CIAA Opens Door of Opportunity for Student-Athletes with Navy SEALs

We posted an impressive article on Sunday on the partnership of the U.S. Navy SEALS and the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association.  If you missed this informative story, here is a link to the press release on the “Mental Toughness, Never Quit” campaign and yesterday's linked article.

USNAVYSEALS.COM BLOG reports:  The partnership between the SEALs and the CIAA is two-fold. Aside from raising awareness regarding the SEALs among CIAA athletes, it also gives them an opportunity to reach out to possible recruits who are of African-American descent.  The CIAA is composed mostly of schools that are historically African-American.

Diversity officer Cmdr. Brodes Hartley explains: “More than ever, our force needs to be a reflection of our society… but we’re not even close to that.” Less than 50 of the roughly 2,500 active-duty SEALs are African-Americans; the count is even less for Asians and Hispanics.

Cmdr. Hartley said that part of the problem that results in low recruits for African-Americans is a fear of the water; for most of them, swimming was an activity that was not within reach – economically and culturally. “We’re working to change that… I mean, look at how many guys we had in the water today,” Hartley said.



If you like data, here are a few numbers to chew on, coming from the SEALs.

"An estimated 25% of all individuals who go through Navy SEAL training actually pass their training. When it comes to other types of military training, 85% of people who undergo these trainings will pass their training."

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