Winter Term Internship Led to "Career Epiphany" for Detroit Tigers' Javair Gillett '01

April 3, 2011

April 3, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — For Javair Gillett, stength and conditioning director for the Detroit Tigers and 2001 graduate of DePauw University, his "career epiphany happened when he was in college and playing baseball at DePauw. He earned a Winter Term internship at Penn State's athletic department where he saw the sophisticated programs being crafted for the athletes."

"I kind of got locked in, Gillett tells the Detroit News. "I came back and began working at my school (DePauw) with the football players."

Gillett "was a strength-and-conditioning intern in the Tigers minor leagues in 2002 and '03 and named the farm system's coordinator in 2004," reports Lynn Henning.  He "has been the Tigers' essential body-building man since 2005. He supervises all the facets of health and conditioning, from exercise drills, to nutrition, to customized off-season programs for each player."

The most gratifying part of Gillett's job is "to see the development of a player and watch him grow over time," he tells the newspaper. "To see them develop into better athletes, or to see a Sean Casey (former Tigers first baseman), a guy who was always going to be slow, be able to move just a little better because of things we were able to do with his technique. And what we tell these players is it's not just about baseball — it (training regimen) really is about life and creating a healthier person who can enjoy his kids and family for a long, long time."

Read more at the News' website.

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