Three soldiers, selected as the athletes and coach of the year for 2008, were honored and recognized at the Association of the United States Army’s Winter Symposium and Exposition in Fort Lauderdale, Fl.
Capt. Shawn Dodge, a runner, who commands Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 732nd Military Intelligence Battalion, 500th Military Intelligence Brigade, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, was recognized as the male athlete of the year.
1st Lt. Kelly Calway, also a runner, and a military intelligence operations officer in charge with the 500th Military Intelligence Brigade, Schofield Barracks, was honored as the female athlete of the year.
Command Sgt. Maj. Victor Rivera-Collazo, a men’s softball coach, who was assigned to the 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y, received the award for being the coach of the year.
Collazo is now with the U.S. Army Accessions Command, Fort Monroe, Va.
| At a dinner held in the Broward County Convention Center Feb. 26, the three soldiers were presented their awards by the sergeant major of the Army, Kenneth O. Preston, the evening’s featured speaker; Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, commanding general, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command; and Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, USA, Ret., AUSA president.
Dodge, a U.S. Army Reserve officer, is a competitive runner and an All Army Athlete who has been selected many times to compete on an Armed Forces Team. |
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Left to right: Dempsey, Collazo, Calway, Dodge, Preston, Sullivan at award ceremony. |
Running, on an average, 80 to 90 miles a week, he has been a member of the All Army Ten-Miler Team from 2005 to 2008 – competing in the International Division.
Last year, with a field of 26,000 registered runners, he placed 52nd with a time of 56 minutes, 21 seconds.
This accomplishment also contributed to leading the Hawaii mixed team to a first place finish out of 47 teams competing.
As a member of the All Army Marathon Team, he placed 29th out of 21,000 runners in the 2008 Marine Corps Marathon.
Dodge was one of three athletes selected to represent the Army in the Military Championship One-Half Marathon where he was also the coach.
His wife, Danielle, and son, Tyler, were unable to travel from Hawaii because Ms. Dodge is expecting their second son.
Calway, a competitive runner, is preparing to deploy to Iraq where her father, Brig. Gen. Robert B. Brown, deputy commanding general (support), 25th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – North, is currently serving.
Her husband, whom she met the first day of jump school, Capt. Christopher Calway, returned from Iraq the Friday before the dinner, and traveled with her and their daughter, Hazel, to the symposium.
As a soldier-athlete, Lieutenant Calway has competed as an All Army Athlete and an All Armed Forces Team member.
She was the first place Army female finisher in the 2008 Marine Corps Marathon, and she placed second in her age group in last year’s Army Ten-Miler where she led her Hawaii Team in the Mixed Division to a first place victory.
Her victories – first military female in the Armed Forces Half Marathon in Singapore, first active duty female in the Great Aloha Run and the first woman finisher in the Jamba Juice Banana Man Chase – “are indicative of the athletic ability and dedication of this great soldier,” the citation said.
At the dinner, a teleconference was set up between the event and Brown’s headquarters in Iraq, so he was able to watch the entire ceremony and later talk with his daughter, son-in-law, Sullivan, Dempsey and Preston.
Collazo, when assigned to the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, N.Y., continued his 22 years of service with the All Army Men’s Softball Program first as a player, then as a coach.
As the team’s dynamic coach, he led his athletes to gold medals for every year – but one – in the highly competitive Armed Forces Championships.
In 2006, he was deployed to Afghanistan for 15 months where he continued to assist soldier-athletes who played on the Army Team during his absence.
When he returned, he was instrumental in coaching a softball team that, once again, brought home Army Gold.
“Now assigned to the U.S. Army Accessions Command, Fort Monroe, Virginia, during this – the Year of the NCO -- he continues to be an outstanding senior noncommissioned officer dedicated to his sport and the well-being of our soldiers and their families,” the citation read.
He was joined at the dinner by family members, Antonia Collazo, his mother; and Maridssa Rivera, Lucos Burgos, Angel Ortega, and Luz Marie Burgos.
The Army athletes of the year were selected in late January by the U.S. Army Family, Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command, Alexandria, Va.
“These three outstanding soldier-athletes,” Sullivan said, “represent the best of America’s Army as they serve in their assigned duties and also compete in athletic competitions for our Army and our nation. We are very proud of you.”