“I applied to one college. I remember telling my mom well I know what I wanna do. I wanna teach and there’s a really good teaching college in the state. I had a very singular goal so that took off a lot of stress and I hated writing essays so I was like no thanks! It’s nice to talk to “young adults” who are still figuring out who they are and so it’s fun to give them structure and lead them in the right direction. Kids are easier to talk to, they keep it interesting. I remember we’d go to Mexico for winter break when I was younger and they’d always be playing beach volleyball and I slowly got taller and taller so it was more and more fun. So that’s where it started! That’s when I tried to keep it, volleyball was a fun thing to do outside of school that helped me release stress anger, and anxiety. In college I wanted volleyball but I didn’t want volleyball with a crazy amount of structure. It was a good experience. I coach volleyball because it’s fun and it’s exciting but it’s not my life. I want to make sure that a group of kids had the same positive experience that I did. Sometimes it got stressful when I was in high school because I did clubs and that’s a lot of pressure, that’s not why I played volleyball, that’s not why I coach it. I wanna make sure that my players have a good experience so that you guys wanna keep playing it. The chemistry and trying to keep all the different personalities together is like a fun puzzle. I’m a huge proponent of giving people as many chances as they need to be better people. Patience is key. I remember when I was younger I got to see the ugly side of what life could be like and I knew what I didn’t wanna become. I joined this club, Snowball, at my school that my two favorite science teachers taught that I remember looking to as my mentors and who helped shape me into wanting to be a teacher as well. We would go on a retreat twice a year. It was anti-drugs, anti-alcohol. Giving people a chance to become a better person is important to me because I know you can go from seeing or experiencing a really rough patch to being someone very successful in life. These events are just an “impediment” but they’re an experience that I wouldn’t want other people to have but it made me a better person. I’m sure everyone has a story like that. It’s just if you take something good from it or you use it as a reason to hate the world.”