For better or worse, I think athletic participation and achievement is used[1] as a proxy for what you want. The idea is that one can prove himself through spor

For better or worse, I think athletic participation and achievement is used[1] as a proxy for what you want. The idea is that one can prove himself through sport as a good teammate with grit, determination, toughness etc. in adversarial situations. It might be debatable, but I think that's the logic used by the institution. And I was trying to say that what's true is the SOF community's desire for "emotional and cognitive performance under stress" above most other qualities. Like you said, one won't even get looked at without a baseline level of fitness or athleticism, but after that selection appears to be based on the outcomes of mind games and the assessment of personality traits. [1] Officers coming out of Army ROTC, for example, get literal points for playing intercollegiate or intramural sports, and having more points gives them a better chance at getting their choice of career field. Getting an Army ROTC scholarship in the first place probably works the same way.