Dreams to Reality

    

    As a child, my dream was to someday become a collegiate coach. As I grew up and became and became more invested in sports throughout the years, my dream of coaching started to get bigger and bigger. Heading into my graduate program I have never been more set on following up and pursuing the initial dream of mine that I have had since I was a little kid. Looking back on my goals as I first entered the Master of Arts in Education (MAED) I have realized that nothing has changed as far as what I want to become after I complete my master's. Ever since I was a kid, I have been following my mom around who has been a Volleyball head coach for the past 28 years. I have been eager to one day have my own team to coach and I have even talked about the possibility of coaching alongside my mom at some point in time. That has inspired and motivated me to get my master's and enhance my education and knowledge about teaching and sport.

    Sports, throughout my life has always made the most sense to me, which is why I have always wanted to be a coach. Now just before graduation, I have never been more certain that I want to take that goal of mine as a child and continue to pursue it. I am currently in my fifth year of college and am in my last semester getting ready for whats next. I am also playing my last season as a collegiate basketball player here at MSU. Throughout my five years I have been blessed to play with one of the greatest basketball coaches in the history of the game in Tom Izzo. Knowing that I want to coach one day I have soaked up countless amounts of information and knowledge through coach and the rest of his staff.

    Since coming into this graduate program knowing I do intend to coach someday, this program has made me so much more knowledgeable and has increased my will to coach. So many times I watch sports on t.v. and think of how I could have came up with a better game plan or simply called a better play. However after taking this program I know that sports isn't even close to what you see on the t.v. Coaches need to know more than X’s and O’s, you need to learn how to create practice plans, how to handle and be there for kids that could potentially be going through adverse times in their life. Making sure that the student athletes that are psychologically ready and able to play. These are a few of the things that I learned and want to face head on and drive me to becoming a head coach someday. 

    What I have learned about myself since coming to college is that I know now that when I put my mind into doing something, I do it. I will create a plan on how to take the steps in order to get to that end goal. I know that my goals may not have changed as much as maybe some of peers or friends have which is ok because I have had no interest in doing much outside of coaching and being in the sports world. I know in order to be a good coach you have to be a great role model and lead by example. This master's program simply reassured me and taught me so much more than I thought I could when it comes to coaching, I couldn't be more grateful. I am looking forward to starting up my professional career here soon and beginning my coaching journey.