Walt Disney said it best when he proclaimed, “All our dreams come true if we have the courage to pursue them.”

Disney started out doing what he loved as a child when he would draw cartoons on his father’s barn doors. His passion later led him to start his own cartoon studio titled Laugh-O-Gram Studios, located in the heart of Kansas City, Mo.

I had a similar drive in trying to achieve a goal when I was younger, except it was for sports. Starting from the day I could speak, I played and watched sports. My favorite ended up being baseball.

However, it was around the age of 10 when I started to get serious about sports. I watched Sports Center each day from that time on. I lived, breathed and slept all things sports. I would remember statistics and use them in conversations to sound smarter, but they eventually became a part of me.

I started to imagine that I would grow up to be in the sports journalism world. I dreamed of being either a sports writer or a play-by-play commentator. Growing up, baseball was the first sport I played. I would always go to Astros games at Minute Maid Park, and I would enjoy it every single time, no matter what happened in the game.

That dream, however, was halted for me at that same age when I found out that I was diagnosed with a mild form of Autism among other mental disorders. My dreams seemed all but gone at this point. It was the most deflating feeling of my life, and I thought all hope was lost.

But one thing remained constant: my love for sports. Even through all of the emotional pain and suffering, sports were there every single day. I looked to sports as an escape. I looked to sports as a way to make the world seem less evil and make everything right in the world once again.

My love for sports grew, and with that, I decided to start sharing my passion with the world.

I created a sports blog in May 2015 called Houston Sports Beat to show the world my love for sports. I was at community college at the time with no idea what I wanted to do with my life.

I got accepted to Baylor and found out about the Baylor Lariat. I saw they had a sports writer position, and I instantly knew that this would be my opportunity to follow my childhood dreams and get into the sports world. I applied for the position in hopes of making my dreams come true.

My dream became reality when I was hired onto the Baylor Lariat as a sports writer. It was one of the happiest days of my life because I was now going to be able to live my dream, and even surpass it, as I took the position of sports editor this semester.

Starting on Feb. 17, I will get the opportunity to live out my other childhood dream of doing baseball play-by-play commentary on Baylor Lariat Radio. I sit here, a sophomore at Baylor University, thankful for the opportunity given to me by the Baylor Lariat to live out my dream.

Walt Disney once said, “All our dreams come true if we have the courage to pursue them.” I took a chance at fate, and now my dreams have finally come true.