K - 2nd Grade -- This is when I got into baseball. Kinda like my first love in sports! :P I didn't do much here except for play tee-ball and I if I remember right I did play a little baseball. I was in Joliet and played in this big park called "Whiteford Field". I thought it was kool. I had a blast there. Don't know about records or stats but all I know I got these trophies and they were pretty kool. At least I thought they were the coolest thing when I was littler. If I remember right, 2nd grade was the year I moved so I didn't get to play baseball during the summer cause that's when my family was too busy moving stuff to and fro from Joliet to Jerseyville. So no baseball for Lil Shawney that year. Oh well.......

3rd Grade -- I moved to down here around Jerseyville and in the summer I start to play baseball in Dolan Park. This park is smaller but who cares right? I sign up at the Susnig Center and I get put on this team sponsored by McDonald's:) I thought it was great because McDonald's is my favorite restaurant! *L* Anywayz, back to baseball.......I have no clue what our record was but I was having too much fun to care. That was also when I got to hang out with one of my best friends, Drew Settles. He was also on the same team so I got to talk to him alot. We've been pretty good friends since! We've also been on the same teams in the summer since 3rd grade. It's kool how that has worked out for us.

4th Grade -- Still same thing! Only the summer after 4th grade we get stuck with a different team. I thought that was so weird because I was like, "What happened to McDonald's?" Oh well.....we (me and Drew)get put on this team called Sky Tech Satellites. Our colors were Maroon. It's kinda like red/brown/purple. Whatever you would have to see it to know. That season was great, I did really good. I played in the outfield and that's when I decided I wanted to be a CenterFielder! :) I loved catching pop-ups. I thought that made me look really good so I just kinda stuck with it. Drew alwayz played first base. That was the only position I can remember he played. Anyway, we get into the playoffs and we don't get that far. I had fun, and as always, I get another trophy. I guess it don't matter what you do you'll get one. But it makes me feel special! *L*

5th Grade -- Ah yes, my second sport of my life. I went to Dow school 3rd-6th grade. You could only play basketball 5th and 6th grade. That's exactly what I did! I loved every minute of it. Though I have to admit the practices weren't what I was used to so they were a little difficult. But I managed. 5th grade wasn't so bad, 6th grade was alot better (keep reading or scroll down to read 6th grade!)but we all had fun. I know I did. I have no clue what the records were or even remember If I played much. No clue. Summer came and of course, I played baseball for the same recreation, same team, and almost same players! I think I actually hit a few homers that year. No clue. If I remember right I think I played 1st Base a little though I have no clue what to do. I did a little cause well if ya know anything about Baseball/Softball you should have some what of an idea. I can't remember at the moment but I have no clue what we did in the playoffs but I think I do remember that was the year I started to dislike Batchtown/Calhoun alot! They whomped on us so bad it wasn't funny. They were so good, yet they were crybabies and cocky. Almost too cocky for MY own good. Oh well so I alwayz said there's alwayz next year..............

6th Grade -- I freakin love this grade and almost every memory of it! I still think to this day that 6th grade was my best year. I'll tell you why, well actually I'm just gonna tell you about sports that happened that year so HA! *L* Winter time comes and it's basketball season again. This was one of the reasons why I loved 6th grade so much. I think we only lost 2 times that year and that was against Illini Blue and St.Francis. I did pretty good though. We get to the playoffs and one of my most unique memories of basketball was, and I'm sure all the guys that played on St.Francis knows......I was in the middle of the game and I had the ball. I started dribbling (and I'm not the greatest ball handler you meet) and the ref blew the whistle. He called me for traveling, so I got pissed off at myself and NOT THE REF, so I slammed the ball down really hard onto the floor and I get called for a technical. Causing me team 2 free-throws for the other team. It sucked, especially gettin chewed out by my mom! I hated that nite. Anywayz, we get into the finals and we play Illini Blue. It was the greatest game of basketball I have seen in my life. It was so close! We end up losing by 1 or 2 points. The refs pretty much sucked and screwed us over. Oh well. So we came SO close to winning the playoffs. That was the only thing I wanted the most at the time. During that time I signed up for the "Junior Panthers" coached by Mike Batton. It was so great, I went to practices like twice a week. I almost got first again against this guy who has been wrestling since he was five. I almost beat him! I remember that exact 20 seconds. It was tied 17-17, so if I remember right, we were in a tie breaker so next point(s) wins. I swear it was like we were equal. I struggled a bit and he got a "reverse" and that got two points on the board. I came so freakin close. So I got second(again). One of my other best friends, J.C was involved in a "select team", so he plated basketball almost all the time. He stayed the nite with me one weekend and came w/ me to one of my tourney's. Jeremy was in the wrestling league with us but he just got too busy w/ basketball. So when we got there, it was Edwardsville I believe but I may be wrong. Anywayz, the coach caught him in time and registered Jeremy into the tournament. He happended to be in the same weight class as me so we were in the same brackets. It was great. I ended up losing to one of the same guys on the team. Who which I find out Curtis Winder. I still wanna rematch man! Anywayz, then Curtis loses and Jeremy reaches his way to the finals and beats some kid who just sucked. No other word could have described him better than the lack of skill. I was so eager to wrestle Jeremy in the finals too. Oh well. So that was my Wrestling Season. I loved it. Then came along the summer and guess what I played? I played Baseball of course! Same team and different players, well the key players stayed there but whatever! We did the same thing pretty much, even in the playoffs! So there's your history on 6th grade.......keep reading!

7th Grade -- My first year as a football player for Illini Middle School! Man did I have a blast! We went 4-2. Not bad for some little 7th graders. I mostly played WideReciever and I think I got like 2 catches in but Im not for sure. Then came along my last basketball season. I didn't do so hott and I was put on this "B" team. I knew who was gonna be on the "A" team, kinda obvious but I won't give names cause they don't matter. Anywayz, my last game was the first game of the season. I had fun and made alot of rebounds cause for some reason one of the tallest guyz there. Pretty weird. My mom said I looked great and sum of my friends were there to root us on. I think it was like the next week or so we practicing our lay-ups and the coach called the B team to the locker room. He didn't say it but he might as well have. He said sumthing like we weren't as good, so I understood exactly what he said and quit. I didn't feel like waisting his time so that's what I did. Didn't rack up any points w/ my mom but oh well. Summer came faster than I could count and I'm playing baseball again. Only it's for a different team. Lemme tell ya why, I had my differences with the head coach of my old team and I didnt see eye to eye with him cause it happens to be that his #1 son is on the team too and I can't stand him so I left. I played in the summer to have fun and I didnt have the fun and wouldnt continue to do so if I was around them, so Me, Drew, and Garrett all went to Century 21. Now, you would know if you played or watched, but this team sux! Oh my god they were horrible! We go over to this team and all of us and one other guy made a world's a difference. We like lost almost no games, I hit a whole bunch of homeruns like everyone else did and we did great in the playoffs. We turned this team around from a losing team to a winning team. It felt so great too cause I never knew we could do that. Plus, I never thought that Century 21 could be so good. Man I was wrong. Thank god I was too!

8th Grade --8th grade was great, lemme tell you why: Right away I start it with a great season of football! We went 6-0! Undefeated baby! The coaches said we one of the few to do that, the last ones to do it was a group of guyz 4 years before us. Plus I got to play on defense. It was something new for me. I played Defensive End most of the season and Outside Linebacker on the last game. Very great season. I enjoyed it. I wish I could go back. Like I said no more winter sports for the time being. Come spring and I try out for track, I got into trouble and I quit because I didn't like it anyway. There was nothing for me to do. But at least I tried it. (Bet ya didn't know I was in track did ya? LOL) I played baseball for the town again and for the same team again. We didnt do okay, not so good as the year before. We lost one of our key pitchers. But that guy was also playing 3 other sports. Don't know how he did. I almost admire him for it. His name was Daryl Betts. Kook guy;) So we did what we could w/o him. I did okay I guess. I could do better! :P That's all for 8th grade.

9th Grade (FRESHMAN) --I start football alot earlier than I thought. I started to lift on a weekly basis for the first time in my life in the summer of 8th grade. And I start practicing in the early times of the day around 8 or so in early August. Our first game was around September. Anywayz time goes by and we make our record 6-3. Pretty damn good I'd say for freshman. Heck it was better than the seniors, HA! It was great. I played all defense that year. The same coach I had for 7th grade basketball was my coach for my freshman year. So yet again he has no faith in me. Go fig. Finally, a REAL sport for the winter, :P Wrestling Season! I was so excited for it and nervous all at the same time. But I had a blast and the greatest time in my sports life ever! Cause its something I love to do and something I'm actually good at. I was on Varsity for like a third of the year. Though I wasn't that good to letter. Oh well. Spring time and this is another first, I played baseball for my school. Man did I suck! Though I never did give up and finally at the end of the season I started actually getting some hits in. Bad timing. School got out and I played for the same team but for some reason the team was called "Mediation Services". Lol, pretty funny name, whatever works. Same players, but it seems we lose 1 or 2 every year. We had a bad season. It sucked. I sucked that time. I was still in my batting struggle. It's like I couldn't hit the ball worth crap. Though I have a feeling I'll be doing alot better next time I come to the plate in that park. We'll see, come and support me and I'll prove it to you! *L* ;P

10th Grade (SOPHOMORE) --I finished the football season. If it weren't for my stupid grades I woulda played more. So I was gone half the season if seems like. Our team went 7-2 and still to this day, we have not beat Triad. We'll beat em. I know we wiil. One of these dayz........so Wrestling was next! It was a pretty good year, better than the year before. I got to be on Varsity a lot more than usual. And because of that, I finally lettered! (I got my "J"!) I definitly improved a lot and the road to next year looks better.................