The new Mills cre novice coach, Angela Badran has been through a
lot lately. After earning her Mastersd degree from Michigan
State University this May, the muscular blonde with her long
ponytail married her college sweetheart, Bilal Badran, two mnoths
later. Shortly after the honeymoon, Badran was approched by
Mills crew head coach Wendy Franklin-Willis with an offer she
couln’t refuse: to move accoss the country to California with her
new husband to coach crew for Mills.
As Badran begins her coaching career here at Mills, she brings
with her wealth of knowledge as an experienced rower and high levek
of enthusiasm that only 26-year-old could bring a group of about 25
novices rowers. “To be paid for something that you’re
passionate about and love, that’s awesome,” said Badran.
Badran’s qualifaciations are without question according to
Franklin-Willis. Badran’s metor at Michigan State Bebe
Bryans, was Franklin-Wilils’ head coach when she was a rower at
Mills over ten years ago. And not only does she have the
technique, she has the medals to prove it. Badran’s woen’s
eight boat won national for the first time in the school’s
history-four times in a row. “I’m cofident in her,”
said Franklin-Willis. “She and I were both mentored by the
same coach so we have a certain level of expectations. We had
standards set very high for us.”
According to Badran, as a small women’s college Mills is the
perfect match for her. Although she comes from a highly
competitive university winning races is not her only goal while at
Mills. She is a champion of the benefits of athleticism for
women , and is an advocate for equal opportunity in collegiate
sports.
“The history of sports is dominated by males. Women were
not allowed to experienced the benefits. (But) women in
sports are making progress.” She cited the Equal Opportunity
Sports and Education act of 1972. She said it wasn’t until
former President Clinton started cracking down on schools that do
not provide equal opportunities for women in sports, that change
ocurred.
For Badran, the change, she said, was dramatic. Rowing was
merely a club sport while she was in her freshman year, until the
school finally bended to pressure from the government to adhere to
the law. As a result, she attributes her team’s winning
streak to having the same support that the men’s crew team had for
years from the university. Badran said she was so inspired by
her expereince on the crew team at MSU that she decided to add a
Master degree to her B.S in. in chemical engineering so that she
cwould qualified to coach crew upon graduation.
Many athletes on the crew team have experessed their confidence
in Badran. Sophomore rower Katie Donnell saisd she admires
her determination. “She seems really hardcore,” said Donnell.
” I think she’ll turn our novices into really good athletics
team.”
Varsity rower Shannon Van Meir values Badran’s experience.
” She’s enthusiastic with experience rowing on competitive
team. She’s been where we are now.”
Novice rower and freshwoman Tricia Holden siad that while being
new to the sport she feels comfortable with Badran. “She’s seems
like a lot of fun and down to Earth. She makes us feel fine
about the fact that we have no experience.”
