the nation and helps guide them with their decision to continue collegiate gymnastics in the future. I did my best to write it in a way that it would have helped me out four short years ago.
We are together…as one team…with one fight.
- Liam O'Hara
To read all of the letters in the West Point, to thee series, please click this link.