My name is Justice Calo Reign, and I am 32-years-old, a graduate from the US Air Force Academy with a B.S. in Behavioral Science, Leadership & Counseling emphasis, currently a Captain in the Air Force Inactive Reserve, and the very act of a crowd applauding an athlete in their triumph almost always moves me to tears.  I have yet to pinpoint the exact reason, but I would wager that it has to do with my understanding of the trials that must continually be overcome to put someone in a position to be achampion; an understanding that is a direct result of my athletic background.

My background can be summed up in two terms: war and sports.  In both, war and athletics, is a person pressed so physically that they are able to see beyond their physical limitations to the person they truly are, and therefore overcome those limitations.  I was raised in a family that emphasized both ,and decided at the age of 13 I was headed to the USAF Academyfor college, and was so confident I had done everything I needed to do to get in that I only applied to that school.  I was a two-sport, recruited athlete and played both football and track for theAcademy and quickly realized that my success on the athletic fields was tied more to my confidence than to any other factor for myself.  I came back from an ACL repair faster and stronger than I was before the rehab and quicker than expected because of the mind set I had during the rehab.  It wasat this place that I fell in love with psychology and coaching.

I entered active duty as an officer and Behavioral Scientist doing statistical research on the various enlisted career fields for the Air Force and helping them develop their curriculum for the technical training schools.  Two years later I was back at the Academy as a Physical Education instructor and a track coach.  In four years I developed arguably the most dominant hurdlers in Academy/Conference History to include 6 school records, 5 MWC Champions, 8 Regional Qualifiers in 13 events, 3 Olympic Trials qualifiers, 1 NCAA National Championship participant, and 7 of the fastest times run in Conference History.  I was also coached and mentored as a coach by Ralph Lindeman who is my example of one of the best coaches in Track & Field today (and who in my opinion should be recognized by USA Track & Field as a Hall-of-Famer.)

In 2006, I separated from active duty and joined the coaching staff at the University of Louisville, a school that had a Track & Field program continually in the bottom of Conference USA championships.  A new staff was brought in to make the transition to the Big East Conference, make the program a national power, and change the culture of the current athletes.  The head coach was a distance coach, and Iwas left alone to develop the sprint and hurdle crew myself.  In two years, with very strong opposition from current athletes, I was able to coach the #2 freshman 400m Hurdler in NCAA, 2 Big East Conference Champions, the Universities first ever in sprint/hurdle events, 4 athletes ranked in the top 20 in the world for Under 20, and 16 school records.  I recruited one US Record Holder, and 7 other High School National Champions, was a featured speaker at the two largest high school coaches’ clinics in the country, and was named a Kentucky Colonel by the Governor of Kentucky for my work with character development in youth through athletics.

I also experienced the most markedly different coaching style in the head coach at Louisville.  I was called in to his home and asked about my sexuality, lied to and misled, and asked to bend the rules in regards to recruiting practices.  Two weeks before I was to take my athlete to the U20 World Championships, I was called in and removed from my position and told my contract would not be renewed.  I was given no explanation as to why, but the timing and the maliciousness in the release fed my own perceptions.  In addition the coach, who replaced me, was less successful, less experienced, and blatantly more religious and in-line with the religious views of the Head Coach. 

The next two years were a period of time where my confidence was shaken.  My belief inmyself has always been my number one factor for success, and it seemed it would be the number one factor for my demise. I returned home to work with the family businesses; consulting, environmental technologies and land.  I eventually started my own life coaching and business consulting company in Seattle, and took a job bartending to get used to being “out” in the work place.  As my confidence grew, my goals and dreams returned to me, and my master’s is the next step in the process of reclaiming control of the outcomes of my life. 

I’ve had a very unique background with and in relationship to sports, and I’m hoping this course will help to unify my various experiences into a concrete plan of development for not just athletes,but also for coaches.  I also expect it to add legitimacy to the experiential data I use to make decisions and demands of my athletes and the coaches around me.  My end goal is certification body for coaches who want to enter the profession of coaching that goes beyond simply the physical side of the coach/athlete relationship. 

I expect this course to reacquaint me with the academic process that I’ve been away from since 1998.  I also expect this course to ignite new trains and paths of thinking and therefore help create new ideas, goals andplans in my own mind.  I expect the facilitator to be free of bias in the grading process only, but welcome their bias in ideas and discussion, and I expect the facilitator promote thinking outside-of-the-box.  

What do you think?  Not bad for my first assignment since 1998 right?  Tell me what you think!