Victoria Francis to add value and gain experience at Life University

MARIETTA, G.A. – – Just days before the World Championships in Nur-Sultan, Life University announced that senior women’s world team member Victoria Francis would be joining the Running Eagles coaching staff as an assistant during the 2019-20 season. The entire position was made possible through a grant from the Women’s Sports Foundation: The Tara VanDerveer Fund for the Advancement of Women in Coaching.

Victoria said, “I’m very grateful that Life chose me, and the Women’s Sports Foundation chose Life as a grant recipient. This is such a neat opportunity for women to step into the college coaching world where we are underrepresented.”

The Tara VanDerveer Fund targets the decline in women coaches at the collegiate level. This year, ten colleges and universities received grants for women coaches of various sports. In women’s wrestling, a sport largely dominated by male coaches, the fund removes a financial barrier to entry while simultaneously jumpstarting the career of an aspiring woman coach.

Life U. Head Coach Ashley Sword bubbled with excitement while articulating how it all came together. First, that they received the grant, and second, the candidate selection process for the position. “In wrestling we lose a lot of star athletes after competition just due to the continuation of their lives, so the ability to connect someone like Victoria, who’s at such a high level, with a coaching and learning opportunity is big for the sport.”

Although the coach-athlete relationship between the Life U coaches and Victoria was visibly strengthening as they coached in her corner through the world team trials process, Coach Sword said the selection process was a difficult balancing act. “We had to find someone that would fit the program and impact women’s wrestling in the future as a coach . . . With Vic, the question was do we select a full-time assistant with less experience, or a part-time assistant with more experience.” At the end of the day, Victoria fit the bill.

“Vic came down last year and everyone stepped up their game,” Sword said. They didn’t want to look bad in front of one of their heroes, so to speak . . . she’s a walking talking image of resilience with everything she’s overcome, so it’s going to be hard for the ladies to tell her, ‘I can’t’.”

Victoria will be physically on campus a total of 8-10 weeks throughout the year. Beyond that, there will be call-ins and Skype meetings to bolster coaching, mentorship, development and face-time with the team. The part time nature of being on campus accommodates Victoria’s life in Maryland, and the rigorous training/competition schedule demanded of a senior level athlete.

Victoria said the position is a great fit and first step. She envisions herself coaching at the collegiate level after retiring from competition, mentioning the year 2024. “I’m very excited to be spending more time at Life University with Ashley and Christian, to have more time to train with them through the year and to take my first step in my college coaching career.”

Adding Victoria to the coaching staff has multiple implications for the Life women’s wrestling program. Sword said, “Bringing a world team member into the room adds a credibility that some people wouldn’t expect or give to a young team—to have someone who’s currently training at that caliber say, ‘I want you to coach me and I want to learn from you as a coach’ speaks volumes for Life . . . we can’t deny how great that is for recruiting and getting our program out there . . . Victoria is also still an athlete, so having her say to the team, ‘Yes, I agree with the people telling you what to do,’ gives us coaches a little more oomph.”

Victoria said she wants to learn as much as she can while working with Ashley and Christian. “They both have been coaching for several years and are a wealth of information. I also hope that the women of the team will see me as a role model as I will also be training for 2020 Olympic Trials during my time at Life.”

Coach Sword added that receiving the grant is overall exciting for the sport. “Just the fact that the Women’s Sports Foundation has invested in it, even if it’s just one person, women’s wrestling is at the forefront of people’s minds.”

Learn more about the Women’s Sports Foundation, here and read Life University’s press release, here.