I grew up as an Army brat. I was born in Texas and lived there for 3 years until my family moved to Germany. We lived in Germany for eight years! My younger brother was born in Germany. After eight years my dad got orders to move to Scott Air Force Base. I’ve been a Mascouten ever since. Attended Scott Elementary, Mascoutah Middle, and the old Mascoutah High School. I played football and basketball at MHS. I went on to play collegiate football starting at McKendree University, before transferring to Lindedwood University - Belleville, and again to Missouri Baptist University. In college I played offensive line. If you know a little bit about football, you know those are typically referred to as the “big or fat boys” on the field. I embraced those terms during my playing career. It never really bothered me. I grew up as a chubby kid, and was overweight during secondary school. While playing football in college I at one point weighed 315 lbs at my heaviest. When I finished playing football I weighed a little north of 300 lbs. At the time, I was majoring in exercise science. I knew I wanted to be a coach, specifically a strength and conditioning coach. A 300lb exercise science major and strength coach? What a bad example of what I wanted to advocate for. I would tell myself I'll lose weight when I'm done playing. After my senior season of football, about 9 months passed and I did nothing. I kept making excuses for not changing. I kept putting it off: "I'll start tomorrow" "I'll start Monday" "I'll start next month." This and the excuses carried on for months until I finally decided that enough was enough. I wasn't happy with myself. I knew I was better than that. I looked down inside and found WHY I wanted to change. I have a couple reasons WHY I decided to change. Everyone needs to find their "WHY", and lean on that during tough times. Let that "WHY" motivate you. It all starts with you believing in yourself and staying consistent. Some days will be tougher than others but don't let those bad days keep you down. Grab onto that "why", get back on your feet, and keep grinding towards your goals. You'll look up one day and see all the progress you've made. Let that be your motivation to keep going. About a year after deciding to make a change, I looked up and weighed 225 lbs and felt great. I knew I wanted to help others feel the same way I felt at that moment. I found my 2nd “WHY”. My why for being a coach. I knew I wanted to help others achieve their fitness related goals. The how and who is what I didn't know at the time. I was blessed with the opportunity to coach football at MHS, starting my senior year in college. I knew that coaching high school football was something I loved to do. After college, I started out working in a small private gym in St. Louis. I ran small group classes and trained middle aged clients. I loved it but wanted to work with athletes as well. I went on to take a leap of faith and moved to Arizona! I was able to work with the University of Arizona’s football strength and conditioning staff. What an opportunity! I was able to gain so much knowledge. I was challenged. Thrown in an unfamiliar environment. Made great connections and relationships with Arizona’s football players and the coaches. I also had the opportunity to work with people outside of the University. I trained athletes at a local gym. I also got to train/coach a local AAU girls basketball team called Arizona Supreme. I also trained Sabino High School’s girls basketball team, who later went on to win the Arizona State Championship. I ended up moving back to Mascoutah and was stuck for a few months on what I wanted to do. The plan was to possibly start training athletes at a privately owned gym. That plan changed when once again I was blessed with an opportunity to work at Mascoutah High School as an in individual care aide in the LCL program. I LOVED every second of working in that role at MHS. This led to me to pursue my teaching certification. I once again was blessed with the opportunity to become a PE teacher here at Mascoutah High School. I couldn't be more excited. My “WHY” now has a “how” and a “who”. I want to help people reach their full potential, achieve their fitness goals, and live a healthy life. I now get to do that by being a physical education teacher and influencing the youth of our community. Hopefully I am able to make an impact that will last a lifetime. Roll Tribe!