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Get Scouted Scouting CareersPaul Nelson had a calling.
His father joined the military. His grandfather joined the military. So Nelson followed in their footsteps.
Nineteen years ago, Nelson joined the military, too. He spent the first six years in the Army and the last 13 in the Air Force, working in transportation logistics in the quality assurance and compliance office. He was deployed to two wars — Iraq and Afghanistan — where he ran convoys from 2004-2009
A native of Riverside, Calif., Nelson has been stationed in countries all over the world – Korea, Croatia and Italy to name a few. Since 2010, he has been based at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
“I wanted to do something more with my life,” said Nelson, 39, who is married with five children. “I had a calling.”
Nelson recently had another calling … with National Scouting Report.
A part-time strength and conditioning coach, he answered an ad seeking an NSR scout in Hawaii.
“I didn’t know anything about NSR,” he said. “I never even heard of scouting [organizations].”
After speaking several times with Robert Cagle, National Director of Scouting, Nelson finally accepted the challenge of restarting NSR in Hawaii after a three-year absence.
“Coach Cagle hit the nail on the head when he explained how much NSR changes kids’ lives by helping them get scholarships,” said Nelson, who finished training in July. “He really is telling the truth.”
Restarting NSR on a chain of islands about 2,500 miles from the U.S. mainland is no easy task, Nelson said. Perhaps the biggest obstacle is the time difference, he said. Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time (HAST) is five hours behind CST and six behind EST.
“It can be difficult reaching out for [NSR] help,” Nelson said. “If I need help at night, everybody is sleeping. I am really on an island out here.”
Company branding also has been a challenge.
“I have been trying to get [NSR’s] name out there as a reputable and credible company,” Nelson said. “I have been busy networking and building a rapport.”
However, Nelson is up to the challenge. A former world-class taekwondo athlete, he has overcome several obstacles before.
Nelson took up taekwondo at the age of 5. After 13 years of training and competing, he became a two-time national collegiate champion at Colorado State-Pueblo. His top-three national ranking qualified him for the world-class athlete program in the Army and Air Force. Nelson traveled the world competing in international taekwondo events. In 1998, he captured the International Military Athletic Commission (CISM) world championship. Six years later, he qualified for the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials, finishing as an alternate.
Now he hopes to help other young athletes achieve their dreams.
“Several [NCAA] Division I schools recruit on the island, but very few smaller schools come here,” Nelson said. “Most of our high school athletes are not being recruited because colleges haven’t discovered them. Hopefully, I can change that.”
National Scouting Report is dedicated to finding scholarship opportunities for athletes who possess the talent, desire, and motivation to compete at the collegiate level. We’ve helped connect thousands of athletes with their perfect college.