It was an early start to the day as we met the guys for breakfast at 7:30 a.m. After getting fueled to begin the day, Jack Swarbrick and John Wagle opened the programming with a conversation explaining John’s role within Notre Dame Athletics and the work he has previously done to help transform the Kansas City Royals’ sports performance operation and ideas he has on how to continue to enhance what we are doing at Notre Dame to support our student-athletes and coaches.
Jayden Thomas (JT as we call him) was back in the spotlight as he took part in a panel titled “Physical: Strength and Conditioning, Nutrition and Medical Care”. He was joined on the panel by current Seattle Seahawk defensive back Julian Love and Paul Winsper, the Vice President of Athlete Performance at Under Armour. Mike Golic Jr., served as the moderator and it was a very insightful conversation about how they approach recovery, preparation, getting in the zone and most importantly how the role of good sleep has positively impacted their performance. It is very clear from listening to the panel that JT has greatly changed his sleeping habits since he first arrived at Notre Dame and has been able to see the direct correlation between getting better sleep and his output on the football field increasing.
Next up was Coach Freeman appearing on stage for a panel titled “Technical: Skills and Coaching”. He was joined by two of the coaches who flew out to Colorado with him, in Muffet McGraw and Gia Kvaratskhelia, along with Angie Akers, who has coached in the Olympics for Beach Volleyball and is currently coaching beach volleyball at Loyola Marymount. Angie played indoor volleyball at Notre Dame, earning her degree in 1998. Mike Golic Sr., moderated the panel, which centered around how to create an environment that allows your athletes to flourish.
The Summit attendees really enjoyed both panels and were able to follow up the conversations with questions of their own. Athletics Advancement is hosting the Summit and they did a great job of making it engaging.
We took a break for lunch. But one note before we get to the food–we have some golfers amongst our group and JT and Rylie Mills took advantage of the opportunity to golf–hitting the links at the Broadmoor. It was a perfectly sunny day and the guys had a great time golfing on the beautiful property.
Now for lunch. Coach Freeman and I had the chance to sit down and eat with a current Notre Dame student who also happens to work in FIM (Fighting Irish Media), Maria Wainscott. Maria has had various roles within FIM, while in the process of pursuing her degree. You may have seen her on the video board at football or basketball games in the past and in 2023 she has a new internship lined up with NBC. It was great to catch up with Maria over lunch.
Following lunch, Coach Freeman hit the pavement. Quite literally. He is currently in a weekly mileage challenge with one of his close friends–seeing who can get the most steps each week. With all of this travel, he has had to be very intentional about getting his steps in. But don’t worry–he logged just over 17 miles on Tuesday and was right at 12 on Wednesday! How does he find time for all of those miles? Well he usually gets at least 4-6 miles in before many of us start our day. He starts logging miles around 5:30 every morning. Also, as I previously mentioned, he spends nearly two hours a day making recruiting calls–and as often as the day’s schedule permits–he is walking, while talking. He is a master of maximizing his time–competitive spirit to the end!
We picked up Rylie and JT following their golf outing and headed back over to the programming sessions. Rylie was set to take part in a panel discussion along with Tobias Merriweather and Javontae Jean-Baptiste. The trio of football players was on a panel titled: The Daily Impact of Sports Performance at Notre Dame. It was moderated by volleyball coach Salima Rockwell and two of Notre Dame’s volleyball players, Paris Thompson and Charity McDowell were also speaking on the panel. The Summit attendees were highly entertained listening to this specific panel as they got to learn all about what a day in the life of a Notre Dame student-athlete looks like, along with some of their individual journeys with sports performance. Rylie, for example, gave a day in the life look at how he has put on 60 pounds during his time at Notre Dame. Listening to him talk through his 6,000 calorie day was very eye-opening for the group!
The Notre Dame Sports Summit closed out with a great dinner held at the Cheyenne Lodge at the Broadmoor. The lodge provided a beautiful backdrop for the evening. At the conclusion of yet another delicious meal, Coach Freeman addressed the crowd by thanking them for making the time to not only be out in Colorado Springs, but for being such great supporters of Notre Dame Athletics year-round. Mike McGlinchey was able to make it down to Colorado Springs for the dinner and the attendees had the pleasure of listening to Mike do a panel with Benjamin Morrison, hosted by Mike Golic Jr.
Mike and Benjamin were both able to share their Notre Dame experiences with the audience, along with some other fun anecdotes from their journeys as elite football players. Swarbrick closed out the evening and another great day with the Notre Dame family was in the books.
With a few hours to spare before our Minneapolis Alumni Club event, we decided to go to TopGolf for a little fun and more competition. Dave dominated for the most part. It is clear he has spent more time working on his golf game! In his defense, Coach Freeman was likely distracted by stepping away at times to take recruiting calls, yet regardless of the final outcome, it was a fun way to spend some time in Minneapolis.
We arrived at our fifth alumni club event in downtown Minneapolis. It was a really nice location, as the event was held at the Renaissance. The event schedule was identical to our previous events, starting with a VIP portion for 30 minutes and then moving onto dinner before finishing with a fireside chat. We were thrilled to have Notre Dame great Michael Floyd join us. Floyd, as you likely know, starred at Notre Dame from 2008-2011, finishing with 271 catches for 3,686 yards and 37 touchdowns, all school records. Floyd played in the NFL for eight seasons, earning a Super Bowl ring with the New England Patriots and is now experiencing success in the real estate industry.
Mike Sullivan stepped in for Dolly Duffy as the fireside chat host and did an excellent job. The conversation did not miss a beat! The Minneapolis crowd was very welcoming and it was the perfect way to cap off a great week with our Notre Dame family.
We were back on our way to South Bend. It was a fairly short plane ride, but we were able to get a few games of Euchre in before we touched down. I was able to partner with Coach Freeman and we were two-time champs, defeating Dave and Aaron, before also beating Dave and Mike. I may not be great at golf, but I can definitely hold it down in cards!
We will take a short break for Graduation before returning to the road for a few more quick stops. Until then!