From the time that I understood the word "sports", I was involved. I played every sport imaginable as a kid, and loved watching any sports on TV. When I was finally old enough to understand my level of talent and could narrow down what sports I had a passion for, basketball was my number one. The number one influence on my life that kick started my love for sports in the first place was my dad. I always grew up watching my dad umpire baseball/softball and referee basketball games. I loved being in the gym and outside, as long as a ball was involved. When I finally decided solely on basketball, my dad was ecstatic. Every moment I had, I asked my dad if we could go to the local park to work on my post moves. I still remember the day that I made my first basket on a 10 ft goal. When I looked over to my dad, I think he was more excited than I was. However, my basketball career got cut short after I had my spinal fusion surgery. Because of the surgery, my growth was stunted (I've been 5'4 since I was in the 5th grade), I couldn't run as fast, and I couldn't jump as high as the other girls. I decided my best bet was to find another sport that I could be successful enough in to get a college scholarship. When I decided to do golf, my dad was the first person in my family to tell me that they were happy for me. My whole family is a huge basketball family, so they were less than thrilled when I told them that I would be dropping basketball and joining a new sport that I had never tried before. My dad went out to the local thrift store and bought my first set of clubs for about $15. When I went out to swing a club for the first time, my dad told me to stick with golf forever, despite me having a score of about 130 that day. Our high school has an extremely successful golf program so I said "why not?" I stuck with golf all through middle/high school and ended up getting my college scholarship to play golf at Lubbock Christian University. If you told me after my surgery in 2013 that I would be playing a sport that isn't basketball that I am completely in love with at the college level, I wouldn't have believed you. If it wasn't for my dad, I wouldn't have realized that there was life outside of basketball. I can thank my dad for everything he has done for me, and credit him for the athletic ability and motivation to switch my sport at the drop of a hat.