Elementary
School
My
career as an athlete started at a very young age. When I was five years old I
remember playing T-ball, which is a modified game of softball. I enjoyed
Softball because I loved watching baseball games on television. Other sports I
played at a young age were Soccer and Basketball. As my elementary years wore
on, I was greatly influenced by the game of basketball thanks to NBA stars that
played for the then local Vancouver Grizzlies team such as Mike Bibby and Shareef Abdur-Rahim.
In Grade four,
I was still playing soccer, softball and basketball, when I started to play
Volleyball at Bondar Elementary in Abbotsford B.C. The teacher who told me to
play Volleyball was my Grade four teacher Ms. Greenway. I enjoyed Volleyball because
it was a no contact sport.
Middle School
In my middle
school years, I was really getting into basketball and enjoyed playing every
chance I got. The event that I looked forward to the most in basketball was
March Madness, which is a huge basketball tournament in the States for the
NCAA. The tournament was inspirational because the best teams rarely won. As an
athlete on my school’s basketball team, I was also not the best. Every year in
middle school I was on the basketball team or involved with the basketball
team. During these years, I also continued to play Softball and Volleyball. In
addition, I started to be a part of the Cross-Country team at Chief Dan George
Middle School.
High School
In Grade 9 at
W.J. Mouat Secondary, I decided to put an end to most of my sports except for
basketball. I was part of the basketball team that year. I never got any
playing time, however, I enjoyed every minute of being at practice, on the bench
and listening to the coach’s pep talks in the locker room. I continued to be a part
of the basketball team until Grade 11. For grade ten P.E., I was very fortunate
to have Mr. Kelly as my P.E. teacher. Mr. Kelly, wasn’t only a excellant P.E.
teacher, he was and still is arguably one the best high school football coach
in Canada. In fact, he told me when
University of Washington’s head coach Tyrone Willingham was fired in 2008 that
he was going to apply for the new head-coaching job. His inspiration, along
with the equipment manager John “Opa” Smeyster’s dedication to the football program
made me want to be apart of the football team in Grade 11 and 12.
College Years
While still
being part of my high school’s football team last year, I was also involved
with the John Maclure Community School’s P.E. department. During my year at UFV,
I helped set up the gym class and was a mentor/leader for every grade in the
school. I continued to reach out to the kids at the Elementary school because of
the inspiration of Opa, a volunteer at my high school before his passing in
June of 2011. Opa was a mentor to everyone at my high school and cheered
everyone up when they were down.
