Karen’s Public Relations Blog

In my spare time from my doctoral studies and fall classes (which start tomorrow at Tennessee), I have been enjoying watching the Olympics. It’s been fun to see former teammates excel and compete in their events and sports. However, even at the Olympics, you see some interesting PR Nightmares. And one in particular that I saw was in Rick Suhr, the pole vault coach for American record-holder Jenn Stuczynski. After winning the silver medal in the pole vault and losing to the world record holder in the event, Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva, it seems that not only did Suhr not congratulate his athlete, but basically came off very negatively– to the point you are like— did he just say what I think he said??!! It has been a highly talked about subject on several track and field sites. Check out what other people are saying about it.

In some ways, I am surprised that Suhr acted this way– especially on television that is shown all over the world, but in many ways– I’m not. If you look at the quotes and previous statements that he has made in the media, he does come across as being “off” in many ways (ex. socially). It’s not surprising to me because there are so many coaches out there in track and field and other sports that are like Suhr. Instead of supporting the athlete in doing the best that they can do in their event or sport, they feel that THEY are the stars, not their athletes. They feel like they are the ones that have to be in the spotlight, and that if their athlete doesn’t win 100 percent of the time, they are no good to them.

For coaches like Suhr, it is all about them– and having someone that is not supportive or encouraging as a coach is not the right situation for an athlete, and they should not be in a coaching position. Personally, I think that Suhr needs to recognize that he needs to take a serious reality check and realize how this is going to be perceived by others in the track community, media, and the US. Coaches like Suhr should not be in a power position like coaching– period.

However, there are great coaches out there as well. I got a chance to work with my dad in high school– who was the best coach that I ever had. We had fun together, but we worked hard in lifting and throwing to help me become the best thrower that I could be, and Dad really made track fun and enjoyable for me. Most of all– he was always there for me. Dad was a great coach, and I have so many fond memories because of what he did for me. After reading and hearing stories about coaches like Suhr– it makes me SO thankful for having a coach like Dad. Thank you Dad!

I hope you all are having a great day!

Best Wishes,

Karen

Track and field got its first gold medal in the Beijing Olympics, and it came from the throwing events. Not only that, but it was by one of my former teammates in high school. Stephanie Brown Trafton won the discus yesterday with a throw of 212′5″ and became the Olympic Champion.

Stephanie and I threw together on the same team at Arroyo Grande High School– she was a senior when I was a freshman. We threw against each other in college– I was at Florida while Stephanie went to Cal Poly. The picture above was taken at the 2003 NCAA Indoor Championships. Laura Gerraughty (UNC) is on the left, and Stephanie is on the right, and I’m in the middle.

Congrats Stephanie on your great accomplishment and bringing home the gold for the USA!

Hope you all are having a great day!

Best Wishes,

Karen

I received some sad news today– I found out that my uncle (my mom’s younger brother), Leroy Sievers, passed away last night. Uncle Leroy had been battling colon cancer for the past seven years, and wrote a blog about his battle with his cancer on NPR titled “My Cancer.” Dad wrote a blog post this morning about how he is going to remember my uncle.

One memory that I had of Uncle Leroy was corresponding with him when I was thinking about going on for graduate school in public relations. When I was applying to USC for grad school, Uncle Leroy was a visiting professor at Annenberg School for Communication, and I remember telling him that I was applying to the PR program. Uncle Leroy worked for ABC as an executive producer for Nightline and had worked as a journalists, and he said that it was a great program, and of course had to mention what he thought of PR people being a journalist. It’s all good.