Life is not about us, it is about each other.

Lodge Grass, Montana was once named the most beautiful town in America with its breathtaking vistas of the Bighorns to the south, pine riddled Wolf Mountains bordering the east, and the historic Little Bighorn flowing on the outskirts. “Valley of the Chiefs”, the Crow Indians, or Apsáalooke, call it. Having received its name because the chiefs made this area home after the Treaties with the United States were enacted.

            The physical splendor of the locale remains, but is tarnished by the decades of generational trauma and negative coping skills. Alcohol is illegal on the reservation, yet it still reigns over the lives of many. Methamphetamine plagues the community. Take a walk through my town and you are sure to find a syringe used for getting high. Homes, once beautiful in design and landscaping, are now inhabitable because the meth refuse has absorbed into the walls. Homesites are barren because the houses burnt down or were razed. What was once a paradise, is now a town trying to survive.

            Now, take this town along with all of its natural beauty and sorrow and sprinkle it throughout the 2.2-million-acre reservation. Lodge Grass is not the only Crow community hurting. They all are. Problems are aplenty. Solutions are equivocal.

            At the tender age of 10 months I became an uncle with 18 more nieces and nephews to follow since. As I grew up, I had a natural love for children. I credit this to my elder siblings procreating at a steady rate. My love for the youth is a catalyst for my life goals.

            Our youth are the solution. They are the ones who will change our world. That is why I chose to become an educator and eventually a counselor. The students need to be heavily supported and built up. Otherwise they will become a part of the cycle. I will show them how to live; our roots need to be strong.

            A supernatural encounter in 2012 forever transformed my life. Some believe in God, and some do not. Well, God showed up that night. I heard His Voice. I felt His Power. I thought I was going crazy. But He showed me my dream of coaching basketball was placed in my heart by Him. But in order to that, I would need to become a teacher and eventually a counselor. So, here I find myself nearly finished at The University of Montana-Western.

            I cannot think of any particular experiences in K-12 academia that influenced my current life course. Still, I can recall in my pre-teen years staying up late at night, retreating to the sanctuary of my imagination. There I was the head coach for my made-up basketball team. It is in this place that my vision of coaching began.

            During those nights I would create plays and scenarios. I developed coaching strategies and philosophies. The only problem was that in order to be a varsity coach, I would have to work for the school district. That meant teaching.

            I knew teachers did not make very much money, so I put that passion of coaching on the back-burner, focusing more on a life where I made money. It was my divine encounter that helped me understand that life is not about money, but about saving people in a hurting world, such as those in America’s “most beautiful town”.

            Today I am coach for my own children and gaining valuable experience doing so. I want to build a revered varsity program that balances basketball and life; that is my platform for reaching my people and uniting them.          

   I grew up around the sport and I am in love with it. I grew up around children and loved them even more. Everything else in life seems to just fall in place. Some call these instances coincidences. I call these miracles.