Tag Archives: college athletics

Gonzaga Selects Fast Rising Ready as Official Sports Drink

Ready® Nutrition (@ready_nutrition), one of the fastest growing sports nutrition companies in North America, with NBA Finals Champion and MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and three-time NFL Defensive MVP Aaron Donald as co-owners, today announced that Gonzaga University selected the brand as the Official Sports Drink of Bulldog Athletics.

Ready® Sport Drink will be the exclusive isotonic sports drinks for fueling and replenishing Gonzaga student-athletes with its scientific, all-natural formulation featuring three dominant electrolytes, energy from superfruits, and B-Vitamins for complete hydration.   

“We’re looking forward to this partnership with Ready® ” Incoming Gonzaga Director of Athletics Chris Standiford said. “It’s vital that we provide our student-athletes with the best sports nutrition options, and we know that Ready® will be the best choice for Gonzaga.”

Gonzaga is a member of the West Coast Conference, one of 8 conferences that have selected Ready® as their Official Sports Drink.  The Bulldogs’ national profile is highlighted by the success of its men’s and women’s basketball programs. The women have been crowned WCC champions and qualified for the NCAA Tournament in eight of the last 12 years.  The men’s program, under future Hall of Fame Coach Mark Few, has become a traditional national power.  The team has qualified for the NCAA Tournament in each of the last 10 years, making numerous Sweet 16 and Elite 8 appearances and playing for the National Championship in 2021.

“We’re always looking to provide our guys with the best in everything,” said Coach Few.  “We used Ready® during the tournament last year and our players loved it. It was an easy decision for us to name Ready® our Official Sports Drink.”

In addition to its sports drink, Ready® will also make available it’s full portfolio of performance products including its popular protein water, protein bars and functional snacks.  

“We’re excited to welcome Gonzaga into the Ready® family and thrilled that another elite program and coach has selected our sports drink for their student athletes”, said Ready® Founder and CEO Pat Cavanaugh, himself a former student-athlete and University of Pittsburgh basketball team captain.  “Coach Few’s program has such a high standard of excellence and I know he wants the very best for his players and all Gonzaga student-athletes.  We’re committed to helping them reach their team and individual goals with our science-based performance products.”

RealResponse Passes 100 Partners And 50,000 Athletes

RealResponse (@RealResponseHQ), the award winning leading safe and secure feedback, monitoring and anonymous reporting platform for athletic teams and organizations, today announced the addition of new colleges and universities to its fast-growing list, reaching the 100 partner milestone for the first time in the company’s short history. More than 50,000 athletes now have the ability to use RealResponse to share feedback, safely and securely report issues to coaches and administrators in real time for everything from mental health issues, social injustice concerns, COVID-19 policy infractions, misconduct, hazing, sexual harassment as well as using the system to highlight successes and best practices which might go otherwise unnoticed. Their work was recognized by the Charlotte Business Journal this month as one of the “Fifty Most Innovative Companies in the Region.”

“As we head towards a period of increased scrutiny and challenges for athletes in everything from the Olympics to the return to play in colleges big and small this fall, the pressure and challenges placed on athletes and coaches at all levels has never been greater, and we are proud to be able to work with this growing number of colleges, universities and organizations to document, address and most importantly, head off issues within any size programs,” said 31 year old David Chadwick, former Division I basketball player at Rice University and Valparaiso University and the founder of RealResponse. “We started this because we saw, and heard, the need to help the athletes speak, and to help coaches and administrators address issues safely and securely, and the response continues to speak loudly. We are thrilled to eclipse 100 partner institutions and welcome our recent members and look forward to additional news, partnerships and growth in the coming weeks.”

Recent additions to the growing number of partners for RealResponse includes: Boston College, Campbell University, Appalachian State University, Cal State Northridge, UNC Asheville, and Arkansas State University. They join a list that has schools from the Major Five Conferences (Wake Forest, the University of Maryland, Ole Miss, TCU) as well as mid major schools (Army, Georgetown, Grand Canyon, and Liberty) and schools from Division II and III (Cal State Monterey Bay, Western New England, Bowdoin). RealResponse has also begun working actively outside the collegiate space with organizations like the NFLPA, National Governing Bodies like USA Gymnastics and others, and will be expanding with other relationships in the coming months.  

“We are living in a very changing, dynamic time, for intercollegiate athletics and the world in general. Within our athletics department we challenge our coaches, staff, and even our student-athletes to question whether just because we have been doing something one way does not mean we need to keep doing it. Is there another better way? Or are we missing something?  And that is where RealResponse came in,”    said Janet Cone, Director of Athletics, UNC Asheville. “We wanted to give our student-athletes an easy to use and real time tool to provide us with critical information . We are now very confident that the anonymous aspect is going to allow us to gather more information. Instead of someone hesitating and trying to decide, ‘Should I go forward or not?’ They know they can send a message to us. And we now have some information that  we did not know that can help us address concerns and issues.” For more on UNC Asheville’s partnership click here.

Three other athletic directors, two in the Big 12 Conference, the other in the ACC, also reaffirmed their growing support of RealResponse:

“RealResponse is used extensively by our Leadership Team, especially our Sport Administrators. The Survey Platform streamlined how we collect feedback and measure our student-athlete experiences, both internally and benchmarked against national trends,” added Jamie Pollard, Director of Athletics, Iowa State University. “The Real-Time Reporting has created an open and safe channel for our administration to stay responsive to student-athlete needs. Lastly, the Documentation Repository has allowed our team to centralize and manage important notes and communications in the daily execution of our departmental processes. It has truly become an essential part of our operations, and I would recommend RealResponse to any peer. 

“RealResponse has been tremendous for Baylor University. Student-athletes can approach us anonymously and I can still communicate back, creating a safe environment while offering key resources such as Title IX, Equity, and Mental Health Services. Importantly, these conversations are automatically captured, and the documentation trail and timeline generated provide peace of mind to our department,“ said Dawn Rogers, Deputy Director of Athletics, Baylor University

“Protecting the health and safety of our student-athletes and the integrity of the institution are paramount responsibilities for an Athletics Director. RealResponse is an invaluable tool to help identify student-athlete needs and concerns – and determine the right administrative response – before they escalate into a crisis,” added John Currie, Director of Athletics, Wake Forest University

Dedication to Community launches partnership with South Carolina State University Athletics

Dedication to Community (D2C), a national non-profit that educates and empowers communities on diversity, belonging, and equity, today announced a historic partnership with South Carolina State University (SCSU) to create and implement an extensive awareness and action strategy for all of SCSU’s 270 student-athletes, staff and coaches.

The Edwin R. Woodriffe Partnership, an interactive program scheduled to begin this summer, will include on-site training, and customized interactive sessions and speakers. D2C’s growing college presence has included dozens of institutions of higher education, including Boston College, Harvard University, University of Maryland College Park, Seton Hall University, University of North Carolina Charlotte, St. John’s University School of Law and other Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

“These on-campus programs to educate and listen beautifully to student-athletes will be vital to the process of bringing communities together and developing life skills that will resonate well beyond the field of play,” said M. Quentin Williams, D2C founder and CEO. “SCSU is a key starting point for us, especially given our powerful bond with Pro Football Hall of Famer and SC State Trustee Donnie Shell. Mr. Shell believes in D2C’s mission and we are excited about initiating our heightened focus on HBCU’s with the brilliant students, faculty and staff at SCSU.

“Additionally, the D2C family is honored to support the legacy of Agent Edwin R. Woodriffe, the only black FBI Agent to be killed in the line of duty, as an integral part of this initiative,” Williams said.

SC State President James E. Clark said D2C’s commitment to diversity and social justice is in keeping with the university’s mission and ideals.

“The actions of Mr. Williams will make a difference for student-athletes across the nation,” Clark said, “and we are tremendously grateful that the SC State campus community will be on the forefront of this crucial endeavor.

“We also are indebted to Trustee Shell for his role in this partnership, which is just one example of his steadfast and comprehensive dedication to SC State and our student-athletes,” the SC State president said.

The Edwin R. Woodriffe Partnership model will contain four sessions for the fall and four sessions for the spring with all student-athletes, campus student leaders and coaches attending in the semester when they are not actively playing and training. The sessions will include training on cultural awareness and shifting perspectives related to social justice with an emphasis on empowerment through voting, interacting with law enforcement at traffic stops, the power of social media and D2C’s “Recipe for Reconciliation.”

The interactive discussions will embrace a reflection on the Derek Chauvin trial, the plight of people of color, including African American civilians, who have lost their lives during encounters with law enforcement and the real-life experiences of the attendees. Additionally, there will be a transition program entitled, “When the Cheering Stops and Lights Go Out,” to help prepare the students athletes for their inevitable move from college athletics to their life’s next chapter, encompassing self-identity and positive reinforcement in their post-athletic career.

D2C’s next step with HBCUs starting at SCSU is a natural fit given Shell’s work with both organizations. A SCSU graduate and member of the school’s Board of Trustees, Shell is also an executive advisor for D2C, a role that he embraced in the Fall of 2020 and brings significant experience as a legendary athlete, professional mentor, and spiritual and civic leader.

A member of both the Pro Football and College Football Halls of Fame, Shell won four Super Bowl championships with the Pittsburgh Steelers among other highlights in his 14-year playing career. From 1994 to 2009, he directed player development for the Carolina Panthers, ensuring financial education, family assistance, internships and continuing education for players. After the NFL, Donnie served as director of the Spiritual Life Center at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, N.C., where he focused on programs to inspire change while enriching the religious, spiritual and intellectual lives of students.

“It brings me great pleasure to see two organizations, my alma mater South Carolina State and Dedication to Community, commit to working together to do good,” Shell said. “There is a great need today to unite, listen, and learn from each other, and that’s what SCSU and D2C are all about; cooperative relationships, progressive thought and helping us all move forward with the challenges we continue to face.”

Shell established the Donnie Shell Scholarship Foundation, and along with the D2C Sports Division head Lamonte Winston, at one time was the namesake for the NFL’s Winston/Shell Award recognizing the League’s Most Outstanding Player Development Director/Program. In September 2020, D2C expanded its reach to involve professional, collegiate, and K-12 athletes, having Shell join Winston (former director of player engagement and Development, Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders) to further expand the foundation’s capabilities.

Shortly thereafter, Williams announced a historic partnership with the Miami HEAT and the City of Miami Police Department and, in February 2021, launched a partnership with veteran PGA TOUR golfer Kirk Triplett.

Additional D2C partnerships tied to athletes, universities and teams are expected to be announced in the coming weeks. To date, D2C has continued to expand its work with law enforcement agencies in several states across the U.S., including Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Missouri, Michigan, Ohio, the Carolinas, and at the FBI National Academy in Virginia, where Williams has been an instructor.