The three passions that have dictated the direction of my life have been sports, friends and family. My first passion, sports, has guided me through temptations such as drugs and dropping out of school and has kept me on the right track. My second passion, much the same as my first has helped to deflect the many temptations of life. It is my friends who have stuck with me through the ups and downs and it is to them that I owe much of what I am today. My third and strongest passion is my family, and more specifically my father. He brought me up as a single father when my mother wanted nothing to do with me; he fought to give me what he could and it is to him that I owe everything.

Sports, my first passion, has been instrumental in shaping me into what I am today. In my life many temptations have threatened to destroy all that I have worked for. When life got tough and I wondered if it was worth continuing always the love of competition has brought me back. The thrill of stepping out on a football field, friends and family chanting only seconds left in the game, then victory. Then victory, the greatest rush, the rush that no drug could duplicate, this is the feeling that I live for.

My second passion, equally important as my first has been my friends. My friends have guided me, helped me, and most importantly picked me up when I fell. My friends have been tough when they needed to be and though at the time I may have felt hate towards them I now realize that I owe them more than I could ever truly understand. My friends have helped me more than perhaps even they know and to them I will be forever greatful.

My third and by far my strongest passion is my family. It is to my father that I owe everything that I have today. My mother wanted nothing to do with me or my brother and we had no where to go. My father took us in and raised us to what we are today. Although I cannot express my feelings for him the way I would like to I do realize that what he did for me cannot be paid back with anything but love. For what my father did for me I will be forever greatful and I will be in debt to him for the rest of my life.

So far in my life many things have happened, some good, some not but I realize that all that I have today I owe to these three things and I can only hope that my life continues to be supported as well as it has been so far.