Saint Mary's University of Minnesota Athletics

I am forever in debt to everyone who has helped me throughout my tennis career. Without all that help I would never be where I am today. I would first like to thank my family. Without you I would have never even played the sport of tennis. I would have never found something I now value beyond words. Thank you for taking the time and effort to provide everything I needed to succeed. Whether it was driving me to practices, tournaments, or playing until the lights went out. I really do appreciate it and I would have never have been able to accomplish anything without you.  
    
Now, I would like to thank the people who took a football, baseball, basketball player who knew anyhing about tennis and transformed him into a college tennis player. To start off, I would like to thank Coach Manley, my high school tennis coach. You are the one who taught me all of the basics of tennis and also the importance of the mental side of tennis. Thank you for always having an open door to talk about anything and for teaching me valuable life lessons that I will never forget. I would also like to thank Mr. Johnson, my assistant high school tennis coach. You taught me that there is much more to tennis than just winning and losing. It’s more about enjoying yourself and having fun with the people around you, while playing a sport that you can enjoy for the rest of your life.
    
I would also like to thank all of my coaches at the Rochester Tennis Connection. Without all of your guidance I would have never been able to play college tennis. In particular I would like to thank Nick Crossley. I could never thank you enough for the amount of time you spent with me to teach me all of the necessary skills to become a college tennis player.
    
I want to thank Coach Halberg and Coach Duden. Thank you for always allowing us to be ourselves and for making my college tennis experience so worthwhile. I would not trade the four years playing for you for anything. Things like making the MIAC playoffs, beating St. Johns, and all of our team wins would have not been possible without you. The both of you have taught me so many things about the game of tennis but also multiple life lessons that I will now be able to take into the real world.
    
Finally, I would also like to thank all of my teammates. Without all of you I would have never been able to enjoy the sport of tennis as much as I have and accomplish all of the things that we have done as a team. Thank you to all of the seniors (and Gavin) when I was a freshman for teaching me how to be a college tennis player. Blake, Collin, Garen I enjoyed every minute of our ride together. All of the experiences that we had together—like the MIAC playoffs, the London trip, all of the spring break trips, and going through college together—I will never forget. Even though this may be the end of our tennis careers I know this won’t be the end of our friendships. I hope we provided the same insight to our teammates as the seniors before us and that they will keep the tradition going and protect the birdhouse.