(6 May 2019) President Donald Trump welcomed the U.S. Military Academy at West Point's football team to the White House Monday, honoring the team for its wins over the U.S. Air Force and Naval Academies.
For the second year in a row, the Black Knights won the Commander-in-Chief trophy, the award presented annually to the team that wins the college football series among the military academies.
Speaking in the Rose Garden, Trump congratulated the team for winning "more games than any other Army team in history." The Black Knights also hold the second longest active winning streak in college football, trailing only the Clemson Tigers.
"Everytime that you are on the field, you prove that you are Army Strong," Trump said.
The president also said he is looking into offering a waiver that would allow service academy athletes to play professional sports immediately upon graduation.
He said that under the plan he's envisioning, athletes would "serve their time after they're finished with professional sports."
But Trump's own Defense Department rescinded a policy in 2017 that allowed the best athletes from the military's service academies to go straight to the pros upon graduation instead of having to first serve in active duty.
Under the current framework, athletes have to serve two years of active duty before applying for reserve status to pursue a career in professional sports.
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