Bailey Jones Named CalHOPE Courage Award Recipient
4/26/2023 12:00:00 PM | Track and Field
Two California college student-athletes — Bailey Jones, a senior who competes in the triple jump and long jump for the Cal Poly men's track & field team, and Malia Talavou, a senior who throws the shot put and the discus for the Long Beach State women's track & field team — have been selected as the April recipients of the CalHOPE Courage Award.
The monthly CalHOPE award honors student-athletes at California colleges and universities who have overcome the stress, anxiety, and mental trauma associated with personal hardships and adversity. Here's a closer look at the inspiring personal stories of April's CalHOPE Courage Award honorees.
Bailey Jones, a senior who competes in the triple jump and long jump for Cal Poly has encountered adversity throughout his life but has refused to let those hardships define him. The Mar Vista, California native was diagnosed in middle school with alopecia areata, an autoimmune condition that can cause hair loss. The disease, which can flare up at any time and without notice, dramatically accelerated during Bailey's freshman year at Cal Poly in 2018. It was then he made the courageous decision to shave his head.
"It was kind of a liberating experience being able to shave my head and just let it be out there that I had this condition. It's something I've dealt with and it's part of my journey," said Bailey. "The more you put something out there, the more you must be OK with it. Shaving my head was a symbol of accepting the full reality of what I was going through."
Following a successful freshman season on the track, Bailey's sophomore campaign was canceled by the pandemic. Stress can exacerbate autoimmune diseases, and COVID was no ordinary stressor on Bailey's physical and mental health. In the summer of 2021, he was diagnosed with alopecia universalis – a condition which led to him losing all of his hair.
After an impressive fourth-place finish in the triple jump at the 2021 Big West Conference Championships, Bailey entered the 2022 spring season with high hopes, but then the injuries started to mount. First it was tendinitis in his knee. Then after nearly completely recovering, he strained his right hip flexor, forcing him to miss the first handful of meets. After rehabbing again, Bailey suffered his most serious injury, a grade 3 right ankle sprain which cost him five weeks of competition. And finally, to add to his personal pain, Mark Conover, Cal Poly's Director of Track & Field and Cross Country passed away during this time.
The injury setbacks Bailey suffered also intensified his passion for athletic training. After completing the 2023 spring track season at Cal Poly, he will head to Louisiana State University (LSU) to pursue a master's degree in athletic training. In a sense, he has the challenges he has faced to thank for the realization that athletic trainers play an essential role not just in a young athlete's physical health, but in their mental wellbeing too.
Malia Talavou
Malia Talavou, a senior at Long Beach State, believes bad news can be treated as a knockout blow or as a challenge. And Malia is all about the challenge. At age 13, the unexpected death of her father resulted in her mother and three brothers moving in with her grandparents. Their influence throughout her high school years growing up in Bellflower, California was pivotal, as was the decision to send all four children to parochial school – a move her mother believed would keep their faith strong in the face of grief.
While in high school, Malia tore her ACL playing basketball. She rose to the challenge of healing the injury and capped off her senior year as captain of the varsity team. The following season, she tried out for track & field, throwing the shot put, and won the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division 3 girls' title on her first try.
She enrolled at Long Beach State as a walk-on to the track team. But freshman year proved trying: a second ACL injury sidelined her, and she received a devastating double blow of bad news: Her grandfather died of stage IV lung cancer and her mother also had the disease. This led to the discovery that the cancer in her family was genetic. Upon testing, the children learned that all but one of them carried the gene and would have to undergo regular full-body scans to detect any tumors. Malia's first scan revealed a precancerous tumor on her thyroid; it was successfully removed.
"Nothing was easy, but my support system at home as well as my coach, Corey Loebl have helped me through the many obstacles that I have had to overcome. I thank them for being so patient and constantly believing in me. I have learned that life is never easy, but it is all about how we react to what is thrown at us. Whatever you put into this world, is whatever you will get out of it," said Malia.
By the time her junior year in college had begun, she was performing well enough athletically and academically to earn a scholarship. In the classroom, she has earned her bachelor's degree in Kinesiology and is currently working towards her master's degree. She is a captain on the track team, the owner of several school records and is a two-time dean's list scholar.
The monthly CalHOPE Courage Award is presented by the College Sports Communicators (formerly CoSIDA), in association with The Associated Press; CalHOPE, DHCS' crisis counseling and support resource; and the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Mental Wellbeing.
At the end of the school year, two of the student-athletes recognized during the year will be selected as annual CalHOPE Courage Award winners, and a $5,000 donation will be made in each of their names toward mental health services at their schools.
Previous honorees have included: Cameron Brink (basketball, Stanford); Garrett Jensen (baseball, San Francisco State); Lexi Zandonella-Arasa (soccer, Sonoma State); Anysa and Amaya Gray (soccer, U.C. Berkeley); Sam Nimmo (lacrosse, Whittier College); Ian Gilligan (golf, Long Beach State); Mike Asante (basketball, Academy of Art); Gretta Kirkby (volleyball, Chico State); Gretta Kirkby (volleyball, Chico State); Anastasiia Slivina (rowing, USC); Yuliia Zhytelna (tennis, California State University, Northridge (CSUN)); Nathan Merren (volleyball, CSUN); and Jordan Smith (soccer, Cal State East Bay); Amiyah Aponte (softball, University of the Pacific); Nigel Wilson (basketball, Pasadena City College).
Stories about all honorees are available at CalHOPECourageAward.com and via social media on Twitter and Instagram at @CalHOPE_Courage.
Players Mentioned
