Editor’s Note: The UL Vikings are an American football team from Limerick, Ireland. The Vikings have won three IAFL Shamrock Bowl titles – 2007, 2008 and 2009 – and the Atlantic Cup in 2010. Author Liam Ryan was a founding member of the team. His reflection provides an insight into his passion, which provided the seed that sprouted one of…
By: David Gardy Ermann[1] For the first time since the 2015-16 season, the Denver Broncos will be in the playoffs. The last time the team made it to the postseason, Peyton Manning—in his final career game—led the Broncos to victory in Super Bowl 50. Now, eight seasons later, the Broncos…
The SEC is a DOMINANT conference in college football. They are, in many ways, the standard toward which other programs strive. But in the world of sports journalism, making assumptions about games before they are played – which seems to be rampant in this year’s postseason – is both a…
Yesol An Throughout my journey as a female lifter in the weight room, I’ve experienced the ups and downs of training. I’ve asked myself this question frequently, “why am I so weak today?” This question arose in many different phases of my life: when I was doing crossfit, competing in…
By Rijad Pekmez I’ve spent more than a decade in weight rooms. First as an athlete, now as a performance coach. My role is to guide athletes in becoming stronger, faster, and more efficient in their respective sports, all while helping them achieve both individual and team-oriented goals. And let…
Kimberly Brancato, J.D. Burnout in sports is increasingly recognized as a significant factor contributing to declining participation rates among young athletes. A recent study by Dr. Bianca Edison, noted that only 39% of high school seniors are participating in organized sports, a significant decline from the nearly 90% of kids…
By Mike Clayton, USA Wrestling In today’s fast-paced world, we’re constantly bombarded with messages about instant gratification and overnight success. We see perfectly curated social media feeds for our heroes in sports, entertainment, and business and it can be easy to feel envy for the achievements of others as we…
By Reilly Dampeer, Head Coach and High Performance Program Manager at OKC National High Performance Center This letter shares the messages that I needed as a young athlete. No words are able to replace experience so I cannot honestly say that I would have heeded the lessons of each story…
By Dr. Zachary Shutler Have you heard of North Carolina State Men’s Basketball Coach, Jim Valvano? His story is the epitome of faith, belief, purpose, and optimism. When Jimmy Valvano was a child, he believed he was going to be a head coach. He had faith he would one day…
By Yesol An Imagine an apple orchard with trees that have an overabundance of apples. From an amateur perspective, this seems amazing because of the prospect of a large harvest. However, this can be detrimental. Having too many apples results in less nutrients for each one, resulting in small and…