AMHERST, N.Y. – After two fun and thoughtful days of the annual NCAA Diversity and Inclusion campaign, Daemen University dove into the "A Shared Responsibility" theme for the third and final day of the social media campaign and discussed the topic of inclusion with freshman track and field athlete
Tyler Prescott (Cheektowaga, N.Y) who sat down with Daemen's Assistant Director of Athletics Communications, Mary Margaret Johnson, for this interview.
Q: Tell me a little bit about your background and how you got to Daemen.
A: "I was born in Buffalo where both of my parents were incarcerated when I was really young, so then I was moved to Canada with my dad's side of the family, it was a lot of paperwork to figure out so then I moved down to Florida with my grandparents. Florida became my home. I grew up with them. Even from when I was young, I knew I liked sports. I used to fly up to Canada in the summer and my aunt would sign me up for soccer leagues. From there, I started baseball, I was pretty good at it, but then when I started basketball, and I was like oh, this is different. I found the love for the game in seventh grade. From the end of my eighth-grade year, I thought I had everything figured out, I knew where I was going to high school, I knew where I would transfer schools if I didn't like it, but then everything got harder from there. That was when my mom got released, and I made the decision to come back up here and live with her. I left Florida and moved up here and started over again. That was a journey, that was a process, but our relationship is so much stronger than it would've been if I hadn't moved back here. She always pushed me to be the best, and she kept my head on straight. I played basketball throughout high school, but after I played a lot of AAU, I kind of decided that I wanted to do something different. I was talking to my dad about what different sports I should play, and he kind of came up with the idea of track because a lot of family on his side are track athletes."
Q: So did you run track in high school?
A: "I ran track my last year of high school. It's crazy because my cousin that I idolized ran track his last two years of high school and he's now running D1 track at Western University and I'm now D2 here at Daemen, so it's kind of crazy that we both fell into the same sport which I think is amazing. My senior year I ran track, I didn't even do indoor, I only did outdoor. I kind of put it all out there and got the attention of Daemen, which is really where I wanted to go, so it all worked out in the end."
Q: Growing up, moving around as much as you did and being so many different places throughout your early childhood, how much did sports center you and keep you focused on not where you're at, but what sport you're playing in the moment?
A: "Sports was really a big foundation of my environment. Without sports, I wouldn't be the same person I am right now. Sports definitely kept me focused, and it was kind of that thing, no matter where you go, there's always going to be sports. As long as I'm going somewhere that I can play what I like to play, I'm going to be alright."
Q: What has your experience been getting to know your track teammates so far this semester?
A: "I like the dynamics of having workouts every day, and I like how the workouts started so early before the season starts, because we don't have track starting until the middle of November. I like how we started it so early so that the team can get together and start to bond because it's so much better than just seeing these people and not having a relationship with them. Now I know most of my track teammates, and most of them aren't even in my grade, they're graduates, and a lot of my friends are the graduate students which is cool."
Q: Growing up playing so many different sports, baseball is a smaller team, basketball is a small team, but track is a huge team with so many different athletes that do so many different events, how has it been getting to know all the different personalities on the team?
A: "I haven't met everyone yet because some of the track people are on cross country, but just the sprinters I've met so far, they're all pretty chill. Everyone is friendly, there's no hostility, everyone just wants the best for everybody. It's an individual sport, but it's also a team sport. There are two balances there, because you have to lead yourself, but also lead others if they're not doing so well, so just figuring that out in the process has been cool."
Q: What event do you do?
A: "Long jump, triple jump and high jump."
Q: What is your major and what made you choose it?
A: "Physical Therapy. I've always had the urge or just the characteristics of being helpful towards people, so I wanted to come to college for something that I could see myself doing or I could continue helping people, and PT was kind of something along the lines of that. I like sports, and it's close to that. The younger generation of my family are all in healthcare, like pharmaceuticals, three family members that are going to medical school, a lot of people in the medical field."
Q: I know PT is a super intense program, but there are also a lot of athletes that are in PT, so it's another sort of 'family' on campus
A: "My professor even said that these are going to be the people that you're going to be in class with for the next six years, and you're going to spend the most time with them, get to know them, don't be afraid to ask questions, communicate with them. When we're in class and having a discussion, everyone will join in and we'll all talk, so I think that's pretty cool."
Q: Since this is Diversity and Inclusion week, has there been anything in your two short months here that has made you feel like a home environment?
A: "I think definitely the events that Daemen has had have made college not as big as what it is. The food trucks, the massages, the bingo night, the casino night, just all the events they've had recently. They've really brought Daemen into a family-type school. The small classes, getting close with the professors, that adds to it as well."
Daemen University features the premier NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 17 intercollegiate teams. For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts.
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