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As you go through your every day tasks today, try to think about the person you would have turned out to be if it were not for the sports that you played as a kid. I’m sure for every athlete who is reading this it is almost impossible to imagine without cringing. There were so many aspects of sport that have molded us into the people we have become. We have learned about living a healthy, active lifestyle, we have met great friends and not so great enemies, and mentors and coaches who have help build our character.

Today is National Girls and Women’s in Sports Day. As I always mention, I love days that are dedicated to something positive such as this because I feel like it is taking a highlighter and going crazy over a part of our lives that we sometimes forget and take for granted. These days, like today, are put in place so we can remember and be thankful.

I get overwhelmed with happiness when I think about all the things that sport does for young girls and women. I have learned how to make friends, get in fights, dislike people… then get over it, work hard mentally and physically, win, lose, be dedicated, make mistakes, and most of all learn. Although, while I was playing on the pink panther soccer team, which I thought was the coolest team ever because we got to wear hot pink knee socks, I did not recognize that any of this was happening. I can now see the lessons that my coach (aka. dad) was teaching me as he took me out of the game and put in another girl in my place. I was so upset. Later in life, I learned that this will happen more than I would like. I also felt successes and excitement, like when I made my first left-legged goal (I’m a righty) and one our first tournament. Successes such as these also continued to happen after I left the Pink Panthers. You learn how to lose and win graciously.

Along with my dad there were other great people who mentored me in my youth. My mom, as my volleyball coach, who I believed knew nothing about sports, made everything fun. She gave us incentives to aim the ball when we served by setting up cones on the opposite end of the court with prizes underneath them. You could only get the prize if you hit the cone. That’s when I started to practice on my own… I always wanted the prize, whether it was a bonnie bell nail polish or a win. My middle school basketball coach who after I “sassed “him for taking me out of the game (I was the foul queen in those days) had to give me a stern talk about respect. Who knows where that mouth of mine would have gotten me had I never been disciplined…and forgiven that day. My high school track coach taught me to first, slow down, as I would sprint every practice, and second, that life is more about the journey then the destination. Looking back now I realize how valuable that advice was. I never made it to state (i.e. my destination) and although I believe that if I wouldn’t have taken myself too seriously I would have had even more fun than I did, I still had a great time. I had to part ways with him to move onto college, leaving my comfort zone, and I was scared out of my mind. I wasn’t sure if any coach would be as great, understanding, and challenging as him. That’s when I met Coach Healy, who I found out cared so much about all of his athletes. Over the course of the four years under his program I learned that sometimes you have to be independent, your own decisions, and live with them. Although he was understanding, we had to decide for ourselves whether or not we wanted to do the work and whether we wanted success bad enough. I did. As I move past organized athletics I am realizing that all the lessons I learned during that phase of life are so invaluable and do apply to the “real world”.

Not only have I had amazing coaches who have taught me life lessons that I couldn’t put a price on, but I have met life long friends that I won’t soon forget. I have also met some people who have irritated me, who have made me jealous, and who have made me cry. Turns out there are people that will make me mad, jealous, and sad throughout life. Luckily, I was able to be exposed to this dark side of this happy world through sport, where I was allowed to release my anxieties and stresses on the court, road, and field in a safe environment with friends and mentors to guide me. Although sometimes my stresses came from my sport, it passed and another lesson was learned.

I’m hoping this post brings back some memories from your childhood playing organized or non-organized sports. Think about how awesome those times were and how many of the hardships that you went through, that seemed like mountains back then, are reappearing in your life today; the only difference is you can handle them much better now! That’s all thanks to sports! Today, I will keep these thoughts about the people and things that I have met and learned in my head and be grateful that I had the opportunity to be and stay an athlete; I hope you do too .

Cheers to National Girls and Women in Sports Day: “Play, Believe, Achieve”!

Feel the passion.

Use the passion.

~Stephanie

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