I am curious and wanted to ask everyone to share their fandom. It's early in the week, so intense game breakdowns haven't started yet. I just wanted to create a fun topic for everyone. This is meant to be your origin story. When and why did you become a super fan of high school athletics? Even more than that, why do you so strongly support your team? Do you follow the high school you attended? Are you an employee? Are you only a super fan because you follow your child's school?

I have no affiliation with the high school I graduated from but always wish them the best. My kids are high schoolers so I follow their school but I am not a super fan. When I was elementary age my dad was into high school basketball and I would tag along with him. Attending everything from regular season games to state tournaments, mostly rooting for teams from the 9th and 10th region. I still have great memories with my dad, brother, and friends watching high school basketball. That's my high school sports super fandom origin story.

What's your origin high school super fandom origin story?

Great idea for a thread.

For me, being a super fan of Ashland goes far beyond wins, losses, or even one particular sport. My connection to Ashland athletics is rooted in the impact sports had on my personal development and the direction of my life.

I played for Ashland and graduated in 2006, but my journey with athletics actually began with basketball, not football. At that time (late 1999) I was a kid who spent most of his time playing video games. Although I made good grades, I struggled socially in school and dealt with anger issues, much of which came after losing three grandparents within the span of a year, along with several elders at church whom I deeply admired.

Something kept pulling at me when I read about basketball tryouts, so I decided to give it a chance. I had never played organized sports before and never expected to make the team - but I did. Looking back, that decision changed my life.

I had started to develop a real love for athletics. Fast forward to my time as a freshman in high school, I was sitting in third-period science class when a friend encouraged me to come out for the freshman football team. The team had already gone through summer practice, but I joined anyway. After that season, I decided to continue on to the varsity level.

I still remember my first max-out day in the weight room, when I could only squat 115 pounds. By the end of that offseason, I was squatting in the 300's. I was never a great player - honestly, I was not even a starter - but the lessons I learned were invaluable.

After graduating in 2006, I went to college for accounting. At the time, I did not fully understand how much high school sports had taught me about discipline, commitment, teamwork, and professionalism. Playing high school sports, regardless of the sport, is a major commitment. In many ways, it is like working a part-time job. For me, it was also where I grew socially.

In college, I went on to hold a couple of presidencies in honors organizations and continued to build on that foundation. In 2011, one of my former teammates from that grade school basketball team mentioned how much that season had impacted my social development and how it helped lead me toward the person I was becoming. That conversation caused me to reflect deeply on just how much of an impact sports had with my development.

Sports helped me develop discipline. They helped me build social skills. They helped me grow from a selfish kid who mostly played video games into someone who understood what it meant to be part of a team.

Over the years, I continued attending Ashland games. Then, in 2016, I had my first opportunity to announce. The Little League Softball State Tournament was being held in the area where I lived, and the managing partner at the accounting firm where I worked was also the league president. I announced the PA for that tournament and absolutely loved it. That experience gave me the confidence to accept a broadcasting position with a semi-pro football team, something I continued doing for three summers.

At the beginning of 2019, my father passed away. That year, I started going back to all the Ashland games. Given where I was emotionally, I had no intention of getting into announcing high school sports. But later that year, during halftime of a basketball game, Dicky Martin walked by. We started talking about announcing, and he invited me to join him for an upcoming game.

That first high school broadcast took place exactly one year to the date after my father passed away. It felt surreal. Before long, I was helping Dicky more often, working with My Town TV locally, and eventually traveling to Virginia to cover sports as well.

One of the unexpected blessings of this journey has been building relationships - and even friendships - with people from opposing schools. One person who comes to mind is Philip Haywood from Belfry. We had only interacted briefly at first, but in his final year, he became both a life and business coach to me. I still think of him often.

When Dicky passed away, our next game was at Johnson Central. Coach Jesse Peck and the Johnson Central staff were incredibly supportive. We lost that game 35-0, but the warmth and kindness shown by Johnson Central made those difficult weeks a little easier.

At the end of the day, I am an Ashland fan first and foremost. I love my experience here. I love the fans. I will never forget how this community took me under its wing during a difficult season of life. I love our coaches, and I love seeing our athletes succeed on the field.

But even more than that, I love seeing them succeed off the field. I love seeing them overcome challenges, grow as people, and become leaders. And when some of those athletes go on to become coaches themselves, that is incredibly rewarding.

That is why I am a fan. For me, it has never been just about sports. It has been about growth, community, relationships, and the life lessons that athletics can provide.