I grew up in a small town in northeastern, PA where I played soccer (LOTS of it), interacted with the family McDonald’s franchise business, and had my own livestock business where I raised, marketed, and sold hogs, lambs, and Bichon Frise dogs. I have an incredible family where unconditional love, support and positivity was and is the only thing I’ve ever known. Furthermore, my intimate relationship with Jesus since I’ve been very young gave me a sense of courage, confidence, and personal vision that has been foundational in all the pursuits in my life.

I committed to the United States Naval Academy my senior year of high school to play soccer, but tore my knee a month before I left for Plebe Summer. I was fortunate enough to then be accepted onto the Notre Dame team, and looking back, it’s evident that everything happens for a reason. Although I was released after my freshman season because my knee did not heal the way my coach wanted it to and I went through an incredibly difficult identity crisis, I felt called to stay at ND and to lay soccer down at the foot of the Cross. I wound up starting and leading Notre Dame Christian Athletes (NDCA), and had the unique opportunity to work with all of the Notre Dame varsity sports and coaches. My whole mission and desire was to help athletes better understand their identity outside of “just being an athlete,” and ultimately find that identity in Christ.

The pain I went through by losing soccer – even when I had so many other things in my life – was deeply painful, and I don’t want anyone else to feel that pain of emptiness. But I know they do. So, after two years of working in Corporate America and in manufacturing plants around the country seeking to instill a desire for Greatness within my people from the corner offices to the drill presses, I found that my heart was still in the world of athletics.

So this is why I’m in Denver – to pursue my degree in sport and performance psychology as a vehicle to help athletes and coaches better understand their personal identity, and let that knowledge lead them to a fuller, more joyful, more content life living into who they have been called and created to be. To live life, and live it abundantly.