College Sports Information Directors of America

This is the next profile Q and A in a series entitled "Communicators Outside the Lines: Better Yourself, Better Your Community" that the CoSIDA Goodwill & Wellness Committee is producing.

Profile: Bryan Marshall, Millikin
Profile: Kim Ling, Ole Miss
Profile: Rick Baker, Mars Hill University
Profile: Sam Atkinson, Gallaudet University

HAVE IDEAS OR MEMBERS TO NOMINATE FOR THIS SERIES?
If you have any ideas for this series, which will revolve around CoSIDA member volunteerism and health and wellness, please contact Goodwill and Wellness Committee chair Chris Mitchell, Washington University in St. Louis Assistant AD for Communications, via cell (618-560-9280) or email (mitchell@wustl.edu).

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Q&A with Judy Willson
Assistant Director of Communications, Mountain West Conference/2015-16 CoSIDA President
by Jenna Wilholt, University of Dayton Assistant Director Athletics Communications
CoSIDA Goodwill and Wellness Committee member

Q: How did you get started in the athletics communications field and what keeps you here?
WILLSON: I credit my ninth grade field hockey coach, Michael Bull, and the girls' basketball coach, Kathy Davidson, at Pennsauken Junior High in New Jersey with the start of my athletics communications career. They got me started doing statistics, shot chart, keeping a scorebook, setting up for games, etc. I added the writing piece in college as a student assistant at an NAIA (now NCAA Division III) school, Geneva College, that did not have a full-time sports information director at the time.

What keeps me here? The people I have worked with during the past three decades and the way we are challenged to find new ways to share the stories of our student-athletes and staff at our institutions. I have life-long friends that are the only people in the world that understand what crossover season means and that know there are some days that you just need a quick note of encouragement to push through.

As I get older, another reason to stay in the profession is to teach the next generation of athletics

communication directors. Even with all of the technological advances that have changed how we do our jobs, we still need to build personal relationships and learn to work together as an external team.

Q: What advice would you give to someone just starting out in athletics communications?

WILLSON: Develop professional relationships outside of the athletics department. Get to know your university communications staff and meet with them on a regular basis. It is helpful when big things happen, anything from the rush and positive publicity of a national championship to the flip side of a crisis that affects the campus as a whole. When I was on campus at Louisiana-Monroe, Laura Clark and I would meet at our Starbucks on campus to catch up, work through different events that were on our radar and figure out how the athletics and campus sides could work together.

Also, figure out what you want your boundaries to be. Is there a particular time each week that you are unavailable? For me it is Sunday mornings. Every time I have moved, I have found a church family that keeps me grounded and helps me unplug from the work life.

Q: As the associate director of communications at the Mountain West Conference as well as serving as current CoSIDA president, how do you find time outside of your work responsibilities for yourself and your family?

WILLSON: I am single and my family is spread out across the country, so it is a challenge to not take work home or stay at the office late because my life responsibilities are different than those with a spouse or children. Being CoSIDA president this year has added to the work and travel. I'm thankful for the members of the CoSIDA staff and the work that they put in to make my life a bit easier.

I have quit trying to spend the holidays split between the two ends of the country to try to see everyone. I don't like having to get my laptop out at Christmas time to update basketball and take away from family time. The stress is not worth it. I am focusing on time during the summer to travel around to see my parents and my siblings and their families. I have two work-related trips coming up that will also allow me to see family so I am taking advantage of those opportunities.

At home in Colorado, I have a group of friends that I hang out with when our schedules match up. Right now, I am enjoying working with the Forestgate Community Theatre as the assistant house manager for its production of Mary Poppins. It allows me to use my event management skills and hang out with friends.

I mentioned that I try to keep my Sunday mornings off limits. You will find me at church, singing in our worship ensemble or choir and teaching the kindergarten and first grade class. I love to sing! I don't get to do it as often as I would like, so this gives me an outlet. And my kiddos? They are a blast! So much energy and life. Several of them are military kids and are only with us for three-year windows. I hope that I can help them adjust and make new friends just like I have had to do every time I moved over the years.

I am trying to add Saturday mornings to the off-limits mix. This one is tougher! But living in Colorado, I try to take advantage of the outdoor resources available in the area, like the local regional park that has a variety of trails for a walk or run.

Q: What's the best piece of advice you've ever received on work-life balance and what made it so helpful?

WILLSON: I caught up with Lisa Champagne from Vermont at ECAC-SIDA in June 2015. It had been several years since we had a time to chat. We were talking about the term 'work-life balance'. As veteran women in the business, we were trying to figure out what that really means. Lisa reminded me that we are never going to find a perfect balance between the two areas, that it is more of a work-life lifestyle that we have chosen. I felt that I finally had permission to choose to work and live as I saw fit for me, not someone else's idea of what my work and life distribution should be.

Everyone has to choose what works best for them when deciding how to fit work into their life. I think we have the words reversed and it should be life-work.

Q: How are you involved within your community?

WILLSON: I know when people look at my resume they see a lot of stops along the way - small towns like Portales, New Mexico and big cities like New Orleans. Each one has presented unique ways to get involved in the community. Typically in a small town the university was the focal point of all community events, so it was easy to get involved in with things outside of athletics, like doing community choir in Portales and Monroe, Louisiana. During my stops in Kansas City, New Orleans and Denver/Colorado Springs, there have been more opportunities to work regional/national sporting events where you don't have to be in charge but can pitch in to make for a successful event.

Q: Discuss a community service project that you were involved in that had an impact on your life.

WILLSON: I had a unique situation arise eight months after I moved from New Orleans to Monroe in August 2005. The city of Monroe became a staging ground and refugee center for those evacuating from the Gulf Coast during Hurricane Katrina. Our basketball arena was turned into a medical-needs shelter and our staff were the ones to get the doors open and get offices set-up for the Red Cross staff that would become our guests for the next two months.

During that time our teams opened up their dorm rooms to family and worked at a number of the shelters that popped up across the Monroe/West Monroe region. Getting to work alongside, our young men and women as they served others while also dealing with their own challenges that presented at the time was one of the most fulfilling times of my life.

Q: How have you integrated fitness and wellness into your daily life?
WILLSON: I wish I could say that I'm back to making fitness a daily routine. Prior to donating a kidney to my cousin's husband almost four years ago, I had been running, walking or hiking 3-5 miles about 3-4 days per week. After the surgery, there are still times that I get tired and have gained back a lot of the weight that I had lost.

I am trying to get back into my Saturday routine of getting a 3-5 mile walk in, whether it is on a treadmill or out on one of the local hiking trails. I also got a FitBit for Christmas and have been realizing how much I sit at my desk. I take the stairs at work, instead of taking the elevator. I park in a far part of the parking lot at work (except in blizzards) to add to my steps. I will always accept a FitBit Challenge with friends!

Q: What brings you joy?
Making sure that others are happy or taken care of. Seeing the smiles on others faces when they have accomplished something that was important to them. And singing, especially with my family!