Sport a small part of West Point experience

Since going away to school, David Gorshein has seen the first cannon fired in the Civil War and the last.

He has listened to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He has braved the cold as college football’s most significant rivalry, Army vs. Navy, played out on the field below him. Other times, Gorshein has fired a rocket launcher, thrown grenades and shot thousands of rounds of ammunition.

“I thought I was a hard worker in high school,’’ said Gorshein, whose schedule can keep him awake on some days for 20 hours. “I thought I was the busiest guy, but it’s nothing compared to now.”

Such is life as a freshman at West Point. It’s a life two Central Floridians have embraced.

Gorshein, who went to Lake Mary High School, is one. Trinity Prep graduate Sam DiMaio is the other.

They are first-year tennis players at Army who returned recently to represent the Black Knights in a match against Air Force at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona.

Winter Park native Jim Poling coaches Gorshein and the rest of the men’s team. In his 16th year at Army, Poling is the program’s all-time winningest coach.

DiMaio, who is on the women’s team, and Gorshein readily accept the challenge of juggling class, practice and match schedules, along with military duties, while taking advantage of the wonderful sights and opportunities simply not available at most universities.

Of course, the ground on which most college students walk daily were not under the feet of soldiers during the Revolutionary War. West Point, a military installation located about 65 miles north of New York City, was founded as a school in 1802 and has graduated countless notable Americans, including presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Dwight D. Eisenhower.

“It’s just awe-inspiring,” DiMaio said. “I just walk around and think about all the famous, amazing leaders who have come out of that place. I feel honored that I can walk in their footsteps.”

DiMaio and Gorshein knew what West Point entailed. They did the homework.

DiMaio’s cousins were in ROTC, and her grandfather served in the Navy. The military always intrigued her, even more after she heard a presentation by a colonel when she was a high school freshman.

The next year, she was set to participate in a youth tournament in Daytona Beach that was attended by some college coaches. He noticed someone with a Knights logo on his shirt and wondered whether he was affiliated with Army. “That’s not Army. That’s UCF,” DiMaio’s father told her.

Parents aren’t always right, and Bruce DiMaio wasn’t in this case. He learned Paul Peck, Army’s women’s coach, was there, but he had gone to the restroom by the time Sam DiMaio returned bathroom break.

She waited outside the men’s facilities until Peck emerged. After the proper introductions, she spoke directly.

“I have some for you,” she said.

Said Bruce DiMaio: “They talked for, like, a halfhour.’’

Gorshein saw a military education as part of his future ever since his freshman year in high school. He just didn’t know which branch.

Several members of his father’s side of the family were in the Israeli military, making an impression. Two friends attended West Point and talked to Gorshein about what it was like.

Chris Hochfelder, a senior at West Point who also graduated from Lake Mary, was one.

“At the academy, you’re always going to have your ups and downs,” Hochfelder said. “You’re always going to have your little failures here and there, but to bounce back and attack whatever’s in front of you, David’s very resilient in that sense.’’ from her questions

Gorshein needs to look no further than his coach for motivation.

Poling’s family moved from Ohio to Central Florida when he was a child. He went to Winter Park High School, played tennis at Clemson and joined the Army.

“I didn’t really decide to go into the Army,” said Poling, whose coaching stops included capturing a Division II national championship at Rollins in 2001. “Back then, they had a lottery. I had a crummy number.”

Poling, now 71, made the best of it. He spent two years in Vietnam, one of which was spent running what he called the largest petroleum depot in the world, “the only one that didn’t get bombed by the (Viêt Công) over there.”

Poling was a platoon leader and a company commander. He saw a different culture, recalling fondly the time a Vietnamese woman invited Poling and his sergeant to eat Christmas dinner with her family.

Chickens scurried around the yard. The floors were dirt. There was an outhouse.

“It couldn’t have been nicer,” Poling said.

“I’m fortunate — I mean, really fortunate — that I got sent to Vietnam,” he said.

As he awaits another hip replacement, Poling said he has led a great life. He wants only the same for plebes — a term that refers to freshmen — such as Gorshein and DiMaio.

They’re off to a good start. “My parents raised me to be hard-working and have strong morals and ethics,” said DiMaio, a history major. “The Army’s motto of ‘Duty, Honor, Country’ stood out to me, and it really gives me a medium to live life the way I want and to bring about change.”

Gorshein said he may stay in the Army after his military commitment following graduation or may return to the private sector.

West Point will influence him for years to come, no matter his career path.

“You don’t walk out the same person that you are when you come in,” Gorshein said.