INTRODUCTION

“It’s not where you start, but what?” “Where you finish!”

               “Not where you start, but what?

               “Where you finish!”

               “What?!”

               “WHERE. YOU. FINISH!!!”

 That’s what I get to hear on a weekly basis on Friday nights or on Monday nights as a high school football coach! It’s still one of my most favorite things in sports to hear and see. It would also be the saying and quote that was an integral and constant part of not only my life, personally, but professionally as well. That saying, “It’s not where you start, but where you finish” has been a saying that my dad drilled into my life, my family’s life, friend’s life, and anyone that he coached lives as well. That singular saying, is the embodiment and epitome of who I am. I’ve done almost everything in my life in an unorthodox fashion and I’m proud of that. I think that’s what makes this, my academic success and choice of a major in Integrative Studies with minors in Health and Educational Communication. It’s incredible the number of things that I’ve experienced (good & bad), but they’ve all led me to where I am now.

Sports, and more importantly, football has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember – so much so, that I’ve been standing, playing, coaching, or scouting varsity football since I was 5 years old. Yes, as a twenty-eight-year-old coach in Sioux City, IA (currently coaching at Sioux City West High School). 

               This is where my life has been and where it leads, and therefore I love what I do and it’s why I pride myself in my academic journey. My academic journey into integrative studies, and hopefully beyond is one where I want to make the basis of it all where I can not only be competent, but I can be well-versed to serve a multitude of people, or in my case, athletes, and show them that Indeed, “it’s not where you start, but where you finish.”