Master's Degree in Business Leadership
ISSA Certified PT
5 Years of experience playing/training at the Division I level (Football)
Four years of experience coaching at the Division I level (Football)
I grew up in Yakima, WA, and played three sports (Baseball, Basketball, and Football). Football was my favorite sport and I ended up being successful on the field in high school which led to scholarships to play college football. I ended up choosing to attend Southern Methodist University (SMU) out of high school to play for legendary coach June Jones. I played football there for two years before a coaching change led me to transfer from SMU and seek a better opportunity for myself. I suffered numerous injuries during the next three years of my college career and decided that I wanted to become a football coach to be able to help kids that were my age learn from adverse situations and be able to use their experiences to grow into better people. I ended my college career at the University of Hawaii and was a part of the 2018 Pro Day that was held for NFL scouts. After my last year of playing college football, I was hired by coach Nick Rolovich to be a part of his staff at the University of Hawaii. I was also on his staff at Washington State University where I worked directly with quarterbacks and receivers. I learned a ton from some of the great coaches that I played for and also coached with. I strive to be a servant leader, as in my experience, being a servant leader is the most genuine and efficient form of leadership. I take pride in not only coaching/training the sport that I love and being a great coach but also guiding a younger generation to become better leaders and people.
My biggest enemy throughout my journey was myself. Although my injuries held me back from achieving my dreams, I will always believe that I became a better person from those experiences. At first, it was very hard for me to see that my dreams were slowly slipping away and that I would probably not make it to where I wanted to in my sport. Having three years of being sidelined to injury was extremely hard for me because of how competitive I was and how much I loved the game. Although I did not realize the purpose of these setbacks until later in life, I had to teach myself how to handle adversity and remind myself that I'm not the only person who has gone through situations like these. I had to learn how to not feel sorry for myself, and how to respond. I had to learn how to train not only my body but my mind as well. I learned that you can't truly be a confident person when you are constantly reminding yourself of your limitations. Sometimes, our limitations are things we can't control like an injury or something we were born with, but in most cases, I ended up learning later that we create our own limitations for ourselves. The turning point for me was accepting that my injuries happened for a reason and that I may not be the same athlete I was before the injuries, but I was going to keep pushing, keep learning, and keep getting up when I was being knocked down. Now, I often look back and reflect on the person I was during this time, or even how I treated others when I was struggling, and that is something I have learned from as well. I believe that the person I was at that time was not a true representation of my character, but a person, like many, who was having a hard time trying to find a purpose. Ultimately, I became a much stronger, caring, understanding, and faith-driven person through my experiences and it has helped me become a much better coach and person from it.
My purpose for coaching is to help others achieve their goals and to help lead and guide others to live healthy, and impactful lives. I think one of the greatest things that we can do with our time on earth is to lead and to positively impact as many people as we can. I am impassioned to serve anyone who wants to better themselves physically or mentally and anyone who is interested in playing a sport beyond high school or college. I believe that many athletes have talents that they don't even know that they have, and I want to help them find what their strengths and weaknesses are so that we can bring the best out of them when they are on the field, court, or whatever setting they do their sport in.
