Penn State Sports Magazine
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semifinals. She played well in limited action in the final, and afterward told reporters, "My future with this team, I just don't know right now. Maybe I'll be in Rio [for the 2016 Games], but that's a long way away." If the Americans were disappointed by silver on the volleyball court, the Canadian women's soccer team was thrilled with a bronze. With goalkeeper Erin McLeod and defender Carmelina Moscato – both Penn State standouts in the mid-2000s – starting through- out, Canada upset France, 1-0, in the third-place match. It was the first Summer Olympic women's team medal for the Canadians, who were defeated by the United States in a controversial semifinal. After that loss, McLeod uttered one of the Games' more memorable quotes, say- ing it was a shame that "the ref de- cided the outcome before the game started." But after her team secured the bronze on a late goal against France, McLeod was all smiles. "The last few days have been a whirlwind," she told reporters, "but I'm so proud of everyone and how we fought for a re- sult." Largely out of the spotlight, Natalie Dell might have had the most fun of any Lion in London. A 2007 graduate and former member of Penn State's club rowing team, Dell earned a bronze medal as part of the U.S. women's quadruple sculls team. In the days after her victory, her Twitter feed (@natalieSdell) showed just how much Dell was enjoying the fringe benefits of being an Olympian. Among her Twitter highlights: all the free swag (like a custom pair of Oakley glasses), hanging out with Dwyane "The Rock" Johnson, posing with fans who wanted to touch her medal, and wondering aloud if Penn State was going to bring its 19 Summer Olympians back to campus this fall for a football game. Dell also tweeted a close-up photo of her medal, held in her calloused, peeling "gross rower hands." It was hard to imagine a single image that better summed up the pain and the glory of being an Olympian. –R.J. STRENGTH CONTINUED FROM 35 Tuesday is "upper body day." Or, as Fitzgerald also calls it, "old-school kick-your-butt conditioning day." Once they're out of the gym, then it's a big yardage day – 400-, 200-, 100- and 60-yard shuttles. "We leave 'em weeping that day," Fitzgerald said. "Big Tuesday." The players come back Thursday for hill running, sand pit workouts and resistance training, a little lighter on the legs. Friday is the only day the team lifts together. Fitzgerald has organized a competition, with the players divided into teams for tug of war, bar pushing, farmers' carry – the kind of activities the public sees at Lift for Life. BELTON CONTINUED FROM 24 carried the ball a lot for us. What Michigan does with [quarterback] Denard Robinson is what we did with Bill in high school. Carrying it a large amount of times isn't going to bother him. He's used to that." Belton left a significant legacy at Winslow Township, McBride said, be- coming the first New Jersey high school quarterback to throw for more than 2,000 yards and rush for at least 1,000 in back-to-back seasons. Even with his on-field success, though, his greatest impact might have been away from the football field. As part of a team-oriented commu- nity service program, McBride used to send his players down to the youth football program at Winslow Township to help coach the youngsters. Belton looked forward to each practice, al- most as much as the kids looked for- ward to it. For most of them, Belton "was like an iconic figure," McBride said. "They would practice until 6, but Bill would still be out there talking with the young kids until almost 8:30 at night," he added. "Just talking to them about doing their schoolwork and things like that. He wasn't talking to them about football; he was talking "Our job is to maximize every player," Fitzgerald said. "We don't think about who the player is or what the news- papers say or even how the football coaches grade them on the depth chart. We don't care. That's not our job. Our job is to train the living heck out of them. "The guy could be a valuable mem- ber of the scout team for four years and then go on and become a great member of our whole society, a great dad. We take a fifth-teamer, he may be first team in four years. We may have a first-teamer make All-Ameri- can. And if we have more walk-ons than we've had, we're going to make them the best players they can be. Maybe they're hidden gems. Everybody matters." to them about just being good people. Then those kids started following him. You'd look up in the stands and all the Pop Warner teams were up there cheering for Bill, screaming and hollering." It was like having a personal fan club, and Belton said he "built a bond with those kids that can't be broken." That fan club should grow even larger this fall, as he is expected to fill the role of Penn State's next feature running back. And hopefully for Belton and Penn State, he'll build the same type of unbreakable bond with his new fans – even if his fan club grows to be more than 108,000 strong.