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Post by Laura (Lori) on May 20, 2009 0:10:33 GMT -8
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Post by Laura (Lori) on May 26, 2009 22:34:25 GMT -8
This is some stuff brought over from Allison's profile on www.Rocker-U.net. I wanted to make sure that everything there is also here... The following Hero Card was provided by US SpeedskatingFrom the Spring 2008 USS Racing Blade:From the 2008-2009 USS Media Guide:From WOMEN'S HEALTH magazine, December 2008:Photo by Lori - Vancouver 2008:--------------------------------------------------- A MODEL OF RESILIENCEDown often but never out, champion speedskater Allison Baver is now eyeing a second career.By Natalie Pompilio - For The InquirerAllison Baver's speedskating career has been marked by seemingly devastating setbacks - always followed by remarkable successes. After she took to the ice in the late 1990s, her competitive run could have been ended by an on-ice collision that left her with nearly 50 stitches in her face - yet she dared to return to skating and made the U.S. Olympic teams in 2002 and 2006 Out for a year with a leg injury, she almost didn't make it to the 2007 National Championships - but somehow recovered in time to win the short-track title. After another injury and heart problems put her in a wheelchair, it seemed she would never skate again - now she's training for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. "Her success is a result of a lot of determination and a lot of hard work," said Shawn Walb, who coached Baver early in her career. "She establishes goals and has the stick-to-itiveness to keep chugging along." Now Baver, a native of Reading, has another goal: making it as a model. She doesn't necessarily aspire to the runways of New York or Milan or the pages of Vogue, although that would be nice. Rather, she wants to inspire young girls, to show them that women can be strong and successful and don't have to fit the model mold to be beautiful. "You can be yourself and you can be beautiful. You don't have to be super-skinny," Baver, said. "I want young girls to know you can do anything you put your mind to." A few months ago, Baver, 28, signed a contract with Wilhelmina Models as the agency moves into the world of athletics, having recently signed seven members of the Ladies' Professional Golf Association to exclusive contracts, a representative said. She appears in the December issue of Women's Health magazine. ("Page 80," said her mother, Dixie Baver, who may have cleaned out newsstands in the Reading area.) "She's more than a role model," said John Schaeffer, a strength and conditioning coach who helped Baver reclaim her form after a recent injury. "She's an inspiration." In an event that can resemble roller derby, short-track skaters whiz around the ice, sometimes wiping out and taking their competitors with them. Baver said people call it "the NASCAR of the Olympics." At the top of her game, she whips around the rink at about 35 m.p.h. It can be rough and dangerous, and Baver has the scars to prove it. Short-track skating's biggest star is probably Apolo Anton Ohno, the two-time Olympic gold medalist and Baver's former beau. She started roller-skating on old-fashioned four-wheeled skates in elementary school, then moved on to inline skates. She didn't take to the ice until her teen years. When she was starting out, she collided with another skater during a race in Maryland and ended up with a gash across her forehead and cheek that at some points cut to the bone. She needed 48 stitches and, in her own words, "looked like Frankenstein." Such an injury may have scared some people out of the rink. Baver was soon back in training. Making the 2002 Olympic team, and walking into the opening ceremonies in Salt Lake City, "just gave me chills," she said. "I realized I'd accomplished my dream," Baver said. "It was right after 9/11 and there was a whole stadium of people from different countries cheering, 'USA! USA!' I felt the spirit of the Olympics." Early in the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Baver suffered an ankle injury and eventually found herself unable to race. It took more than a year for her to heal, time she used wisely: being with her ailing grandmother and visiting her brother, who was attending Temple University. After doing off-ice training, she stepped onto the ice for the 2007 National Championships - and won. Then the most recent injury occurred: A hard fall left her flat on the ice - "I thought I was paralyzed," she said - and she injured the same ankle, only in a new way. She sprained her back and bruised some bones. Her heart rate became erratic, pounding as if she were racing when she was standing still. But she struggled back. Working carefully with Schaeffer, she modified her workouts and diet, and now Schaeffer believes she may be in the best condition of her career. "It probably would have made anybody else fold and quit," said Schaeffer, who trains Ohno and other athletes. "Her desire and will to be the best and win is probably second to no other woman in the world for what she does." While skating up a storm, Baver has also earned a bachelor's degree in marketing and management from Pennsylvania State University and a master's in business administration from the New York Institute of Technology. (Donald Trump once considered her as a contestant for The Apprentice.) She'd go hard six days a week, Dixie Baver said, and on the seventh day lock herself away with books and computer. Now she's gearing up for the 2010 Games and trying to get her nonprofit organization off the ground. Visiting her brother and meeting Philadelphia youth sparked the idea for Off the Ice - its mission is to instill character and encourage goal development in young people by getting them involved in sports. In January, MBA students at Alvernia University in Reading will study Baver's idea and help make it a reality, she said. As for the modeling, Baver said it's really not that much of a stretch. She's always been eager to take off her helmet and let her hair down. Her mother notes that, "When Allison wins, as soon as she's done skating, she has to be in the bathroom and do her hair." Baver is excited for the new challenges modeling will bring, but no one should expect her to be typical. "The first photo shoot I did, I was like starving, and there was nobody eating," she said. "It was like, 'OK, can I eat some pizza?'"
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Post by Laura (Lori) on Jun 24, 2009 12:48:37 GMT -8
A most welcome Google alert this morning! www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/529207.htmlSpeedskater Baver Makes Incredible ReturnBy CURT KEMP Journal Sports Writer June 24, 2009 Photo by Julia WoehrerShort track speedskater Allison Baver pedals on a stationary bicycle while watching teammates practice on Monday at the Berry Events Center. Baver is beating the odds, recovering from a leg injury incurred during the ISU World Cup earlier this year.MARQUETTE - When United States Speedskating Team member Allison Baver took to the ice this week during training camp in Marquette, the scene was awe-inspiring. Not because the 28-year-old former-USOEC member's looks have garnered her a contract with Wilhelmina Models, one of the largest and most successful modeling agencies in the world. And not because of the speed at which Baver flies around the Berry Events Center ice. What's impressive about Baver skating is she's doing it against all odds. Again. After colliding with teammate Katherine Reutter on Feb. 8 in Sofia, Bulgaria, during the ISU World Cup, the 2002 and 2006 Olympian sustained a spiral fracture in her right leg. She split her tibia and the shattered bone traveled to her ankle, causing more damage. On the flight back to the U.S. after her injury, Baver said she didn't know what to expect. "When I first came back to the U.S. from Bulgaria, I had to fly back with it broken and I hadn't had a physician in the U.S. look at it yet," Baver said. "At this point, you're waiting for your fate." One doctor told her she could have a rod inserted into the tibia to stabilize the bone, but because of the severity of the fracture - the doctor compared the break to getting run over by a garbage truck - her 2010 Winter Olympic hopes would likely be dashed. "He's like, 'yeah, you'll probably skate in three to five years.' He said. " 'You'll never be able to walk down the stairs or on uneven surfaces, but you'll be OK,'" Baver said. "And I was like, 'my Olympic trials are in I'm counting the months on my hands. I'm like, 'this is crazy.'" Baver soon found out that inserting a rod was the recommended surgery by most doctors. Then the Pennsylvania native visited Dr. Wen Chao, who recommended a different approach. "Because I'm an Olympic skater, she (Dr. Chao) said she had to make the bone perfect, or else I'd never be able to skate again," Baver said. "So she ended up cutting my leg and inserting a plate, the smallest possible plate, so that it wouldn't go into the boot." For the surgery, Dr. Chao performed one long incision along her shin, which has left a noticeable scar on the part-time model's leg. "It's not great for the skirt and heels idea," Baver said. "But I had no option." To be sure her Olympic hopes would still be alive after the surgery, Baver's pink speedskating boots accompanied her into the operating room for her Feb. 19 surgery. "We took a little bit of a risk in it healing to make sure it didn't affect my boot," she said. "But so far, it's healed perfectly." After the surgery, Baver began the long road to recovery, which started off with two and a half months of the leg bearing no weight at all, a difficult task for an Olympic athlete accustomed to pushing herself with the Vancouver Games coming up. "I had to just follow the doctor's orders," Baver said, "with time ticking, and me looking at my watch saying, 'is this possible?'" Baver's U.S. Speedskating teammates tried to keep her spirits up the best they could; they sent cards, their parents sent cards, they sent her gifts from overseas and Apolo Anton Ohno had a chocolate cake made in Vienna especially for her, begging the question of whether or not Olympic athletes can eat chocolate cake. "Well, I wasn't training then," Baver said. "And it was a specialty cake, you know?" When she was able to begin rehab, Baver traveled to Colorado Springs to take part in six-hour rehab sessions with her trainer from the 2006 Olympic games. "Our ankles and our knee and our hips are at a really extreme position. You need a lot of balance," Baver said. "So just the typical rehab kind of wasn't enough." And after the long road back, Baver's training with the team again, and happy to be on the ice with her teammates. "Of course there's a little bit of discouragement when my teammates are just sprinting, going as hard as they can doing exercises, and I'm just trying to balance, doing the basic stuff," Baver said. "But, I'm like, 'you know what? I am just so happy that I can even skate today. I really need to not get discouraged by this and just keep moving forward.'" But, the whole comeback story is old news for Baver. Earlier in her career, a fall during the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino left her with a career-threatening bone bruise. Baver came back from that injury to become the 2007 U.S. short-track champion. And her teammates certainly aren't counting her out to make the comeback again, this time for the 2010 Games. In fact, Ryan Bedford and Ohno are daring anyone to bet against her. "She's going to do it," Bedford said. "If one person's going to do it, it's her."
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Post by mtnme on Jun 29, 2009 10:49:59 GMT -8
Articles like this put Allison right up there with Dara Torres in my pantheon of female heros, although for different reasons. (Hey, I'm over 40. Dara teaches women to ignore the naysayers - You CAN be great at any age if you put your mind to it. Allison is a study in gutsy 'putting your mind to it'.) ________________________________________________________________________ From Peri Kinder, US Speedskating. June 29, 2009--Salt Lake City, UT. As soon as two-time Olympic short track speedskater Allison Baver hit the boards during a world cup event in Sofia, Bulgaria on February 7, 2009, she knew something was seriously wrong. She was right. Hitting the pads at a bad angle created a pilon spiral fracture in her right leg, taking her out of the race, out for the season and worst case scenario—out for the Olympics. But Baver wasn't about to give in to a pity party or question her ability to return to peak performance in time for the U.S. Short Track Championships/ Olympic Trials in Marquette, MI in September, 2009. With exactly one year before the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, she flew back to the U.S. and had surgery performed by Dr. Wen Chao of Pennsylvania Hospital. "(Dr. Chao) is a perfectionist, " Baver says. "I knew we'd have to get it absolutely perfect to skate again." Following surgery, Baver spent a few weeks recuperating at home in Sinking Spring, PA, before heading to the United States Olympic Committee's medical training facility in Colorado Springs, CO, to start the rehabilitation process. For five to six hours every day, Baver worked with USOC medical personnel bending, stretching, increasing flexibility and developing strength in her leg and ankle. The excruciating physical therapy sessions worked to increase her very limited range of mobility. "The time frame was our biggest concern," said Chris Schroer, USOC athletic trainer. "We knew eventually Allison would get better and get back to skating again. If there was a way she could do more, she would do it." The USOC medical personnel also implemented the Exogen bone stimulator, which has been reported to increase healing in the tibia by more than 30 percent. This ultrasound device was applied directly to the leg at the fracture site, emitting a low-intensity pulse to stimulate genes and growth factors to allow the bone to heal. Although progress was measured incrementally, Baver was inspired by a song sent to her by speedskater Kelly Gunther. Miley Cyrus's "The Climb" motivated Baver to keep working hard, even when times were tough. "I listened to it and started crying," Baver says. "I have a lot of mountains ahead of me and I just climbed a big one with my surgery and learning to walk again." On May 23, just a few months after her injury, Baver was back on the ice for the first time. The Sertich Ice Center in Colorado donated ice time for her to skate every other day and just a few weeks later, on June 15, she was back in Salt Lake City, UT training in the National Short Track Training Program. "I didn't know what to expect coming back to training at that level. It was excruciating, " she says, "I really want to come back. I've dedicated almost my entire life to skating and I've worked really hard to be able to compete and skate. I'm so close. I can't give up now." As each day passes, Baver gets noticeably stronger and more confident with her skating abilities. She is grateful for the support shown to her by speedskating fans and clubs, teammates, family and friends, and is ready to take on the challenge of the Olympic trials in September. "I just keep believing that it's possible," Baver says. "At times when I have to keep pushing forward, I can't focus on the pain. I have to focus on my goals. My goal is to come back stronger than I've ever been."
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Post by Laura (Lori) on Jun 29, 2009 12:04:05 GMT -8
Great report!
If you can believe this: When I first heard 'The Climb', I thought of Allison.
I have a playlist of songs that I'll be using over the coming months for the Featured Skaters on Rocker U - my intent was to use them randomly, with one exception: I was holding 'The Climb' specifically for Allison. I was afraid it might be too 'cliche', but after reading this, I'll stick to the original game plan!
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Post by Laura (Lori) on Jun 30, 2009 20:40:14 GMT -8
New (long) radio interview with Allison in Marquette - thanks to aofreak at GA for this find! www.espn970.com/sportspen.htmClick 'download' to listen. There are also interviews with Kimberly Derrick, Shani Davis and Apolo Ohno.
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Post by mtnme on Jul 1, 2009 13:14:48 GMT -8
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Post by sk8er on Jul 1, 2009 15:42:29 GMT -8
Katherine went to block her and pushed her??? What's THAT all about? I mean, how do you block someone from passing you? Isn't that impeding? Did she mean to push her? Hmmmmm......SusanG
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Post by Laura (Lori) on Jul 1, 2009 20:51:27 GMT -8
I haven't seen any video of that race, so I don't know what to tell you (and I probably couldn't give an informed opinion even if I had). 'Could have been one of those questionable non-calls, but who knows?
One can only imagine how badly Katherine must feel about it...
...but let's keep rooting for Allison to 'pull another rabbit out of the hat' - I'm absolutely confident that she can do it!
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Post by Laura (Lori) on Jul 1, 2009 22:44:56 GMT -8
Here's the transcript of the video Mtnme posted above, along with some screengrabs (just in case the video goes 'poof') Allison Baver Breathes, Eats, Sleeps Short-Track Speedskating.(A Day in the Life of an Olympic Speedskater) By Emily Pace Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 2:20 p.m.MARQUETTE -- It's a unique sport: athletes gliding around a rink at 35mph, just inches from each other, wearing razor-sharp blades. Sounds dangerous? It is. But, that doesn't stop short-track speedskater Allison Baver from getting on the ice nearly 365 days a year. Her day may start out like anyone else's, up at 6 , breakfast at 6:30. But for this U.S. Speedskating Team member, Allison Baver's daily routine is far from ordinary. 12 hours a day, six days a week, Allison is training. Last week she was in Marquette for the National Speedskating Camp. "I think to compete at this level, it takes a different kind of focus," said Baver. Allison is hoping to make a comeback at the 2010 winter Olympics. In February, Allison suffered what physicians said was a career ending injury, after she collided with one of her teammates during the ISU World Cup. "It was beyond devastating for me to hear that I may never be able to skate again, or even walk," says Baver. "I didn't know what to think, I didn't know what to do." However, for Allison, there was only one thing to do - train. Her training regimen has changed, now she spends less time on the ice and more in physical therapy; but her schedule remains extremely rigorous. Her day consists of an hour long warm-up, then physical therapy, followed by a few hours at the rink, and heart-pumping cardio. After that, it's time to recover with stretching and massage, and that's all done before lunch. Allison's day basically repeats itself in the afternoon, coupled with various skate-specific training exercises. Note that in the following 2 pictures, the weight-bearing leg is the one that Allison broke..."They push their body to such a high intensity and push the limits that they definitely are always tired," said Laurent Daignault, the USA Short-Track Speedskating Coordinator. After watching the skaters in action, knowing what they do each and every day, it becomes clear that speedskating is their entire lives. Baver has had to sacrifice a lot for the sport, especially on a personal level. "For the most part, I try to talk to my mom, my sister, my brother, and my dad like everyday," says Baver, "because without them as my support system, I wouldn't be be able to do it." Despite its few drawbacks, Allison is committed, and says there's no place she rather be than on the ice.
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Post by mtnme on Jul 2, 2009 10:07:12 GMT -8
Thanks for the transcript, Lori. These things tend to disappear quickly if they aren't archived somehow. Too bad neither one of us knows how to rip this stuff! LOL Here's a photo from USS from last Christmas's athlete 'adoptions' of families who aren't well off.
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Post by sk8er on Jul 2, 2009 19:19:34 GMT -8
I listened to the long radio interview, I think it was on ESPN. There was a list of interviews, only a couple of skaters. Her voice was very attractive, just a very nice husky sound and she's well spoken. I think I'm going to Marquette to see and cheer for her even more than for Apolo. I was talking to a friend as we drove to our Saturday speed sessions. It's amazing how Apolo has never had a major injury. Nothing that's kept him out of competition or made the news. Keeping fingers crossed!
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Post by Laura (Lori) on Jul 2, 2009 20:13:51 GMT -8
I listened to the long radio interview, I think it was on ESPN. There was a list of interviews, only a couple of skaters. Her voice was very attractive, just a very nice husky sound and she's well spoken. I think I'm going to Marquette to see and cheer for her even more than for Apolo. I was talking to a friend as we drove to our Saturday speed sessions. It's amazing how Apolo has never had a major injury. Nothing that's kept him out of competition or made the news. Keeping fingers crossed! She has a nice voice AND a nice laugh - and I'm happy that she IS laughing! I SO wanna see Allison's comeback story end with a trip (or trips) to the podium in Vancouver. She's fought so hard... And yes, I've read that before about Apolo - he's been so blessed in that way, and let's hope that he can dodge bullets for at least another 8 months.
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Post by mtnme on Jul 18, 2009 9:11:52 GMT -8
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Post by mtnme on Jul 24, 2009 9:40:17 GMT -8
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