Neely Spence Leaves College to attempt 2012 Olympic Dream

Question... what happened to Jessica Pixler? Did she turn pro as well?

A nice video interview with Neely and her dad, Steve.

http://www.ncaa.com/video/cross-country-women/2011-10-02/campus-byers-scholarship-recipient-jessica-pixler

Steve Spence is the poster child for how parents should approach their children's athletic careers. I have enjoyed Neely's gradual rise to the top aided by a good mentor/coach and her natural ability.

Best of luck to her in her pro career.

Coach Dad wrote:

Steve Spence is the poster child for how parents should approach their children's athletic careers. I have enjoyed Neely's gradual rise to the top aided by a good mentor/coach and her natural ability.

Best of luck to her in her pro career.

Agreed 100%!! Steve has balanced the role of father and coach meticulously. The family even began homeschooling their kids at an early age so training was never put in the backseat. Other prep stars would have benefited tremendously had they the opportunity to stretch, run, lift and live like a professional athlete without the confinements and restrictions of a 7-3 school day. Also not competing for the hs allows them to legally train with the college team which they have done for about ten years now. Neely has been groomed since birth to become a professional athlete. It would be a huge waste of time and talent for her to not go pro. Go Neely!

Is there any chance that Salazar would invite her to join his group? Since Goucher and Begley-Yoder left his has opened up some room for him to possibly pick up a new athlete. She may be a perfect fit for that group. Instead of picking up an older injured athlete, he would be getting a young and underdeveloped athlete that he could mentor and guide to a future Galen Rupp type competitor. If I was Nike I would be going after Neely and trying to send her to Salazar as soon as possible to hpoefully create a star over that will be competing for over the next decade at a very high level.

That was typed on a Cell phone, sorry for the errors

She is majoring in communications with a minor in coaching at Shippensburg, "studying" substandard subjects at a substandard university from both academic and athletic perspectives. There really was no point in her going there in the first place, so why do people care if she leaves? Neely has been in the womb for way too long - homeschooled as a kid/teen and now being sheltered by her coach father. Props to her for going pro and following what she loves, but the facade of going to school and actually getting an education is thin. She still seems like a child (just look at her facebook and million tweets per day) and her life/career being led by her father just reinforces that opinion. There are a lot of things going wrong in this scenario.

Bedwards wrote:

Is there any chance that Salazar would invite her to join his group? Since Goucher and Begley-Yoder left his has opened up some room for him to possibly pick up a new athlete. She may be a perfect fit for that group. Instead of picking up an older injured athlete, he would be getting a young and underdeveloped athlete that he could mentor and guide to a future Galen Rupp type competitor. If I was Nike I would be going after Neely and trying to send her to Salazar as soon as possible to hpoefully create a star over that will be competing for over the next decade at a very high level.

I'm really curious to see where she ends up training professionally. I would be shocked if she left her dad but I also wonder if part of her desire to turn professional is wanting to have training partners closer to her level.

that said - I highly doubt she'll end up with salazar. I have a feeling whoever coaches her is going to have to be ok with occasional input from dad. He's done well with her so far - he should have some input.

She could improve 10 seconds or 45 seconds in 2012 in the 5000. There is NO way of predicting how much improvement there will be.

Can you explain what is going wrong with her situation? From what I see she is a happy 21 year old girl that is chasing her dream.

"She is majoring in communications with a minor in coaching at Shippensburg, "studying" substandard subjects at a substandard university from both academic and athletic perspectives. There really was no point in her going there in the first place, so why do people care if she leaves? Neely has been in the womb for way too long - homeschooled as a kid/teen and now being sheltered by her coach father. Props to her for going pro and following what she loves, but the facade of going to school and actually getting an education is thin. She still seems like a child (just look at her facebook and million tweets per day) and her life/career being led by her father just reinforces that opinion. There are a lot of things going wrong in this scenario"

central pa-er wrote:

She is majoring in communications with a minor in coaching at Shippensburg, "studying" substandard subjects at a substandard university from both academic and athletic perspectives. There really was no point in her going there in the first place, so why do people care if she leaves? Neely has been in the womb for way too long - homeschooled as a kid/teen and now being sheltered by her coach father. Props to her for going pro and following what she loves, but the facade of going to school and actually getting an education is thin. She still seems like a child (just look at her facebook and million tweets per day) and her life/career being led by her father just reinforces that opinion. There are a lot of things going wrong in this scenario.

Man you're an idiot. She doesn't have a single post on her Facebook that isn't a response to someone else and none of them have any "childish" vernacular, slang or tone. She is engaged, graduating and has a profession at the age of 22. That is far more adult than 90% of people her age.

Neely is far from a child. She is s mature young woman pursuing her dreams. If you follow her Facebook you are obviously aware that she is recently engaged. In regards to her unusually high number of unimportant and useless posts on both Facebook and twitter - they are just part of her over zealous effort to be friendly and marketable. Anyone who knows anything about professional athletes knows that fans can be more important than performances. It's kinda like 'Jared' at subway - in reality he is worthless but he his marketability had made him millions. Neely is wisely taking advantage of the position that her father has created for her. Another analogy I know - but how do you think G.W. Bush got into Harvard, graduated, owned a company and became president - two words, his father. Success is circumstantial.

central pa-er wrote:

She is majoring in communications with a minor in coaching at Shippensburg, "studying" substandard subjects at a substandard university from both academic and athletic perspectives. There really was no point in her going there in the first place, so why do people care if she leaves? Neely has been in the womb for way too long - homeschooled as a kid/teen and now being sheltered by her coach father. Props to her for going pro and following what she loves, but the facade of going to school and actually getting an education is thin. She still seems like a child (just look at her facebook and million tweets per day) and her life/career being led by her father just reinforces that opinion. There are a lot of things going wrong in this scenario.

Yes but thousands of student/athletes "major" in communications, or coaching, or rec therapy, or psychology, or gym lol. But I agree her dad seems to be holding on a wee bit too tight. She should have been allowed to have the experience of going away to school considering she was home schooled and has never had any taste of independence. It doesn't surprise me that she is getting married-from her father's house to a husbands. She will never run an Olympic track race in 2012. If she is good enough and has longevity maybe 2016 would be more realistic. But hey let em try.

What part of her going pro means her dad is holding on too tight? She has said in plenty of interviews that she visited schools and never felt comfortable leaving the support system she already had set up.. She majored in coaching and human communications planning on going pro after college, why would she need a Math degree or something unrelating to her goals?

While Neeley could have stayed in school and run the conference and DII national meets for Shippensburg, even though she is a legitimate Olympic hopefull. However, Ray Flinn is the best agent for an emerging American athlete that she could have chosen. Neeley Spence has that type of excitement behind her. She will be an olympian in her future.

Ah ha ha wrote:

What part of her going pro means her dad is holding on too tight? She has said in plenty of interviews that she visited schools and never felt comfortable leaving the support system she already had set up.. She majored in coaching and human communications planning on going pro after college, why would she need a Math degree or something unrelating to her goals?

Um I believe that you answered your own question with "never felt comfortable living the support system"

HELLO that is one reason people leave home to go to school-to get out of their comfort zone-away from mommy (and daddy) and experience, get a taste of life on one's own. So they can be in a somewhat safe, controlled environment such as an institute of higher learning. If she went to say Baylor or Colorado she would have had coaches helping her, her teammates to help her find her way. But she decided to stay home (nothing wrong with this) and go to her hometown school with her dad as coach. Again, nothing wrong with this just stating facts.

TrackCoach wrote:

Except for Huddle, all of the top 10k women seem to be more focused on the marathon. Neely is probably capable of running close to 32 in a 10K, the only sub-32 athletes who are not focued on the marathon is Huddle. I would say Neeely has a shot and I wouldn't call it a long shot.

Don't forget that the track trials are 5 months out from the marathon trials. Anyone who crashes and burns at the marathon trials will certainly drop down to the 5k/10k and have plenty of time to get sharp.

So do you also think Galen Rupp should leave Salazar? Salazar has been micromanaging Galen since a young age as well. With your view point Galen should have left and went out and "explored" college to get a real grip on life.

Being engaged does not make you an adult. Neither does being paid to run (I make more with my grad school stipend than almost all pro runners). Does anybody else find it weird to be educated and coached (and live with too?) solely by your parents until you are a married person? How can Neely possibly know that this is what she wants out of life if this is all she has ever known? That was the main thing I was trying to point out...and the notion of majoring in communication (really?) from a second rate school.

There is nothing wrong with doing what you love and following your dreams, but some things about the girl's scenario are sick.