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Q&A: Plant's Mychal Givens

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 6, 2007

Plant junior baseball player Mychal Givens recently returned from Ixtapa, Mexico, where he helped the USA Junior National Baseball Team win a bronze medal at the 2007 COPABE 'AAA' Pan American Championships. He was joined on the team by Clearwater Central Catholic senior Ryan Weber. On Wednesday, the Tribune caught up with Givens at Plant High for a quick Q&A.

Mike, obviously you didn't get a chance to win a gold medal the U.S. lost to Cuba in the semifinals, but coming home with a bronze medal is still an amazing accomplishment. Tell me what it was like to win that medal while representing your country?

It was great, and a great opportunity because there were 11 different countries competing. We went out there hoping to win gold, but we went at it hard and gave it our best and were able to beat Canada 6-2 for the bronze.

What was the best experience for you?

Definitely meeting all the new kids on Team USA and getting to see some of the other kids I played with last summer on the youth national team again. They're guys from different states all over the country and they're guys that I may get to play with again throughout the future.

You have a lot of international experience between your time with the youth and junior national teams. What would you say is the biggest difference between an international tournament and high school baseball in Hillsborough County?

International gets rowdier. You're playing against different countries that hate you, and they have all kinds of different stuff, like beating drums and chanting, anything to get into your heads. Sometimes it gets so loud you can't even hear the coaches around you. It's fun, though; it's exciting, the different atmosphere and seeing the different ways how they play baseball and stuff like that.

With the U.S. finishing third, it qualified the team for the 2008 IBAF 'AAA' World Championships in Canada. What is your status on the junior national team? Are you automatically on the team next summer?

Every year it's a whole new tryout; you start from the beginning every year.

What do you think your chances are of getting on the team again next year?

I think I've got a chance. Since I started at shortstop the last two years, I think I have a pretty good chance.

Adam Adkins

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