Sports
have been a large part of my life, it has been the catalyst to all the values
which I hold today. At an early age I was introduced to many sports such as
tennis, soccer and basketball. These after school activities were a large part
of my childhood and this would allow a release from home life and the
loneliness of my parents not being home due to them being in the military.
Every practice would be a time for me to enjoy myself and just be a kid. This
would then be carried on at home where I would dream of taking the last shot at
the NBA finals or the winning home run in the World Series or the winning goal
at the World Cup. My childhood was all about sports and when I was not playing
the sports I was watching it and idolizing the athletes on the field and
wanting to be like them. Those times watching games were also a way for my
father and me to bond. This was the couple of hours a week we could share and
talk about whatever amazing catch was made or how the pitcher was doing so well
and was striking everyone out. These moments are the moments that made me see
the grit a determination of individuals showing the ups and downs in a couple
hours and showing how they could overcome these obstacles and make me believe
that whatever I face I could do the same. In middle school I was taken to a new
place because of the military which was Italy. In this new land I was afraid, I
hadn’t known anyone and didn’t know how to meet new people. In an effort to
make new friends my parents put me in the environment which I knew the most
which was sports. The first sport which came up was soccer. This sport was
where I was most familiar at the time because I had been playing in
recreational leagues since 5 years old. On the field I was able to make a lot
of new friends and have the thrill of competition. In the winter came
Basketball, this sports was something I was also very familiar with but I had
never really done competitively. This was the first time which I had played
organized basketball and when I started to truly love the game. The opportunity
showed me how basketball was more than just putting the ball in the hoop, but
had an elegance to it and a strategy for success. The final sport of the year
was baseball. At the time baseball was something I had never tried before but I
had always watched on the screen. I would go out in the backyard after watching
games and hit tennis balls over the fence and imagine winning the world series
for my hometown Padres but never saw a pitch thrown at me. However, In that
first year in Italy this became my favorite sport. It was the biggest sport on
the base and was a whole community kind of thing so everyday after school we
would play baseball even if there was no practice. Playing baseball would go
until we couldn’t see the ball and then we would play catch afterwards. Games
would be with anyone and everyone, baseball and softball players would come to
play and on the side argue which sport was better, but in the end we knew we
had so much passion for the sport which we called our own. After that spring
baseball carried on into summer and this is where I saw what real “travel ball”
competition was like. We played to become the Italian representative for the
European Championship. Our team practiced long and hard and had our coaches yelling
at us till they were blue in the face but at the end of the day they knew how
to make us feel like we did a good job and we were in a safe and fun
environment. This competitive spirit was taken to a new level my freshman year
of high school. The first sport that came that year was tennis. Tennis was
another one of those sports which I was very familiar with and had played for a
long time. High school sports in Europe was a whole new experience because I
played people from all over the world. I met people from Spain, Germany,
Asia and all over Italy and this feeling
it gave me was like being a professional. Each week we would go to another city
in Italy and would have to leave school a couple of days early. We would ride a
bus from a range of 2-10 hours and then play our game and head back home and
the results would be announced at school the next day. These high school years
were exciting because I had to plan how everything had to be done. I had to
plan when I was going to do my homework, practice and find time for other fun
things. This made me more responsible and was a new thing that sports taught me
and thats planning and organization. This continued through my freshman year in
the winter when I played basketball and we took home a European Championship
and when I played baseball and we placed fourth at the European tournament.
These team sports also taught me about teamwork and brotherhood. This showed me
how others are willing to sacrifice for each other and be unselfish to reach a
common goal. Other than my experiences as an athlete sports has impacted me
with my experiences as a fan. Being a military kid caused me to move around a
little but I lived in San Diego for most of my high school experience and I was
able to see how involved sports teams were to the military community. They
would come to the base every year and provide tickets to veterans. I was able
to have once in a lifetime opportunities to meet players and attend sporting
events that every sports fan could only dream of. These experiences have
developed a love for sports and what it can teach an individual and is why it
became my goal to become a General Manager of a Sports team and help others see
the inspiration that athletes are to the world and give an experience to the
fans and give them the same joy I was able to feel. These values have continued
through my time in high school and now in my time in college. In a lot of
points of time in college I thought it was the end of the road for me that I
would not be able to pass a class or accomplish something but the grit which
sports has instilled in my through the years has been able to help me succeed
where I thought I would fail. The teamwork I had learned in sports as well has
also carried on through college. During school I had many personal projects as
well as school projects where I had to learn to work with others quickly and
complete a task. Sports have helped me become who I am today and this masters
program can help me cultivate these skills and become an even better version of
myself.
The
University of San Francisco was a school I had never heard of until I saw them
at my campus during a grad fair. As I approached the table I felt very welcomed
by them and as I looked more into the program I felt that this could be an
environment where I would be able to grow and turn my love of sports into a
career. The alumni network which they displayed was impressive and I can see
the type of schooling environment which I will be able to learn in will help me
in my career.The format of the school as mostly working with teams is a perfect
environment for me because it will allow me to use skills taught in classes as
well as teamwork in a real world enviorment. I learn best when I use the skills
I learn instead of just a test which this program can provide. Sports have made
a great impact on my life and through the program at the University of San
Francisco I will be able to learn how teams do the things that have shaped me
into the man I am today.
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