Sorry for the delay everyone but I was traveling all around Ireland this weekend! First to Clonmel for a few days to work a basketball clinic for some amazing young girls and boys aging from 10 to about 16. During our time in Clonmel Sarah, Jim, Matt and I had a question and answer session with the players where they were amazed at our dedication to basketball. Sharing our stories with them and answering all there questions I believed inspired them to set goals for themselves no matter what they want to do. I think they started to understand how much a sport can change your life(no pun intend) but it really is true. Without basketball I don’t know where I would be, defiently not in Northern Ireland! I hope the young players were able to take away from our sit down session that with sport comes opportunity, if you pursue it with all the right intentions. I would like to thank the Clonmel community for their sincere hopsitality during our two day stay. Hopefully we will see you soon!

Every semester, Waterford Institute of Technology gives its students a full week off from classes, known as the Reading Week. Last semester I got the opportunity to visit London and luckily this Reading Week I was able to take a mini trip to Galway, Ireland. One of my Wildcats teammates, Sinead Deegan, was already planning to drive up and visit her older sister, Marie, so I thought it was a perfect opportunity to tag along.

On the drive up, Sinead was raving about how beautiful Galway is, designating it as her favorite city in Ireland. In my head I was thinking, no way!! Truth be told, it ended up being my favorite Irish city too. Due to coaching commitments and basketball training, my short-lived experience didn’t give me any time to actually sight see Galway the first time around but this time was definitely different.

Thankfully, the lovely Galway Victory Scholar, Marritta Gillcrease, and my other good Galway buddies, Kyle, Dale and Wayne, took me on an exploration of the city. Galway was stunning, filled with diverse shops and very animated musicians on every corner where Marritta kept reiterating the fact that nice, sunny days are VERY rare so my visit was perfect timing. Leaving downtown, we ended up walking to a town called Salt Hill, which has a serene view of the beach, overlooking the water into the mountains of Irish county, Clare, since it was just a few miles up the road. Ending our tour on NUIG’s lovely campus, I was completely infatuated with Galway.

On my last day in Galway, Wayne, Kyle, and Galway’s other Victory Scholar, Cory Starkey, met up at the best coffee shop ever, Café Express, spending hours on in enjoying one another’s company. Even though my trip ended so quickly, I knew the next time I returned to Galway I would have a family to come back to, friends who I admire and adore.

P.s. special thanks to the Galway Titans’ coaches for letting Rita and I join your practice 🙂 

Victory Scholar: Jazmen Boone

Present University: Waterford IT

US League: CAA

Club/Community Partner: Waterford Wildcats

Alma Mater: The College of William and Mary

Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland

For most people, birthdays are a day filled with family, friends, presents, and birthday cake. However, this year I got a little bit more than that. For my 22^nd birthday, I hopped on a plane to Ireland, where I would start a year long adventure. 

Some asked if I was sad to be leaving on my birthday, but the anticipation and excitement of coming to a foreign country, experiencing a new culture, and developing new friendships was definitely a worthy trade off.

Leading up to my departure, several people told me how friendly the Irish were. Before even landing in Ireland, I realized how accurate that statement was. On my flight, the nice man next to me gave me his neck pillow because he noticed that I had fallen asleep in a painful-looking position. I was shocked that he was willing to give up his personal neck pillow to a complete stranger. I can’t say I know anyone that would be willing to sacrifice his neck comfort for a random person. After this random act of kindness, I realized that it was only the beginning of meeting such kind, friendly people.

Although the neck pillow was an awesome birthday gift, it was the people I met arriving in Ireland and Belfast that truly made the day so special. Meeting the other scholars, as well as the Sport Changes Life family, I realized I spent my birthday with my original family, as well as my new one. 

Victory Scholar: Sarah Benedetti

Present University: University of Limerick

US League: NEC

Club/Community Partner: University of Limerick Huskies

Alma Mater: St. Francis College

Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland 

An empty gym: The athletes sanctuary.

This past weekend I helped out at the Masters Tournament held here at NUIG. My coach was organizing it and needed help with the tables so I hung around all weekend to help out and I must say I really enjoyed it. There were a lot of familiar faces and a number of them were kids from the club I coach at (Titans). Great atmosphere, but the best part was after

Well….

I have successfully avoided my first potential coaching disaster. Last week, my post discussed how coaching a group of enthusiastic young soccer players is nothing short of a truly magical experience. This week’s story acknowledges a lesser-known truth of such experiences. Yesterday, I was handed the reins over a large group of 5 and 6 year old munchkins. And, when I say “handed the reins,” I mean that it was me, and only me, that was in charge of keeping a group of Tasmanian devils occupied for the next hour and a half. In these circumstances, I’ve found that it’s often wise to forget trying to teach any soccer. 5 and 6 year olds rarely respond well to formalized instruction on a soccer field. Instead, the goal was to get out with all my limbs attached. And, of course, to have fun. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of ever coaching this age group, allow me to paint a picture. Based on previous coaching experience (although, maybe it’s only in America), I’ve come to expect these scenarios to unfold in one of two ways. 

A) The session goes very smoothly, and a careful balance of instruction and fun/laughter allows a coach to overcome 5-second attention spans and sugar-induced explosions of hyperactivity, all while managing to tie shoes, answer questions like “why do you talk funny?” and stop the flow of tears after a bruised knee. Charlie Sheen would even call that “winning”. 

……or, alternatively…… 

B) From the first whistle, the session spirals madly out of control, as a seemingly innocent group of 5-year-old angels immediately transform into human tornados of chaos, who apparently want nothing more than to see their coach voluntarily commit himself to a mental asylum following the practice. This outcome often carries the additional disastrous combination of overly aggressive behavior, injuries, and a coach’s Kryptonite: tears. 

Needless to say, I was both excited and nervous to find out if I could, at the very least, hold their attention for 10 minutes. After 20 minutes of dribbling games, including some of my personal favorites like “Knockout” and “Sharks and Minnows”, I knew I was in the clear…I had the kids hooked – they were focused, attentive, and most importantly, giggling hysterically at my childish sense of humor, and thoroughly enjoying themselves. I even had some parents approach me to say “thank you” after the session ended! 

Whether or not I can attribute it to a delayed and mild Halloween sugar crash, or the proverbial “luck of the Irish,” the session was perfect. Well…almost perfect. I did have one particular player, “Jack”, who presented a bit of a problem. It just so happens that “Jack” was fond of making tackles that would even make the infamous Paul Scholes proud: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vIKT3WMAQU. 

I don’t think my legs would’ve survived this kid’s poorly timed defensive efforts, so I have no idea how the other players came out largely unscathed. However, my finest hour thus far, as a coach, was watching “Jack” apologize and help another player up following the third incident, after I had pulled him aside and talked about the value of being a little less aggressive. Made me smile. 

On another note, Sarah and I had a fantastic time up in Clonmel last week. It was wonderful getting to see the other scholars (nice to meet you Caroline), and catch up with the Maguire family (missed you Deirdre). However, all my gratitude needs to be extended to Liam and others in Clonmel who showed such incredible hospitality

I’d never seen so much green. From the green clover painted on the wing of my plane to the green lights littering the runways of the Dublin airport to the rolling green hills that are the Irish countryside, it seemed like everything in Ireland was green. Before to my arrival, I’d heard from others that Ireland was a beautiful country. After seeing it first hand, I can only agree with them. I spent the entire two-hour bus ride to Belfast glued to my window, trying to catch glimpses of the magnificent landscape behind the immediate trees and shrubbery. I slightly regretted this decision later on in the day when the jet lag began to catch up with me and I realized that those two hours on the bus were the only time that I could have taken a nap. Nonetheless, my fellow Victory Scholars and I pushed through our sleepiness and had a wonderful first day.

We met much of the Sport Changes Life crew, who were simply amazing. They made us feel so welcome and at ease in a completely new country. Once all the scholars had arrived (aside from Staats, whose flight had gotten canceled and who was flying in the following day), we were given a short tour of the Ulster campus, where we would be staying for the week. I found out very quickly on this tour that “wee” was a favorite word of our SCL tour guides. Marc even managed to use it about four or five times in one sentence; I believe he was telling us about a wee coffee shop just a wee walk down the road where we could buy a wee coffee for a wee bit of a pick-me-up. Marc has this saying, “Everything is everything,” which I think means basically that nothing is as big a deal as it may seem and it is more important to slow down and enjoy things in life rather than to stress out about them. However, after the tour of Ulster, I was beginning to think that the saying should really be “Everything is wee.”

By the end of the first day, all of the Scholars were exhausted. The day had been quite busy and the jet lag was really catching up with us by nightfall. Even though I felt like a walking zombie for most of the evening, when I laid down in bed and thought about the amazing opportunity that I have to live in Ireland for a year, it helped to put everything into perspective. Picturing the green landscape, the smiling, caring faces of the SCL crew and the other Victory Scholars, and the adventures yet to come as I follow this journey wherever it may lead me, it was very easy for me to write off my exhaustion and simply say, “It’s just a wee bit of jet lag.”

Victory Scholar: Katie Fox

Present University: Waterford IT

US League: NEC

Club/Community Partner: Waterford Wildcats

Alma Mater: St. Francis College

Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland 

As a coach, there are few things that feel better than your players understanding and really knowing how you want to do things in practice. In yesterday’s practice, I didn’t need to coach or teach anything as much as I had to in the first couple of weeks here in Ireland. I am at the point with my kids that I can just say a drill, and everyone will know what go do. And if there are some kids that don’t understand, I can count on the ones that do know what’s going on to explain it to them. I try to tell my players that the easiest way for you to truly get or understand something is trying to teach someone else what you know. It allows you to hear your thought process out loud, which in turn may become clearer to yourself. 

It also great to have other players knowing what exactly to do because there may be cases where the ones that don’t understand may be afraid to approach me, and more comfortable going to their peers. Another plus to the kids really understanding things now is that now I am able to get through more drills and stations in practices because all the time I used to spend on explaining something, can be used on the kids actually just playing basketball. It’s great! As the weeks go on, my job as a coach becomes easier and easier. I can already see a few of the players developing into leaders because their understanding on concepts are increasing. All positives and great things in this week of practices. Tune in next week to see how my week went. Until then, take care everyone!

There are many ways that progress could be measured. For me I am confident I have improved and progressed over the past six months, in many different ways. One way this can clearly be seen is by observing my cooking abilities (if you can call them that) over time. When I arrived in Ireland in August, my cooking experience was limited to peanut butter and jelly’s and grilled cheese.  Subsequently my diet was rather limited. By limited I mean peanut butter and jelly for nearly every meal.  Compared to that, today I could be confused as a culinary expert. Kidding of course, I still have a VERY long way to go before I would consider myself to be even an adequate cook. But nonetheless, I have certainly made progress. In this case, it doesn’t so much matter that I am a bad cook, it matters more that I have improved as a cook.

I think there are a lot of parallels to the role of Victory Scholars in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Certainty when we all arrived in our respective cities we do not make an immediate impact on the youth in the community. Rather we work with kids of all ages and slowly build relationships. Whether it be dribbling a basketball or making an impact as a member of a community, it takes time. In that regard, progress is the goal. Just as I have improved my cooking abilities, many kids that I coach have improved their dribbling and shooting, or improved their ability to interact properly with their peers.

I can’t wait to see what I will be cooking up come June!

Victory Scholar: Cory Starkey 

Present University: NUI Galway

US League: Patriot League 

Club/community partner: Galway Titans 

Alma Mater: Bucknell University 

Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland 

“Vision without action is just a dream. Action without vision just passes time. Vision with action can change your world.”

These are the words painted on the wall that the kids of Clonmel, Tipperary read every time they step into their gym to play basketball. This past week, myself, Ryan, and the Belfast scholars made a trip to Clonmel where we spent a couple days coaching a group of about 25 kids, ranging from ages 8-16. All of these kids showed an eagerness to learn from each of us, which made teaching them so much more enjoyable. We spent all day Thursday and Friday running through drills with them, emphasizing the fundamentals and the importance of repetition and practice. I was so amazed at how much they enjoy playing the game. From 10am-4:30pm, all they did was play basketball, and at the end of the day, they just wanted to keep playing! This kind of passion and love for the game is always great to see in young players, especially here

After my first experience of eHoops, I got a completely new perspective on Northern Ireland, the conflict and history of the country, as well as the personalities of all the kids. The most amazing feeling of all was that the sport of basketball eliminated the age and cultural barriers between the scholars and the kids. Although most of the kids did not know much about basketball, it was the catalyst that allowed us to connect so easily and share our stories and our different backgrounds. 

Although playing basketball with them was a lot of fun, my favorite part was definitely eating with the eHoops kids at the Italian restaurant. Being able to talk in a sit down setting allowed me to learn so much more about them! Everyone opened up so quickly and was eager to share their stories. I learned so much about Northern Ireland and Belfast in particular from a perspective of people that were actually living through it all.

One of the boys that I was sitting with said the most profound things when we were discussing the conflicts in his community. He was telling me all about the history of it and how it is directly affects him. In shock at the situation, I asked him why he thought it was so bad. The young boy told me for people his age; their families raised them to continue the conflict. He said that none of the people his age actually had issues with one another; it was strictly that way because it was how they were brought up.  

 From there, I asked how he thinks it could be resolved. At this point, I was so shocked that a 12-year could provide such a phenomenal answer. He said that the best way was to fix it was with time. He believes that his generation needs to grow up not spreading hate, but love; educating the next generation that everyone is all the same. He wants to be a role model to teach his kids to not tolerate and promote the violence.  

His answer was the most mature, well-spoken statement I had heard from a 12 year old. It gave me hope that their situation was going to get better. It was refreshing to hear that younger people have a plan to move things forward in their community. After all, they are the future, and they are the ones that are going to make a difference.

The eHoops dinner was an eye opening experience where I learned a lot, but also created friendships with great kids that are going to make a difference. 

Victory Scholar: Sarah Benedetti

Present University: University of Limerick

US League: NEC

Club/Community Partner: University of Limerick Huskies

Alma Mater: St. Francis College

Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland 

What a week for the Victory Scholars! It is not a bad life when you get to travel Ireland teaching the game you love to a group of kids that are just as passionate about the game. Matt, Caroline, Sarah, Ryan and I were fortunate enough to visit Clonmel this week for 3 days and a hold a basketball clinic. Unlike the States, where most people play basketball since they are toddlers, many of these

My First Irish Birthday!!

I have had many different birthday celebrations in my 23 years of life on this earth. I have had surprised birthday parties, traditional family birthday parties, and even HUGE birthday parties when I was younger; but I had never had my birthday in another country, until this past Friday. Of course I missed my family and friends back at home in the US, but my First Irish Birthday was fantastic. It began on Wednesday at E-Hoops, as Jim stated in his blog, when for my 23rd birthday present I was getting dragged across the floor by five to seven 15 year olds. It was great fun and it was awesome to see, even at my expense, that the kids were working as a team and also laughing and enjoying themselves while doing it. 

On my actual birthday, one of our teammates and friends, Gary, was kind enough to take Jim, Caroline, and I to see the Giant’s Causeway and the Rope Bridge. I have never seen anything like the Giant’s Causew

This week at Ehoops was a great learning experience for me especially on Thursday night with the Ballybean group. We were helping them with a module on how to coach youth sports and when I asked them to reflect on their experience with coaches, most of them didn’t have great things to say. My advice was this “If you had bad experiences you can still grow and be great by learning what not do to.” It’s gold right? What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger but it’s just not that easy.

Although I said that I know in my heart that’s a lot easier said then done. I’m grateful that I am able to think like that now but if I look back on my life I have had a lot of dark moments that came from a coach not believing in me. It started at 12 years old on a Brooklyn AAU team with a coach telling me only to shoot and not even put the ball on the floor because I wasn’t good enough. Basically my whole high school career I was told I wasn’t good enough after being cut from the freshman team, and barely making the JV team as a sophomore not even getting in the game during blowouts. Coaches never believing in the chubby kid with an okay jump shot. During my junior season I had a coach who put faith in me, I was playing great, but then an ACL tear and surgery…….yup back to square one. No one believing in Jimmy again. Senior year comes, I’ve worked harder then ever, chubby Jimmy is now lean after all the rehab workouts. Then in comes a new coach and  again the thoughts of not really thinking I had a future in basketball crept in. After a tough season the coach tells me ‘I’m not good enough to play in college’, so that’s it I’m done I quit right?

Naaaaaa it’s on to college for me. I’m a freshman and a walk on at a Junior College who gets lucky enough to have an experienced coach who takes a chance on a slow kid with a knee brace and a strong work ethic. This coach leaves after the season due to other opportunities. Sophomore season comes with a new coaching staff who put their all into coaching and we end up winning in a league that no one expected us to. It’s time to transfer to a 4-year school. I end up at a small D3 school in the Bronx with the help of my coaching staff. The coach here seems to believe in me and although he is not the most positive guy in the world, I had the best individual season ever had averaging high numbers and earning a spot on the all-conference team. My dream is coming true I really am good at this I can make it right?……Wrong ACL tear #2 that April and back to no one believing in Jimmy again. I rehab as hard as I can to come back but I do not get cleared to play in time for the season and a coach who I thought really believed in my abilities suddenly stops calling and texting. So the next year comes around feeling better then ever and we end up starting the season off with the best record in school history, and yours truly is leading the conference in scoring. Then I dislocate my shoulder and the doctor says I’m done for the season. With a lot of prayer and faith I am able to come back after only missing four games. We end up finishing the season with a great record and coming up one game short of the championship. After being named 1st team-all conference and gaining all-met distinction, I feel like I have a shot to play overseas. I go to a person I’m supposed to trust in this case, my coach and he tells me basically I should start looking for other career paths and that I am not good enough, saying “time to face reality come back from fairytale land.” So I say “you’re right buddy I give up” and that’s how my career ended.

Sike! I’m in Northern Ireland now baby and I get a chance not only to play basketball but to help inspire young adults who have experienced the same things I have or even much worse…..dreams do come true. This paragraph isn’t about me though this one is for the coaches who did believe in me and although they might not know it they have left an impact on my life to be remembered forever. My first coach and a man I look up to the most, my father John and his assistant John Kaye. My Coney Island coaches John Quintana, Mr. Lou, and Allen “Boo” Day. Coach Mark Carlino and Coach Eric Kamrath at Highland. Coach Tres Chapman, Jaron Bryant and Mark Berry at Chandler Gilbert. Coach Jeff Attard, Coach Joe, Coach James Mooney, Coach Baril, Coach Brad Oringer and Coach Kevin Clifford from The College of Mount Saint Vincent. And last but not least My mom Margaret, sister Tara and brother John because being the baby of the family they coached me my whole life. I say all these names because they have all had a positive impact on my life and career and although they might not know the tears and emotion I put into writing this. This is my life and they made a difference. I have had plenty of bad experiences with coaches but I find that I play harder and work harder when I think of the coaches who did believe in me! It’s on me now to pass it on and have an impact on these young adults we are working with. Oh and just so you know in my heart my playing career is far from over ;). Thanks for reading folks.

Victory Scholar: James Zuccaro

Present University: Ulster University

US League: Skyline Conference

Club/Community Partner: Ulster Elks

Alma Mater: College of Mount Saint Vincent

Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland

It’s funny how growing up in Philly, people always ask you how the cheesesteaks are. Are they really THAT good??? I always say, “yes, of course they are!!” Philly is not always known for the most positive of things, so why not embrace the reputation of our infamous cheesesteaks. Coming here to Ireland, I didn’t expect anyone to know anything about our cheesesteaks or have even heard of Philadelphia in the first place.

Victory Scholar: Emily Leer

Present University: Trinity College Dublin

US League: Big East Conference

Club/Community Partner: Trinity Basketball Women

Alma Mater: Villanova University

Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland 

Hi everyone,

Recent experiences have convinced me that nothing compares to a smiling 6-year-old soccer player on a Saturday morning to reinvigorate your love and passion for this game. One of the stories I’m most fond of is one of me at an early age, having just recently been selected to my first travel team – I woke up at 5am on a Saturday, pulled my uniform on and went to wake my parents up to

Starting my Ireland journey in Belfast was epic, not just because Ireland is one of the world’s most beautiful countries, but the aspects of coaching and developing friendships with the #SCL members contributed to the incredible week experience. Coaching this week was eye opening, despite the fact that I have coached younger kids in America before. I have probably learned more drills or tricks from the camp sessions in my one week in Ireland than I have gathered during my time as a basketball player. It is not because I don’t know basketball, but as players that have played the sport for so long and so competitively in America we easily forget the number one thing why we played the game in the first place: its supposed to be fun. Learning fun drills and incorporating them in to eHoops and the other camps brought the cutest smiles out of these kids’ faces as well as mine. Working with the young children in Belfast and building joyous relationships with these angels sparked something extremely important in my life as a basketball player that I have not had in a couple years, I was beginning to love the game again.

My coaching experience along with exploring the streets of the city and sharing these incredible moments with the Sport Changes Life family contributed to my week one unforgettable Belfast trip. Witnessing the Peace Wall and its beauty showed me that America is similar to Ireland in more ways than expected. Reading each piece of writing and artwork reminds me that we as people are never in a place to judge and should be able to speak freely about issues that matter. However, hiking Cavehill with the crew reinforced how blessed I am and how immaculate Ireland is looking down on Belfast. Now that the week is coming to an end, some of the scholars will not be able to join us next week in Dublin. Even though it has been only six days, I feel like I have known the Sport Changes Life family for forever and a tad heartbroken that I won’t see some of the scholars for a while.  As for Dublin and the scholars that can come here we come 😉  

Victory Scholar: Jazmen Boone

Present University: Waterford IT

US League: CAA

Club/Community Partner: Waterford Wildcats

Alma Mater: The College of William and Mary

Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland

Hey everyone!

Just last Friday I was able to play in my first official game in Ireland with my NUIG Varsity team. We matched up against UCC and it was quite a game, back and forth the entire way until we pulled off late in the 4th quarter. We ended up winning by 17, and I represented with 34pts (or 36, not actually sure) to kick off the season. It is still a few weeks until I can play in a National League game (Nov. 17th) but last Saturday my team (NUIG Mystics) got the win without my help! Nice job ladies! It really is a lot different playing as the only American on the floor, but still just as enjoyable! I am so thankful for the opportunity to play and support my team.

I am really looking forward to meeting up with the rest of the Victory Scholars this week! Next weeks blog will have more coaching stories from the camp and clinics!

Since I began coaching some of these girls, I have found the importance of patience. These girls are not going to understand something the first time I teach it to them, so I constantly have to repeat myself and correct them when they do something wrong. This can get a little frustrating at times, but the final result is very rewarding. 

I am beginning to see great progress in one girl in particular. When I first started working with her, she struggled with her layups. Since she is left handed, she would constantly shoot her right handed layups with her left hand. When I first corrected her and told her to always use her right hand on the right side, she was very hesitant and looked at me like I was crazy! When she began to do as I told her, her lay ups were nowhere close to going in the basket and she kept getting down on herself. But as time went on, and I kept making her practice with her right hand, she finally began to feel more comfortable. The other day at training, when we were doing a layup drill, she went up on the right side with her right hand with confidence and the ball went in the basket! The joy this girl had on her face was priceless. She had a huge smile and started cheering for herself. I was so happy that she finally got it that I forgot how frustrating the process was at times for me to constantly correct her. But seeing her excitement in her achievement definitely made my day! I hope to see similar improvements in some of the other girls as the season progresses!

“Everyday is a gift” is a quote I have heard hundred of times growing up. To me, this quote means live each day to the fullest and cherish every moment.  I try to enjoy every moment of everyday, especially now that I get live in Ireland for a year. There are some moments that are easy to enjoy like seeing a child smile when you give him a “high five” after he scores a basket but then there are some moments that are a little bit tougher to enjoy like when your plane gets delayed three times and then the airline decides to cancel the flight which causes you to arrive in Ireland a day later than the other Victory Scholars (Yes, you guessed it, this happened to me).   One thing that I took for granted in the United States was my phone having Wifi. Wifi is an absolutely amazing thing and majority of my time here so far I have not had Wifi. Back home people use wifi for a lot of things such as finding directions, but they can also get addicted to scrolling through Twitter and Instagram and it can cause people to zone out on conversations. Im sure everyone that is reading this can remember a time when they were trying to talk with someone and that person was in a world of there own on his/her phone. Now that I am in Ireland without much access to Wifi, I have to ask people for directions, which has made me more confident in myself by approaching strangers, and I am always in a conversation with someone at meals and on the bus rides. However, when we are in a café or in the Sport Changes Life building, and my phone connects to the beautiful Wifi, I cherish it. Wifi is my chance to find out about how things are going back in the United States. It allows me to get updated with my family and friends, check the latest college and NBA stories, see how the stock market and my “mock” portfolio are doing, and also send an occasional Snapchat or two. A prime example is right now with the Wifi in the Sports Changes Life building, I am able to write this blog; however, we are about to go coach the Belfast Tigers so I will be ending my connection with Wifi very soon. Until next time my friends! #TeamWifi”

Victory Scholar: Staats Battle

Present University: University of Limerick

US League: ACC

Club/Community Partner: University of Limerick Lions

Alma Mater: North Carolina State University

Sponsored by: Team Ireland

I have to start off my blog with a special happy birthday shout out to fellow Victory Scholar and roommate Matt Graves! I am especially looking forward to Matt’s bday dinner at the Maguire’s (he choose Irish Stew, much to the disappointment of the Maguire girls) and our teammate Gary is bringing us to the Giant Causeways on Friday as well! As a special birthday gift I will retell how 6’5”, 220 pound Matt lost in a strength battle to a couple of 15 year olds… 

You can tell the Ehoopers are starting to understand what the program is all about by coming together as a group. A great example of this is how they reacted to the newest game we played on Wednesday. Gareth put a gymnastic mat at both foul lines and split the group up evenly with Matt and I on separate teams. The point of the game was to pull, drag, or carry the opposing team onto your mat and once they touched the mat; they were out of the game. My team decided they wanted to take the opp

Leaders are often faced with challenging responsibilities regarding the management of groups, employees, and teams.  I am the head coach of the Andersontown Tigers 16U team and delivering my coaching message effectively to fifteen boys all whom have different personalities can be a challenge.  I have players with personalities ranging from being reserved to social butterflies.  What has helped me to make my coaching style effective is the time off the court observing my players and seeing who they are and how the interact with each other.  I have found that my players off the court personalities often times transfer to who they are on the court.  I now understand why my college coach spent so much time with my team off the court.  It can be difficult changing your message up when speaking to multiple players at one time so I take mental notes of who may need what outside of the initial deliverance of the message.  My coaching experience thus far has been fun, exciting, and a true learning experience for me.  I have been blessed to have a team of players who have been very receptive and able to pick things up quickly.  This team journey has been filled with nothing but growth from the coaching staff to the players.  #GoTigers “To God Be The Glory”      

Present University: Ulster University

US League: East Coast Conference

Club/Community Partner Ulster Elks/ Andersonstown Tigers

Alma Mater: St Thomas Aquinas College

Sponsored By: Teamwear Ireland