It's quite a split we have on boths sides, ... But they're all great athletes and we'll have some fun this year and some success.

That's a fun one for the athletes.

Last year, Andre was definitely a lot of the offense. This year, we have more athletes who can step up and make big plays - not just Andre.

When it started here, we wanted to create a tradition. We had a bunch of enthusiastic athletes, but we never quite built a sustained thing. We had some success in the 1980s, but it went sour again. For the last few years we've had a team that was expected to win.

That was absolutely improper and something we have taken great measures to have our athletes not do,

Being at the academy is a lot of fun for the athletes, but this competition is also an important one for them. This is their regional event, their opportunity to get qualified to compete at state level. Many of them get nervous. The Naval Academy personnel take a lot of the apprehension away, especially when the volunteers get in the water or on the field and participate in the event with the athlete. The athletes really enjoy that.