Throughout the year, the Southern Conference will feature a former student-athlete from around the league in a series called Where Are They Now. This will be an opportunity to get reacquainted with student-athletes after their competition days have come to an end. The question and answer session will focus on a former student-athlete who has gone on to a career away from the field, course, mat or court.
Our second Where Are They Now feature focuses on former Citadel women’s soccer player, Vivi Brown. The 5’1 forward from Macon, Georgia was a member of the 2008 Citadel squad, who won their first Southern Conference game in program history on October 10, 2008 with a 2-1 victory over Georgia Southern.
Vivi Brown
The Citadel Women’s Soccer (2005-2009)—health exercise and sports science
Grad School: Georgia State, Sports Management and Administration
Current Profession: 2nd Lieutenant of the United States Army
How did you end up at The Citadel?
I was actually recruited to play soccer at The Citadel in 2005. Megan Hjerling and Matt Gwilliam were actually the coaches at the time and they just gave us the call and wanted to come watch one of our club soccer games. I actually didn’t start that soccer game so I was a little nervous about getting recruited to play, but after talking to Matt for a little while and getting some references from my coaches, I was asked to come to athletic cadre, which is just the early cadre for all the fall athletes, but I had no interest in coming to The Citadel initially. My mom was very excited about it and told me that was a good option for me to go to, and asked me where else I would go and I told her “I had no idea.”
I came to visit Charleston and The Citadel and had a great time with the soccer girls and fell in love with the city and the school. I’m very happy that I came, but it was a bit of an awakening when I got there with all the military discipline, but I think I was prepared.
How did you deal with the military discipline and that structured daily schedule?
It was definitely a challenge to begin with. Time management was definitely the big thing for me because in my mind I was there to play soccer, but I quickly realized I was also there to get a solid education. Coming in with the military side of it, my first shock was getting my hair cut so short. I ended up with three inches on the top and an inch on the side. I ran around looking like a small boy for a year, but after I got over that initial shock, I worked into well. I had a lot of support from my teammates and my coaches at the time and had a wonderful senior mentor Megan McAuliffe, who graduated in 2006, and was really just able to work into the military environment. It was definitely a struggle, but well worth it.
How was it being a Citadel student and a student-athlete?
Long. I guess that’s the first thing that comes to mind. We usually woke up at 5:00 a.m. for our 5:30 weights. We’d finish weights and have to take a quick shower and be back and shined up for formation as a freshman as well as the rest of the years, but as a freshman your brass and your shoes have to be perfect, your uniform has to be perfect, so it was a little time constraint there. After that we got first pick for classes so we were able to go to class from eight to 12 and then to lunch and then immediately went to practice for three hours. We usually went to conditioning right after, got a quick bite to eat, and then went to study hall. So it made for long days, but I got used to it and it was a great routine.
Talk a little bit about your time on The Citadel women’s soccer team. The Citadel got its first conference win on October 8, 2008 against Georgia Southern. What do you remember from that game?
That game was probably the best memory that I have of The Citadel. My mentee (Whitney)Nave, Amy Loughran and Laura Serafino are actually seniors now on the soccer team, and actually just got their rings last week. So as their little gift for getting their rings I got them bracelets, and I actually have a matching bracelet, and it has 10-10-08 and 10-14-11. It’s the day I got my ring and the day they got their rings.
I came to speak to the soccer team and coach Winch did an introduction for me and the first thing he talked about was that Georgia Southern game. It was honestly one of the best and most memorable days of my life. I got my Citadel ring that day as well. At 1300 I got my Citadel ring and about 4 o’clock I was on the soccer field playing one of my arch nemesis from years of club soccer, Ashley Toussaint, the powerhouse on the Georgia Southern team at the time and I was marked up against her the entire game. She single handedly probably beat us the last three years; scored every goal, defended every goal. I don’t know how she did it, but she did. But I was peered up against her and I fought the whole game and I ended up shutting her down with the help of my teammates and we came through with that win and I fell on the ground and just had a little crying moment before I got up and started running around. I will forever remember that day.
That day was loaded with great times. My family was there and they knew how hard our team had worked and how hard our coach had worked to get us to that point. For a long time, and when I got there, initially The Citadel was not the greatest team in the Southern Conference, but we came out and we were always ready to work hard and I will say that the change came when Bob Winch and Jamie (Stewart) took over The Citadel soccer team, but also when coach Frank Wintrich and Donnell (Boucher), who is the current head of The Citadel strength and conditioning program came and revamped the entire Citadel strength and conditioning program.
We went into the weight room and kind of lolly-gagging around as freshmen but they turned that around in a second and we came in there from then on ready to work and ready to improve ourselves. So I now think that when people look at The Citadel from 10-10-08 and that day on, they know that if they come play us they need to be ready to fight because we are going to fight back and we are going to come home with a W.
What did your coach say after that win?
Jamie started running around screaming a little bit and she just came and gave me a big hug, and just kept saying “We did it.” Kelly Simpson was just kind of running around with her little fist pump going. She was so happy. Then coach just kind of looked at us and he said, “Congratulations girls, you guys have worked so hard.” And it was those simple words, I’m going to get emotional now of course, because I remember that day like it was yesterday, but we really worked so hard for that. The people that came before us one hundred percent worked so hard for that. I can’t even explain how hard they trained. Even though it just wasn’t there, there were so many girls on the team that played two sports, because we didn’t have enough girls on the soccer team so they came over to help us out. So we had a lot of people who weren’t really soccer players, but they knew how important it was to get this team rolling. And now they’re phenomenal.
You mentioned your Citadel ring. Can you talk a little bit about what that means to you personally and the significance of it to the school?
Initially when you come to The Citadel, you’re always taught about the importance of discipline and The Citadel family and eventually becoming a part of a longer line, which is The Citadel alumni. The Citadel class ring has been the same since day one. It’s kind of what links The Citadel alum together. So around Charleston, you kind of end up looking for people who have those rings, and even now I look around the military and there’s a lot of Citadel grads. Initially I think the biggest part of wearing the ring is to show that Citadel pride and what you’ve gone through. It shows everything that we’ve worked for, the leadership, and the discipline you hold as a person.
Inside my ring I actually put my own name and “keep the faith.” Those are the only things that are actually different about my ring from my classmates’ rings. We all have the same ring and I think that’s what means so much. That it just shows we all come from this same mold and we’ve all gone through the same thing, and we’re all hopefully wearing it well and accomplishing a lot.
You said your mom was there on ring day, when you got your ring and when you guys won. Was there a little ‘I told you so’ that came with it?
One hundred percent. My mother has had an ‘I told you so’ look on her face since I signed my name on the papers to The Citadel. It’s funny because I’m so thankful. I was 18 and had zero knowledge of what I needed, but both my parents knew what would be good for me and the type of structure that I would succeed in.
My dad was drafted into the military and went to Korea and has a little military experience and he raised a bunch of military children. I think my mom is just a little angry the military has stolen all of her children, but she honestly was the driving force behind me going to The Citadel. And one hundred percent I know that she’s proud that I went there, but she knew I wouldn’t do it on my own so she had to give the bird a little kick and make me do it. She was very happy after ring day and then on graduation day. It was just good because my mom is a very quiet person. She’s definitely a bookworm, very intelligent, a teacher. That’s the best way to describe her because there’s always a life lesson behind everything that she says. But graduation day there were these looks that she gave me without any words. Just kind of like, “you know I brought you here, right? But you did a good job.”
Let’s talk a little bit about what you did after you left The Citadel. You mentioned you went to grad school. Why did you choose Georgia State and why sports management for your degree?
At The Citadel I was a health exercise and sports science major. My junior year I knew I wanted to get my master’s and I knew sports management was the major I wanted to get it in, but I also wanted to join the military. I was really just trying to weigh how I could do both at the same time without taking a break from school. So I did a little research and found out Georgia State had an ROTC program. So I took the credits from The Citadel ROTC program and military science and called Georgia State to see if they would transfer over. So I actually finished my last two years of army military science at Georgia State and was the battalion commander there for their ROTC department.
As far as sports management, I just know that when I get out of the military, hopefully in 20 odd years down the road that I have to come back to the sports world. Sports have been a part of my life my entire life and its one of the many things that I love that have brought me happiness and put structure in my life. So I have to get back to it.
What would you like to do with your sports management degree?
I haven’t pinpointed it yet. I would love to be back in the professional soccer world if possible, but I honestly am a sports junkie. I will watch all sports, any kind of game. But I would like to be an operations official of some sort as far as just business management. I don’t know maybe start as a GM. Ambitious? Maybe.
When you were at The Citadel did you think you would join the military? You said 20-plus years; does that mean you’re going to be a lifer?
My first two years at The Citadel I was not thinking about the military. I had zero interest, especially after The Citadel cut my hair off and I was a little bitter for a little while, but I got over that and really started enjoying myself and had some phenomenal instructors at The Citadel and just really started thinking about my career and how I could continue to challenge myself.
I always love to say and live by, “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” I feel like in the military I’m never comfortable. There’s always something that I have more to learn or there’s always somebody that’s better than me even if they’re a rank above me. That was the way that I knew I could challenge myself.
My family is also pretty military-orientated. My older brother is a retired master sergeant, my sister is a lieutenant colonel, my brother is a lieutenant in the navy and he graduated from the Naval Academy, so we are kind of military-orientated in that notion, but initially no I had zero interest in going into the military. I think as I got a bit more level-headed and tried to work out the logistics of my future, I decided to go for it.
What is your current job in the U.S. Army while you are stationed at Fort Jackson?
Currently at Fort Jackson I am enrolled in Agent General Basic Officer Leadership course. After you commission, depending on what job skill that the army has given you, you have to go through a three to four month training course. So that’s what I’m in now, I’m about four weeks in and I have eight more to go. I will finish January 5 and return to Charleston to the 1189th transportation group. I hope to get into the active duty guard and reserve program (AGR Program). I really don’t have any opinion on where I get stationed as long as it’s somewhere that I can learn a lot.
Hopefully down the road, I will end up in a civil affairs unit. I just really love to work with people and assist my commander in military readiness and mission essential things as far as making things more comfortable, even if it’s peacetime or wartime. The civil affairs teams are the teams that go in and kind of negotiate a bit with the people that are in that country or nation of controversy just makes our being there a little more smooth.
Why the army as opposed to the other branches?
I’m just an army girl. It’s just what fits me the best. I feel like I’m a little rogue at times and just kind of go Rambo in situations and the army lets me do that, but then ropes me back in and makes me calm down.
I really just wanted to get into civil affairs and knew that I would get a lot of experience and a lot more hands-on training with the army as far as being able to talk to nation’s leaders and even smaller units that we’re in conflict with, even in peacetime that we’re trying to carry out a mission with. I knew that I would be able to have a little bit more of an effect and earlier on in my career be able to get into civil affairs than other branches.
Do you still talk to your teammates or coaches?
Yes! They’re great. They let all the alumni come back and chat about our old days because everybody likes to tell the “When I was a Cadet” stories or “when I was on the soccer team this happened.” It’s so different now, but we love the current team. We are one hundred percent behind them. I talk to a lot of the girls all the time, especially my mentee Nave. It’s hard to imagine their seniors now as they start their own civilian careers, but we all keep in touch. I keep in touch with my senior mentor and a lot of the other girls from the class of 2006. It’s funny how our teams actually link up, it seems to always be the seniors and the freshmen that link up together, so you’re never there with that class all the time but there’s always a strong bond between the two because they kind of led you through that first year.
Do you feel your time at The Citadel prepared you for the real world, or in your case prepared you for the army?
One hundred percent. The Citadel challenged me. I really don’t feel like before I came to college I was challenged that much. A lot of things came easy to me, soccer came easy to me, but when I got to The Citadel I was in for a rude awakening and it was good for me. The Citadel one hundred percent broke me down to the bare minimum, kind of shred all self-definition and formed myself as what I like to think of as a great leader, or learning to be a great leader. I don’t think I’m there yet, maybe 20 plus years down the road I can say that.
The Citadel definitely teaches you a lot about what you’re able to accomplish if you push yourself and what you’re able to accomplish just by doing right by other people.
What advice would you give to current student-athletes?
You’re academics are very important. One thing that I said to The Citadel women’s soccer team when I was able to speak to them was that, and it’s just one question I always ask myself, “What would you do if today was your last day? What would you want your legacy to be?” The one thing that I would say to all athletes is that you need to leave a legacy. Do everything that you can to leave a legacy, whether it’s just remembering that game or actually remembering that person’s name. I think any time that I see coach Winch or Jamie, I will think back to our first Southern Conference win. Anytime coach introduces me to somebody, he always tells them, “We were in this tough fight with Georgia Southern and there were two minutes left in double overtime and they put Ashley Toussaint, the powerhouse up against Vivi Brown and I knew the game was over then.” And he just goes on and tells this great story, but I’m very happy with it because I honestly believe that I left a legacy at The Citadel. A small one, in comparison to so many other people and by no means am I a profession athlete or anything too exciting after the fact, but I think that tiny legacy is something that I will always carry with me. So my advice would be to do everything that you can to leave a legacy, but to also know that you’re a student-athlete.
Comparisons get made between the military and athletics. Do you think there’s a correlation between athletics and being in the military?
Yes, I think there is a correlation between the two. I think the important thing in both is preparation. I think it’s preparation in believing that you can win and almost believing you’re invincible. I think whenever infantry units go into a fight, they think nothing can hurt me, that’s what makes them come out alive and the people next to them come out alive. Obviously that’s something that I personally haven’t experienced and won’t experience because I can’t be in the infantry, but being able to support those units and those men and women in combat is huge. It’s the same thing on the soccer team. You have to go into every practice and every strength and conditioning session and know that “if I work hard today I will be ready for the fight tomorrow” and go into every game thinking “this is the next fight of my life and I need to come out with a win” and leave a legacy.