At the age of fifteen, I knew that soccer would be my path to professional athletics. I followed some friends downtown to a highly competitive travel soccer team. The team was Colorado Rush. There, I truly fell in love with soccer. Soccer became my passion. I would wake up thinking about soccer. I would go to bed thinking about soccer. I would practice before school. I would practice after school. I would do recovery at home after practices. All while holding on to the dream of one day becoming a professional soccer player. 
Colorado Rush had great resources that helped improve my skills and at the same time improve my opportunities. At the age of seventeen, I was playing for the US Youth National Team (USYNT). From there, I was recruited by D1 schools across the country. I committed to Indiana University, still with the dream of being a professional soccer player leading my heart. 
I joined Indiana University Men’s Soccer in 2017 while still playing with the USYNT. I started seeing the dream of becoming a professional soccer player within reach. Players around me were becoming professional soccer players. I could feel I was on the right path and my time was soon approaching. After two seasons with Indiana University and joining the US U-20 Men’s National Team at World Cup Qualifiers, I got the call. 
In 2019, I got drafted in the MLS Super Draft 6th overall to Toronto FC. Wow. I did it. At nineteen years old, I was now a professional soccer player. I was living my dream. I made it. Little did I know…
Over the next year in Toronto my expectations of “living the dream” were shattered. I found myself unhappy, unfulfilled, lost, confused, and failing. I was working hard, harder than I’ve ever worked. But no matter what I did, I would wake up every day miserable. 
I knew something needed to change. So I went to Google. I Googled, “How do you become happy?”  The number one answer on most of the pages I found was something called meditation. I knew nothing at the time about meditation or mental health in general. But, after a little more Googling I committed to the practice. 
I committed to ten minutes of meditation a day. I made it a new years resolution in 2020. For the first year, I thought the practice was a waste of time. But, toward the end of 2020, I met a man named Seth Taylor. Seth Taylor helped me contextualize my meditation practice and understand my mental health.     
Over the next six months, I noticed far more positivity join my life. I met my now wife. I was waking up happier. My passion for soccer returned. I was really starting to feel the differences in my life personally and professionally. But, then I got hit with the biggest challenge of all.
After two and a half years in Toronto, I had started 1 professional game and appeared in only 5 professional games. I wasn’t providing results. Toronto had waited, but they didn’t have more time to wait. So, with 6 months left on my contract, they released me. They fired me. I was devastated. I was broken. I was shattered. But, I had a foundation to fall back on. The foundation that I had created with my wife, my meditation practice, my mental health practice, and Seth.
A week of free agency passed with little to no contact from any MLS clubs. I was facing the USL (Second Division). At the last second Houston Dynamo reached out to my agent. They had no roster space but they would be willing to let me practice with the team. For the next 2 months, I practiced with the team without a contract. Through perseverance, performance, and my mental health practice I forced my way into the Houston Dynamo organization. 
After the final 6 months of the 2021 season, I had appeared in 20 professional games. I scored 2 goals and got 3 assists. At the end of the season, I got a year extension on my contract. I had dug myself out of a deep hole through my meditation practice, my mental health work, and my loving supportive family. 
From 2022-2024 I've made over 80 professional appearances accumulating over 10 goals and 10 assists. I’ve extended my previous contract and signed a new contract. I attest my growth to my family first and foremost. But a close second would be the mental health practices that I’ve accumulated since I started meditation back in 2020. 
My purpose for athlete mentorship is to give perspective, teach, and share what I’ve learned over my young career.