My Role In My Life

As the end of my senior year is approaching, I find myself looking back on my last four years at Stearns, I was never a three-sport athletic or was considered a “stand out.” Thinking about it now, I regret not playing all three sports. The benefits from only playing one sport for four years is unbelievable. I have gained valuable memories, and friendships that will last a lifetime. I can’t imagine all the personal achievements I would had if I stayed as a three-sports athlete.

It all started with an email seeking freshman male in his coaching and administration program. The 2012 graduate of UConn’s Sport Administration and coaching program, William Aloia, says this future success as the Associate Athletic Director for The College of St. Rose started out by almost” falling into his lap”. The New Jersey native began his undergraduate experience with two Division-I parents, and like an abundance of people he knew that working in sport was something he wanted to do. Previously a part of the Kinesiology department under the late Joe Marrone, Will jumped on the opportunity posted through an email and started his freshman year as a basketball manager for the very successful UConn’s basketball program. He explains how this experience “opened his door up”. Will states; “once I started at UConn working with the women’s basketball program and being around collegiate athletics at such a high level it’s really something in itself, and unbelievable experience. I knew it was for me, I didn’t know which part for sure, but I knew this was something I wanted to do.” What Will realized very quickly realized about working in sport is that often times it is a thankless job. However, that did not stop him from finishing his undergraduate career as a four-year manager for the basketball team. The motivation for Will early in his career has been a two-dimensional illustration of success.

Ever since I was young, I had always dreamed of playing college volleyball. After playing volleyball for 10 years college letters were finally beginning to flood my mailbox everyday and college coaches were sending emails to me left and right. This all began in January of last year. At my first tournament of the year in Columbus, college coaches were swarming the courts. They were like worker bees after the first bloom of spring. I remember crossing paths with one coach, in particular. That coach was Pete Hoyer of North Carolina State University (NCSU). I vividly remember greeting Pete with a smile and a simple hello. Pete Hoyer did not return the greeting.

From a very young age, I have loved being involved in sport and fitness. My earliest memories all involve me running around with a ball or a bat of some kind either in my hand or at my feet. My love for physical activity has remained and since then, I have becoming increasingly interested in coaching and the more theoretical side of sport. This has inspired me to pursue a career in physical education and coaching.

Throughout high school I have grown as an athlete and person. I have loved playing sports my whole life, but I have learned to love giving back to the community and youth even more. Although playing sports have taken me across the country and also brought much success and joy to me, nothing brings more pleasure than passing my skills and knowledge on to the youth here in Knappa.

Pope Francis once said, “An education in the fullness of humanity should be the defining feature of Catholic schools.” To me, this sentiment sums up why a Catholic education is so important for many reasons. I have attended many different types of schools: public, private, Catholic and homeschool as a result of my father’s career in the military. However, only my experiences at Catholic schools provide me with a truly well-rounded education because, at Catholic schools, I receive the opportunity to learn about the amazing gift of God’s love every day during school hours. I love studying Scripture and seeing ways in which God is present in our lives. It is such a special experience to be able to do that in a school environment where you can really learn the fundamentals of our faith, as well as experiencing many different aspects of our Catholic faith, from prayer to Mass as a part of

Ottawa-Glandorf athletics taught me more than I ever thought I would have learned. Being apart of Titan sports comes with a stigma: a stigma to be great, to work hard, and to carry good sportsmanship. I participated in Ottawa-Glandorf sports so I could be apart of a team, enhance leadership skills, and build relationships with peers. My freshman year I decided to join the girls soccer team. I was a little hesitant as I was the only Glandorf girl on the team, but after the first week of practice, I met some of my best friends I have today. Although I didn’t get much playing time, I always tried my hardest, gave it my all, and was a leader on and off the field.

Athletics has played an instrumental role promoting success in all branches of life impacting my performance in school, work and other life facets. Involvement in athletics taught me the value of commitment allowing me to play in Division 1 Women’s Soccer while attending the University of Washington. As a former student athlete, I have been winning and losing my entire life developing my own resilience and tremendous work ethic to work with others toward a common goal. My drive spills over into my professional interactions and career aspirations allowing me to connect

Hey folks! I’m Shea Casey, and I’m an upcoming Sophomore (yikes!!) at SUNY Geneseo, along with being a proud member of the Geneseo Volleyball family. Even though I have a year of college under my belt, every time I think about going back up to Geneseo, I get excitement butterflies. I cannot even put into words how perfect Geneseo is for me, and I think all the rest of us can agree with that. From the beautiful campus, to the great academics, to the ever-lasting friendships, I can say SUNY Geneseo is a once in a lifetime experience. Just the volleyball community alone is one of the major reasons Geneseo felt like home right as I set foot on campus. This team has created unbreakable bonds with some of the best people I’ve ever met, to the point that in this upcoming semester, all of this year’s freshmen are living in the same dorm building…on the same floor…with 4/6 living in the same suite (we just can’t get enough of each other). I cannot wait for August 18th, when all my best friends are together again playing the sport we love in a place we love.

In my current school, St. Jerome’s, I participate in almost everything sport and activity that I can and enjoy participating in. Through my future years at Hill-Murray, I know that all the activities and sports that I participate in at St. Jerome School will be overtaken by the immense amounts of homework that every high school student endures, but others have managed, and so will I.

College athletics have become one of America’s most lucrative businesses grossing billions of dollars off of student-athletes and competing against the entertainment giants, however, this has not always been the case. In a way, the student-athlete has become our culture’s holy man as he or she is admired for their immense feats of athleticism and skill on the gridiron or the court. To understand the miraculous story of the change of the student-athlete, an individual must first look at the origin of the term student-athlete. In the 1950s, Ray Dennison died from a blunt force cerebral trauma received while playing football in Colorado for the Fort Lewis A&M Aggies. Therefore, the Dennison family filed for worker’s compensation death

When I tell people I am from Phoenix, Arizona, they look at me funny and ask, “What are you doing in Connecticut?” My response is always the same, “I’m on the UConn women’s basketball team.” Sport has played a large role in my life and has definitely impacted me. My parents were key factors that helped me get to where I am now. Both of my parents were college athletes. My father played basketball at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Before that, he was an all-state basketball player, tennis player and pitched for his high school baseball team. My mother played tennis at Marquette University. She was voted most valuable player all four years and won the prestigious McCahill Award as the university’s top student-athlete her senior year. She came from a tennis family. Her two sisters, her dad, and several uncles played college tennis. Her father, like her, won the McCahill award as Marquette’s top student-athlete. To this day, they are the only father-child combination to win the award. My parents met in line for drug testing when they were both athletes at Marquette. With parents so into athletics, it is not surprising that they decided early on in their relationship that their children would play sports. They decided my brother and I would participate in sports at a young age and knew that sports would teach us valuable life lessons.

I am a native to Virginia Beach going to Salem High School, and played multiple sports for the Sun Devils. Growing up sports was a big part of my family, which made me overcome adversity with serious knee injuries. I tore my ACL twice on the same knee, and it made me behind on the recruiting for colleges. In the end, I worked hard to get a scholarship to college in field hockey. When I was little, my dad would take me to the Admirals games, and watching the player’s movement on the ice.

Our next NHS inductee is an excellent volleyball player. Her volleyball skill has graced CLS. She has deep relationship with volleyball; she participated in club volleyball, beach volleyball, and has work experience in Wisconsin Juniors Volleyball, as coaching kids on how to play volleyball. Although she was being involved in so many extra curricula’s, she has maintained a high grade point average. She received numerous recognitions and awards, such as gold presidential award, high achiever award, volleyball regional champion, CLS varsity volleyball MVP and many others. I am honored to announce our next inductee, Jacqueline

Being Catholic to me is not just going to Church on Sundays, it is living like Jesus did. As a Catholic, I have not only learned the prayers that we say during mass by heart but I know what they mean and understand why we say these prayers. Also as Catholics, we are called to serve others and preach God’s word. By going to a Catholic school it was easier to get involed with my faith community. Some examples of service that I did are coalition for the homeless, interfaith hospitality network, altar serving, peer ministry and many more. I have had many memorable experiences through these service opportunities that I was able to be a part of. Without going to Catholic school I don’t think that I would have gained the courage to serve others. I have also learned a lot about the churches view on social justice issues and how we can help with supporting these