My name is Riley Vanstaalduinen I am from Bath North Carolina. I am a Junior at Appalachian State and my major is Public Relations. My favorites sports are Football, Basketball and Golf. Though sports in general play a huge role in my life, not just as something to watch but an emotional tie to teams. I transferred from the University of Alabama to App State due to Finacial situations. The new atmosphere has been mostly positive. I look foreword to learning more about other cultures and sports among them.

Hello! My name is Ramón Rodriguez and I am a second semester junior here at App State. I am a History/Social Studies Ed major so my passion for history goes a long way. Before wanting to major in history I always dreamed of becoming a Chiropractor, butttttt I decided to go with my gut and enter the teaching world. I am excited about this class because I love sports. I am on the wrestling team here at App State, so sports surround my life and schedule. I enjoy watching football, basketball, and MMA. I am also a huge Carmelo Anthony and Lionel Messi fan. I can’t wait to learn more about the history of sports!

Hello, I am Evan Anders. I am from Lenoir, NC, which is about a 40 minute drive away from Boone. As for my favorite sports, I watch what I would describe as “everything”. But, if I had to narrow it down to my top three, it would be Soccer, Cricket, and American Football. Soccer is my favorite. I watch every league I possibly can, to include both the men’s and the women’s leagues. My favorite league on the men’s side is Serie A. And my favorite team in Serie A is Napoli. As for the women’s leagues, my favorite is Liga MX Femenil ,with my favorite team being Atlas Femenil. As for Cricket, I watch both the men and women as well. My favorite men’s national team is Pakistan and the same is so for the women’s national teams. As for clubs in Cricket, my two favorites are Islamabad United from the PSL or Pakistani Super league and Saint Kitts and Nevis Patriots from the CPL or Caribbean Premier League. And lastly, my favorite American Football team is the Atlanta Falcons. I have noticed a lot of New England Patriot fans in the class, so I am expecting the 28-3 jokes and memes to be heavy.

Here are some shared images of the logos or my favorite players wearing jersey’s of my favorite teams.

Hello! My name is Shiloh Lovette and I’m a junior in the History Education department here at App State. I’m from Wallburg, North Carolina (it seems like a lot of us are from small towns); you’re more likely to know where High Point is, so I also claim that city. My area of focus in History is at the Secondary level- so ultimately I’m excited to find ways to work the information from this class into my high school curriculum in order to better aid my students and hopefully peak their interest! There are so many lenses through which to look at history, sports will be fun. I have pretty lacking knowledge in the history of South America and look forward to learning about it. I don’t have a favorite sport or a favorite team but there’s a special place in my heart for sports stories of triumph.

Hello everyone my name is Connor Nilsson and I am from Raleigh, North Carolina. I am a senior at App State and this will be my last semester as I am graduating in December. I am a political science major with a concentration in American politics and a minor in statistics. I know that does not sound like someone who would be taking this class but I have always had a love for history and a passion for sports. I was introduced to sports as a very young child by my dad who is a die hard Buffalo Bills fan. Unfortunately for him I grew up to be a Pittsburgh Steelers fan but thankfully he has not kicked me out of his house yet. Aside from the Steelers I root for all of the major North Carolina teams: Hurricanes, Hornets, UNC, and of course App State along with the Pittsburgh Pirates given North Carolina’s lack of a professional baseball team. Thanks to my passion I have been able to start a weekly sports podcast called Clutch Crew Sports, with my cousins and we just recently celebrated our 100th episode. I hope to continue to increase my sports knowledge and share my experiences with all of my classmates and who knows, maybe one day this sports podcast will get big and I’ll be on ESPN (although I am not holding my breath)

Howdy, my name is Smith and I am an Electronic Media/Broadcasting Major from Wilkes County North Carolina. I am currently a Junior here at App State and also a member of the App State Cycling Team after graduating High School and Wilkes Community College with my Associates in Arts degree this past spring and transferring here over the summer. I love cycling, Airsoft, filming, editing, and I do a little bit of DJ stuff on the side. I was also the starting goalkeeper at Millers Creek Christian School from 6th grade through 12th grade. I currently work as a soccer referee and assignor (if we ever get back into the sport), at a Christmas Tree lot selling Christmas Trees at Christmas, and I work at Craig Church Ministries as the Media/Broadcast director producing videos, webinars, and live broadcasts on for our weekly show. I also operate a Star Wars Instagram account with it’s own podcast just to let my nerdiness pop out and have some fun (@501stchillzone). I am taking this class because I want to learn a little more about sports and how they impacted America. And since I’ve noticed everyone else commenting on it, my favorite college team is (obviously) App State; professional soccer would be Chicago Fire and Barcelona; football, Washington Redskins (or the Washington Football Team but #HTTR). Can’t wait to have a blast this semester with everyone and I wish I could be in the room with you all, but due to my work, and working in contact with older people, toddlers, and people who come in contact with those at risk I just don’t feel it’s worth risking everyone’s health, and I’m thankful Professor Sibaja has been willing to work with me, and others, to provide this course online and make this possible. Have fun, stay safe, and I will see you guys via zoom!

Hey guys, my name is Patrick Rafferty I’m a junior here and I’m majoring in History. I grew up on Long Island, New York, but moved to the greater Charlotte area when I was about 15 years old. I would say growing up I had a love-hate relationship with sports, this was mainly due to the fact that I was extremely bad at the sports I participated in. Ultimately though, I would learn to enjoy sports for their cultural importance and I’m now a huge fan of football and baseball (I root mostly for the Buffalo Bills and Yankees). In the end, I look forward to learning about sports in a more global viewpoint and to understand how that affected society.

Hi! I am originally from Oakland CA, but I moved to North Carolina when I was 13 and I now currently live in Holly Springs, NC. During my freshman year of college I attended Barton College in Wilson, NC. I transferred here before my sophomore year of college and I am now in my second year here at App State. I hope to get a better understanding of how sports affects our culture in the Americas from this class. I grew up playing baseball on a team but I love playing any sport with my friends. Being from the Bay Area I am a fan of all the San Francisco teams (SF Giants, SF 49ers, GS Warriors). My favorite sport is baseball so I follow the Giants the most. Which is very unfortunate right now as they are not doing too good, but when you get to watch your team win three world series in five years, you can accept a rebuild.

Hey y’all!

My name is Mitch Michaels and I am a junior majoring in History/Social Studies Secondary Education. I am a man of many passions from the Carolina Panthers, Appalachia, to music, history and movies. I am looking forward to this course because I would love to expand my knowledge on the sports and their importance within the western hemisphere. Sports/history both have been a big part of my life as I grew up playing soccer and loving history, so as soon as I heard about this course I knew I had to take it. An interesting fact about myself is that I am a performing musician and I have been professionally playing bass guitar since I was sixteen years old. I look forward to all this course has to offer and getting to know everyone a little more as we deep dive into the history of sports in the Americas!

Also enjoy this photo of me as a Blues Brother!