Joon Dunsmore '21 Recruiting Profile

My teammates often call me the “Korean Ichiro.” I wasn’t really sure how to feel about that when it first started happening during freshman year on my high school’s reserve team.  Were they picking on the fact that my mother was born in South Korea? Was it my height?  Or was it actually a complement because of the way I play? The more I learned about Ichiro Suzuki and watched film of him playing, however, the more I came to embrace my new nickname. I realized that I play the game of baseball with the same passion and enthusiasm as this Major League and Japanese baseball icon.   

I started playing baseball at the age of five on a little league team in Michigan with my father as the assistant coach. When my family relocated to Nebraska in 2013, I was introduced to select baseball and was able to travel around the country playing against some of the best players in my age group. Though I was also heavily involved in martial arts and music at that time, I quickly realized that my true passion was playing baseball. Baseball has taught me a lot of life lessons, especially that past success doesn’t guarantee future success. If you want to achieve something in life you have to work for it because nothing comes easy. During my first year at Lincoln Southwest High School, I was initially thrilled to be selected to play for the sophomore reserve team rather than the freshman team. However, I quickly learned that I might not get much playing time because I was younger than most of the other players. This was very frustrating for me because I had been a starter on all of my select teams and had received a lot praise from my previous coaches. My parents told me that my past success didn’t guarantee future playing time, and that I needed to work harder if I was going to make an impact on the team. I took their advice to heart and decided to be the best teammate I could be while being determined to show the coaches what I could do. I would stay after practices and work with them on how I could improve and take my game to the next level[SD1] .  I also let them know that I was willing to play any position, though I had been hoping for third base. By the fourth game of the season, I had worked my way into the starting rotation in the outfield.  I have been there ever since including last year on junior varsity, which is something I still don’t take it for granted.  I know it takes constant effort to stay on the field, and it is a challenge I welcome every day.    

Though baseball is my first love, I have other interests as well.  I have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and I am involved in the music program at my school including the band and show choir.  These pursuits have helped me develop social skills and mental toughness and have added additional physical conditioning that I might not have gotten with only baseball. I have also served on the student council since my freshman year which has helped me develop leadership skills that I can apply to any situation. Through these extra-curricular activities and my strong academic experiences in high school, especially with the sciences, I have decided that I might like to pursue a career in biomedical or exercise sciences with the ultimate goal of becoming a chiropractor. I would like to pursue an undergraduate major in one of these areas to give myself a solid foundation that I will need to pursue that goal.  Of course, I would love to play baseball as long as I can, at the college and perhaps professional levels.

I am told by my parents that life doesn’t always work out the way you plan it, but I will pursue these goals with passion and dedication and see where life takes me on that journey. I just know that I believe in myself and my dreams, and I believe I have a lot to contribute to my college and my college teammates.