Life and Sports

 The last time I was on here, I was still in my senior year at Ohio Northern trying to figure out what I was going to do with the rest of my life. After many job applications, interviews, stressful days and nights, and prayer, I am happy to say that I have a job that I love!  Since graduation, I moved to Ponte Vedra Beach in Florida and have an amazing job working in advancement services at a small private school in Jacksonville. I have been here for three months and I have met some wonderful people, as well as finding a career that suits me.  I know that many people think of advancement services and fundraising as asking people for money and would never want to do that. Some people picture it as a "car salesman" pitch to give money. I am glad to say that this job is nothing like that. The school is a non-profit and it is great to see how many people are impacted with the money we raise.  Living in Florida has been a big change, considering the transition from Ada (5,000 peop

  As this is our last blog, I want to talk about the ONU experience. My experience has been different than others for many reasons. I only grew up about 40 minutes away from knowing you, so I’m able to go home often. I’m also been coming to Northern since the sixth grade for basketball. Northern was never my first choice growing up because I always wanted to go somewhere warm in the south. Many things changed, including my passion for wanting to golf in college and what I wanted to do as a career. When looking around colleges in the area I found out that only had one of the top public relations programs and I really wanted to go there cause I can also golf. Like all the other seniors are freshman year was cut short from Covid and it made it very difficult in the future to get to know more people. Luckily, being on a team made it easier to meet people, but it still was difficult. Since I also live close I was able to live off campus my junior year as well. It was nice to save money, but

 A big thing in sports is learning how to win. Talent can come naturally for many people in sports, and sometimes it has to be extracted from you. My team has many athletes, but they were not exactly basketball players when I started coaching them.  When it comes to my team, they are athletically gifted. They are strong kids, and almost all of them play football together, where they have been successful. When it has came to basketball, they have struggled. Basketball is not easy, especially when you are not taught the right things and your "basketball IQ" is low.  We had our first game on Monday against Bellefontaine. When they played Bellefontaine in 6th grade, they lost by 40. Last year, we lost by four in the first game and then 29 in the second matchup. The week prior we talked about having confidence and how we are going to beat them. During the game, we were up 28-21 in the 4th quarter. I was so happy for my players and they were exciting to watch. However, everything c

 As I have mentioned in an earlier blog, I coach middle school basketball at Ben Logan in Bellefontaine. I love coaching and it is an adventure to get to know the kids, as well as great coaching my brother. Tonight, we have our first scrimmage at Fairbanks near Marysville. I am not sure how good they are, but Fairbanks was good when I played in school. My starting five players are really good. They are all athletic and fast. We like to push the ball and try to outrun the other team. My brother, Xavier, is my point guard and he has vastly improved since last year. He sees the court really well and is shooting threes more consistently. My bench is a little shaky. One or two of them can play a little bit, but I have two kids who have never played basketball before, so it can be rough at times. I am excited to see their improvement as the season goes along. I know we are not the greatest team in our league, but I know that we will be more competitive this year, and will definitely win more

  Growing up, I was always competitive. Competition is some thing that fuels many people. My three brothers, we were competitive against each other in any sports or games we played together. Nobody really likes losing, and most people that say they don’t mind losing are lying. Competition is one of the most important aspects of life. Whether it is sports, salaries, etc. people want to be better than everyone else. For coaching basketball, I want my players competitive in practice and games. A competitive nature shows that you want to be the best. However, people show competitive nature in different ways. Some are the quiet competitors, who just play their game and don’t worry about the outside noise. Some talk trash the whole time, getting in the other persons head and it fuels them to keep going harder. No matter the way you do it, competitiveness is a big aspect in life and when my players show that, it makes me happy to know how much they want to get better, and even more so want EA

  Like many people in the class, family has always been important to me. I have three younger brothers that I really enjoy seeing or talking to on a daily basis. I also enjoy talking to my parents either daily or weekly. Even in college, my mom would always want me to call her every week to make sure I was alive. Now that I am married, I do not see my family as much. However, Ellie and I both make sure we see our family members during week. My youngest brother, Xavier, goes to the same school that Ellie teaches at, and he always goes to her classroom and say hi during the day. we both also go to my brothers sporting events during the week and weekend as well. The “middle child” Kameron also goes to the same school, but he is a senior and is in a different building. The second child is Trey. We have always been there for each other and we’re 2 grades apart. He has been one of my best friends growing up and it’s been nice to see him grow up as well. Trey recently moved to Florida in Augu