STEELE SPORTS

Before attending last weekend’s section 1AAAAA semifinal game between Owatonna and Rochester John Marshall, I was fortunate enough to have a full-circle moment in my career when I attended a University of St. Thomas football game as a member of the press.

Even though my stint as a Tommie football player was a brief one, I was able to relive some moments from my past that felt as if they were just yesterday.

As crazy as it sounds, my career as a journalist began with the St. Thomas football team back in 2017, when I was held out from athletics due to an injury.

The coaching staff put a “highlight reel” camera in my hands – which was nothing more high-tech than a standard video camera – and let me go to work filming games to use for our yearly hype videos.

At the time, I hated this job.

I resented the fact that it was what I was limited to because I knew where I would rather be: on the field.

Fast-forward six years, and I guess I’m technically still the same kid on the sideline with the camera in his hands.

Albeit this time around, I know that it’s what is meant for me.

I spent countless hours of my life training hard, eating ferociously, busting my tail in the classroom, and trying to perform in practice and games to one day be the college quarterback I knew I was capable of being – but that wasn’t in the cards.

All along this crazy path from California to Minnesota, I had no idea where I truly belonged or what I would become.

Never could I have guessed when that camera was first placed in my hands that I would one day learn to love what I hated the most.

So when I hit the sidelines last weekend, I didn’t show up for the game envying the athletes on the field.

I showed up excited to play my part for my team – the Steele County Times.