Sam Javanbakht Intro

Hi there! My name is Sam Javanbakht and I was a gymnast at the University of Michigan. As a recently retired athlete, I have been doing a lot of reflecting, especially with the world put on pause right now as a result of Covid-19. Marcus reached out to me while I was at home with my family in Virginia, and explained his idea for Alston for Athletes to me. I was immediately inspired. I felt like this kind of program was definitely something I would have benefitted from, especially as an athlete in high school in the midst of the recruiting process, and even as a collegiate athlete. As the program is still developing, I felt like I could start off maybe giving back to younger athletes by sharing my struggles and realizations through a blog. Thank you Marcus for giving me this platform to share my retrospective on, and the ability to be a mentor to any young athlete facing similar challenges to those I faced.