The College Years

Before I continue with my story, I have to mention a request I had after a family member starting reading my blog. The font was too small. So I have attempted to make this one easier to read. Easier on the eyes that is. I can't promise the writing will be superb.

After high school, I went to Roanoke College is Salem, VA. Roanoke is a small liberal arts college and they do have a soccer team. I was not sure I wanted to try out for college soccer. I went to one meeting that pretty much turned me off from the idea of trying out and playing college soccer. At the meeting the coach was talking about how much time we would miss from classes and how we would have to reschedule exams. I did not like the sound of that. Also the coach seemed to know everyone at the meeting except for me. So I decided to not even try out. I think I was good enough to make the team but I guess I will never know.

During college we were required to take a physical education class. I took physical conditioning which consisted of weight lifting and running mostly. I was not totally into it but I was able to maintain my conditioning that I had built up over the years. I also took a racquet ball class. I did pretty well in racquet ball. I was quick and had good reflexes which served me well. I also was not scared to dive, bump into the wall, or otherwise sacrifice my body for the points.

During my Junior year, I took up a new sport. Mountain biking. I have to thank my friend David Hess who turned me onto this wonderful sport. I got a mountain bike as an early graduation present from my parents. Just about every day I would come home from class, change, and head out the door on my bike. We would ride a while on the road until we got to Red Lane. We called it Red Lane because the trail started off a road called- you guessed it- Red Lane.

Mountain biking was fun. I had never been a strong bicyclist but I did have a good set of lungs and my legs were fairly strong due to my many years of soccer. More of my friends started getting bikes and riding too. So now we had a group of people riding each day. We pushed each other. Not necessarily on purpose mind you but no one wanted to be the wimpy rider. Dave guided us up the trails. Each day we went a little further up the side of the mountain and then, when we had gone as far as we could go, we would turn around and descend. It was a fast and furious descent for us beginners. Dave would disappear down the mountain in front of us while the rest of us figured out how to go over obstacles like big rocks, roots, and logs. To this day, Dave is an accomplished downhiller so we never really learned how to go really fast when compared to him but we did progress. Each day we went, we would go further up and faster down.

Also in my Junior year I played Intramural Indoor Soccer. Dave also played soccer growing up. So Dave, myself and a bunch of others put together a team. We did pretty well despite me playing with a broken arm. Broken arm? Did I cover that? Not yet. I will cover that in a moment.

Indoor soccer gave me the chance to really get my heart rate up. It seems that I was happiest when I was going all out. When I exercised hard whether it was indoor soccer or mountain biking, I always went all out. During these moments of intense exercise, I found a clarity of mind that I never really felt before. I did not think about what I was doing. I just did it. The duality of my life seemed to disappear. It is difficult to explain in words and many have described this state of awareness way better than I ever could so I won't dwell on it now.

So before I go to much further, I should tell the story of my broken wrist. But first, I will tell you of my first two broken wrists. When I was a kid, I had broken my wrist twice. When my oldest brother Tom was 16, I was playing goal keeper while he took shots on me. He always had lots of power in everything that he did (he walked on his hands in the halloween parade and also could walk up and down the stairs on his hands-lots of stairs). Well Tom took a powerful shot and I tried to block it. I broke my wrist in the process. I am pretty sure that was the most pain I had felt as a kid although I did electrocute myself when I was 3. That pain was quick and went away after I shot across the room. But I digress. This pain lingered.

I remember coming into the house crying and in great pain. I was 10 so my parents probably thought I would eventually stop crying and get over it. They were sitting around the dining room table with some dinner guests. I remember that Mr Redfoot was there. Finally they decided that maybe I did need some medical attention. It must be hard to know when your kids are REALLY hurt.

My dad took me to Children's hospital in downtown Washington DC. We had a track record with the doctors there which is something I will talk about later. I spent many hours in the emergency room. Finally I got a cast and was sent home. After my wrist healed up, I had the stinky cast removed and I was good to go, until 2 years later.

This time, my brother Erik was 16 and I guess it was his turn. Erik was taking shots and I was the goal keeper. I was 12. Erik has always been a very skilled soccer player. His power comes from superb technique. Erik took a hard shot and I tried to block it and I broke my wrist one more time. Another cast, another recovery.

Now I want to flash forward back to Roanoke College. Another sport I took up while in college was skateboarding. Again I can thank Dave Hess for getting me started on skateboarding. I did not go to fraternity parties or any of that so skateboarding gave me something else to do other than study. One day while riding down a steep hill, I took a major digger. I landed on my hand and took a nice chunk of flesh out of my palm and AGAIN broke my wrist. The local Salem doctors put a cast on but it did not really heal up until I had my brother's doctor remove the crappy cast and put one on properly.

So there in a nutshell is my athletic life at college. My goal in these first few installments is to give you a little background on me and my athletic endeavors and eventually bring you up to present day. Once we get to present day, I can discuss more of my current goals, workouts, etc.

Thanks for reading. Next time, the topic will be life after college-Soccer, Great Falls, and Melissa!