For as long as I could remember, I have loved sports. I especially love Houston sports (thanks Dad). Whenever I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, it was always being a general manager in the NBA. I now realize that it is definitely never going to happen, but it was a dream. 

When it came time to decide where to go to college, going to A&M was the best choice. It was A; close to my hometown of Huntsville and B; had a great sport management program. Freshman year started off great until everything got shut down because of COVID-19 pandemic. 

I entered sophomore year looking to get more involved on campus and ended up applying for The Battalion sports desk after going (electronically) to the virtual MSC Open House. I’d never had any writing experience before, but it kind of just felt right.

In the beginning, I was terrible. My first semester with the desk was primarily devoted to writing feature articles on club sports teams. This experience forced me to get used to interviewing and accustomed to the correct format. 

In the spring semester, I was writing 2-3 articles a week due to all of the sports outside of football being in season. This period of time was a grind but ended up being a great learning experience. 

By the fall semester, I had paid my dues and was given the chance to write about football for the first time. Around then, I also had the chance to write a feature over junior forward Henry Coleman III. My Coleman feature was the first article I was truly proud of. 

As great as writing about sports has been, my favorite articles to write were about film and TV. I never thought I would be able to write about both my top 10 sports movies and top 10 movies. Both of these articles helped me find my voice as a writer and led to an improvement in my sports writing. 

The Battalion also offered me the opportunity to cover the A&M men’s basketball beat this past season and eventually travel to cover the SEC Tournament. Being able to travel to the tournament in Nashville was definitely the highlight of my time with The Battalion. 

I am grateful to have had the chance to write for the best collegiate newspaper in the country and to have worked with so many talented people. There’s definitely going to be an adjustment period because I’ve gotten so used to having to write at least one article a week. One thing I’m not going to miss is stressing about feature articles of winter and summer break.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end.