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This story is part of our May 2022 CoSIDA 360 package, to view more stories, click here.

Moms of CoSIDA speak out about raising kids in the profession

Experienced CoSIDA moms with kids of all ages share how they do it. 

by Laurie Bollig – CoSIDA Director of Membership Engagement  @LaurieBollig

Ah, Mother’s Day — originally started in the early 1900s as an ode to the sacrifices made by mothers and later denounced by its founder for its over-commercialization. Today’s celebrations involve flowers, maybe a day without cooking or cleaning, possibly breakfast in bed. Or the crack of a bat…
 
The Moms of CoSIDA are raising children in the midst of careers as athletics communicators on college campuses. Not an easy task, for sure, but one that several members spoke about when considering their dual roles. They jotted down some thoughts based on where they fall on the motherhood continuum.
 
Some common themes emerged:

• Supportive bosses and colleagues are key.
• Spouses who are involved in the business tend to get it.
• Sacrifice, time management, flexibility and non-negotiables are the name of the game.

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Prompt for new moms (kids ages birth to 5): Provide a snapshot of what your day looks like with a baby/toddler.

 
Sammi Wellman (Ryleigh’s mom)
Cascade Collegiate Conference, Director of Communications

Before I had my daughter, I was willing to put in hours upon hours getting the job done. When I had Ryleigh, my priorities shifted. I no longer was willing to put in 100-hour work weeks where I wouldn’t be able to spend precious time with my baby girl. I left a job I loved without something lined up but my faith that God would provide, and he did. I found a job where I got to do what I love and be home with my daughter. I love being able to work from home and spend time with her, even if it isn’t always easy. Just like in the SID world, the mommy world never has a “typical” day.

• 7 a.m. - No alarm clock necessary with a three-year-old
• Breakfast with Ryleigh includes toast and bacon
• Breakfast for mommy includes coffee and checking emails
• Mornings mean work for mom; arts and crafts or dress-up for Ryleigh
• Afternoons involve Ryleigh time if possible
• Dinners with Daddy, who’s an assistant basketball coach at Cal Baptist
• 8 p.m. - Bedtime for Ryleigh and more work for mommy, maybe a workout, hopefully some quality downtime with the husband

 

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Prompt for school moms (kids in grade school and middle school): How do you juggle school activities and work events? What is a non-negotiable that you just won’t miss at school? Flipside - what do you use work as an excuse to miss at school?

 
Cindy Potter (CJ’s and Chase’s mom)
Columbia College (MO), Senior Deputy Director of Athletics and CoSIDA President

Well the easy answer is that I just do! I don’t give myself a choice and I try to be at everything I can physically be at. I also have equity built with my boss and he knows that I’ll always get my work done or find someone to cover me if I need to be somewhere to support my kiddos.
 
I won’t miss any celebratory events that are recognizing academic accomplishments, but I’ve been lucky enough to not miss anything I can attend so far. I’m the room parent in my son’s class and help out with parties in my daughter’s class so I have been fortunate to be at school often.
 
I’m sure as the kids get older, I will have to miss (or choose to miss) things, but for now I’m happy to be with my kids while they still want me there!

 

 
Phylicia Short (Dylan’s and Quad’s mom)
Queens University of Charlotte, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications
 
I feel like I am yanked in two directions most days honestly. If it wasn’t for my husband, I don’t know how I would manage most days with my work schedule. Outside of the mom guilt that definitely sets in often, we make it work.
 
During the 2020-21 season, I worked from home because of COVID and having a newborn. Working from home seemed like the days never ended due to having a baby to take care of at the same time. Being back in the office has helped me to create a better work/life balance in year two of having two children.
 
I was able to get my oldest into elementary school at a magnet school located right next door to Queens, which allows me to handle drop off and pick up pretty much every day. My husband is in charge of the same for our son with daycare. Splitting up the duties helps us both tremendously during the week. On game days, my husband usually comes to pick her up from campus on his way home. I’ll get to see my son for a bit in the car but that’s always hard because he normally cries for mommy at that point. Sometimes they stay to watch the games if they aren’t too late. They are both normally asleep when I get home late on game days, which means I only see my son awake in the morning many days during the season. The others, we normally still have games on the road so while I am home, I have to be intentional about carving out time to spend with them before they go to bed because I usually have work in the evenings.
 
Having the support of my husband and colleagues and AD in this time when my kids are so young has been pivotal in my being able to keep doing what I do each day. Without the support, I don’t think it would work at all.

 

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Prompt for moms of teens (kids 13-19): How have you integrated your teenagers into your work — whether it’s growing up on campus, keeping stats at events, etc. How do your teens fit into your work/life integration?

 
Julie Prince Paré (Jackson’s and Hayden’s mom)
Furman University, Assistant Athletic Communications Director
 
Throughout my career I have tried to get my children involved in my job as much as possible. I started when they were in elementary school, having them do little things like run stats down press row for me. As my children have gotten older, I have obviously been able to extend those roles. My daughter Hayden is 17 and has learned how to run live stats at tennis matches, and my son Jackson is 20 and got involved with our broadcast crew helping run cameras when he was in high school.
 
In March, we hosted the first and second rounds of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. I put my children, my husband, and my son’s best friend to work as “messengers” and had them distribute stats, programs, speed cards, and quotes to the media. In April, I was fortunate to be able to take my daughter, Hayden, with me on a road trip to our women’s golf conference championship. The conference was a little bit short staffed, so they put Hayden to work taking scores and she really embraced her role!
 
Jackson is finishing up his sophomore year of college, and he has gotten very involved in his school’s athletic department. He was promoted to an intern this year and has earned a supervisory role amongst their game-day staff of student workers. I attribute Jackson’s interest and enthusiasm to all of the years he spent watching me and learning from me in my job.
 
Teenagers will often surprise you. You may feel that they have no interest in what you do or that they aren’t paying much attention. I’ve found that they want to feel important and included, and given the opportunity, they will rise to the occasion.
 
I would also be remiss if I didn’t thank my boss, Hunter Reid, for fostering an environment that is conducive to being a working parent. All four of us on our SID staff are parents, and the three men I work with are very involved dads. I have worked from home as often as I needed to for the past 13 years while raising my children, and that really has been a game-changer for me as a mother.
 

 
Ann King (Robert’s mom)
Russell Sage College, Director of Athletic Communications

Now that my son is nearly 17, so much has changed for my family and for him. He grew up in a world having both parents working in college athletics so he does not know any other lifestyle.
 
When he was younger, we would try to balance who would have him and how we would stagger him when we both had work. Before he was even one, he went on a road trip to an NCAA Women's Lacrosse Tournament at Salisbury, Md., and my husband came along to be Mr. Mom. A few years later it was the reverse situation as my husband was on the NCAA Men's Tennis Committee and he needed to go to Johns Hopkins so we tagged along. For Robert, the best part of the trip was getting to use the pool! Being able to turn work into a fun adventure for him was super exciting when he was younger.
 
Growing up, he was surrounded by two parents that were constantly doing work on their computers either in our office or after hours at home. That situation may have helped to drive his passion for computers.
 
Fast forward many years and that same love of computers has served me well as I have my own in-house IT specialist. I cannot tell you how many times he has saved me from a laptop disaster.
 
Now in 2022, a lot has changed in how we do our jobs and balancing family life with a career. The demands of the job have changed and so has being a parent. Having to be connected almost 24/7 has certainly made being a parent harder. At the same time, the ability to flex and work remote or stagger your hours has certainly been one of the best things about this tightrope act.

 

  
Amy Yakola (Allender’s and Holden’s mom)
Atlantic Coast Conference, Deputy Commissioner - Chief of External Affairs

From the day they were born, Allender (18) and Holden (15) have been fully submerged in all things Atlantic Coast Conference. They’ve had a front row seat watching our teams win conference and national championships, welcoming new teams to the league, the launch of ACC Network and so much more. Beyond the significant and monumental moments, it was extremely important that my kids were exposed to the outstanding people I’ve been blessed to work with throughout my tenure. In recent years, it’s been especially rewarding to have both kids onsite with me – whether serving as ball kids, assisting with media events or at championship events – it provided the opportunity for them to serve as volunteers, take on responsibility and have excellent role models to learn from and emulate. They learned in a hurry that their mom was not going to be their agent, which forced them to reach out to my colleagues to ask if they could assist in various events as a volunteer, plus it meant they worked for someone other than me. It’s been a blessing to be a part of the ACC – both as an employee and a mom!

 

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Prompt for moms of grown-and-flowns: What’s one nugget of wisdom you would give new moms or those considering if a family fits into this profession?

 
Sue Cornelius Edson (Thomas’s and Tracey’s mom)
Syracuse University, Executive Senior Associate AD/Communications
 
Having kids gave me more motivation to continue to work in college athletics. The opportunity for Thomas (23) and Tracey (20) to be around our Syracuse student-athletes when they were young provided amazing role models as they learned about commitment and teamwork. They loved to “work” games with Rob and I as they got older. What started as them going to games with us because they wanted to spend time with us has evolved into them having the opportunity to learn and develop their skill sets. Today Tracey is a sophomore at Syracuse and is the women’s ice hockey program’s social media coordinator, creating and posting all content, and Thomas is a grad student at Syracuse’s Newhouse School in public relations and works in the control room for ACC Network productions serving as an AD, replay operator and graphics coordinator. On a personal note, the experiences we shared as a family at football bowl games, the women’s basketball NCAA championship game, the CHA championship and lacrosse Final Fours, gave us lifetime memories.

 

 
Amy Villa (Grace’s mom)
San José State, Director of Athletics Media Relations
 
My daughter, Grace, is 19, and a sophomore at San José State. She grew up in the gym and was known by everyone in the department. She brought her toys and DVD player to games to keep herself occupied if she wasn't interested in watching. She did gymnastics, so our coach let her march out with the team at many meets and, more than once, she was the honorary captain for the meet.
 
As she got older, her attitude changed and she didn't always want to come to events. Once she got to high school, she got busy with all of her activities and we shifted our emphasis to making sure she would have ways to get to her activities and had great neighbors and friends to help shuttle her around.
 
Now that she is in college, I haven't pressed her to work with/for me as she is a competitive gymnastics coach and works with her high school band program. So, she keeps busy with work and school and doesn't really want to help mom.
 
My husband works on many sports stat crews and does public address for gymnastics, so Grace likes coming to games, being a student and "showing off" her parents to her friends. Her friends and their parents think it is cool to be at a Division I basketball game and that her parents work the games. They (parents, friends) bring a new perspective that I think we lose sometimes.
 
I am really thankful for being able to balance being a mom and working full-time. Lawrence (Fan) was instrumental in allowing me to be able to balance both things. When Grace was doing competitive gymnastics, I would leave the office mid-afternoon to pick her up from school or home and take her gymnastics practice and make the circle to come back to work for two more hours before going back to pick her up from practice.

 

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