How the Journey Started

The journey started all the way back when I was a little kid. I was born in a little small town in Missouri called Centralia. My hometown was always about football and it still is that way today. My Dad however was the biggest baseball fan and I did not know much about baseball obviously being at that young of an age. It all started when my Dad took me to a Cardinals game on his birthday back in 2008. I did not know much and I was so young that my

attention span was a little short I would say. Though I did not understand what was about to happen my Dad created the biggest of love of my life in baseball. There we sat for nine long innings and the bond was created. From the the smells and aspects of everything there is. The sound that created something I could remember forever. To the community that was something I had never seen; thousands and thousands of people coming together for the love of the sport. My Dad then explained pitch by pitch what everything meant and why everyone was happening the way it was. This started the love for the game where I was now only wanting to start baseball and practice baseball from that moment we got back home. I was playing every chance I could. It created a spark in a six year old that would never be changed.

I would then from that age start to play baseball every year from then all the way up to today in this very moment. It was my everything and I never wanted to stop playing because it got me here to St. Louis first starting at Saint Charles Community College. Then after two years transferring here to Missouri Baptist. I still have that same passion and love for the game. Though this is not all I want to talk about, as this created the bond between my Dad and I that will last forever. This made us so close because what I have not shared is that when I turned six years old my parents were divorced and that made it hard for my Dad and I to see each other. This created that spark where my Dad and I never became closer. This man is my everything because of this and it was created by the love of baseball. He was my mentor, coach, and biggest fan all the way up to this day. In the game of baseball I will forever be thankful for many things but most of all, my forever bond with my father because without that man I would not be where I am today,