Catching Up With Athletics: Juliana Belar

Juliana Belar serves as the assistant director of Academics and Career Support Services for all student athletes at Centenary University. She coordinates study hall hours for athletes, supports student success, offers career guidance, and is a professor at the university as well.

Before coming to Centenary, Juliana spent her three years at Bowling Green State University (BGSU) Ohio. At BGSU, she earned her Master’s in College Student Personnel, while also being a graduate assistant in the Office of Student-Athlete Services. She served as an assistant Women’s Gymnastics Coach for the Division 1 program, and helped run the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), improving the school’s social media department as well as organizing student-athlete development programs in forms of leadership, life skills, and community. 

As an undergrad, Juliana competed in Division 1 gymnastics at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) and earned her bachelor's degree in Kinesiology: Sports Studies, as well as a minor in Business Administration.  After medically retiring in 2019, she transitioned as an Assistant Coach helping lead UNH to an EAGL championship and qualifying in the first round of the NCAA tournament that season. 

During her athletic career, Belar was named a WCGA Scholastic All-American three times as well as being named to the EAGL All-Scholastic Team twice. 

We caught up with Juliana to find out more about her athletics journey and how she came to be the Assistant Director of Academics and Career Support Services at Centenary University.

What was your journey before arriving at Centenary?

I was an elite gymnast my whole life, then I was a Division 1 gymnast when I went to the University of New Hampshire. I got my bachelor’s degree in sports management and I minored in business. My senior year of college I ended up having Tommy John surgery on my elbow, which is funny because it’s like a baseball injury. I ended up taking a medical and retiring my senior year. With that, they allowed me to stay on and coach because I was on scholarship. It was my first opportunity to work in athletics so I coached a little bit and helped with gymnastics choreography for a year. 

When I graduated I moved home and I was here for a couple months but I knew I wanted to do more. I worked in a gymnastics facility in New Jersey, but it wasn’t what I wanted to do; I was waiting for my next thing in October, which is crazy because the school year already started. 

I got a call from Bowling Green State University. The head coach there said, “hey, do you wanna coach college gymnastics?” It was another division 1 school, so I said, “yes, absolutely.” This is the only time in my life I’m going to do it. It kind of took a risk and moved myself across the country to the midwest. I lived in Ohio for three years. While I was there I coached and got my master degree. You can see in my pictures my whole coaching career where I had a mask on. But it was nice because I was able to do my masters as most of it was online. 

From there, I did an internship outside of just coaching which was a lot. I worked in the Student Athlete Services Office, and there was an associate AD that was so supportive and helped me grow. That was the first time I ever worked with other teams. 

I worked with basketball, football, gymnastics and I helped them with their academics and SAAC. After that, I knew I wanted to be involved in the sports industry; I didn’t think coaching was going to be for me long-term due to the grind and the commitment. I give the coaches so much credit because it’s a lifestyle your entire day; hours and hours it never turns off. I moved to focus on being more of an administrative/supportive role but still working with athletes. 

I knew when I graduated with my masters degree, I wanted to move back to New Jersey. My whole family is here. I graduated in May, and I saw a job posting for Centenary. I grew up 20 minutes from here and yet  I had never heard of it. I texted my parents, and they told me to apply. I did the interviews while still in Ohio and got the job. 

When I first started, my role was actually in the Academic Success Center. It was just multiple pieces. My academic career led to athletics. Everything just kind of took on from there. I moved back home and every year I’ve been here, my roles have changed. 

Can you walk me through a typical week in your role? What takes up the most time?

Each week, I make sure I am set in every part of my job. I oversee athlete study hall, because academics is such a big component. I like to make sure all of my GA’s, interns, or whoever is running or supervising study hall that week is locked. No changes in their schedules; they’re going to show up and do what I need them to do and they’re going to lock in. That’s step one. If they don’t show up, I have to come up with another plan. 

Then, I send out the study hall log to each of the coaches in the department. I’m the sports admin for softball, volleyball, and flag football. I like to do a check-in with all of those programs and coaches. Volleyball just ended their season; softball just did their Tricky Tray; flag football is getting their meetings going. I just keep an eye on that and try to be supportive wherever I can. 

SAAC is a big one. I like to check if we have any events this week. How many emails, messages, or Instagram things that I have to get out. That’s a huge one if I’m meeting with our SAAC president, our executive team, or group meetings. I also check in on the graduate assistants I oversee and that ranges from schedule to number of games they work to payroll to course credits to tuition bills. I try to just check in with every area and stay on top of everything. 

I have retention and academic meetings every week where I plan out which students, coaches, and faculty I have to connect with. That’s like the bulk of it. 

Working in sports, things pop up that you would have no idea. What do you do if the basketball hoop is broken or the team bus didn’t show up? Things are constantly changing and keeping you on your toes. 

How has your role evolved since starting this position?

I started over in Academic Success. I think because I was athletics heavy and that’s been my whole life and background, it was kind of easy for me to just take on more and more from this department, and I was really fortunate that I had enough people on this campus that said you belong over there in athletics. 

I’ve been promoted every year that I’ve been here and now, I’m finally an associate AD, senior women administrator, which is the highest rank for a female, which is really cool. But for the NCAA, there’s a rule that every department has to have that and that keeps women in sports and promotes it. It’s definitely male dominated, working in the sport industry, so I definitely take a lot of pride in that. 

What resources does the department provide for academic support, mental health, and career preparation?

Obviously, as a student here you have access to tutoring, the writing collab, the library. With athletics, you have a little bit more with the study hall that’s planned each semester very delicately around practice schedules.  

As an athlete, that's definitely something from the department that’s different and special. I just talked to a high school yesterday and was explaining that. 

Career wise, I have a pretty good relationship with Nancy Podesta in the Career Development Center, so anytime she has a workshop asks if I can get some athletes to attend. I try really hard to do that. And then our Counseling Center, obviously offers mental health resources. We just did a workshop for student athletes. 

I also think we get a lot of support financially. If I want to have food at an event or market an event a little bit more from our conference, I get support. The Atlantic East Conference and NCAA give out money in grants, so we try to apply for as much as we can and that supports us a little bit more. 

How do you work with coaches, compliance officers, and other administration to achieve department goals? 

Constant communication. All day, everyday. On my phone, on my computer, group me, email. Also, I’m very relational so I try really hard to have a relationship with each coach or faculty because, as a department, we need faculty on our side if athletes are missing classes for games. Just being relational and communicating a lot is how I work with them primarily. 

What is the most difficult part about dealing with student-athletes? 

There’s definitely a lot that’s difficult. Time is key. Time is really hard because, as an athlete, you're a student so you're taking a full course load of classes and you're trying to find time to sleep. You have to feed yourself. You’re trying to remember what needs to be packed in your bag or what shirt you're wearing to lift. You have team lifts, you have practice. 

On top of that, you have to go meet with your academic administrator or academic support person, so it’s about finding time and just communicating. 

And athletes are very hard on themselves anyway and are perfectionists.  Sometimes just building them up is a challenge. I just want to build them up and tell them they can do it all the time.  

What do you find to be the hardest about helping keep student-athletes eligible?

I think sometimes if the student is on the edge of being ineligible or is ineligible, I just talk about building them up. Once they’re in a hole, it’s really hard for them to climb out, not just academically, but also mentally and emotionally. They think, how am I going to get this assignment done, or I’m behind on eighteen assignments; how the heck am I going to catch up? So just chunking it out for them is always helpful but, when people are ineligible or trending that way, that’s where I see most of the struggle. When you’re down so low, trying to find ways to inch yourself up is really challenging.

What advice would you give to someone aspiring to your position? 

Say yes to everything. Especially when you’re young. Get as much in as you can. Get as much experience on your resume. People open doors. You need to connect with as many people as possible. Every connection you have with someone– it’s so cliche but so true. Positive or negative, they remember that and you might need them. 

People show up down the line. People are connected with others that you might want a job from someday. So showing up as your fullest version of yourself but also building your network, building your resume, and just having fun. I feel like I grew up in a sport that’s so serious and so intense. If you’re not doing what you love or not having fun, then it’s not going to be purposeful.

Is there anything else you would like to add? 

I believe in this school so much. And so does my fiance who also works here, and I think that it’s like the little engine that could, but more, it’s the little school that could. Not just in sports but in general. I think there’s a lot that can be promoted and pushed forward in a lot of success that can happen here. 

We’re extremely thankful that Juliana took time out of her day to share her journey and explain her position as assistant director of Academics and Career Support Services for athletes at Centenary University. And couldn’t be more thankful for all she’s done, and continues to do at Centenary.