Growing up, I didn't know how much sports would mean to me.

From the first moment watching Syracuse basketball with my dad on television as a child, to now as a sports editor for the Evening Sun, sports is everything to me.

It is a way of life, a way to relax after a hard day's work, unless you are dedicated like I am to work in the field,, to a phenomenon that you can't take your mind off of. For me, I would get so pumped up from watching my favorite sports team win that I would cry tears of happiness for being so dedicated. But then, I would be so sad when any of my favorite teams would lose.

In 2015, the New York Mets went to the World Series and I was the happiest girl in the world cheering from my freshman college dorm room. But, I was heartbroken after they lost to the Kansas City Royals, but proud of them.

In addition to my happiness for my favorite sports teams, I created a social media brand for myself dedicated to my love of sports called Sports Are My Life. I realized I was posting too much content on my personal Facebook timeline that I needed to only share with sports fans. I have a Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram acount for my sports content outside of work.

On Twitter, I would live tweet watching the Mets and tweeting every time they scored or made a big play. On Instagram, I would find or take a photo of the final score of the game or the player that had a big impact on the game and write in a game recap. This content would also get shared onto my Facebook page.

Sports also means so much to small communities like Chenango County.

Just seeing something written about you or a photo of your team has a major impact on your life, your family, friends, and even the coach or athletic department.

I cheered for Norwich High School and loved the amount of people that would come out and support the football team on Friday nights and the student section during basketball games was amazing.

Also, I would love getting a cutout of my cheer team's picture from my Grandpa Howie and collecting those for my scrapbook. My cheer team loved the effort of Frank Speziale, the Evening Sun photographer, on capturing our photos to put in the papeer the next day. From our Chrismas basketball games wearing red and green to senior night, I have many cutouts and memories to look back on.

Sometimes having little picture cutouts saved from a game to look back on really makes you sit down one day and think back at the good times surrounded by your team. Those are memories you never want to forget.

As Sports Editor, it is my job to capture moments for current student athletes to look back on. From simple game recaps to the every once in a while special interests stories, these moments mean a lot to everyone, even the Chenango County community as a whole. Seeing your name mentioned in the paper brings an everlasting smile to your face. Moments you'll remember forever.

I can't wait until my two year old son gets older, so I can introduce him to the best things in life; sports and raise him in this great community where sports are fundamental and meaningful to a lot of people.