No email response from baseball coach?

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Sep 23, 2018
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22
Hello,
I am currently a junior in high school and I emailed the Navy Varsity baseball coach about 2 weeks simply introducing myself and giving some of my stats from last season. I'm not exactly the top baseball player in the country, but anything I can do to help my application I will take. Anyway, I have not received a reply of any sorts from him yet. Should I take this as a "he doesn't want me for his team" or should I give him a followup email? Thanks,
 
Did you fill out the Prospective Athlete Questionnaire on the Navy Sports website? If you haven’t, recommend you do that and then leave it. Usually asssitant coaches are assigned certain regions and more than likely they do the majority of the initial recruiting and assessments. Are you being recruited by other schools? If you aren’t, don’t count on Navy. If you are, could be a good sign. USNA’s baseball team is a legit D1 program.
 
@NavyHoops - I filled out the prospective athlete questionnaire a few weeks ago, but have heard nothing from it either. The service academies are the only schools that I am interested in as of now, and I know I have to have a Plan B/C going into the future, but I viewed baseball as a way of getting into the academy and becoming a naval officer rather than something I would want to pursue as a career, which is why I haven't actively been trying to get recruited by other colleges (which I now realize may be detrimental to my application to the academy, at least in the baseball aspect)
 
@Capt MJ Thank you, I also have one more question. My school does not give out varsity letters or report class rankings, which I know is an important factor. Will this hurt my application?
 
You can always follow up, but I wouldn’t put too much stock in this path at this point. If you are already a junior and not being recruited by other schools, I wouldn’t count on this unless you are a left handed pitcher who recently grew 6” and gained 10 mph on your fast ball, with a solid 3 pitches. If you are good enough they will reach out to you, whether it’s USNA or another school. If USNA is your goal, continue on the path. Look at attending baseball camp next summer. If you are good enough, you may catch the eye of the coaches.
 
My school does not give out varsity letters or report class rankings, which I know is an important factor. Will this hurt my application?

The Academic Ranking is becoming more common, and USNA will know when they look at the School profile. This is the first I have heard of a School that doesn't give Varsity letters -- that is one of the questions on the Personal Data Record, but I would suspect there is some way to reflect that your school doesn't award letters, and you should include your bonafides, ie. 4 year starter, led team to 14-0 season, etc. so Admissions knows that you would have earned a letter. It couldn't hurt to tell your BGO so he/she can include that in the interview write up as well.

I am curious, why doesn't the School award letters ? I get it (but don't agree) in the context of Academics, but Athletics is by its nature a competitive endeavor. Do you keep score during the games ? I'd love to hear the school's rationale on this one.
 
The Academic Ranking is becoming more common, and USNA will know when they look at the School profile. This is the first I have heard of a School that doesn't give Varsity letters....

I am curious, why doesn't the School award letters ? I get it (but don't agree) in the context of Academics, but Athletics is by its nature a competitive endeavor. Do you keep score during the games ? I'd love to hear the school's rationale on this one.
I'm just guessing that instead of "everyone gets a trophy" that they follow the principal of "nobody gets a trophy". That way no feelings are hurt. Purely a guess though.
 
My son played High School baseball and was going to play D3 college baseball. If you were D1 material (I am not saying your arent) the college scouts would find you even if you didnt promote yourself. Maybe if you live in a small city in a small populated state, then maybe they would know who you are but in general (at least in Los Angeles) everyone knows who the star baseball players are. My son was a pitcher (nowhere near being a star) and he knew basically every top notch high school pitcher and they knew him. Not because they were friends or even played against each other (in some cases they did), but they all dealt with the same coaches and people in the sport.
 
@Old Navy BGO - Not sure why. I go to a NYC Public School, and I don't think any NYC public schools give out varsity letters. The league is extremely competitive and scores are kept online at psal.org
 
@Humey That's strange; I thought coming from a big city like LA would mean baseball is kind of impersonal (I'm from NYC and I don't know any coaches outside of the ones I had.) Honestly, I don't think I'm D1 material, but I thought it might be worth a shot if it meant boosting my chances at getting into Navy or West Point.
 
@Humey That's strange; I thought coming from a big city like LA would mean baseball is kind of impersonal (I'm from NYC and I don't know any coaches outside of the ones I had.) Honestly, I don't think I'm D1 material, but I thought it might be worth a shot if it meant boosting my chances at getting into Navy or West Point.
Los Angeles is sort of split between the San Fernando Valley which has a populatin of almost 2 million and the rest of Los Angeles. I would assume the rest of LA is split also among other lines also . In anycase, most of the pitchers in the San Fernando VAlley know each other. Most have outside pitching coaches and they also pretty much go to the same guys. While we do play teams in the General LA area, the majority of the games are played against other teams in valley. So they do get to know each other while playing and when they see each other at the outside coaches. Additionally, my son used to go see Tom House. He was the pitching coach for USC and is well known for helping Nolan Ryan in his day. He has camps for pitchers and is well known for helping NFL Quarterbacks. For several days, my son trained with Tom Brady, which was very nice. This is all done at USC baseball field. And when I say USC, I mean University of Southern California. You east coast types, think it means U South Caroline. In any case, he got to meet tons of other pitchers. While my son never played for a travel team, he did go to several camps, so between the camps, the outside pitchinging coaches and playing other teams, you meet people. Plus the fathers of baseball players in S. Cal have big mouths and love to gossip. My son played freshman year with a kid called Max Fried. He now plays for Atlanta Braves. When he father would walk in the baseball area, you would think royalty just walked in as all of the fathers would flock to to the dad. I saw this happen my fraternity brother. After his son got accetped to USC baseball, my friends standing amoung the fathers shot up. My point is they all talk about the other kids from other teams. Everyone knows everyone. Addtionally, many of these kids played together at Little League. We have baseball year round in LA. Many opportutnies to meet. So many kids play baseball in S. CA that most have to leave the state just to play college ball. Not enough spaces in Calfornia to accomodate everyone.
 
I would give it some time. It took almost 2 months for the Navy boxing coach Jim McNally to get back to me as I did the same thing you did to simply introduce myself. I wouldn’t worry as I imagine the coaches are very busy.
 
Just my two cents.... I would focus more on the leadership aspects of baseball for the application process. Team captain? Running a summer camp? Start a pitching clinic for at risk youth? And make sure your CFA is top notch. Hard to play the varsity athlete card and have a middle of the road CFA....

Will you apply to summer seminar? Be in contact with you local BGO and school counselor and let them know you are interested in a Candidate Visit Weekend. Or, NYC isn't too far so make your own trip to Annapolis for an admissions tour where lots of questions can be answered in person.

USNA spots are extremely competitive and those D1 athletic spots seem like they would be a golden ticket, but those opportunities are rare and even more competitive. Focus more on getting in on your own merit and if the baseball path opens then that is a bonus. Or is it? My DS roommates are both recruited athletes. He genuinely doesn't know how they keep up with the crazy rigorous academic schedule, military duties, athletic practice/games. Be careful what you wish for! Hats off and much respect to all USNA athletes for taking on this challenge.
 
Just my two cents.... I would focus more on the leadership aspects of baseball for the application process. Team captain? Running a summer camp? Start a pitching clinic for at risk youth? And make sure your CFA is top notch. Hard to play the varsity athlete card and have a middle of the road CFA....

Will you apply to summer seminar? Be in contact with you local BGO and school counselor and let them know you are interested in a Candidate Visit Weekend. Or, NYC isn't too far so make your own trip to Annapolis for an admissions tour where lots of questions can be answered in person.

USNA spots are extremely competitive and those D1 athletic spots seem like they would be a golden ticket, but those opportunities are rare and even more competitive. Focus more on getting in on your own merit and if the baseball path opens then that is a bonus. Or is it? My DS roommates are both recruited athletes. He genuinely doesn't know how they keep up with the crazy rigorous academic schedule, military duties, athletic practice/games. Be careful what you wish for! Hats off and much respect to all USNA athletes for taking on this challenge.

It’s why USNA has more former D1 athletes then active D1 athletes. The schedule is grueling. I am still best friends with my room mates and they still say it. Sure we miss drill, some training and a few other items. But no one sees us at 5 am in the training room for extra treatment, practicing on Thanksgiving for a tournament, or the 3 days we get at Xmas. Missing class sounds great on the surface, it is brutal to keep up. If you don’t enjoy the sport or aren’t really getting a lot of playing time (or even traveling or suiting up) it becomes a question of why? We started with 9 recruits in my class. 3 graduated. This was the norm for basketball. Men’s basketball was even worse as they used NAPS more. So more like 9-15 per class and 2-4 make it to senior year. Football can start with 60-75 and usually finishes with around 25-35. There is nothing wrong with hanging it up. It becomes a matter of priorities. The great news... most stay at USNA and find a new club sport of interest or become intramural warriors.
 
It’s why USNA has more former D1 athletes then active D1 athletes. The schedule is grueling. I am still best friends with my room mates and they still say it. Sure we miss drill, some training and a few other items. But no one sees us at 5 am in the training room for extra treatment, practicing on Thanksgiving for a tournament, or the 3 days we get at Xmas. Missing class sounds great on the surface, it is brutal to keep up. If you don’t enjoy the sport or aren’t really getting a lot of playing time (or even traveling or suiting up) it becomes a question of why? We started with 9 recruits in my class. 3 graduated. This was the norm for basketball. Men’s basketball was even worse as they used NAPS more. So more like 9-15 per class and 2-4 make it to senior year. Football can start with 60-75 and usually finishes with around 25-35. There is nothing wrong with hanging it up. It becomes a matter of priorities. The great news... most stay at USNA and find a new club sport of interest or become intramural warriors.

So true - I was officer rep for women’s hoops. Players would love the team, but if they weren’t getting playing time or if the travel-academic grind was just too much, many shifted to club sports, or intramural. And that was perfectly okay. They still enjoyed playing a team sport, but with less time investment. Oddly, or maybe not, many gravitated to rugby - team feeling, physical contact not a problem, ball-handling and passing, moving a ball up and down the field using coordinated plays, hard running and pivoting.
 
Hello,
I am currently a junior in high school and I emailed the Navy Varsity baseball coach about 2 weeks simply introducing myself and giving some of my stats from last season. I'm not exactly the top baseball player in the country, but anything I can do to help my application I will take. Anyway, I have not received a reply of any sorts from him yet. Should I take this as a "he doesn't want me for his team" or should I give him a followup email? Thanks,

My 2021 DS is still waiting for the swim coach to respond to his email from 2 years ago. He sees him at Arvin from time to time and can't understand why he hasn't noticed him tearing up the pool in intercompany competition. :)
 
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