About Myself

I figured I'd give a little background information about myself. I grew up and still live in the little town of West Liberty, Iowa population around 3,500. I am the oldest of 4 children. Three younger sisters. I remember we had to get a "girly" movie on weekend nights to keep them happy. I graduated with 82 people in my class, so yeah pretty small. I grew up a farm kid and wouldn't trade it for the world. There's no doubt a lot of the qualities both good and bad I have now are from growing up on a farm. We raised pigs, sheep, and every once in a while chickens. My grandpa, my dad, and two of my uncles also grew corn, beans, and a little hay here and there. They still do so whenever I'm missing the whole farming thing I can go about a mile down the road.

Fun On The Farm

As you can imagine my family is pretty close. I am the oldest of 26 grandchildren on my dad's side I believe it is now. Many summers were spent going to my grandma and grandpa's to play with my cousins. I don't know how my grandma kept herself from going crazy with so many kids running around, but she did. I would say this is were my passion for athletics and just being active in general came about. Many of many touch football games that turned into tackle football games or kickball games that ended in wrestling matches. There may have been a time or two I got my butt kicked by a girl along the way too.

In high school I played four sports, which is one of the many benefits of going to a small school. Baseball, basketball, football, and track and field. My parents were part of all many of my athletic events which really is a huge help. I had a great love for baseball and basketball but baseball was my sport. I was a converted to catcher my sophomore year in high school and seemed to pick up on it quickly. I went on to play baseball in college at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This is where I started to learn quite a bit about training. Looking back there was some things we didn't do smartly in our training but it's hard to beat hard work. During this time I had a lot to learn mentally about the game that was kind of hard for me to pick up of the bat. My second year of college I got quite a bit more playing time and had a pop time of 1.77 seconds (not to brag). It always seemed things didn't come together for me at times.

I did go onto play at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa. Another small school and I think I fit in a bit better. I got to start my junior year and did alright. I ended up hurting my arm the summer between my junior and senior year, which I now know was because of terrible program design and not addressing mobility/flexibility problems that arise in many baseball players. After this injury is where I decided I wanted to get into helping others with their training. Hard work can only get you so far, there is more that should go into a training program then one may think.

I now still reside in West Liberty with my cousin who is the same age of me along with two classmates in a older farm house. I drive 30 minutes to work 6 days a week but that 30 minutes is worth it. The thought of living in the residential area and doing so in college, I think may drive me crazy. That and the fact that I have a puppy named Rusty (yeah Rusty and Dusty) who is a Australian Shepard makes the drive so worth it.

Rusty