Hello everyone - I was reminiscing about my past experiences with basketball and how I have gotten to where I am today. I must say that I am greatly blessed and very thankful for everything that has happened in my life thus far. I truly do feel like I am one of the luckiest guys around. My whole basketball career has been amazingly fun. Basketball has provided me the chance to create numerous opportunities for myself. Because of basketball I have my degree; I have the chance to travel the world; I created friendships that will last a lifetime; and I found the love of my life.
I want to take everyone back to where it all started, where my story began. Growing up, my family didn’t have a whole lot but two things we had for sure were each other and basketball. Basketball was an outlet for my brothers and I (all 5 of us); a chance to do something positive with ourselves and stay out of trouble. Well sometimes basketball got us into trouble with my mom because we stayed out past our curfew playing outside in the dark well after the sun had set. I can still hear my mom screaming for us to get in the house :) In high school I was fortunate enough to have played alongside my brothers Jason and Michael. During that time we racked up numerous wins, individual awards, broke records, and won a state championship together. With all the success we had in high school, I still found myself with very limited options to pursue basketball at the college level. Even with all the exposure I got from my AAU team, I still couldn’t attract a scholarship offer from the basketball world. It’s every kids dream to become a Division I athlete and play on the big stage. I so desperately wanted that for myself so I decided to turn to football. There were still no scholarship offers from any Division I football programs but I elected to walk on to Wisconsin. This was as close as I was going to get to my dream and I was determined to make something of myself at Wisconsin. But that dream didn’t last very long. Even though I was having a great time and made great improvements to my overall athletics abilities, something was still missing. That something was basketball. After I completed the spring season in 2004 is when I decided to opt out and find a place for basketball.
I went into my position coach's office to inform him I was leaving the program and wanted to play basketball somewhere. Right there he told me to my face that I was making a big mistake and was never going to make it professionally in basketball and my only chance was the NFL. I took that very personal and set out to prove him wrong. I may not have made it to the big league yet, but there is still time.
After going through the recruiting process for the second time and all the headaches that came with it, I decided to play at Winona State, the Division II school out of Minnesota. Winona State wasn't exactly my ideal choice but it was a school that was willing to let me play and I was very thankful for that. Never did I imagine I would accomplish so much during my time at Winona State. Through all the success I experienced there, I was given the opportunity to pursue a professional career.
So far it has turned out to be quite the ride. I had no idea what to expect or where I would be. I didn't have any big agencies knocking on my door so I had to rely on the little guy to provide me with an opportunity to play somewhere. That opportunity came later than I expected but it gave me my first job which was in Sweden. It wasn't the best paying job but it was a chance to prove I belonged. It turned out to be a great year for me as I grabbed some individual honors as well as helping my team reach the finals before falling in game 7. The things I accomplished last year helped me to a better paying job and a better league which is where I am now.
Everywhere I go I have to prove myself and make a name for myself. I'm one of the little guys that no one has heard of because I come from a Division II school. I love the challenge because it makes a great story for guys like myself, fighting for a chance to belong and to prove themselves. My story will never end as I continue to work hard and keep climbing uphill.
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. We have a big game on the road this week. We will be taking on the defending champions from last year. A lot is riding on this game for us to keep our playoff hopes alive. I will be back to provide update about the game. Take care and God Bless!
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