The short answer to everything is "Love" love of the game and the wife who was told she'd never run or jump again.
I grew up loving basketball more than anything, but when it came time for college, I had another passion that had been feeding my creativity which was screenwriting. Even though I felt happiest when I played basketball, I always wanted to write sketches, movies, or tv shows.
So when it came time for college I had talks to play for USC or Vanderbilt, but my heart said pick Chapman University for its hands on film program, even though it's a D3 sports program. Sadly within the first few weeks of practice it became clear the coach thought he was Bobby Knight 2.0. (For those of you too young to know who Bobby Knight is, hop on Youtube and watch endless footage of him throwing chairs and being violent with his players.)
I chose to not stay with the team, but continued playing in pro-am leagues and pick up games with semi pro, and D1 players all over southern California. My writing worked out well, and lead me to a path with Warner Bros as a ghostwriter for many years, and even having my first ghostwritten screenplay turned into a very popular showtime serial killer show.
I was never the one who needed the glory. If I helped my team win by scoring 0 points but being a lockdown defender on the opposing teams star, so be it. That same mentality carried over to teaching, if someone I taught did well, that gave me overwhelming happiness. Through middle school and high school I helped at Coach Agena's Kalakaua Clinic, he entrusted me to work with every student that had a disability. I also started a swing dance club and taught over 200 students how to dance. After college I taught chess class as a 1-6th lunchtime and after school program across Los Angeles County.
I fell into the roll of a business consultant, taking complex problems companies were having and breaking them down to simple pieces until the solutions to their problems became clear. This job was no different than the coaching I had done all my life. I solved and patented the solution for online dating, an algorithm that learns users' genetic, epigenetic, and chemical desires, and became a tech CEO.
Nothing about that job was what I loved, because real job was actually fundraising. Sitting at my desk 17 hours a day stressing over how to get funded was causing me health problems. After 5 toilsome years, I stepped away making my health and happiness a priority.
When my 6' tall wife Stephanie and I met, we fell in love instantly. Growing up she was never a sport athlete, but instead a promising ballerina. Most professional ballerinas are 5'5", and as she grew and grew, Steph's knees had adapted to the unnatural positions of ballet, leading to a lifetime of dislocations and knee surgeries which never actually fixed the underlying issue, unnatural form. I was a loving husband who wanted to play and run and do activities with his wife, and she wanted the same. But time and time again a knee would slip out and she'd be down for the count.
I made it my mission to learn about the body, and not accept what these surgeons had been telling us, that she'd should never run or jump again, and will be in a wheelchair within the next 15 years. I found an updated perspective on athletic development and recovery, and became my wife's permanent trainer. She relearned how to walk, run, and jump. At first, it'd take 2 minutes to go up a flight of stairs, but she now has zero knee issues and comes out to the court with me every day.
I've since put in the same effort to learning what makes an NBA player, and the skills and work ethic every player needs to make it to the next level. My mission is to bring Hawaii basketball into the future, and give Hawaii's youth the best possible opportunity for basketball scholarships and pro careers. Kids here are getting the ABC's just like I did, but there are 23 more letters in the alphabet of basketball IQ that I aim to give to every hungry player in the state.
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