Athlete Profile: April Coughlin

Age: 24 Residence: Albany, originally from New Paltz Occupation: Graduate student, The College of Saint Rose, in Education; Teacher Primary Sport: Wheel Racing

Athlete, Motivator and Teacher

by Colleen Lovett

Commitment. Training. Motivation. Technique. Attitude. These are all words associated with what it takes to be a successful competitive athlete, regardless of the sport one is competing in. These words also point to a basic truth that all athletes know: Competitive sports require as much mental discipline as they do physical fitness, and without the right combination of physical prowess and attitude, victory will forever be fleeting.

As a champion road racer competing on the national level and holding titles from races like the Utica Boilermaker 15K and the Peachtree Road Race 10K in Atlanta, April Coughlin knows this well.

April’s knowledge of the relationship between physical and mental mastery precedes her athletic career. The exact day on which six-year old April mastered her two-wheeler bicycle was the day that changed her life forever. That achievement was not unlike the ones that many of us have known when we reach that well-known childhood milestone, complete with cheering parents and snapshots to record the event. But later that day, April’s spine was severed when a drunk driver hit the car in which she was a back seat passenger, leaving her permanently paralyzed.

April’s parents feared that she would be denied the experiences that other children her age would have. But this fear was dispelled as she quickly adapted to life on wheels. Her school years were a flurry of youthful and purposeful activities: Track team, National Honor Society, student council, Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD), and marching band, just to name a few. At 13, she tried out a sleek built-for-speed racer featured at an expo and started doing local races like the Child’s Challenge 5K.

It was her visit to the 1996 Paralympic Summer Games in Atlanta that inspired April to get competitive with racing. After watching top paraplegic athletes compete in sports such as weight lifting, swimming and track racing, April went on to complete her first Utica Boilermaker 15K in 1997. In the women’s open competition at the Boilermaker she placed 4th in 1999, and second in both 2000 and 2001. In the most recent Boilermaker on June 28, 2002, April finished in 50:53 and took home the women’s wheelchair race championship.

Other major races that comprise April’s impressive resume are the Peachtree Road Race 10K in Atlanta, Georgia (29:13 in 2002) and the Orange Classic 10K in Middletown, New York where she placed first in the women’s wheelchair division five times in a row.

While April regularly captures titles and prize money nationally, she keeps the local Albany races on her list, like the Delmar Dash 5K, which she completed recently on April 6. And while her goal is to complete the New York City Marathon (which she missed in 2002 due to neck strain) and qualify for Boston, April looks at racing as something that is only part of her life.

After graduating from the University at Albany in 2001 with a B.A. in English, April discovered her passion for teaching when her plans to visit Great Britain were cancelled due to 9-11. She landed a job substitute teaching 10th, 11th and 12th graders in the inner city. “There was never a dull moment,” says April of this experience. And while it was a tough school (knife fights in the lunchroom, kids running out the door before the bell) April connected with her students.

This inspired her to work for her masters in education, which she will receive from The College of Saint Rose in Albany this May. Her studies have taken her all over the local map from Shaker High School in Latham where she taught creative writing and contemporary American literature to twelfth graders in Voorheesville Middle School where she teaches seventh grade English.

“My students motivate me so much,” says April. Students are inspired by her accomplishments and learn from the positive view that she takes of her life as a disabled person. The students’ enthusiasm for learning inspires April’s own passion for education. After she completes her degree, she plans to earn a second masters in broadcast journalism.

When she’s not studying, working, or competing, April is training. During the winter she lifts weights three times a week and swims twice a week. In the spring, she continues her weight training, but also goes out in her racer to do road or track training. She also trains on the grass, which “provides resistance you can’t get on the road and helps you build muscles you didn’t even realize you had.” Training outdoors also gives April the chance to hone her wheel-racer technique. This includes arm extension and pushing rhythm, both of which combine to form a highly efficient wheel stroke: forceful enough to gain speed and controlled enough to allow for maneuvering.

Many racers end up with stress injuries of the rotator cuff, shoulder and wrists. But a varied workout and a balanced life keep racing enjoyable for April. “Racing for me is a hobby, something that I love,” says April. She usually only competes in warmer weather, this year’s Delmar Dash 5-Miler on April 6 being an exception. Facing falling ice and wind on the course, April found herself trying to finish the Dash without popping a tire or wiping out. But April still enjoyed being part of such a well-organized and established race.

April’s personal, athletic and professional successes all boil down to her will to live life to its fullest. Her personal motto: “Surround yourself with positive influences, positive people and positive events.” By positive people she means people who are motivated and strive to succeed, thereby “making things better for themselves and others.”

She regularly talks to groups of students about the consequences of drunk driving and how it has affected her. Recently she met with the state trooper who investigated her accident 17 years ago. He remembered everything: Finding her and her sister Heather (who sustained several injuries to the head, neck, and leg) along with the friends who were driving the car that day (also injured but later recovered). The drunk driver went into a coma for eight days and then died.

April says she was so young when it happened that she has very few memories of what it was like to walk using her legs. Nor does she dwell on what might have been if the accident hadn’t occurred. She also feels that her youth made it easier for her to adapt to her disability of growing up without the use of her legs, adjusting to her new lifestyle quite naturally. “It’s like my body was protecting me from the memory of walking,” says April, perhaps so that she could live fully in the present and look forward to the future.

Colleen Lovett (colleen.lovett@versatrans.com) lives with her family in Niskayuna and works in New York’s Tech Valley. In her spare time she enjoys practicing yoga, and hiking and camping in the Adirondacks.