Courage, as defined by my fortune cookie

When we're full with Kung Pao chicken, sweet and sour chicken, rice, dumplings and lo mein, we each open a fortune cookie. We have a belief in our household that fortunes don't necessarily belong to the opener of the cookie, just somebody at the table. So once we've all read the fortunes aloud, it's an unspoken tradition that we decide who gets which fortune. Tonight, this was mine, and it was applicable in two ways:
Courage is the mastery of fear--not the absence of fear.
1. After dinner, I was scrolling through Twitter and saw that a former teammate of mine had just committed to Florida State to play soccer. So, my dad asked me if I was still okay with my decision to not play soccer in college and to quit. Looking back on the decision, there were two sides to me. The first and more dominant side was the one at complete peace with the situation. During a tournament in Colorado, I had just scored my dream goal and as I came off the field, I no longer envisioned myself playing in the upcoming season. It was also exciting to think of my weekends not being filled with 10 hour bus rides and Jason's Deli box lunches. The other half of me was freaking out. I had been playing soccer for as long as I could remember. I didn't know life without it. Like I said, Freaking Out.What if I miss soccer in a month? What if my dream school calls me right now offering me a roster spot? What will my teammates think? How am I going to tell my coach? Even though I knew this was what I wanted, it was still so hard. And I was so emotional. On the phone call with my coach, my tears got so bad that I had to secretly put myself on mute so I could blow my nose without him hearing. Through the blurry eyes and raspy voice, I made it through. There are still moments where I want nothing more than to train with my favorite coach and ex-teammates, but overall I'm very happy with my decision. I faced my fear of the repercussions of quitting, and so far I haven't looked back.
2. My friend just texted me, "a fattie spider crawled in my bed and I can't find it!!" This right there is courage. HE STARTED LOOKING FOR THE SPIDER IN HIS BED.
I can make tough, life-changing decisions, but if I were in his situation, I would have been out of that room so fast and would have been sleeping on the couch for a week. I don't know where he landed with the spider situation, and he hasn't responded for a few minutes. For all I know he's convulsing on his floor with a spider bite in his arm. But at least he looked. And I think that's what courage is about.

A Swimmer's Body

I want to start by saying that most older teen female swimmers HAVE bodies. They have hips, thighs, butts, breasts, shoulders and some curves. They have confidence. Looking like a string bean is out. Looking and being strong and powerful is in.

This a big change for me as a former high school and college distance runner. I am short (good for a distance runner) but more solidly built than a toothpick. For most distance runners, it really is a case of “less is more.” For years my coaches bugged me about losing weight, so I would be faster.

Back to swimming. Swimmers who are training hard eat a LOT. Not junk. But high quality calories—carbs, fats, proteins. That tremendous caloric output during heavy training has to be matched by a healthy caloric intake. Anna eats dinner #1 around 5:00 pm for her 6:00 pm practice. She gets home around 8:30 pm, showers, and then has dinner #2 which is more like a heavy snack. It usually involves some fruit, peanut butter, or leftovers from dinner #1.

So yes, women swimmers have women’s bodies. They are expected to train, to eat well, and to swim their fastest. Swimmers have broad shoulders and strong bodies, and those are something to be admired because they represent dedication and hard work.

Mom, I Love Cross-Country

"Mom, I LOVE cross-country." Ok. Wow. I'm going to take a little detour here because I know Dragonwing sells sports gear for tween and teen girls, but today I'm going to write about my 7th grade son. D is an avowed "nerd." He swam in the past because I made him and he could see his friends, but it wasn't something he embraced. Most of his summer activity was whatever was going on at summer camp, summer swim, and watching Netflix. He joined the (no-cut) middle school cross country team this past week. I want to note that the North Carolina weather has been high 90s with high humidity all week. On the second or third day of practice, he hopped into the car after practice dripping sweat with a bright red face. I braced myself for the complaint. "Mom, I LOVE cross-country." Pause. Deep breath. Inside, I was jumping up and down. "What do you like about it?" "I don't know, it's fun. We ran through the woods today and picked apples. The trails are fun and it was shady." I'm delighted. Beyond happy. Because everything we know about why sports are good for girls also applies to boys, especially the slightly nerdy, not your-typical-jock boy. Over the course of the cross-country season, D is going to benefit from teamwork, hard work, camaraderie, seeing his own times (hopefully) improve, and understand that running, as with almost any sport, can be a lifetime pursuit. And the beauty of running is its simplicity. As humans, we were designed to move and to run. It's in our DNA. I'm glad D is literally following in my footsteps. But even more importantly, I'm hoping he has found his "sport." His go-to activity when he's having a bad day or needs to work off some excess stress. The "runner's high" is real. A long time ago, I wrote that no matter how bad a day was, as long as I completed my run, it was a good enough day. For D, I'm hoping this cross-country season is the season where he discovers the joy of sports.

Back to School--A Parent's Perspective

Following on Emma's post about returning to school, I thought I'd write about "Back to School" from one parent's perspective. My absolute favorite thing about summer is no homework. Zilch, nada, zero. Summer evenings are less tense because we are out of the "get your homework done, eat dinner, go to swim practice, shower, go to bed" frenzy. On the other hand, the kids were binging on Netflix and made it to the seventh season of Supernatural. I am not proud of that. I LOVE back to school shopping--all that promise with clean binders, new pens, folders, and the promise of a new school year. Everything is bright and new, and as Emma said, the kids seem genuinely glad to see their friends for the first few days. A few months later, extraneous papers will trail out of my son's binder and he will have lost several assignments, never to be found. And as much as I love a lazy week, I'm also glad we're back on some sort of routine though waking up is a bit tough. By 10 am I'm ready for lunch. However, never underestimate the power of a good power nap. This year Anna has "Emotional Health," which I believe is a form of meditation often leading to a midday snooze. And now that we're back in a routine, my job search is kicking into high gear. My previous freelance gig terminated in July, so it's now time for me to hit the ground running, resume in hand. In summary, I have mixed feelings about back to school. I'm glad the kids have structure to their day, and they are being challenged by their teachers. I don't like being the "homework police" so I'm trying to get out of that job and let my son bear the consequences. We'll all get used to the early mornings and if not, Labor Day is just around the corner!

February 14: Happy Birthday, Candice Wiggins!

 

 

Happy birthday to Candice Wiggins, the former Stanford University starting shooting guard and current Minnesota Lynx player! During her college career, she was a three-time Pac-10 player of the year and a four-time All-American player (she is one of only seven female players to be named All-American four times). She also won the Wade Trophy, given to the best NCAA Division I player, her senior year.

March 17: Happy Birthday, Mia Hamm!

Happy birthday to Mia Hamm, "the most important athlete of the last 15 years". Named the FIFA World Player of the Year twice, Hamm has won two Olympic gold medals- and one silver- and, with her UNC teammates, four NCAA National Championships. Besides that, she and the U.S. women's national team placed first in the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup and third in the 2003 World Cup. Furthermore, the iconic soccer player established the Mia Hamm Foundation after her brother died of aplastic anemia, a blood disease that can be cured via a bone marrow transplant. The charitable organization seeks to raise funds for, and awareness of, those people who need bone marrow or cord blood transplants.

March 29: Happy Birthday, Jennifer Capriati!

 

 

Happy birthday to Jennifer Capriati, former world number one female tennis player. Capriati began playing tennis professionally in 1990, when she was fourteen, and became the youngest player ever to be ranked in the world top ten that same year. Besides her numerous successes as a top-ranked player, Capriati also holds the distinction of being the lowest seed to ever win the Australian Open when she won the 2001 title.

April 6: Happy Birthday, Janet Lynn!

 

 

Happy birthday to Janet Lynn, Olympic bronze medalist and five-time U.S. figure skating champion. Lynn skated her first exhibition performance at age four and, at age eleven, became the youngest skater ever to pass the eighth, and final, United States Figure Skating Association test. Besides that, Lynn was one of the first female figure skaters to perform the triple salchow and triple toe loop jumps in competitions, pioneering a style of skating that would be emulated for years.

April 6: Happy Birthday, Sun Wen!

 

Happy birthday to Sun Wen, undoubtedly the best Chinese soccer player in the world. Often compared to Mia Hamm, Sun Wen won the 2005 AFC Women's Asian Cup, as well as both the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball at the 1999 Women's World Cup.

April 8: Happy Birthday, Carla Overbeck!

 

Happy birthday to Carla Overbeck! The star central defender played college soccer for the UNC Tar Heels, who won the NCAA Women's Championship each year Overbeck played on the team. She was also a member of the U.S. team that won the first FIFA Women's World Cup in 1991 and was one of two U.S. players to play every minute of every one of the team's games in the 1995 Women's World Cup, 1996 Summer Olympics, and 1999 Women's World Cup.

April 19: Happy Birthday, Candace Parker!

 

 

Happy birthday to Candace Parker, star player on the Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team, winner of the 2007 and 2008 NCAA Championships. Parker now plays for the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks, was voted Favorite Female Athlete at the 2009 Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards, and is the second WNBA player to dunk in a game.

May 16: Happy Birthday, Olga Korbut!

 

Happy birthday to Olga Korbut, the Belarusian who has won four Olympic gold medals! Korbut has also won two Olympic silver medals and was the first gymnast inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 1988. The Korbut Flip is named after her.