Life and Sports

 After Ohio State's near walk-off win against Notre Dame this past Saturday, I couldn't help but think of how lucky I am to have grown up in Ohio and be a buckeye fan. Unlike most places, they have always had success in my life (minus 2011) and have won two national championships, while competing in three other championship games. While there has been major success, Ryan Day said this game will go down as "one of the big wins in Ohio State history". That statement has had been going through my mind all week and wondered if that was true. So, I decided to think about some of the great Ohio State wins in my lifetime. Honorable Mention: 8. Ohio State vs. Michigan 42-39 (11-18-06) A win and in game featuring #1 and #2 ended with the Buckeyes reaching the National Championship. 7. Ohio State - Michigan 56-27 (11-24-18) While the Buckeyes had no shot going to the Playoffs, they steamrolled the Wolverines to keep them out of the playoff and the Buckeyes won the Big Ten. 6. O...

 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...

  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,...

 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, eve...

 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 ...

  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 wan...

  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 ...

 Throughout my life, I have always been involved with sports. I played baseball, peewee football, golf, and basketball. Although I golf here at ONU, golf is not my favorite sport. Basketball has always been my passion.  If I am being fully transparent, I was never a great basketball player. I was a decent guard who could shoot and pass well, but I could not guard anybody. However, I feel as if I have a strong basketball IQ. I see the plays unfold, see mismatches, and can help my teammates do better.  Since high school ended, I was away from basketball for a year. Then, I realized I wanted to coach. I always thought about coaching, but I never really thought I would be able to do it at a young age. So, I looked up schools near ONU and found Cory-Rawson (20 minutes) and contacted their coach about helping out. Their coach emailed me back and he was able to help me coach. I was able to help with the middle school, as well as do the stats and help with some practices with the...

 Over my long 22 years of life, I have been lucky enough to play many golf courses. Although they all have the same principle ideas, no golf course is the same as the next. Growing up, I played most of my golf in Bellefontaine. We have two golf courses, Cherokee Hills and Liberty Hills. If you cannot guess by the name, they both have some hills for an elevation difference. The courses are close to the same length, but they play differently. Cherokee Hills was more straight and narrow, while Liberty Hills has more doglegs (curved holes) and more trees to make it tougher.  Here at ONU, we play at Colonial Golfers Club. Colonial is a nicer and longer course compared to where I grew up playing, but it is not a great golf course. The conditions of the course are not always kept up to the standard of a nice course, especially since it was rated Ohio's best course in 2009. While at ONU, we have been able to play some really nice courses. Last year during spring break, we went to Char...

Golf is a sport of great detail, complexity, and mental strength. This year is my senior year on the golf team and it is going to be difficult. Our freshman class has really good scores and they are going to be difficult to beat consistently. The first three years on the team were a struggle for me because of needing different swing changes and the difference of length of courses compared to when I was in high school. However, I think this year is when I can put it all together. My summer rounds were pretty good and I shot my lowest 18-hole round in my life. So far, we have had qualifying rounds, and I have struggled a little bit. My rounds are both better than I had last year, but there are still things I can get better at. Throughtout this year, I hope to continually get better and hopefully beat my teammates and prove to myself that I can compete at a high level. Go Bears!

 Merriam-Webster gives the definition of love as a  strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties. Love is considered a hard thing to find. I have been blessed to find someone early in my life, and now I am getting married this summer. I met my fiancee Ellie in 2018 when I was a junior in high school and she was a senior at a different school. We had some mutual friends and I went to one of her basketball games to watch (she was really good). Soon after, we became really good friends. We were just friends for probably four months. This soon changed after we went to prom together. We had a really great time together and we started dating about a month later. After she graduated, she went to Ohio Northern as I finished my senior year. As I went through my senior year, I visited Ohio Dominican, Capital, Bluffton, Campbell, Coastal Carolina, Eastern Kentucky, and Ohio Northern. I liked the colleges I visited (except Capital), and by the end I narrowed it dow...

 For the past two summers, I have lived in Ada during the summer since I have a house here. While Ada is a lot more fun during the school year with everyone, most of my friends have been here this summer as well. I have been really busy this summer with work, wedding planning, and keeping busy with friends.  Ada is actually kind of nice during the summer. It is really quiet and not as many events are going on, but there are plenty of townies still here to keep the town as rowdy as ever. My favorite part of the week is on the weekends when all of my friends and roommates come back and we hang out all day and have campfires.  This summer, I have already gone to two weddings. One of the weddings was for my fiance's friend, and the other was for a former golfer and one of my friends. Both weddings were fun, but Joe's wedding (my friend) was really nice to see him and many of my former and current teammates again. After the wedding, everyone came back to our house and we all h...

 Golf is a sport that is probably one of the most difficult to master. As someone who is on the golf team here at ONU, it has been something that I have struggled with. I progressed every season in high school, starting at a 100 average my freshman year to having an average of 84 my senior year. I have had averages of 97, 92, and 92 in three seasons in college.  This past spring season was the hardest season I have ever had in golf. Most of the tournaments I played in were cold, raining, and really windy. If you didn't know, these are the last things you want for a round of golf.  This summer, I have been working on a new swing. My old swing was over the top and steep. This causes big chunks in the ground (divots) and can cause slices and hooks (ball goes way left/right). With my new swing, I am going through the ball and turning my hips more. When doing this, the ball goes straighter, as well as controlling the ball to fade or draw (controlled left/right). When the swing...

 With the ending of my sophomore year, I wanted to do an internship. For the Dicke College of Business, all students must have an internship before graduation. However, I want to get 2 internships in (end of sophomore and junior years) so I can have more experience in different fields. This past summer, I had an internship at the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) in Columbus. While there, I worked in the communications office with their Director of Communications, as well as two other interns from Ohio State and Otterbein. During my time at OHSAA, I worked a lot on their website. The main things I did were posting job openings for OHSAA sanctioned schools, open dates for different teams, posting articles, as well as creating archive pages once the spring sports season was over. I was able to do the Division II state track meet at Pickerington North High School. While there, I gave teams their packets and tickets to enter, as well as handed out media and board member pas...