Peter (John 18:10

Playing To Win

By Angela Rogalski

Sports and academics sometimes go hand-in-hand. And that's definitely true for Corinth native, Tada Stricklen. Stricklen is a senior at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, majoring in Business Management, but also loves and plays the game of basketball for his university. Stricklen plays combo guard for the university and while he's a senior in academics, he's a sophomore on the court due to COVID. "I'll graduate this year," he said, "but I'll play again because I'm returning to get my master's degree. I'm a sophomore playing basketball because of the pandemic and I was injured my first year of college. But I'm back at a hundred percent now."

Stricklen says he loves the game and wanted to play in college due to watching the older kids at Corinth High School and the Corinth Boys and Girls Club play the game. "When I was younger, I'd watch the older guys play at the Boys and Girls Club or the high school and the competition of it all just excited me," he added. "I just grew to love the game. I graduated from Corinth High School and when I decided to come to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, it seemed natural for me to play basketball."

But while Stricklen loves the sport,

he's also attuned to his academics, with plans of doing something major with his degree after graduation. "I'm not going to say that I wouldn't love to play professional basketball," he added, "because that might be in the cards for me someday. But my main goal is obtaining my degree in Business Management and basketball can make many connections for me in my chosen field. So I try and utilize all the tools available to me because my career goals in Business Management are very important too."

Tada Stricklen

Stricklen said that truthfully, his future goals change on a daily basis right now, as he loves basketball and his academics. His family is very supportive of him and while his grandmother still lives in Corinth, his parents, along with his three siblings now reside in Orlando. "I definitely plan on coming back to Corinth for visits after graduation," Stricklen said. "I want to stay connected to my city because I love my hometown very much. But due to opportunities, I'll probably have to move to a larger city for job options. And I really love the game of basketball and you never know what might happen in the next year or so. If I had an extraordinary season and an offer to go pro came in, I'd definitely love to get paid to play."

MED SYNC

Coordinates all of your medications into one monthly pickup

PLAZAPACKS

Prescriptions are refilled once a month in easy open pouches with clearly printed instructions

For questions or to enroll in one of these services, please call us today