In 2 weeks Andrew is moving to Northridge, CA to attend Cal State Northridge Matadors baseball team. The team competes in NCAA Division I in the Big West Conference. Andrew received grants however it’s only enough to cover school tuition and some of his living expenses. I’m writing to you today because he still needs furniture for his apartment, food, utilities, gas, school supplies, etc. He got accepted today for his apartment and will move in less than 2 weeks. It’s not the amount that matters but the meaning behind your individual contribution that will go towards Andrew’s living needs and baseball career. We want to say thank you for your donations in advance and if you have 3 minutes please read Andrew’s story below. {Andrew’s Story} It was 2007 when it all started, a professional baseball player had just turned 4 years old and started to play T-ball at NPLL. I would take my son to every single practice and game from the time he was 4 up until he was 14, many of the NPLL coaches were mentors to Andrew and really dedicated time to teach him the fundamentals of the game, including the legend Mr. Joe Schloss who coached Little League baseball in North Park for 60 years, Andrew had the privilege to learn under him for a year. As Andrew started High School at SDHS, baseball had become more than a game it became his passion and he had the desire to continue to challenge himself at any cost to get better at his passion. His freshman year he made the Varsity Team at SDHS he spent 2 years there and made sure to get close to the best player on his baseball team so he could watch and learn from him. After his freshman year he asked me if he could transfer schools to Patrick Henry because he researched their baseball program and felt that he could be challenged there, he left all that he knew behind and transferred to finish 2 more years of Varsity baseball at Patrick Henry. He joined 3 travel ball teams over the course of his high school years, however, it was not easy to finance those private teams as they are very expensive so he wasn’t always able to play travel ball every year. Andrew would ask me if I could put him in lessons to get better and I couldn’t because I was not financially able to pay the high cost for those lessons. But that didn’t stop Andrew, he would ask me to drop him off at different fields so he could practice. There were times he would walk because I wasn’t able to take him, and he did this for years; he trained himself to get better with the resources he had. He played 2 years on Varsity before graduating High School. College…let’s talk about it! Andrew struggled with grades his first 3 years of HS and that caught up to him when deciding on a college because it’s not just about how good you play but it’s also about how good your grades are. So that lead him to Mesa for his first 2 years of college, which was 100% Gods Will because that school was so good to Andrew and the coaches really prepared Andrew for what was to come. Cal State University of Northridge had been looking at him his first year at Mesa, even though his grades were better they still weren’t CSUN material and the scouting CSUN coach said get your grades up then we can talk. From then on Andrew really did a 360 with his grades and started working hard on his grades and his future baseball career, Andrew wanted CSUN that was in his heart. The 2nd year he got the call, CSUN was ready to meet! Earlier this summer we met up with the head Coach and he interviewed Andrew for an hour, with me and his aunt in the room, it was very intense but Andrew was amazing in all his responses but there was one question the coach asked my sister about Andrew and that was “do you think Andrew is ready for this” she said “yes he’s ready, he has worked all his young life for this on his own. He was limited to what he could do because my sister was a single parent but that never stopped Andrew, and who he is today is because of all his hard work” it took me back and made me remember everything we had been through and all Andrew has accomplished and there is no doubt in my mind he is ready and he will do great in his future baseball career. When we left the school no more than 5 minutes went by and Andrew received the call from the assistant coach to commit to CSUN. We are so excited for his future and know that his future is bright. His journey starts now…let the real hard work begin! Thank you
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