How Sports Helped Shape My Life
From the time I could walk, I was always playing some game or sport. There are vivid memories of running around the baseball field as a four year old, chasing foul balls; if we found one and turned it in, we earned a quarter. I have visible scars on my knees from tripping over a railroad tie and landing on the gravel because of a chase. My first official jersey was a blue t-shirt that came from my dad’s family softball team. Under my name is the number 3c. Dad was the third of nine kids, Mom was 3a, my sister 3b, and my brother 3d.
Coming from small-town, middle of America, sports were extremely important to our community. At times, it felt like the movie Hoosiers, where cars would line up behind buses and travel to rival schools for a game. The support was like no other I have ever experienced. I can remember the starting lineup for the University of Wisconsin women’s basketball from 25 years ago, I had the great fortune of watching the Fab 5 play at the Field House and I was at The Palestra when the Princeton women’s basketball team went 30-0 in regular season play.
“There is no shame in swinging and missing that third strike. But it is a shame to watch that third strike go by without trying.”- Nick Bruck
I have learned many great lessons playing and watching sports. No doubt, teamwork is number one. Bringing together many different personalities and various levels of talent in order to create a cohesive unit that works together is no small feat. It takes communication, compromise, and leadership for teamwork to exist. This often translates off the court, field or pitch and into the business world. Ernst and Young conducted a study in 2018 and they found that 94% of women who hold C-suite level positions are former athletes. From the study-
A UN report points out that “the participation of women and girls in sport challenges gender stereotypes and discrimination, and can therefore be a vehicle to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. In particular, women in sport leadership can shape attitudes towards women’s capabilities as leaders and decision-makers, especially in traditional male domains.”
In addition to the lessons learned, I also made many friendships that still exist today. I spent many hours with these incredible women and consider them my sisters. There were car rides to tournaments during junior high and high school, during college there were long road trips on buses, jumping into pools while fully clothed and so many stories that will stay with just us. While I may not see or speak to them as frequently as I would like, there is no doubt, they would all answer my call.
By playing a variety of sports, this decreased the risk of repetitive stress or injuries and kept me mentally strong and prevented burnout. Too many of our youth are specializing in a respective sport before they have fully developed. Youth sports participation has changed through the years. Once a recreational pastime that involved learning fundamental skills, teamwork, how to win and lose, and having fun, has evolved into a highly structured, deliberate training focused on developing dominating, sport-specific skills. The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS) has put together a single sport awareness campaign, complete with injury prevention tips and resources for both parents and coaches.
The world of sport also led me into a long career working as a personal trainer. I was interested in how the body and why the body moved the way it did. Developing strength and conditioning programs to keep us in shape and ready for our opponents led me to study human physiology. And then during one practice my sophomore year of college, I was wearing a heart rate monitor. If it had had an alarm, sirens would have been going off. It was registering my heart rate at 221 beats per minute. We thought something was wrong with the watch and so I wore a different one the next day. Again, registering well above 200 beats per minute. This led to an eventual diagnosis of exercise induced tachycardia, a fancy term for accelerated heart rate due to exercise. Come to find out, I have one ventricle that is slightly larger than the other. And this could be a reason for the accelerated heart rate. While my dad likes to joke that we all have a finite number of heart beats in our lifetime, why waste them on exercise, I am very conscious about what I do and with how much exertion. That is why I very much enjoy watching sports. Especially this time of year. College basketball is my go-to with allegiance to the Badgers and Tar Heels.
I recognize how fortunate I was to play sports at such a young age and my parents were always there to support me. Not all kids have the time, resources or parental support to do so. Below are some great resources to gets kids involved with sports:
Team IMPACT- Team IMPACT matches children facing serious illness and disability with college sports teams, creating a long-term, life-changing experience for everyone involved.
Girls on the Run- Girls of all abilities learn to embrace their inner strength and make meaningful connections with others.
United Way- Making a direct impact in communities nationwide through programs designed to help kids develop healthier minds and bodies.
Project Play- Project Play develops, applies and shares knowledge that helps build healthy communities through sports.
For further ideas or suggestions in your local community, let me know and I will help you find something for you or your loved one.
be well-
