Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / #158: Gill1918 Presents Marybeth Price-Rekortan (Rekortan Penn Relays Speaker Series)

Transcript

#158: Gill1918 Presents Marybeth Price-Rekortan (Rekortan Penn Relays Speaker Series) · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

• 0:00
  Hey Yang, welcome back here to the Guild 1918 project special
• 0:03
  series here. Got a few kind of short clips
• 0:06
  coming up over the next few days, few weeks.
• 0:09
  The great team over at record Tan surfacing, shout out to Tim
• 0:13
  Jordan and Mary Beth Price. They put on a speakers series, a
• 0:17
  coaches speaker series at the Penn Relays this year 2026.
• 0:21
  And you know me, if there's any value to bring to coaches, I
• 0:24
  want to bring to all of you here listening on the Gill
• 0:27
  Connections podcast. So we've got all of the speakers
• 0:30
  and we've chopped them up to where their individuals will
• 0:32
  have the individual episodes. Again, grateful for Record Tan.
• 0:35
  Go check them out. You know how to Google.
• 0:37
  So go check out Record Tan Servicing and hope you enjoy the
• 0:40
  Gill 1918. Project Welcome to the Gill 1918
• 0:43
  Project, a podcast series by coaches.
• 0:45
  For coaches. Powered by Gill Athletics Think
• 0:48
  of this as the Ted Talks of Track and field coaching.
• 0:51
  Short, insightful, and packed with valuable strategies to help
• 0:54
  you grow as a coach. We're bringing the once a year
• 0:56
  track clinic straight to your ears daily.
• 0:59
  Interested in creating your own episode?
• 1:01
  Everyone's welcome to participate.
• 1:02
  Check out the show notes below For more information.
• 1:05
  Now let's get into today's topic.
• 1:09
  The next person we'll have is Mary Beth Price.
• 1:12
  Mary Beth Price is a former world champion competitor in the
• 1:18
  sprinting and just is been a very good athlete all together
• 1:25
  and performed at the highest level.
• 1:28
  Obviously she is a member of our team at Record Fans and we're
• 1:33
  excited to have her tell you some stories and talk a little
• 1:37
  bit more about track. I will say though, from a, from
• 1:40
  a perspective of this series, what we wanted to communicate to
• 1:44
  the group is just different aspects of how you can interact
• 1:49
  with your athletes, with the track system, with the athlete
• 1:53
  themselves. Be able to share testimonials
• 1:57
  that come from these these athletes that that can be
• 2:00
  helpful to you and your coaching as well as helpful to the
• 2:04
  athletes in terms of what they can strive to be.
• 2:07
  So without further ado, very Beth.
• 2:10
  Thank you, Tim. Hi everyone.
• 2:13
  For those that don't know me, my name is Mary Beth Price.
• 2:18
  I am currently the record stand marketing manager.
• 2:20
  But before that I have lived this sport from a different
• 2:24
  angle as an athlete. I started running at a young
• 2:28
  age. At 10 years old I started soccer
• 2:31
  and my coach was he recognized the speed and he's like we got
• 2:35
  to put together A4 by one team. So my coach and my dad put
• 2:39
  together A4 by one team with the fastest girls on the soccer team
• 2:42
  and we won. And then my dad put me in the
• 2:46
  100 just for fun and I ended up beating the fastest girl in the
• 2:49
  state. And from there, this name might
• 2:52
  ring some bells with some of you coaches here, but Tony Wells, he
• 2:55
  invited me to be on the Colorado Flyers and run for them.
• 2:59
  And so since 10 years old, I've been, I've had a high level of
• 3:03
  training with Tony and then eventually ran professionally
• 3:08
  and through college. Out of high school, I was the
• 3:11
  number one recruit in the nation in the 100 and the 60.
• 3:14
  And then at Oregon, I committed there and I was a national
• 3:19
  champion, multiple conference championships.
• 3:22
  But then I was facing some injuries behind scenes and that
• 3:26
  was really hard for me to deal with.
• 3:27
  And ultimately, I had to sit down with the doctor and he told
• 3:31
  me to medically retire because I was facing so many stress
• 3:34
  fractures and for my health down the road at 20 years old, that's
• 3:40
  what I was being told. And that was a shock, a huge
• 3:43
  shock, because it was my identity.
• 3:46
  I had big dreams, wanted to go to the Olympics, all of the
• 3:48
  above. So that was really tough to find
• 3:51
  out. But I think an elite mindset,
• 3:54
  you don't really take no for an answer.
• 3:56
  And so I got a second opinion. I sat out of the sport for two
• 3:59
  years and nine months, no competition, no spikes, no
• 4:03
  blocks. And so I got a second opinion
• 4:06
  from doctor. I got cleared.
• 4:07
  I transferred to Colorado State University and I finished my
• 4:10
  eligibility there and I ended up first year was a rust Buster.
• 4:14
  Like you don't just come back at a really high level.
• 4:17
  It takes a lot of time and effort and work.
• 4:20
  But from there I was able. I was high ranked in the NCAA
• 4:24
  again, broke school records and then signed professionally after
• 4:27
  my collegiate career. And from there I went on to
• 4:33
  establish among the best in the world.
• 4:36
  I became a World championship bronze medalist in the 60
• 4:39
  meters. I ran seven O 4 in the 60 meters
• 4:42
  and 1095 in the hundred. I've earned 2US championship
• 4:46
  silver medals and at my peak, I was ranked number one in the
• 4:50
  world. Is that 60 meters in the top ten
• 4:53
  in the 100? So it's been, you know, a
• 4:56
  whirlwind and a long journey to get to where I'm at.
• 4:59
  But it took a lot of perseverance and strength and I
• 5:02
  wouldn't have been able to do it without my coaches who believed
• 5:05
  in me. They instilled a lot of
• 5:07
  confidence in me and I couldn't have done the journey without
• 5:11
  them. But let me take a couple steps
• 5:14
  back. So being at Oregon and knowing
• 5:17
  that my career was almost over, injury prevention is a huge,
• 5:22
  huge deal for me. And recovery and running on the
• 5:25
  right surface and doing the right things in recovery is
• 5:27
  everything for an athlete, especially at the highest level,
• 5:30
  because at that level, you are the 1% among the 1%, right?
• 5:35
  There's no room for error. And so I think staying healthy
• 5:38
  and running in an environment and on the surface that keeps
• 5:42
  you healthy is everything that you can do.
• 5:45
  And that's why I'm here today with record Tan after, after
• 5:49
  running professionally, I'm like, what do I want to do with
• 5:51
  my life? I, I want to like stay busy.
• 5:53
  I want to stay in track and record.
• 5:54
  Tan was the company that I think was the best.
• 5:59
  Like, you know, our gel series, everything.
• 6:01
  We, we really value athlete safety.
• 6:04
  And that's something that I'm passionate about because of my
• 6:07
  own story. And so I would say if you're, if
• 6:11
  you're not able to train consistently at a really high
• 6:15
  level, you're not going to make a team and you're not going to
• 6:18
  make a team if you're not at your best.
• 6:19
  You need to be at your best to be able to perform really highly
• 6:23
  and well. So yeah, we're, we're passing it
• 6:26
  over here at Record Tan making services that are sustainable
• 6:30
  for for athletes. And I'm happy to be a part of
• 6:34
  the team and give some of my track advice and and expertise
• 6:39
  in the world and just stay passing around the sport.
• 6:42
  So thank you guys. If you have any questions, feel
• 6:45
  free to raise your hand if you can answer anything.
• 6:53
  My fastest time in the 60 was seven O 4.
• 6:56
  Fastest time in the 100 was 1095.
• 7:01
  When legal? Yeah, got to be when legal.
• 7:22
  Definitely not an easy transition.
• 7:24
  And I think especially being out of the sport for so long,
• 7:29
  there's nerves around there coming back and, and having to
• 7:32
  perform at a high level again. And of course the coaching is
• 7:35
  different. So you need to to adapt to the
• 7:36
  coaches, the team. So I would say it was tough and
• 7:41
  a little bit of a rust Buster and figuring out what worked for
• 7:44
  me and what didn't. And I think at a high level like
• 7:47
  nothing is into everything is individualized.
• 7:49
  It's not cookie cutter and you need to focus on every athlete
• 7:52
  differently and what's what's best for them.
• 7:54
  And it was hard to kind of fine tune those details, but
• 7:59
  eventually did it. Absolutely.
• 8:19
  I thought about giving up and I think especially if my hiatus
• 8:22
  away from the sport, I thought I was done.
• 8:24
  But I just think in elite mindset you just you don't take
• 8:28
  no for an answer. And at 10 years old, I had
• 8:30
  dreams and there was just something in me that told me to
• 8:34
  keep going. And so I I did and found a
• 8:39
  second opinion and made it work. Thank you.
• 8:46
  Thank you, Mary Beth. Appreciate it very much.
• 8:50
  Mary Beth. What she probably didn't tell
• 8:52
  you is how great she's been for the record Tan team.
• 8:56
  Hey gang, Mike Cunningham here. Hey, I hope you enjoyed this
• 8:59
  episode of the Guild 1918 Project series.
• 9:02
  It's really my mission, my passion to bring you massive
• 9:06
  amounts of value and I hope this one hit the mark.
• 9:09
  The Guild 1918 Project is really dependent on you if for you to
• 9:14
  build your own episode, to hear your voice, to have your voice
• 9:17
  heard you have something to say and teach other coaches out
• 9:21
  there. So please get a hold of me
• 9:23
  e-mail text message. Twitter smoke signals get.
• 9:27
  Ahold of me and let's help create your episode of the Guild
• 9:31
  1918 Project. Hope you enjoy the day and we'll
• 9:33
  see you tomorrow.