Sports can be a getaway for many different people, male or female, weather you're playing them or watching them. For me sports has always been my getaway from reality, from the stress in my life, and they can just be a plain distraction to whatever I am doing. While growing up I was exposed to baseball and hockey and while in high school I was heavily exposed to football. I taught myself how to understand the sport, how to play, the rules and the hand gestures of the refs.

I researched the games I grew to love today. I get rowdy at hockey games, I yell on the sidelines at football and I can actually stand to watch baseball. These sports have got me through some tough times, as crazy as it sounds. And when I came to BG, I didn't know that BG football and hockey would also get me through some tough times. These sports have become such a huge part of my life that I don't know where I would be without them today.

How did sports get me through life so far? I'll tell you. I have always been the odd ball in my friend groups. I'm the girl that likes all kind of music, dresses all kinds of different ways, I own too many band t-shirts for one person, and I'm overly passionate about sports. You see I played club volleyball for 4-5 years but I always made fun of because I wasn't the skinny girl on the team and I wasn't "supposed to wear spandex" because I was bigger. Well, boo hoo to anyone who though that or thinks that. That was my getaway as a teenager. I loved playing volleyball because it was my great escape. I wasn't popular or well liked because I was "different". Then in high school I went through that Emo phase, y'all know the one. But still I found comfort in sports, watching them and learning about them. I fell in love with football in high school because I thought it was great way for players to shake off their stress.

When I came to BGSU I was stuck behind my camera lens. But in a way that I felt comfortable being stuck. I found my passion for sports photography and capturing the end zone dance, celebration, smiles and the jump up bump thing that players do. I was madly in love with Bowling Green football and soon after that I fell deeply in love with BG hockey. What is more exciting than capturing a goal or a fight? I just had to get over the puck hitting the glass all the time and players being hit on the glass in front of me. I jumped a few times but not anymore.

In 2013 I was on the sidelines shooting at the BG vs Murray State game where I was knocked down by our quarter back due to an offside hit. Murray State later got a flag for that. I never stopped shooting because I didn't think this was going to happen. I landed with my camera penetrating my side and it hurt like hell and I was taken off in a stretcher, escorted back to my sorority house in a police car, and received the game ball a week later. Clawson asked me if was going to return to the field, and I said, "Uh, yeah".

I have found that football and hockey lets me escape everything for a few hours and just enjoy something I love. Some of my female friends over the years never understood my passion or why I revolve my time around home games. This is my life. I don't play but that doesn’t mean I don't understand or appreciate the game. Never assume that just because I'm a girl I don't know anything about sports, or any female for that matter.