The Strength to Go Far
作为一名训练师，Shaakira Hassell将运动员推向他们所能看到的之外.
在很多方面，Shaakira Hassell的职业生涯反映了她在Beloit学院的经历. Despite obstacles, she has persevered to succeed.
作为一名力量和体能教练在一个主要由白人男性主导的领域, she has endured sexism and racism to follow her passion. That determination has led to a six-year stint leading the U.S. Coast Guard Academy strength and conditioning program, training work with military special forces, and a 2018 fellowship with the NFL’s Carolina Panthers.
“我一直坚定自己的信念，因为我非常关心我的运动员，”哈塞尔说. “当我训练时，我们都是作为一个完整的人互相学习. That’s not just mental and physical but also spiritual. 我关心我的运动员不在健身房的时候做什么. 我关心他们的生活和家庭，关心他们的学业进展. 这加强了我们的关系，使我们共同成长.”
当2000级的哈塞尔自行设计她时，这种整体方法的种子就萌芽了 interdisciplinary sports science major during her junior year. 她喜欢上一门运动训练课，现在开玩笑说，她知道自己不能追求成为一名运动科学医生，因为她不想学遗传学.
“但我知道我一直想以某种方式与体育联系在一起，”她说. “上完运动训练课后，我知道我不想只看到我的运动员受伤的样子.”
Designing her own major helped create a focus that, up to that point, had eluded Hassell in her Beloit experience. She was recruited out of Chicago to play basketball, 但在大二之后，教练的改变和跟腱的撕裂使她的经历脱胎换骨. She occasionally struggled not to feel isolated.
But a connection with Cecil Youngblood, then the men’s basketball coach and now dean of students, proved fortuitous.
“Cecil told me about strength and conditioning and said, ‘Not only will you see your athlete when they’re hurt, but you’ll be the one to help prevent them from getting hurt. And you’ll have them year-round.’ That intrigued me,” Hassell says. “I was a behind-the-scenes person anyway. So I knew I didn’t want to be an Xs and Os coach.”
扬布拉德说，他只是提出建议，利用哈塞尔已经拥有的优势.
“我被她吸引了，因为我能看出她在挣扎，”扬布拉德说. “She had made the effort to be where she was, 她只是找不到一条让自己舒服的路. 我们因为她想要学习更多，变得更强壮，帮助她成为更好的运动员而联系在一起.
“我从一开始就注意到她很固执，不会被吓倒. She was going to find her way.”
Hassell did exactly that. 她还将自己与同学和前伯洛伊特管理人员娜塔莉·塞佩达的关系归功于她， biology professor Marion Field Fass, and dance professor Chris Johnson.
“At Beloit, I learned a lot about life,” she says. “I learned a lot about how to handle people. I learned a lot about myself.”
As part of designing her own major, Hassell applied for a study abroad program to attend right after graduation in Australia, a country at the forefront of sports and exercise science. 在那里，她参加了墨尔本老虎队的选拔，这是一个强大的职业篮球项目.
令人印象深刻的是，这是哈塞尔的简历上两条职业运动员的台词之一. On a whim, 她还参加了独立女子足球联盟的芝加哥力量队和亚特兰大爆炸队，并成功了. Her Atlanta team won the 2006 IWFL championship.
这种新发现的对足球的热爱就是为什么哈塞尔在攻读硕士学位时同时就读于乔治亚南部大学和乔治亚州瓦尔多斯塔州立大学，并担任研究生助理力量和体能教练的原因.
“Being in the South and in a male-dominated field, Georgia Southern wasn’t going to let me train football,” Hassell says. “They fired me by December, told me not to come back.”
Hassell returned anyway — did we mention she’s stubborn? — to finish the academic year before attending Valdosta State. With her graduate degree in hand, 她的第一份全职工作是阿拉巴马州特洛伊大学的力量和体能助理教练，在那里她和足球队一起工作, among others, while securing another master’s degree, this one in sports administration.
When that run ended in 2011, 她曾在IMG学院从事私人执业，并在布拉格堡担任了两个月的战术力量和体能教练, training military members. 布拉格堡的一位同事在海岸警卫队学院找到了一份篮球教练的工作，并让哈塞尔与体育主管取得了联系.
Hassell found a home.
“我被聘为他们的头部力量和体能教练，”哈塞尔说. “从第一天起，我就和足球教练比尔·乔治相处得很好. I told him, “如果你对我作为女性领导你的男人有意见的话, then we need to talk about this right now. Because I’m here to stay.’ He laughed and said, ‘My guys are your guys. I trust you will do what you need to do to make them better.’”
During Hassell’s nearly six-year run at the Coast Guard, 她还获得了著名的比尔·沃尔什NFL多元化教练奖学金，并在卡罗莱纳黑豹队的2018年训练营工作.
Hassell jumped all in throughout the experience, soaking up any bit of information or knowledge she could find. 她和运动营养师一起学习如何在训练前后给运动员分配补品. 黑豹队让她负责在训练期间和全队举重室的不同位置与受伤的运动员一起工作.
“It was beyond my wildest dreams. That whole experience was mind blowing,” Hassell says. “They didn’t make it seem like they wanted to teach me. They made it seem like they wanted me to come and help them. They weren’t micromanaging me. They said they trusted me to help.”
At the time, the Panthers even featured Mario Addison, one of Hassell’s former football players from Troy, which was her first full-time job.
“在16年的体育生涯中，我从来没有和我的运动员有过一次不好的经历, regardless of the sport they played,” Hassell says.
这说明了哈塞尔的关心因素和对她整体方法的承诺——即使她偶尔不得不克服种族主义和性别歧视的障碍来实现它.
Hassell is currently pursuing her Ph.D. 在自由大学从事健康科学和运动科学方面的研究，同时也为军方和政府担任独立承包商. The business she created is called Go Far! Government Services.
这也是哈塞尔在场边、举重室或训练室与她的运动员打破僵局时使用的短语. 这提醒着她，无论她的下一个职业是什么，她的目标都包括在军事特种作战部队工作, or an NFL job, 或者成为第一个在十大大学中获得头部力量和体能训练的黑人女性——她的重点一直是推动她的运动员取得超越他们目前所能看到的成就.
“This is what makes me happy,” Hassell says. “激励人们做得更好，想要做得更好，让他们意识到他们可以比前一天做得更好, that’s what pushes me.”
K.C. Johnson’89 covers the Chicago Bulls for NBC Sports Chicago. 他在《菠菜白菜吧》工作了29年，报道了两届奥运会和23届奥运会 Bulls’ seasons.
