“It’s not like I would be able to become some type of director at a big University in California one day”. These are the words I impetuously threw out to my supervisors almost 6 years ago during my last semester as a Graduate Assistant of Recreation Facilities and the Sports Management Department at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania. To this day his response has been echoed in every program I coordinated at UCLA, the 400+ students I hired, trained, and supervised at the UC Berkeley, and the ability to now walk into every meeting at the UC Santa Barbara with complete humility and confidence as the Assistant Director of Recreation Operations. His response is also echoed in my desire to utilize my future attained PhD in Education, Specialized in Sports and Athletic Management, as a catalyst to expand my perspective in a way that better allows me to use the realm of sports, recreation, and athletics to …show more content…
Our reminiscent smiles on my personal and professional development over the past few years took an abrupt turn when I hastily stated, “It’s not like I would be able to become some type of director at a big University in California one day.” The level of disappointment that fell across his face struck me immediately. “Why do you think that?”, he asked. As I stammered through attempting to rationalize why I had placed a metaphorical ceiling on a house I was just starting to build as a young professional, I was interrupted by the following statement that widened my perspective on my career and life potential. “Don’t you ever limit yourself.” These simple words followed by a long conversation, shaped the standard to which I would measure success in my career. I left that meeting with not only an expanded belief in my potential, but also the goal of instilling that same belief in the students and staff I would one day supervise and