My “Freshmen Year” As a Friar

July 29, 2014 I was offered an opportunity of a lifetime and I snatched it up very quickly. In fact, I was asked if we were getting married or something— that’s how quickly I said yes! Very quickly, my world changed because I went from working in a PT clinic in my hometown providing ~12 hours of outreach Athletic Training Services to the local high school to moving to Dallas, TX where I would spend closer to 80 hours per week providing Athletic Training Services to a school. That school is Bishop Lynch. July 29^th I accepted the job and quickly began to pack and become very excited. By the end of the week, I had resigned from my previous job, packed up my truck, and drove 10 hours to Dallas. Monday morning I was on campus and the rest they say is history.

But let’s talk about history for a minute. In my first year with the Friars, we traveled over 3600 miles with the varsity football team. That included trips to Chicago, Midland, Houston, and San Antonio. The Friars finished with a record of 8-5. The Friars had 2 players sign division one football scholarships. The volleyball team took on a challenge both on and off the court. On the court, they had 2 state championships to defend. And in Corsicana, they were successful in knocking off Ursuline Academy, one of our big rivals on the girls’ side, in 4 sets to clinch their 3^rd consecutive state championship! J Off the court, the girls and their coach showed the region there is more to life than just volleyball. And even in the face of adversity, choose life! Volleyball had 3 girls sign scholarships.

I also had the opportunity to teach a Sports Medicine class in the fall semester. This was another first for me as I had never been in the classroom as a teacher before. I found that I thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity. The ability for me to get up in front of these students and express and share my passion for this wonderful profession was very exciting to me.

Travel continued in the winter as I would travel a couple times with both soccer teams and basketball teams as they headed into the playoffs. Our girls soccer team capped off a historic season by knocking off Ursuline Academy to win the state championship on a very cold day in Waco! The Lady Friars dethroned the queens of TAPPS soccer, as UA had won 24 consecutive girls soccer state championships before this season! Our Lady Friars had 6 girls go on to sign division one soccer scholarships.

The spring brought on another couple of challenges. First of all, we experienced significant rainfall this spring which wreaked havoc on baseball schedules. In addition, our softball team was “homeless” this season and played all of their games on the road. I believe the total number of “home fields” was something like 9 over the course of the season.

This winter we applied for, and were awarded, the “Safe Sports School” award through the National Athletic Trainers’ Association. This award recognizes the school and our sports medicine department for its dedication to the student-athletes. I felt that it was important to recognize that our school does provide the very best that we can for our student-athletes. This also helped in our cause for pursuing our proposal to add a second full-time Athletic Trainer. This was approved at the end of April and Sarah joined the BL family in a full-time basis on July 1.

The last achievement is one that is very special to me. A parent nominated me for a “Work of Heart” award, through The Catholic Foundation. Her daughter and I got to know each other throughout the course of the year as she rehabbed diligently to return to her participation in cheerleading and dance. I was very excited to be able to help her throughout that process and it was very exciting to see her get to return to her sport. She was able to reach her goal and it’s a great feeling to know that I was involved in the whole process!

All in all, I have enjoyed my first year at Bishop Lynch. The school community quickly embraced me and helped me feel welcome in the school. I feel very #BLessed to be here. I am very happy to be here in Texas and very happy to be a Friar!

#NeverYield #BLeedBLack #AT4ALL