i was born in san diego, california on may 20, 1965 at mercy hospital. in 1966 my family moved to madison, wisconsin. in 1973, my family returned to san diego. in 1975 i got involved in cycling. i rode time trials, and enjoyed the hobby of it, but i never raced competitively. in 1976 i played my first season of soccer. i had no idea that soccer would have such a profound impact on my life. 1980 was my first class in photography. in 1981 i played a season of junior varsity soccer at patrick henry high school. i also rode in the cycling class. 1983 i played my first of two years of college soccer at grossmont c.c. in el cajon, california. in 1983 i began college classes in art and photography. it was also 1983 that i took my first soccer action photos for "soccer san diego" newspaper, owned by marv rosen. in 1984 i began coaching youth soccer with the same local club i played for in 1976: crusaders. i was 19 years old, and i was coaching a team of under-19 players. i continued coaching soccer for seven years. in that time i coached four u-19 boys club teams, three u-19 girls club teams, one u-16 girls club team, one u-12 boys club team, and four girls varsity soccer teams at patrick henry high school. in 1987, i graduated from grossmont with an associate of arts degree with an emphasis in photography. it was also 1987 that i earned my california class "d" soccer coaching license. august of 1987 i took my first graphic design classes. in 1988 i began working as a student assistant to the sdsu university art gallery director, tina yapelli. in 1989, i co-directed the first ever "student juried art exhibition" at the flor y canto gallery at sdsu. in 1990, i graduated from sdsu with an applied bachelors degree in art with an emphasis in graphic design. it was also in 1990, that a corporation of four individuals bought out marv rosen's soccer newspaper. i began working as a graphic designer in addition to being a photographer, for soccer san diego. in 1994 i was selected to the world cup soccer press as a photographer. this was my dream come true. on july 17, 1994, immediately after the final game, i retired as a photographer and continued as a graphic designer. in 1994 i also began writing a soccer column under the pen name of "sam the soccer dog." in november of 1994, i co-founded b'gass soccer, my first soccer apparel company. in 1996, i returned to coaching for one season at poway high school. i assistant coached for the junior varsity girls team. in 1997 we changed the name of b'gass soccer to big shot soccer. today, big shot is negotiating distribution with major u.s. department stores. the saga continues...

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