Chris “Coach” Camp

Bio

 Hello everyone! I am married to my beautiful wife, Alicia, and we have 2 sons, Trey and Zach and 1 daughter, Mattie.  We have even been blessed to have 2 grandchildren, our grandson Everette and granddaughter Blakley and above all of this I am a proud child of GOD.  I grew up in the small town of Walls, MS and during the 70’s that area was more woods and gravel roads than buildings and paved streets.  This rural, small town life, allowed my brother and I to be creative and independent.  After graduating high school, I attended junior college where I received an associate’s degree in Criminal Justice before entering the United States Air Force where I spent the next 4 years.

 In the Air Force, I was a satellite operator for one year before transitioning to a data base analyst.  During my 4 years of service I also completed a second associate’s degree with this one being in production management. Although I only spent 4 years in the service I was afforded the opportunity to travel some, including a deployment to Saudi Arabia to help support, “Operation Freedom”.

 After my enlistment was over I returned home to Mississippi and began college to acquire my paramedic license and start a career in fire and EMS.  My first 3 years in EMS were spent in North Mississippi before I was hired to work for the Memphis Fire Department.  After 3 years of service, I joined the city’s Special Operations Rescue Team and the regional Task Force team that responded to mass casualty incidents in the southeast region of the United States.  During my time with Memphis, I completed my third associates degree with this one being in paramedicine and a bachelor’s degree in Health Care Administration.

I retired from the Memphis FD in 2016 due to multiple shoulder injuries from the job which required 3 total surgeries.  Within one month of my retirement from the city of Memphis I went to work for Southwest Tennessee Community College as a professor in the EMS department.  I then completed my Master’s degree in Executive Fire Leadership with an emphasis in disaster preparedness.

I have been an actual coach of sports for 30 years and I’ve coached both baseball and softball during those years. Something that I feel gives me great perspective and an advantage in relating to people is the diversity of those coaching years.  I was fortunate enough to have coached from t-ball all the way through to late teens with both baseball and softball.  The ability to coach varying talents of all ages and both genders gives me an insight that is hard to mimic in other areas of teaching. Over the years I’ve challenged myself physically as well, having completed 33 marathons, 1 thirty four mile ultra-marathon and a 50 mile ultra.  In addition to these runs I’ve completed one full Ironman Triathlon.

Living in a time where we have 24 hour news cycles and tons to be concerned about, I felt like I could be a source of positivity and a voice for Hope.  Finding opportunity in the midst of opposition is crucial if we hope to grow.  My podcast and speaking platform exists to encourage others to chase their dreams and inspire as many people as possible with the small amount of time we have on this planet.