USANA Athletes: Johnson Seeks Title, Studebaker Impresses, & More

It's been a remarkable few weeks for USANA-sponsored athletes and athletes associated with USANA in other ways. Did you happen to catch the amazing athletes segment at the 2010 USANA International Convention with the likes of Jennifer Azzi, Derek Parra, and Liezel Huber? It was great!

If you like USANA Athletes on Facebook, you've likely already read much of this news. But I wanted to wrap everything into a nice, neat blog post for everyone to enjoy. So, here's the latest... Enjoy!

A Title on the Line
First up, you know Billy Johnson strapped in at Watkins Glen in August for the Zippo 200 NASCAR Nationwide Series race. Unfortunately, Billy got caught up in a mid-race wreck and didn't finish.

But Billy is resilient, and he and teammate Jack Roush, Jr. later raced to their eighth top-five finish of the year in the Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge series at Trois Rivieres.

Now, Billy is poised to close out the season on a high note. The Roush Performance team is looking for its third win of the season and potentially a series championship. The series finale takes place at MillerMotorsports Park Sept. 10-11 (Billy won there last season). The race will be televised on the SPEED channel Sept. 18 at 9 p.m. ET. Best of luck, Billy!

Chiefs Andy Studebaker Impresses
The start of the NFL season is just around the corner. Perhaps the Kansas City Chiefs will have a few more fans this year, courtesy of the USANA family who will be cheering for linebacker and USANA Associate Andy Studebaker.

Andy has been impressive thus far in the preseason, as mentioned in these articles from Bleacher Report and KansasCity.com. The Chiefs open the regular season at home against San Diego on Sept. 13 in a game scheduled to be televised on ESPN.

Tweet, Tweet
USANA is proud to be the official health supplement supplier to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. We were so excited to chat with Liezel Huber, the No. 1 women's doubles player in the world, at the recent 2010 USANA International Convention.

And earlier we were thrilled to hear Serena Williams, the top female player in the world, respond to a tweet asking if she herself takes USANA products. Isn't social media wonderful? Be sure to watch the U.S. Open throughout next week to see several of the WTA's elite athletes compete.

'Desert Storm' Dominates
Congratulations again to Timothy "Desert Storm" Bradley on his July unanimous decision victory over Argentina's Luis Carlos Abregu. We'll keep an eye out for his next bout.

The Wins Keep On Comin'
It's exciting to see so many athletes accomplishing amazing things. In the last several weeks a handful of USANA-sponsored competitors have captured titles in their respective sports.

• Todd Suhn, of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, won the steer wrestling event in the St. Paul, Oregon, Rodeo.
• Ryan Dodd, a professional ski jumper, soared to first at the Malibu Open.
• Melanie McQuaid, a world-class triathlete, won her first half Ironman victory at the Ironman 70.3 Lake Stevens. It included a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, 13.1-mile run. Wow!
  

Jennifer Azzi Visits the White House — Again
Chances are you saw this on the blog, but we had to get it in here. Jennifer Azzi is such an incredible ambassador for health and fitness, especially for kids. It was great seeing her at last week's 2010 USANA International Convention talking to other athletes who trust their health to USANA. Way to go, Jennifer!

More Medals for Swimmer George Bovell
George Bovell, a USANA-sponsored Olympic swimmer, captured gold and two silver medals at the Caribbean and Central American Games in Puerto Rico. He also broke the record in the 50m freestyle.

In August George finished seventh in the 50m at the Senior Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine, California. Up next for George is the Commonwealth Games Oct. 4-9. We wish him the best!

Congratulations to all the athletes!

For additional information about all USANA-sponsored athletes, please visit www.usana.com and don't forget to like USANA Athletes on Facebook.

The mentioned athletes are either distributors or dedicated users who have received compensation for their partnership and/or complimentary USANA products.

USANA 2010 Convention: Extra, Extra! Read, See & Hear All About It

It's always a wild ride handling media relations for a big event, but when that event lasts four days and involves thousands of people from around the world, it's a bucking bronco/bull riding/whitewater rafting kind of ride! (And if you want to check out some sweet bull riding for a second, hop over to our Facebook videos and take a peek at "Paris Hilton" riding a mechanical bull at our USANA's West Fest).

We were fortunate to have amazing media coverage for this year's 18th Annual Convention. That, in turn, helps out all our Associates and shows we can create quite a buzz. The coverage was varied, as we had so much going on throughout the week, but the stories were certainly enough to enlighten both those familiar and unfamiliar with what USANA is and what Convention means.

Local coverage hit early on in the week with a couple of stories about the economic impact Convention has on Salt Lake City. According to the Salt Lake Convention and Visitor's Bureau, the Convention brings in about $6 million to Salt Lake County's economy.

Additionally, USANA's Dan Macuga adds that "business-related travel is still relevant in challenging economic times," so our Associates do what they can to attend. Stories about the economic impact appeared in both the The Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News.


Thursday morning brought KSTU, Salt Lake's Fox affiliate, into the USANA store. Morning host Big Budah began the day with activities ranging from workouts with celebrity trainer and USANA spokesperson Kathy Kaehler, to inline skating with Olympic gold medalist Derek Parra. Big Budah even got a Sensé facial and wowed everyone with his mad basketball spinning skills.

Heading into the thick of Convention coverage, more articles highlighting all of the great USANA announcements hit from local to national outlets on a variety of topics:

• "USANA distributors told of tweaks to compensation plan" (The Salt Lake Tribune)
• "Lance Armstrong's mom, Linda, wows USANA crowd" (Deseret News)
• "Innovative Nutritional Hybrid technology introduced at USANA International Convention" (The Street.com)
  

And something else you've never thought of that takes place backstage during Convention, language translation: "New Utah translation business gaining national attention" (KSL.com)

Friday was star-studded with Kathy Kaehler, Jason and Naomi Priestley and more gracing our main stage for a brief time. The Priestleys did an interview with Good Things Utah on our ABC affiliate that aired on Monday.

Ashlan Gorse from E! Entertainment News was also still on hand (after presenting Sensé during the general session Thursday afternoon) to help conduct backstage interviews before she had to head back to Los Angeles for the Emmy Awards.

Ultimately we got media attention for bringing these celebs to speak at Convention, and how much of an impact they can make in jazzing up attendees.

Also on Friday, Fox 13 ran a great story about the effects of Vitamin D on the recovery of athletes after a hard workout. USANA has been working with Utah-based The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital (TOSH) on this clinical study, and reporters wanted more.

OK, so this story isn't centered around Convention, but it's relevant right now, especially as we head into the colder months. And who doesn't love talking about Vitamin D? Check it out: "Researchers test Vitamin D effects of muscle recovery and growth."

Finally on Saturday, there were cameras covering our Children's Hunger Fund walk/run and 97.1 KZHT was there to help get folks from the community to participate. Also, watch for a future "Profiles in Caring" show featuring USANA and its participation with CHF, which will feature footage from Saturday's race.

This coverage just scratches the surface! Of course our Associates know USANA is awesome and provides a memorable Convention experience, but through the media we can help the general public realize that, too. It's through this kind of internal and external awareness that we can continue to promote our great USANA image and share with the world how fantastic we really are!

USANA 2010 Convention: Did You Commit on Camera?

Let’s play a quick word association game. Ready?

YouTube.

What did you come up with? Funny pet videos? People injuring themselves in humorous ways? Rants about celebrities? Corny TV commercials from the '70s?

That’s OK. Those are all perfectly valid.

But at USANA’s 2010 International Convention, YouTube served a very different purpose. Instead of overly serious woodland creature comedy, Associates used the video-sharing website to make a commitment to themselves and the entire World Wide Web.

The Commitment Cam booth — the brainchild of USANA CEO Dave Wentz — was the setting where almost 500 Associates took some time to set a goal and assign a risk for failing and a reward for succeeding. The videos were uploaded in real time to YouTube and shared with anyone with Internet access.

Silver Director Tito Phommatha recorded a similar video promise to himself at Diamond U, and it was effective. Tito achieved that goal, he says, partially because of the accountability created by recording his goal, risk, and reward. The goal he made at Convention is to make it into next year’s Growth 100. If he does, Tito says he’ll buy himself a Lotus sports car. But if he fails in his efforts, he’s going to give up his beloved iPad for three months.

Goals varied from rank advancements to improving areas of personal health. But it’s the risks and rewards that are probably the most interesting.

There are touching stories, like Cowboy Bob, whose reward would be the heart transplant he needs, but won’t be able to afford when his health insurance runs out at the end of August.


Other risks and rewards are just plain cool. An Associate from central Alberta, Canada, said his risk would be riding his horse from home to Salt Lake City for next year’s Convention. One height-averse couple risked bungee jumping if they didn’t achieve their goal.

All the videos are on the USANA Commitment Cam channel on YouTube. Go see what everyone committed to at Convention this year. And if yours is there, please feel free to post the link on the USANA Health Sciences Facebook Page.