My week started with me finishing off a wonderful visit back to Quinnipiac University, Hamden CT visiting friends, coaches, and professors. I had a lovely breakfast with a close friend of mine that I travelled to South Africa with in January, 2015. I was then able to catch up with my old strength and conditioning coach to go over some new workout material to help with my continued development physically. My coach then ran me through many of the exercises and I will now continue to implement these exercises in my training. Although this was a trip to enjoy friends and all, I was still able to focus a certain period of time on my future goal. My afternoon was filled with more visits to two different professors who heavily influenced my educational experience at Quinnipiac. I also visited faculty members that I worked with on different extra curricular activities during my time. This rounded out a fantastic visit that was much needed but also just showed the importance of staying connected with important people in your life. As life goes on, the connections you have and the connections you make can continue to influence the direction of your life, and as I have learned, it is very important to stay connected positively.
Tuesday, I was straight back into training, and the intensity has risen into a new gear. Throughout the week the sessions were tough, and I have embraced that as I know it will only get me to a better place than where I am currently. Through my experiences over the past 10 months, I’ve continued to embrace the grind knowing that it will all be worth it in the end, and that is what keeps me going. It is a mentality that I have developed, through rejection and disappointment, but my drive and grit allow me to continue. Simply put, my mentality is to chase my dreams, something that so many young people fail to do and just opt for safety and comfort.
There are various aspects of chasing a dream, and I hope that one day I can lay out every step that I took in my journey. Another piece of my current puzzle is work. Work for me not only fills time when I am not training, but it also allows me to make money to cover my living costs during this period. I have never been one to sit around all day, so it is great to now have work most afternoons or evenings during the week. It simply just adds to the experience.
By Sunday, I was able to relax a little bit and enjoy the great spring weather that the greater Chicago Area is treating us with. We headed into Naperville to watch some academy games of u18s and u16s. It has happened to me a few times where I am always the one playing football, that I never really get to go and watch a live game of young players, so it was nice. As I mentioned earlier, connections are something that are very important to my opportunities in life, and today was no different. Nearly 6 years on from when I attended a camp at Northwestern University as I was looking at colleges for scholarships, I ran into Neil Jones, who at the time was an assistant coach at Northwestern, and who is originally from New Zealand. He is currently the head coach of Loyola Men’s Soccer team, just outside Chicago, and he was scouting the academy games for players for his team. We had a good catch up about all that had gone on in my career in the last 6 odd years and as always, it was just lovely to have another Kiwi around! You never know who you’ll bump into, so it’s always best to leave a good impression on people so that down the line when you may reconnect or bump into them, they are willing to help!
And for those who have kept up with the blog well, you may have remembered that Sunday was my long run day. Well that has been thrown out the window as it has become inappropriate training for my current situation as I look to improve my speed, agility, and more specifically my fast twitch muscles. These longs runs weren’t exactly detrimental, but there were much better uses of my time that could be a lot more beneficial to my body and purpose. And with this in mind, although very late, I headed out to the local park at 9pm to do a sprint training session. It’s never too late, and the question that I ask myself is, “how much do you want it?”.
A very eventful and productive week began in Wheaton. The regular training routine along with coaching kept us busy. On Tuesday we had to drop James off in Chicago so Jacob and I took that as an opportunity to explore Chicago a little bit. It was good to take advantage of any opportunity we get to see the city and spend time there, and we did just th
at. Walking a nice loop, up the main street before heading across to the Bean and walking back down along the lakeside. We got to see a fair few things, but always more to see on another visit, hopefully when the weather gets warmer! Wednesday morning, we didn’t have a morning session and so we took advantage of the time to pick up another bunk bed frame from storage and build if for the apartment. The bedroom now has two full bunk beds in it, and looks complete, and surprisingly, not too crowded as many would expect.
On Saturday morning, I boarded a flight to Hartford, CT to visit all my friends back at Quinnipiac. I had a very busy schedule to ensure that I caught up with all the important ones I needed to, and of course there were many little surprises in there seeing people I didn’t expect to see, which made it all the more special. It wouldn’t be a visit to Quinnipiac without me attending athletic events and supporting fellow Bobcats. On Sunday morning, the weather was just like the lovely spring days I was used to and so I made the most of it by hiking up Sleeping Giant Mountain with a friend. It was just wonderful. The afternoon was once again filled with catching up with friends. When I think about it, it had been 6 months since I was last at Quinnipiac, and a lot has gone on since then, so I had to tell my story a fair few times to get everyone caught up. My voice took a toll but thats the way it is. It sure was well worth it. The feeling of knowing so many people care about where I am and what I am doing is so great, and along with that, they are also very supportive and admire me chasing my dreams.
meant something to me for once being a Quinnipiac alum. Our Women’s Basketball team took the whole Quinnipiac Community on a great ride all the way to the Sweet 16. It was an incredible and inspiring journey they went on, and I was happy to go along for the ride. They have certainly put Quinnipiac on the map! Unfortunately the journey ended in the Sweet 16, but the standard has now been set and I’m sure it wont be too long until they get there again!
I am certainly now settled in Wheaton, Illinois. My second week here has passed and I have begun to find a bit of a rhythm. I am more comfortable and more focused on the task ahead of me. After having a couple conversations with the assistant coach this week, I have a clearer picture of a few areas of my game that I really need to focus on. I put extra time into these areas before training, during training and also in the gym back at the apartment. As previously stated, I will get out of this experience what I put into it, and I have full control of my effort. So I am making sure I put in the work required, and more, to build a strong platform for future opportunities that I hope will arise.
Well this week has involved a massive step or progression in my development towards my goal of becoming a professional. On Monday I flew to Chicago where I was picked up by two future team mates. I have linked up with an organization called 
ve signed professionally with teams. So it is a well run organization, that is proven to be successful. But as I have already been told by the coaches, and also prior Bridges players, you will be as successful as you want to, all dependent on the work you put in leading up to the trip.
hopefully build my platform higher for when we travel to Europe and I can kick on from there. For now, the focus is not Europe. The focus is working on different areas of my game each day, and even in the first week, I have already began developing areas of my game that the coaches believe need improving and I can already see a difference.
On Saturday, both Anne and I headed to the gym to do our different types of training, and she was sporting a new outfit we have shopped for the previous week. After our workouts we headed down to Reading Terminal Market, which was suggested to me by a friend as a place to visit while I was in Philadelphia. It was a great place with all sorts of stores, mostly food and treats, but just the amount of people in the place was insane! An experience for sure.
Another week passes, and unfortunately not much movement on my end. Although Monday saw the completion and distribution of my new video, the waiting game continues. While this goes on, I continued to train, getting to the gym everyday and varying my workouts to get fitness in but also strength and speed work. And on Friday, I was able to attend a team training session with the Philadelphia NPSL team, Junior Lone Star FC. It was great to get on the field again and do football specific training. Depending on their training schedule in the coming weeks, I will hope to attend them as much as possible to keep the football work up. 
g, and considering I hadn’t seen the movie, it allowed me to just take it all in. I very much enjoyed it. Anne, Fred, and their friend Andrea, and I then head out for a late lunch at a nice Greek restaurant. It was just a great afternoon. After lunch, Fred drove me to one of his construction companies worksites that I would be working at beginning Monday. It will be a great way for me to keep busy and make some money while I play the waiting game. It will be a 5mile bike ride in the morning and afternoon. Should be a good week, and hopefully a little more movement on the football side of things.
Wednesday I was able to rest and recover a little bit after the busy few days of travel and trials, and just have a bit of down time to reflect on things and really question my intentions about what I want to achieve. Thursday I went for a run along the Delaware river and it was nice to get out of the house. I also began to re make my video and edit my Football/Soccer CV in an effort to search for new opportunities, so that was taking a lot of time in my days. I had to cut through many hours of games and get clips from various games from this season and last. It was a tedious task, but it needed to be done in order for me to be seen by coaches and teams for new opportunities. This is the final product 
where I was able to get a good work out in, and Anne was able to continue to do her rehab and balance work. Never thought the day would come that we would go to a gym together!! In the afternoon, we headed up to Fred’s place. He was recently completed building an incredible mansion on the river north of Philadelphia. I saw it last when he was still building, so seeing it complete was quite incredible. He has yet to fully move things into it. We had a lovely meal and watched a great film, Meet Joe Black!
Sunday morning I picked up South Street Philly Bagels for breakfast, before Anne dropped me off just passed the Museum where the statue of Rocky is on the steps, and I walked along the river before I found a nice spot to read my book in the sun. The weather has been unseasonably warm, with Sundays temperature near 20 degrees celsius.
Another week that began in one place and ended in another. I was at Marcos’s in Myrtle Beach until Thursday. We continued to have a great time together, going for a run together, having salad nights, going bowling, and then on Wednesday, he took me to his new office as such at Coastal Carolina University. It was great to see how another University Athletic Department functions and the different facilities etc. It was a great experience and the campus is lovely, especially with the sun shining and it feeling a little more like summer. I was also able to watch a bit of the teams training, which was good. It is only Spring season so all they did was play, but even then you could see how differently the team was drilled.
organized for me to stay with her friend, and it worked out great. A couch was all I needed to rest my head at night and I was great. In the evening, Rachel, my host took her dog for a walk down on the Battery, downtown Charleston and I joined. Although it was dark, it was a lovely evening with the air crisp and the water splashing against the Battery. That was really as much of Charleston I got to see.
iant grass and great facilities. Over the course of the two days, I was pleased with my play and the impact I had in the games. However, I obviously wasn’t what the coaching staff were looking for and now I am waiting to receive feedback so that I know what I need to improve on to take the next step as a player. After the second day, I showered at the stadium and then headed to the airport to catch a flight to Newark. I was picked up by James Greco, another former teammate of mine from Quinnipiac University. It was great to catch up with him as we drove to his place. We spent the evening catching up, and then Sunday morning James, his Dad, and myself headed out in the freezing rain to a local high school to get the legs going and pass a ball around in preparation for the next tryout, which James was also attending. Although cold and wet, it was good to get the legs going and for me to adjust to the temperature as I was now back in the Northeast winter. Two more of our teammates from Quinnipiac met us at James’s house and we all jumped in the car and headed for Harrisburg, PA.
This week has been filled with training and spending time with my friend, Marcos. Before I left Richmond on Monday, I managed to get a run in and lose a cat at the same time. I did everything I could to get the cat back inside before I left, I was unsuccessful. I then took a bus from Richmond to Wilmington, North Carolina. In Wilmington I was picked up by a friend of mine, Lisa. We grabbed dinner in Wilmington and then hit the road south to Myrtle Beach. I spent the night at Lisa’s apartment and witnessed a gorgeous sunrise over the beach from 12 floors up. I got some beach time in as I got the lunges and legs going before I was picked up later that afternoon by Marcos, my former teammate and close friend from Quinnipiac.
I spent the rest of the week with Marcos, keeping busy constructing things for his apartment, touring Coastal Carolina University’s campus, going bowling, and just catching up. The weather has been very nice down here and so it has been nice to spend some time outside in the sun and by the pool. 
Each day I utilized the gym that is for the apartment complex and made sure that I got in the appropriate training each day to keep my fitness and strength up. And Sunday I was able to enjoy the fresh air on a nice long run too.
As much as I am not a fan of American Football, I think most sports fans would have enjoyed the intensity of the game and the incredible comeback by the New England Patriots. It was a great ending to the week, as I prepare for another big week of training and preparation for more upcoming trials.