Neighborhood Newcomers

Hello, my name is Courtney Schroeder and I’m 33 years old and a Richardson native. My husband Blake is 34 years old and from Brenham, Texas. We have an 8-year-old long haired English cream miniature dachshund named Lady. Finally, we are expecting a baby boy in January 2018.

Tell us about your pets: Where did you get them? Do they have any unique tricks or quirks?

Lady is from Durant, Oklahoma and she is all dachshund. She loves people, loves to be lazy, and loves attention.

What do you do for a living?

My husband Blake works for Topgolf’s Corporate Offi ce in Dallas and is on the Operation Services team. He manages all R&D projects for Topgolf. Courtney is Vice President of Croft ClaimWorks, L.C. and is an independent claims adjuster.

How did the two of you meet?

We both graduated from Texas Tech University in the same year. However, we did not know one another in college. We met through mutual friends at a Texas Tech tailgate in Lubbock, Texas in 2012.

When did you move to Canyon Creek?

We moved to Canyon Creek in February 2017.

What brought you to Canyon Creek? Where did you live before you came here?

We knew we wanted to move to Canyon Creek for some time because it is such a close knit community. The location is ideal, the neighborhood fi ts our lifestyle, and the schools are excellent. Prior to our move, we lived in the Crowley Park neighborhood just on the other side of 75.

What do you love most (so far) about living in Canyon Creek?

Our neighbors!!! Within the fi rst month of us moving in, all of the neighbors on our street got together and organized a welcome party for us and our next door neighbors who are also new to Canyon Creek. We have made instant friends with several of the families on our block who we just love.

Tells us a favorite story or two about your family (funny, sentimental, etc.).

Courtney & Blake Schroeder

Share with us the names and ages of everyone living in your house, including your pets.

Here are a few fun things: • Blake proposed to me in 2014 in the middle of Texas Tech’s

Jones AT&T stadium. We rode with my parents to Lubbock early that morning through a torrential downpour to what I thought was a meet and greet with Kliff Kingsbury at a pregame practice.

When we showed up at the fi eld, there were no players on the fi eld and I asked Blake’s fraternity brothers (who had helped set up everything) what time practice started to which the answer was SOON! Blake got down on bended knee in the middle of the fi eld and the rest is history. • We love to travel and took our one year anniversary trip to Monte

Carlo, Paris, and London in 2016. • On the same day we moved into our house, demolition of the entire downstairs commenced while we lived upstairs for 8 weeks while the house was being redone. It’s now perfect and we absolutely love that we’ve made it our own! • We had our Gender Reveal Party at Topgolf and the site lit up all of the targets blue. • We took our engagement photos at the State Fair of Texas a couple years ago!

What do you do for hobbies or for fun?

Obviously, we love anything Texas Tech sports related, Dallas sports teams related, traveling, hanging out with friends, going to the lake, going to concerts, and doing brunch just about anywhere!

Anything else you would love for your new neighbors to know about you?

We are just thrilled to be a part of the Canyon Creek community!

Donny Hein

How would you feel if the Olympics came to Canyon Creek?

Well it just might happen! Did you know we have our very own U.S. national bobsledder in the neighborhood? If you haven’t already met Donny at Crull Fitness, keep reading to get to know our athlete this month.

Tell us your name and what you do

My name is Donny Hein and sports performance specialist/trainer at Crull Fitness.

We hear you are a bobsledder. Tell us about your sport and why you enjoy it. What is your part on the bobsled team?

The best way I can describe the sport of bobsled is that it is unique and unlike any sport out there. The most important traits for being successful in the sport are size, explosive strength, speed, and the most underrated is fl exibility. One of the many things I enjoy about the sport are the challenges both mentally and physically that come from the sport. I am a brakeman. For those not familiar with the sport, it is the last person to in the sled in the very back.

How did you get in to bobsledding? We don’t see much of that in Richardson.

In the summer of 2014, I had just graduated from college and was doing an internship over at Michael Johnson Performance. While there, I met a guy named Johnny Quinn. He was an Olympian bobsledder who represent the U.S. in the Sochi games in Russia. He started watching me train and workout at the gym and asked who I was. He then asked if I would be interested in trying out at the local regional tryout in McKinney. I show up and then as I go through to sign up, he failed to tell me it was $200 to participate. I was about ready to throw in the towel because at the time I was a broke intern. So, when I Johnny know I couldn’t do it, he waved the fee and told me to get at the end of the line and go out there and kill this thing. We had to run a 60-yard dash, broad jump, and do a granny toss with a 20-lb. med ball. I fi nished fi rst in every event. A couple days later I got

a phone call from one of the bobsled coaches for the national tryout in Lake Placid, NY and ended up going up making the team. It was a crazy couple of months in my life for sure.

Brag on yourself: Tell us your honors and awards for the sport.

My biggest honor to this point in the sport would be making it through the selection process of making the U.S. bobsled team. It started with regional tryouts, which are scattered all throughout the country. Then a select few are picked to participate in the national tryout. I made it through both. My hope is to qualify to represent the U.S. at the Olympics in the future.

Outside of your sport, what do you do for fun, hobbies, etc?

I enjoy the outdoors and doing anything outside, playing games, traveling, training/working out, and learning new things.

How long have you lived in Canyon Creek? I have lived in Canyon Creek for one year.

What do you love most about living in Canyon Creek?

I love the community, peacefulness, great people, and uniqueness of the area. Even though I have only lived in the area for a year, it is the best area I have ever lived in.

Tell us a favorite story or two about a big moment or fun moment in your sport.

I also never forget the very fi rst time going down the ice on the big track at Lake Placid for the fi rst time. I remember thinking to myself, what in the world am I getting myself into? And then not being able to sit in a chair the next day from my rear-end hurting so much.

Share with us a funny or awesome story of living in Canyon Creek.

There are so many it is hard to pick one. I feel like I get a funny or awesome thing happening everyday working at Crull Fitness. So many great people from not only our staff, but the people who train and belong to the gym. Great family atmosphere that is loose, lively, fun, and an adventure every day. Absolutely love it.

Anything else you would love for your neighbors to know about you? What are you looking forward to most at the Olympics?

I just want to say thank you for all the love and support I have received from people and clients that train with me at the gym. I am looking forward to qualifying with the Olympic team in either or both of 2018 and 2022.