Growing up in Southern California, Arizona State graduate student Chase Clemens loved a lot of things, including the beach and the beautiful California weather, but going to sporting events with his dad was always number one. Whether it was football, basketball, baseball it didn’t matter, he found spending quality time with his dad was something he would never take for granted.
This love of sports has always stayed with him, as he has now enrolled into the Arizona State graduate program, majoring in sports journalism. But it didn’t always come so easy, as there were many stops along the way, some stops most people never experience.
Chase and his family moved to Arizona when he was in 6th grade, where the transition seemed almost seamless. Through school and meeting new people, he would go on to find new hobbies and new activities to enjoy, one of those being hockey. High school hockey was starting to become more relevant in Arizona, and through that he would go on to play hockey on a team, valuing the sport more than ever.
As hockey continued, so did school at Notre Dame Prep in Scottsdale. Getting good grades never came difficult, but the love of school at times did. “That discipline and work ethic I didn’t necessarily have,” said Chase. “Kinda wish I did, maybe could of gone to a better school.” When deciding on what to do after high school, he figured that college was the safe bet and enrolled at the University of Oregon, where he would major in advertising. But after a few years of college and a degree to show for it, he still found himself not as motivated as he felt that he should have been.
Advertising wasn’t always a first love, it was more of a backup plan, and that backup plan was sounding less intriguing by the day.
Not sure of what to do next, Chase figured that challenging himself at whatever he was doing was something that could be good for him, something that could bring about a great work ethic.
So challenge himself he did, as he joined the 75th Ranger Regiment in the U.S. Army, where he’d be put through not only some of the most trying times of his life, but also some of the most educational. In late 2019, he would go through the Ranger Assessment program and Airborne School, where he was officially enlisted into the forces. He made the most of his time in the ranks, going through tumultuous training sessions that would take up entire days. Boots on the ground, firearm in hand, patrolling a dark forest with a squad of men was one of the most difficult experiences he had ever been through. Food wasn’t a necessity, and it didn’t matter how long the session was, making the man next to you proud was the most important part of the mission.
Throughout his time in the military, leaders and higher-ups would help create discipline for the newly enlisted through punishment for acts that seemed so insignificant, but to them weren’t.
Whether it was staying in a squat position for an hour straight, or being forced to go out of your comfort zone every single day, Chase took these moments and turned them into positives for his future workspace. Chase would graduate Ranger School in 2021, and firmly cemented himself as one of the best in his ranks, but he knew the military was not gonna be there forever. His love of sports was still as high as it had ever been and a path outside of the military was still someting to dive into.
Chase departed from the Army last year, and began a new journey as a sports journalist as a graduate student at Arizona State University, where his new-found experiences would continue to help in a brand new field. The military helped him become “very organized, be a very good planner,” said Chase. “[It] Instilled mentality of the mission coming first.”
He would use these values to begin covering sports at ASU, including the sport he fell in love with when he first moved to Arizona, which was hockey, where he was in attendance for ASU’s first game of the season where he got to work at the game behind the scenes, and make a dream of working in sports come true.
Chase is continuing to stay on the path of journalism, and is progressing in it every day. He hopes to use his education at Arizona State to be a beat reporter, or work in sports one-way or the other. In life, there are so many opportunities to better yourself, and sometimes that may take going through something that will bring you out of your comfort zone.
Whether it’s enlisting in the military, or it’s simply challenging yourself at work, that hard-working mentality can help you in most future endeavors, and help your passions become that much more real.
For Chase Clemens, hard work is everything.
