Allan Geoffrey Hodak has been a great mentor to many of his students and faculty that he has influenced with his many years in education. He also has affected the lives of many of his players that have had the opportunity to play under him in basketball, but being a coach or a teacher is not Mr. Hodaks’ job, he is simply a leader. His full intentions are to make sure you are a well-rounded individual and ready to make a positive stamp on the world by the time you graduate from his school.
Allan grew up in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. His childhood was less than glamorous. He grew up in a single parent home, raised by his mother. His neighborhood was very poor as Allan described it as “a ghetto.” He gives accounts of being robbed in his home multiple times and seeing drugs effect lives every day. Seeing these things would give him a tough mentality that he would carry with him throughout his life and still carries it with him today.
In high- school Allan really excelled in athletics. He soon became one of the best prep baseball players in the entire state of Arizona, as he was a star outfielder. He also played basketball where he also excelled. Allan had dreams of playing division one college baseball and those dreams looked like a reality until an outfield collision gave him a concussion that forced him to sit out his entire junior season of high school baseball. He then lost his passion for the game of baseball. Allan then spent hours in the gym exploring his newly found passion, basketball. Although he did not know it at the time, basketball would become a large part of his life and he would use it as a tool to both teach and coach, but also relate to players and teach them about life. Allan had an outstanding senior season in basketball with his team finishing third in the state; he played a crucial role on the team. After high school Allan was waiting for an opportunity to pursue a criminal justice degree and also continue his basketball dreams. He enrolled at local community college in Phoenix where he would play a year of basketball and begin working on his Criminal Justice degree. During his year of ball he dominated most competition and led his team to a winning record. He even had the opportunity to go head to head with future NBA all-star and Champion Byron Scott. The summer between his freshman and sophomore year while playing in a pick-up basketball game Allan tore his ACL and MCL and his playing career never recovered. He would never play competitively again; this was a crushing blow for a 19 year-old with a bright athletic future.
After realizing his time playing was done he decided to transfer to Arizona State University to complete his degree as he had set a goal to become a policeman. He finished his degree and was selected to train with Phoenix Police Department. He passed his training and became an official member of law enforcement. He had accomplished and received the job he had strived for since he was in junior high school, but ironically before his first real day on the job he had second thoughts about his new profession. He realized that all his life he had loved sports and loved the idea of competition. He decided right there and then that he would pursue his love for teaching and coaching.
Allan would get a job at a local grocery store and soon worked his way up to become a manager, while on the side coaching an elementary boys basketball team.
From there Allan would marry Allyson and he would get a job becoming the administrator for a small Christian school in Central Michigan He would look over the school and coach basketball. He never would have pictured himself in this position years before, but he was very content.
In 2003 Allan and his wife would move to Chisago City, MN. There he would spend 7 years being the administrator and coaching both the women and men’s basketball teams.
I think you picked a good source and started off your story well. You might want to split up your really large paragraph though. Towards the end the paragraphs are very short too.
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