SMH - Heard of someone who signed a NLI for Navy...

2024candidate

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This post is not going to be helpful to anyone in any way, but I cringed when I heard about this and then I saw it for myself..

Someone posted a picture at their school's NLI signing day and claimed to have "committed" through signing the letter. Worst part, he hadn't even completed 50% of his application or received a nomination, just word of mouth from the coach. :eek:

Nobody knew enough to call him out on it. Is this normal for schools to do for publicity??
 
I know many athletes that have gone to USNA from my area and participated in signing day at their schools. They don't actually sign an official letter, but participate in the event at school. Many have had LOA's, some have not. All had announced their verbal commitment earlier
 
I know many athletes that have gone to USNA from my area and participated in signing day at their schools. They don't actually sign an official letter, but participate in the event at school. Many have had LOA's, some have not. All had announced their verbal commitment earlier
Right, but the key word is "verbal commitment". My understanding is that doesn't mean a whole lot for USNA, especially due to nominations. But what made me cringe was the fact that he was telling people that he had a binding commitment through signing a letter... before even getting through half his application.
 
Right, but the key word is "verbal commitment". My understanding is that doesn't mean a whole lot for USNA, especially due to nominations. But what made me cringe was the fact that he was telling people that he had a binding commitment through signing a letter... before even getting through half his application.
binding commitment is not correct as we know......strange.....well I hope the best for him and it all works out.
 
Individual high schools can do what they want for this “ceremony”. For example, ours requires that anyone ‘signing’ for this ‘ceremony’ be on a scholarship. Not necessarily a full scholarship (as many sports beyond football, basketball and volleyball, are partial), but at least partial. So anything from our school regarding this ceremony means scholarship. Different form our high school, another school in our area includes preferred walk on’s in their ceremony. Who are not receiving financial scholarships.

It’s not the ceremony that is the ‘binding’ piece. It’s the actual contract that generally comes to the AD’s office, where they sign their contracts and fax them back. Usually earlier that morning. That’s the legal piece. Ceremonies you see have kids that have already signed their NLI’s. My now youngster was allowed to participate even though his situation was obviously different as there isn’t a NLI singed. Our school needed Info from coach for our son to participate. Which he should have as a high level recruit. The academies are unique.

It’s all up to the high school how they handle it. Nothing to do with USNA.

Also, any kid can say anything they want...but as you know as a candidate, there isn’t anything binding. Until the Oath is taken on Iday.

You will never win that battle of technicalities though in these days of tweeting “blessed to say I’ve received my 12th offer from USNA...” basically fake news. But that’s the world we live in now. To add to this hoopla, at least USNA football Twitter feed promotes these “commitments” (only highly active sports account I follow...I don’t know about others). Look at their twitter...it’s all part of generating interest in their program. Understandable that kids get caught up in it, imo. At least for football. But it’s how the general population understands this piece of sports, a team generates interest in and for their program, and the competition a team is ‘building’ for the upcoming season.
 
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This post is not going to be helpful to anyone in any way, but I cringed when I heard about this and then I saw it for myself..

Someone posted a picture at their school's NLI signing day and claimed to have "committed" through signing the letter. Worst part, he hadn't even completed 50% of his application or received a nomination, just word of mouth from the coach. [emoji33]

Nobody knew enough to call him out on it. Is this normal for schools to do for publicity??

Do your best to not look left or right during this journey.

It will be easier if you assume positive intent. Sometimes candidates and families hear what they want to hear, and they conflate this commitment routine (in the case of an SA) to an offer of appointment and guaranteed admission, in the worst case.

The candidate still must complete the application, be fully qualified scholastically/medically/physically, have a nom, get the offer of appointment. If they don’t, well, people who understand the SA app process will know what happened.

I think of it as a “promise ring.” Still a long way from the altar.
 
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As mentioned above, high schools do "signing" ceremonies for athletes regardless of where they commit to. It's a feel good opportunity for the kid, parents, and the school. Student-athletes even sign a commitment letter to Div. III schools which is ludicrous because there is no athletic money involved, therefore no legal reason for a commitment from either party.

I think when students do this for one of the SAs, it is putting the cart waaaay in front of the horse and sometimes leads to embarrassment.

When my daughter "committed" to play Div. III softball, she didn't sign anything but participated in a recognition event and the local paper ran a little story on her which mentioned her high school coach, travel ball coach, and of course her outstanding parents.
 
To be clear the SAs do not participate in the NLI program. What they sign is a meaningless piece of paper. If they have received an appointment, an LOA, finished their nom, etc. is a guess at bet. If they don’t have an Appt in hand then anything can change, especially if DoDMERB hasn’t been cleared. As mentioned, focus on you. Secondly, room with an athlete if you get an Appt. You might be surprised what you learn about them, their schedule and their story.
 
Meh. A lot of people get through I-Day and then decide it’s not for them. Nothing wrong with that at all. The Academy isn’t for everyone, but for some it’s everything.
 
[QUOTE="Capt MJ, post: 698786, member: 1722" I think of it as a “promise ring.” Still a long way from the altar.
[/QUOTE]
Had I only known that then. Now you tell me!
 
Do your best to not look left or right during this journey.

It will be easier if you assume positive intent. Sometimes candidates and families hear what they want to hear, and they conflate this commitment routine (in the case of an SA) to an offer of appointment and guaranteed admission, in the worst case.

The candidate still must complete the application, be fully qualified scholastically/medically/physically, have a nom, get the offer of appointment. If they don’t, well, people who understand the SA app process will know what happened.

I think of it as a “promise ring.” Still a long way from the altar.

And sometimes families/students actually DO understand it to mean a commitment (which is wrong)! Every year I have been here is seems like we read from a disgruntled parent, usually new and posting their their first post, who didn’t understand the nuances of a SA and ultimately didn’t REALLY make the ‘cut’. Missed a deadline. Misunderstood that Johnny/julie was a shoo-in. A SA appointment is a weird thing...add in this whole ‘committing’ part, and it gets even weirder if you don’t understand al the details.
 
As mentioned above, high schools do "signing" ceremonies for athletes regardless of where they commit to. It's a feel good opportunity for the kid, parents, and the school. Student-athletes even sign a commitment letter to Div. III schools which is ludicrous because there is no athletic money involved, therefore no legal reason for a commitment from either party.

I think when students do this for one of the SAs, it is putting the cart waaaay in front of the horse and sometimes leads to embarrassment.

When my daughter "committed" to play Div. III softball, she didn't sign anything but participated in a recognition event and the local paper ran a little story on her which mentioned her high school coach, travel ball coach, and of course her outstanding parents.
I didn't know this. Seems pointless to just have people sign fake commitments for publicity, but I get it. The way I see it, if someone feels the need to tell everyone about something they've accomplished, they did it for the wrong reasons.. especially for the SAs.
 
I didn't know this. Seems pointless to just have people sign fake commitments for publicity, but I get it. The way I see it, if someone feels the need to tell everyone about something they've accomplished, they did it for the wrong reasons.. especially for the SAs.
It's kind of a culminating event I guess. I've seen them done in a low-key way without filling the gym with the student body. Family, coaches, and a few friends is a large enough crowd I think.
 
I didn't know this. Seems pointless to just have people sign fake commitments for publicity, but I get it. The way I see it, if someone feels the need to tell everyone about something they've accomplished, they did it for the wrong reasons.. especially for the SAs.

It's not for 'pointless for publicity'. Is your graduation just for publicity? You will receive your diploma no matter what, despite the ceremony. Isn't there something you have dedicated and sacrificed for years to achieve? I find it odd that you haven't being that you have an LOA. It is a grand moment of celebration, a culmination of all the years of sacrifice. I couldn't be prouder of those kids, or the ones that compete at the state level in choir, band, debate...or the kids that achieve National Merit awards for academia. It's the same principle.

I saw your post earlier about your beliefs towards athletes. Maybe you do have stereotypes about athletes and this is clouding your opinion. But I can tell you that someone who has earned a scholarship as an athlete has worked harder and self sacrificed more than you can ever know to get there.
 
As a recruited athlete who plays my sport for both a club and my school, it was important for me to have a ceremony for media purposes. My club heavily publicizes everyone's "commitment" to play D1, so naturally they really wanted me to have a ceremony just like everyone else. I see it as a culminating event that allows the public to see where I will hopefully get to play and continue my education, but definitely not a guarantee.

By the tone of your post, it sounds like you somewhat look down upon athletes recruited to go to USNA. I hope that you will not have this view on I-day, as I can assure you that most recruited athletes for USNA (at that point) have done just as much work as you to get where they are.
 
As a recruited athlete who plays my sport for both a club and my school, it was important for me to have a ceremony for media purposes. My club heavily publicizes everyone's "commitment" to play D1, so naturally they really wanted me to have a ceremony just like everyone else. I see it as a culminating event that allows the public to see where I will hopefully get to play and continue my education, but definitely not a guarantee.

By the tone of your post, it sounds like you somewhat look down upon athletes recruited to go to USNA. I hope that you will not have this view on I-day, as I can assure you that most recruited athletes for USNA (at that point) have done just as much work as you to get where they are.

All those inducted become equals and teammates.
 
It's not for 'pointless for publicity'. Is your graduation just for publicity? You will receive your diploma no matter what, despite the ceremony. Isn't there something you have dedicated and sacrificed for years to achieve? I find it odd that you haven't being that you have an LOA. It is a grand moment of celebration, a culmination of all the years of sacrifice. I couldn't be prouder of those kids, or the ones that compete at the state level in choir, band, debate...or the kids that achieve National Merit awards for academia. It's the same principle.

I saw your post earlier about your beliefs towards athletes. Maybe you do have stereotypes about athletes and this is clouding your opinion. But I can tell you that someone who has earned a scholarship as an athlete has worked harder and self sacrificed more than you can ever know to get there.
I’m a recruited athlete from one of the top schools in the nation for my sport... I know a whole lot about sacrifice. I celebrated my LOA with my close friends and family and inside, I felt proud and I have new confidence in what I’m capable of. I didn’t need to sign a fake letter or even announce my LOA to the entire school or social media following.
 
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