I grew up in a military family with roots in Iowa and Hawaii. My family settled in Schertz, TX where I graduated high school from Samuel Clemens in 1999. I played soccer and tennis and I ran for the Cross Country team and the 800m in track. I attended the US Air Force Academy (USAFA) from 1999-2000. I played NCAA soccer in my first year of attendance at USAFA which is where my strength and conditioning foundation began. I left USAFA in DEC 2000 and continued my education at The University of Texas at Austin, but ultimately earned a B.S. in Chemistry from The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) in 2004. After graduating I worked as a Production and R&D Chemist for PhotoProtective Technologies, I enlisted in the Texas Army National Guard in early 2005.
In the Spring of 2003, while at UTSA, I tore my left knee ACL and had a 2 year road to recovery. During this time I gained weight reaching 198 lbs at only 5’3” with little fitness abilities. I was committed to a pursuit of becoming physically fit once again when I joined the Army in 2005. After modest gains in fitness thru March 2006 I discovered CrossFit. CrossFit took me to the next level and beyond. I later completed US Army Ranger School and multiple other US Army courses considered to be physically demanding. Upon my return from a deployment to Iraq in 2007-2008, I was called by the Texas Army National Guard Headquarters to help set up a military affiliate at Camp Mabry to train and program for 30-40 Soldiers daily along with assist in the logistical procurement of CrossFit equipment. It is a robust program that is now being used as a model to start up additional satellite military affiliates across the state. It has truly been an honor to be a part of providing the best fitness service, CrossFit, to fellow Soldiers and State employees to better serve our State and Country. CrossFit is my means, to better serve my passion as a Soldier in the Texas Army National Guard.
