Two Great Coaches
by Savannah Cress
March has always been one of my favorite months. In central NC, it is the month where the barren landscape of winter transitions into the full-of-life landscape of spring. Trees sprout pink, purple and white blooms; and not just here and there – it’s like if you were looking at a picture of a tree drawn by a 7 year old, the 2 lines stemming up from the bottom of the page for a trunk, then a cloud-like green blob for the tree-top, the entire green blob is a brilliant fluffy pink – it’s absolutely beautiful. The weather is consistently more mild and you can open windows in the house and have the most refreshing breeze come through. The pollen has not hit quite yet – don’t worry…it’s coming, but for at least the first half of March, when it’s not raining, it’s about as close to bliss as can be weather-wise.
In addition to the weather, it’s the month of my birthday, which, in beautiful irony, coincides with the celebrated day for my absolute favorite animal – National Panda Day. March is also Women’s History Month. In honor of the latter, let’s look at a couple of notable female sprint and hurdle coaches in recent history.
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We’ll start with Pat Connolly. Pat competed in multiple track clubs in the 1960’s. She trained and competed in the unusual combination of the 800 meter race and the pentathlon. Connolly was a 15-time national champion in the pentathlon, long jump, high jump and 80-meter run. She competed in the Olympics in 1960, 1964 as well as 1968. Once her own competitive running days were over, Connolly settled in the Westside of Los Angeles and became the first coach of the women’s track and field team at UCLA. Under Connolly’s experienced guidance, the UCLA women’s team won the AIAW National Championships in both 1975 and 1977. Pat continued to coach sprinter Evelyn Ashford after UCLA. While working with Coach Pat, Ashford set a world record in the women’s 100m race of 10.79s, won 2 gold medals at the LA Olympics in 1984 and then set a new world record in the 100m of 10.76 seconds. [1] [2]
Connolly continued to cultivate success as a coach and became the head coach of both men and womens track program at Radford University in 1998. In 2001 she received the title of Big South Coach of the Year. Connolly attempted retirement in 2001, but was drawn back to the track at the opportunity to coach the talented Allyson Felix to a silver medal and setting a World Junior record in the 200m at the Olympic Games in Athens. [1] [2]
According to Lynda Huey, who competed in club meets with Pat when they were younger and then trained under her after their super competitive days were over, Pat was one of the first coaches who firmly believed her sprinters should be able to run a consistently fast mile. “It meant we were in shape deep down, not just in sprint shape on the surface,” Huey wrote in a 2011 article entitled “Things I Learned from Pat Connolly.” [2] According to Huey, fierceness and pride were two qualities that Coach Pat instilled in all of her athletes. She also believed in getting runners’ feet strong by doing workouts on sandy beaches and had some unique methods of treating and preventing injury in her runners. One of these methods was a process she referred to as “shake ups.” This was a way of allowing injured athletes to continue building strength in their legs while keeping their hamstrings and quads safe. It involved shoulders shaking backward and forward with arms hanging down long. The athletes would use just their calves, feet, abs and glute muscles to activate the movements. Coach Pat also pulled from her childhood training as a ballet dancer and used “leg swings” as a method of preventing injury in runners. During time trials one day, an athlete working with Pat had significant pain in her right fibula. Instead of sitting her out, Pat had the athlete reverse the direction around the track she was running, which took a lot of the pressure off of her right fibula and allowed the athlete to complete the time trials. [2]
Lynda Huey states that “workouts with Pat were harder than anything I’d done when I was seriously competing in the 1960’s and 70s.” [2] Difficult but very effective.
Another notable female coach is Shelia Burrell. Sheila was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico and played volleyball, basketball and ran track as a kid. She excelled at each sport and received all-state honors in all three while attending Rio Grande High School. Upon graduation, Sheila was recruited to run track for UCLA by head coach Bob Kersee and Assistant Coach Gail Devers. Kersee brought her on board with heptathlon in mind for her event. Shelia didn’t even know what that was at the time (heptathlon: 100m hurdles, long jump, high jump, 200m dash, javelin throw, and the 800m run), and she did not have any experience with hurdles or javelin throw until she arrived at UCLA. Shelia was a quick-study in the hurdles and it soon became her favorite and best event within the heptathlon. [3] [4]
After UCLA she decided to compete professionally under the guidance of Cliff Rovelto. Through his training, Shelia really grew into herself as an athlete, achieving 2nd place in the US Championships. She won the US title 5 times between 1998 and 2004 and went to the Olympic Games in both 2000 and 2004. Sheila also received a bronze medal at the World Championship in Athletics in 2001 and won the Decastar that same year, then the Hypo-Meeting the following year. [3] [4]
As a coach, Shelia puts an emphasis on variety to avoid boredom. “We have cycles: speed, skill, strength, stamina. I don’t repeat weeks in training, that’s not how I train. I go based on emphasis or focus.” Her commitment, character, and competitive spirit as an athlete stayed with Shelia as she transitioned to a coach, first at Cal State Northridge, Kansas State, Georgetown and then finally, to San Diego State University where she is now in her 12th season as head coach. In her 10 years of coaching, Shelia has produced 4 NCAA independent champions, 53 All-Americans, 64 Mountain West independent champions, 10 Mountain West champions, 188 All-Mountain West performances, been named Mountain West Coach of the Year 4 times and has had no less than 50 school records set by athletes under her guidance. [5] [6]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Daniels
[2]https://completept.com/pat-connolly/
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelia_Burrell
[4] https://hurdlesfirstbeta.com/free-articles/profiles/shelia-burrell-master-trades/
[5] https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/sd-sp-shelia-burrell-20180604-story.html
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