International Women & Girls in Sports Day
This week we recognize international women’s week. Today we celebrate women and girls in sport.
I’m grateful I grew up as an athlete and now I also have a daughter who identifies as female athlete.
Athletics gave me friends, laughter, play, competition, learning how to win and lose, how to come together to celebrate and how to have one another’s back. It gave me the opportunity to travel and see our country and experience diversity of cultures, foods & rituals. It showed me the capability of athletes my age and what girls could do, and motivated me that I could also fly as high, hit as hard, be as strong as them.
Coach Lisa, High School Senior year 2000
On the field or court, I felt like me. A strong, tallish, girl with broad shoulders, and strength. I could move like me without judgement and simply MOVE for FUN. I played 4 years of varsity of volleyball, basketball and softball. I was voted most athletic female in high school. Went on to play 1 year of D3 volleyball at Marietta College in OH.
In the school and classroom, I never knew where I fit in.
I was a big and strong athletic body.
I’m cis-gender, but I believed it was sometimes assumed I wasn’t because I was an athlete.
So I tried to fit my body into clothes that cis-gender females wore, but it never felt like me. And then my brain that struggled to write and spell and see numbers and letters the way they were intended. To say the least, the classroom and social life was a struggle, outside of my family and sports.
So today I celebrate being a female athlete and raising a female athlete. I celebrate so many incredible ways we have grown like being able to easily access female sports on TV!
Like this weekend, my house watched college softball, men’s and women’s basketball. That my son, daughter and husband celebrated equally the glory of TN men’s basketball AND MD’s Women’s basketball both pulling out a buzzer beaters! It was awesome to see women celebrated in my home as much as the men.
I do not have a solid opinion on NIL (name, image, likeness) that is currently going on in college sports, but what I can tell you, is I’m amazed that an incredible strong softball woman like NiJaree Canady was paid $1M to transfer from Stanford to Texas Tech, that is saying something about women’s sports and how our society is turning to want more of this!
I am personally grateful for sport giving me the opportunity to learn how to lift weights. As this is one of my favorite ways to exercise.
Resistance training has huge benefits for mental health by reducing depression; social health, which improves confidence; and physical health that improves bone health!.
Personally for me, it also reduces my daily aches and pains, improves my Golf Game, makes playing with my kids highly enjoyable and makes it easy to say yes to big and small adventures.
On the flip side there is this
This is showing how women in sport and exercise science research is lacking. Yes, there are many articles looking at both men and women at the same time. However it cannot be understand that
“WOMEN ARE NOT SMALL MEN”
this phrase coined by Dr. Nieca Goldberg, M.D., leading cardiologist in womens heart health
Which means, we need to do research on WOMEN! Yes, this will take more time, money and effort because men have a 24 hour hormonal cycle and women have a “28-35” day hormonal cycle. And that varies widely!
So when we talk about “what is best for women in sport and exercise at different seasons in life?” The truth is, we don’t have a concrete answer, because we don’t have a solid baseline/foundation.
So this is WHY I often want women to learn what works best for them at their season of life. What can they stick to. What motivates and drives them to KEEP MOVING?
So they can keep playing on this Earth as long as they like. So they can add LIFE TO THEIR YEARS, not only years to their life.
I want to end by saying, I hope wherever you are on this journey, whether or not you identify as an athlete, there is a movement that you can find that can move you.
Movement is for every BODY. You do not have to be on a team, but I invite you to find what inspires you to push yourself gently out of your comfort zone.
If you need support with that, this is what I support my coaching clients explore.
Finding what moves you in each season of life, that respects your energy, your medical diagnosis, your schedule and priorities is top priority. Each season of life you CAN move. It is about finding what you can focus on that will give you what you need.
Keep moving my friends! and if you want to learn more.
Let’s connect and Send me an email!
Happiness with Motion,
Coach Lisa
