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Show .:: .111! t I NO. 1 AT NAVAL ACADEMY ANNAPOLIS, MD. Some people get butterflies in their stomachs before an athletic contest; Ken Switzer just gets scared. NEVERTHELESS, Switzer excels in his sport to the point that he now ranks as the number num-ber one boxer in his weight class at the U.S. Naval Academy. What makes this all the more amazing is that he had never boxed before entering the academy. "It was something some-thing that I had always wanted to do, but just never tried," he says. KEN, THE son of retired Air Force Master Sergeant and Mrs. Ronald L. Switzer of 1071 S. 800 E., Bountiful, has found boxing to be quite different diffe-rent from the track, cross country, and tennis that he has pursued in the past. He says, "In boxing, I have, more to lose. In tennis, for example, ex-ample, it's just a loss, but in boxing, you get punched and that stays with you." SWITZER, however, doesn't just go out and pound on his opponent. Instead, he says, "It's a thinking sport. Like a chess match, you use strategy as you react to different diffe-rent situations. "You rely on technique and keep your fellings out of it. You don't think of him personally person-ally as an opponent because you're thinking of what kind of moves you need to hit him. You're scored on how many hits you make, so that's where your mind is." IF SWITZER has done nothing no-thing else at the academy, he feels that he has developed self-discipline and found out what his limits are. "Before I came here, I felt I had some self-discipline, but it's nothing compared to what I have now. The academy has been a demanding experience, but I've found that I can do anything I set my mind to," he says. One of the things that Switzer has made up his mind to do is become an officer. Ken Switzer, of Bountiful, hadn't put on a pair of boxing gloves until he entered en-tered the U.S. Naval Academy. Now he's the No. 1 boxer in his weight division. "BEING THE son of a retired re-tired Air Force master sergeant, the professional part of the program was no problem for me," Switzer said. "I had traveled and I knew what the military was like." Each class has its own military milit-ary structure at the academy, and in the junior class, Switzer is a company commander. As a junior, Switzer works closely with the upperclassmen and is supervised by them. He says, "From them, I've learned to handle people better and to do things more effectively. "WHEN YOU'RE working with 120 to 130 people, you're responsible for everything that goes on and it's up to you to keep everyone reasonably happy and make sure they get their jobs done." This summer, Switzer is hoping to receive additional leadership experience during Plebe Summer, the period of rigorous military indoctrination indoctrina-tion for academy freshmen. "I'M HOPING to be among the midshipmen selected to train the plebes (freshmen), because I feel it'll be a real challenge to take someone with a civilian background and help them understand the military." Switzer has also served aboard one of the academy's 80-foot yard patrol (YP) vessels ves-sels during a summer training cruise and has visited various Navy and Marine Corps installations instal-lations for introduction to various va-rious career options. "BOTH SUMMERS were learning experiences," Switzer Swit-zer said. "While aboard the. YPs, I learned about navigation naviga-tion and about the ship's propulsion prop-ulsion plant. On the other cruise, I spent time aboard a submarine, lived and worked with some Marines, and talked with Navy aviators and ship drivers." In addition to his professional profession-al experiences, Switzer is taking tak-ing a full academic course load just like other college students. "My biggest adjustment here was academic," he said. "I ' J,'IWHMWW9BFWlgTTWIlMiliHllli HPl.llilun had a problem disciplining myself my-self to sit down and study, and the college level engineering courses were really hard." NEVERTHELESS, Switzer enjoys the hands-on applications applica-tions of his major and the opportunity to experiment in various labs. As a mechanical engineering major, he has a wealth of facilities at his disposal dis-posal including analog and digital computing systems and laboratories that range from materials science to thermodynamics thermo-dynamics and fluid dynamics labs. Looking at his accomplishments accomplish-ments here, Switzer says, "I've always believed that you get out of something what you put into it. Whenever I'm tempted to make things easier on myself, I think of the future and the achievements I'm hoping hop-ing for and then I try harder. "BECAUSE I'M working towards a career, I feel I have something worth working for. I have a commitment to the future fu-ture and that makes everything go smoother." |
