The Real Athlete Blog

Interview with a Sports Professional: Big Ten "Triple Crown" Champion Coach and Penn State Track & Field/Cross Country Director Beth Alford-Sullivan

by Richard Burgunder 03-01-2011 11:38 PM Interview with a Sports Professional | Training | Athlete Career Development

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Beth Alford-Sullivan is one of the most respected coaches in all of collegiate track and field. This is the fifth year Sullivan has served as Director and Head Coach of the Penn State University’s Track and Field/Cross Country program. She has been at the helm of the women’s program since 1999, and in 2006, she also took the reigns of the men’s program. During her tenure in Happy Valley, Sullivan has coached 109 NCAA All-Americans (95 on the women’s side), 62 Big Ten Individual Champions, 4 NCAA Champions, and 2 Olympians. In the 2009-10 season, the women's team finished fourth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships—the squad's second "Trophy Team" finish in the last three years. In Big Ten competition, they captured team titles in cross country, and indoor and outdoor track and field to earn the coveted conference "Triple Crown." In her decorated coaching career, which has also included head coaching stints at Stanford University (1995-99) and Mankato State University (1993-95), Sullivan has amassed 24 Coach of the Year Awards, the most prestigious being the 1996 NCAA Coach of the Year. Most impressively, Sullivan’s teams have received numerous academic awards while dominating on the track.

As a testament to her exceptional coaching ability and record of success, Sullivan has represented the United States on the international stage as an Olympic Coach at the 2004 Athens Games and a member of the U.S. coaching staff at the IAFF Continental Cup in Croatia. Sullivan is also in her second year as the Division I President of the United States Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

Sullivan, who grew up in Minnesota, was a star distance runner in both high school and college. As a result, she credits her high school and college coaches as being instrumental figures in her life and career. While attending the University of Minnesota, Sullivan further honed her leadership skills and proved to be a great source of motivation as a three-year captain of her cross country team. Sullivan began the transition from athlete to coach at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, where she served as assistant coach from 1989-91 while earning a Master of Science degree in Sports Administration.

Recently, Sullivan spoke to Access Athletes about a variety of topics, including her success in building a powerhouse program at Penn State, Olympic coaching experiences, coaching and training philosophies, advice for athletes, and her leadership activities on the track and field/cross country circuit. Her insight is an invaluable resource for any athlete or coach aspiring to compete at the highest level of their sport.

Corey Jackson's One-Way Greyhound Ticket to the NFL

by Kelly Davies 02-23-2011 01:04 AM Athlete Interviews | Athlete Career Development | Human Relations

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With the second month of 2011 coming to a close, you may be finding yourself with a few less gym visits than you had planned. Or you may have let those pesky sweets that you swore off January 1^st make their way into your grocery bag. It’s the weather… It’s hard… It’s the end of football for seven whole months. Whatever the excuse, you are lacking the inspiration.

I’m about to present you with true inspiration. A kind of inspiration that is only found in each other.

Corey Jackson grew up in a town of a few hundred people in rural South Carolina. Corey was a basketball player. In high school, he was highly decorated, averaging twenty plus points per game, and snagging double digit rebounds. He had his eyes set on a division I scholarship, his dream since he was a little boy. Corey’s junior year arrived and he sat down with a guidance counselor. The counselor reviewed his average grades and recommended that he look into learning a trade skill. Corey was floored, devastated by his counselor’s bleak recommendations. At 16, an adult looked him in the face and not only told him he wasn’t good enough academically but that he wasn’t good enough to even pursue his dreams.

Will Renardo Sidney Take Advantage of His Second Chance?

by Randy Brown 02-19-2011 01:04 AM Athlete Career Development | Crisis Management | Education | Human Relations

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Renardo Sidney appears to be back on track thanks to a second chance. His team and coaching staff have accepted the past incidents and are moving forward. Sidney was ruled ineligible for his entire freshman year and part of this season due to NCAA infractions. In his sophomore season, he has missed 12 of the 25 games Mississippi State has played this year. Following his two-game suspension in late December after a highly-publicized brawl with teammate Elgin Bailey in the stands of a tournament in Honolulu, the 6-foot-10, 275-pound big man has been averaging 12.9 PPG and a team-leading 7.4 RPG for the Bulldogs.

Changing Lives, The So Cal Falcons Way

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The influence of the National Football League and football reach across our country and our world. One doesn’t need to live in an NFL market to see the positive influence that the sport of football can have on the character of our youth. Before Super Bowl XLV, I caught up with Keith Johnson, President of the Southern California Falcons (The So Cal Falcons), a Pop Warner League, to learn about the organization, its mission, its efforts, and its progress. Despite Los Angeles not having an NFL team (a little bit of irony for me since I helped to relocate the Rams from Los Angeles to St. Louis in 1995), The So Cal Falcons are a beacon of light in a tough part of the city.

In the spring of 2005, Keith Johnson, a speaker and trainer, joined forces with the entertainer Snoop Dogg, and together they created the Southern California Falcons in the Snoop Youth Football League. Their initial goal was to offer an affordable youth football league for children in Los Angeles’ inner city.

Rudy Award Winner Chance Anthony and Insightful Player Kevin Reilly Turn Adversity into Awe-Inspiring Triumph

by Chrissy Carew 02-05-2011 05:27 PM Athlete Career Development | Education | Human Relations | Insightful Player

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If you passed Chance Anthony on the street, you might not guess that he was a high school football player, and you almost certainly wouldn’t guess that he recently won one of the most coveted awards granted within his sport: the High School Football Rudy Awards, which searches for the most inspirational football players in America who best demonstrate the exemplary values of football legend Daniel ‘Rudy’ Ruettiger, the iconic figure of the classic football film Rudy. The Awards seek to find those players who best define what Rudy refers to as the “The Four C’s”: Character, Courage, Contribution, and Commitment. As the first-place winner, Chance received a $10,000 academic scholarship.

Although he has the strong physique and size of many high school football players, Chance is different from most in one significant way: one of his arms is normally formed, but the other ends at the elbow. But his parents set an example for him from day one that he could probably do just about anything his peers could. As a doctor told them around the time of Chance’s birth, Chance would never know his body any other way; to him, his status would feel normal, and he would learn what his body was capable of doing as he grew the same way any other child would.

Kevin Coble, Bryce Brown & Seantrel Henderson’s Tough Decisions

by Eileen Wisnewski 02-05-2011 04:01 PM Athlete Career Development

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With the college bowl season in the record books and college basketball in full swing, I want to discuss some college athletes who made tough decisions to move on from their teams. As these stories have since evolved in the press, I am focusing on the initial actions and reports.

1. Kevin Coble & Northwestern:

Kevin Coble did not return to the Northwestern Wildcats basketball team this year. After surgery on his left

Kevin Coble led the Wildcats in scoring and rebounding each of his three seasons. (Getty Images)

foot he went through rigorous rehabilitation and was told he would eventually have full recovery. During the rehab process, however, Coble made the decision to finish out his senior year at Northwestern, but not to return to basketball. Northwestern coach Bill Carmody stated, “[Coble] looked me in the eye and told me. We had some talks. He’s a thoughtful player and you have to respect it.”

Source: [Coble quits Northwestern basketball team]

Relevance to careers:

What Kevin did here was the best you could hope for as a college coach or an employer. Keeping people in the communication loop will always have positive results – even if the message is not what people want to hear. They will respect your honesty, even if the outcome is not what they were hoping for. Both coaches and employers just want open communication throughout the process. Does this mean you should inform your employer as soon as you think about applying to a new position? No. This could actually backfire and result in you being unemployed. It does mean, though, once you have made a decision to accept a new offer be respectful of your current employer and let them know immediately – give a proper notice which is typically two weeks.

The Limits of Loyalty: How Far Should Friendship Go for Pro Athletes?

by Dr. Timothy Thompson 02-04-2011 12:52 AM Trusted Athlete Educator | Athlete Career Development | Human Relations | Image Branding

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The Oregonian columnist John Canzano raised an important point in his January 5 piece about a New Year’s Eve murder allegedly committed by one of former Portland Trailblazer Zach Randolph’s running buddies (at least while Randolph was with that team). Although nothing links Randolph to the murder, for Canzano the incident raises serious questions about which kinds of personal demons a professional sports franchise should accommodate and which ones should be deal breakers.

My understanding of the columnist’s main answer to that question is that he believes sports teams should consider the types of people in a player’s inner circle as a major clue about the player’s true character. Canzano goes further to suggest that the Portland Trail Blazers and all other professional sports teams should stay away from signing any player who hangs around with people who are likely to be involved in criminal activities, despite how talented such a player might be.

Xtreme Procision, LaVar Arrington's Movement to Create the Next Generation of Football Players

by Matthew Allinson 01-28-2011 01:48 AM Athlete Interviews | Training | Athlete Career Development | Sports Business

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Annapolis, Maryland – In the living room of LaVar Arrington’s waterfront estate, the former NFL linebacker and Penn State standout showed me the extensive scar on his right forearm that is a painful reminder of the near-fatal motorcycle accident that abruptly ended his career in 2007.

That summer, Arrington was riding his brand new Kawasaki ZX-14 on a highway exit ramp when he was cut off by a dump truck, causing him to lose control of his bike and skid across the pavement. He was unconscious for two days in the intensive care unit before he came to, only to discover that he had sustained major injuries. He suffered massive nerve damage along with several broken bones in his back, a shattered right arm, and a massive gash in his right thigh.

Kevin Durant

by Alan Stein 12-24-2010 02:56 PM Athlete Career Development | Human Relations

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I met Kevin Durant during his junior year at Oak Hill and began working him out that spring. He then transferred to Montrose Christian for his senior year (I was the team’s strength & conditioning coach).

Fast forward to today. KD is an All-Star and one of the NBA’s most potent scorers. Even though I no longer work him out, we have kept in touch after all these years.

This past weekend, Blair and I flew to Oklahoma City to see the Warriors play the Thunder. It was a whirlwind trip – in and out in less than 24 hours. But it was one I will never forget.

Chronic Injuries in Athletes: Are they busts, or is there more to it?

by BJ Maack 12-09-2010 11:04 PM Training | Athlete Career Development | Injury & Rehabilitation

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So the news broke a few weeks ago that Greg Oden, the heralded former No. 1 draft pick of the Portland Trailblazers, will miss yet another season. Three years, three major surgeries. First, it was a cartilage injury that required microfracture surgery on his right knee. Last year, he sustained a fractured patella on his left knee. Now, unrelated to the patella, is a new injury to his left knee, also requiring microfracture surgery. This guy was supposed to be the next Kevin Durant, right? Wait, my bad…same draft. That's right…the Blazers PASSED on Durant to get Oden. That's another story. Anyway, Oden was to be a star, and now folks are calling him a bust.