A lot of other experiences have helped me get to where I am today.  Of course, teaching and coaching young children helps to make a person grow up faster because they still have that youthful innocence that adult’s lack.  They still see the world as a possibility and not as scary.  They still have unrealistic goals (like flying) that they will still strive to get.  The determination and passion is still there in a child, and it helps bring it out in me.
    Sports have had a lot to do with me developing into who I am.  I played soccer and basketball, and I ran track.  I was pretty good at all the sports that I played.  I was first team all-conference in soccer and track (4:26 mile time), and I was more of a playground player on the basketball court.  However, achievements don’t mean anything without work.  If a person is willing to put in the time and effort, he/she will eventually reap the rewards of that effort.  To be willing to work for something, a person must also have goals that he/she must achieve in order to get where he/she plans on going.  A goal keeps an athlete (or a person for that matter) driven and dedicated.  Finally, in order to be good at athletics, a person has to be tough and able to play through pain.  These are just a few examples of what sports have taught me.  They have made me disciplined, driven, passionate, competitive, cooperative, and above all, a great leader.  I am a person who believes that the team comes before the individual because nobody can do it alone.  Sports, in the right context, are a wonderful thing.  I learned more about myself physically, emotionally, and mentally through sports than anywhere else.  Sport is pure, and it taught me to never say die.  You’re gonna win some and lose some, but if you learn from the losses, you still win.  Sport is still what drives me because I am an athlete in a performance world, and when I hit the stage or a rehearsal, I still attack as if it where a sport.  This is part of what makes me good.
    The most important thing that I have done is surround myself with good people.  I have my family who did an excellent job raising me.  I wouldn’t be half the person that I am today without the unique guidance from my mother and father.  I was brought up independent.  I chose what to do, and if it was wrong, I paid the consequences.  This helped me to learn a lot of life’s lessons a lot faster.  They also didn’t push me to do things that I didn’t want to do; therefore, I could figure out what my likes and dislikes where without pressure from either one.  I also still have teachers that have helped mold me into the person that I am today, and thank them for the excellent tutelage that they provided me with.  I have the best friends in the world.  I would do anything