By: Dawn Hinz Team Athletic Mentors > Athletic Mentors > Mentors What is in a name? What does a name mean? What are the core values that drive that name? Team Athletic Mentors is composed of almost 100 individuals who are determined to achieve two main purposes. Sure, we’re athletic, meaning we value the health benefits of staying fit, healthy and competitive throughout all stages of life. But even more than that, we are there to guide people, not just to be healthy and active but in any way we can support a mentee to grow and succeed in life, especially sharing endurance sports with youth. We had the privilege of spending a weekend with our Junior Development Triathletes and were
By: Brie Siems In what ways does consistent training boost our overall performance? Having consistency while training for a sport is an important part of improving performance. Regular training helps build a great base for achieving and maintaining excellence. There are many different ways training consistently can help improve your overall performance, whether mentally or physically. Repetitive skill development helps increase our performance. When you go to the gym or practice field consistently, you may work on the same skills at every training session. Repetition in training while adding intensity helps to build your ability to perform better and faster every week. Each training builds onto the next. This means that over time if you practice your sport regularly, you
By: Cate Wittman Any athlete that has experienced an injury understands how it can be hard to bounce back. Often, you lose a lot of ability due to the rest and recovery process. It’s normal to feel like things are out of your control and there’s nothing you can do about it, but it’s important to keep calm. The main thing you can focus on is what is in your control; things like staying healthy with nutrition, keeping your physical ability in check with stretches and/or walks (if possible), and most importantly, resting! While recovering, it’s easy to forget the fact that you have to let your body rest and get your health back before pushing yourself again. My experience with
What an athlete consumes before an event could mean the difference between making the podium or not! It is important to adequately fuel your body and avoid any negative effects such as GI upset or feelings of sluggishness. Eat to Meet Your Needs Fueling for an endurance event will look quite different than fueling for a golf tournament. High-intensity events or those that last longer than 90 minutes require more fuel. For shorter events or low-moderate intensity events, focusing on a balanced meal is typically adequate without the need for additional carbohydrates. For higher-intensity sports and endurance events, athletes benefit from an additional serving of healthy carbohydrates leading up to the event. Be sure to include a source of protein
Maggie Harma goalkeeping for the Wayne State College Wildcats. It’s no secret that high-level training, proper conditioning, and resilience will contribute to the creation of an above-average athlete. Three local soccer players made that commitment years ago when they began training with Athletic Mentors. Besides having strong dedication to their sport in common, Maggie Harma, Carley Rice, and Kendra Sosnoski are all Gull Lake High School graduates and now collegiate athletes. Kudos to our trio of alumni! In the first of this inspiring series, allow us to introduce you to Maggie Harma. Up Close and Personal with Maggie Harma Harma began her career as a goalkeeper at 10–years-old and joined AM her sophomore year of high school. Her career at Gull
By: Olivia Perrine Nearly all athletes will face an injury at some point in their athletic career. Perhaps even multiple injuries. Injuries that keep you from competing at your best are not fun to say the least. At separate times during my junior year, I experienced two stress fractures in my right foot while running track, cross country and playing club soccer. It took me around 4-5 months each to return to my previous level of competition. During this time, I had to adjust my training and lifestyle to recover. Here are 5 tips I found helpful in overcoming injury: Seek out Professional Medical Help This may seem like an obvious step, but often people avoid the doctor because they think
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