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"Think of yourself as an athlete. I guarantee you it will change the way you walk, the way you work, and the decisions you make about leadership, teamwork, and success."- MBN |
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The best part: Women's sports are becoming
Sports are about love. Oh, they're about money too, and cheating and greed and gold medals and thin thighs, but today let's just think about the love part, the intersection of heart and body, self and other, dreams and reality. Here are a few things I love: I love turning on the television when I'm folding laundry and seeing a women's college basketball game, or soccer, softball, swimming, bowling, billiards, whatever. Nothing special -- which is the best part, that women's sports are becoming ordinary, expected, routine. I love swinging a golf club, then watching the ball fly. I almost don't care where it goes. It's just so beautiful up there, that tiny white moon orbiting, while back on earth I feel so deeply satisfied and impressed that I start dreaming, quite foolishly, of turning pro. I love the boys who wear jerseys with their heroes' names: Cooper and Swoopes and Weatherspoon. I love young female athletes like sixteen-year-old Cheryl Haworth, the strongest woman in the United States, who recently won the gold medal in her weight division (165+ pounds) at the national championships with her snatch of 115 kg (253.5 pounds) and clean and jerk of 140 kg (308.6 pounds!) I love old female athletes like my mother, Sarah, who long ago taught me how to swim and race and win, then recently took up scuba diving, and enjoyed it immensely until this winter when, off the coast of Jamaica, she had an asthma attack and near-death experience underwater, which did convince her to give it up, but almost gave me a heart attack, though later, talking about it with my brother, we realized that if we had had to tell people that our 75-year-old mother died scuba diving, it would have sounded so farcical -- and so emblematic of her adventurous life -- that eventually we might have been forced to laugh. I love the women who say, “We're worth more than this,” such as the nine golfers from Boston who were awarded $2 million because of discrimination by the Haverhill Country Club in October; and the WNBA players, who formed a union that helped them get better wages and benefits; and the U.S. soccer players, who successfully boycotted until they received not only the same wages as the men, but also part ownership of a pro league planned for next year. I love when athletes voice their vulnerability and confusion. “It was such an unbelievably emotional year,” said 19-year-old Martina Hingis of 1999. “I am stronger in parts, but I am weaker in others. I learned I don't want to be hurt, like I was by being booed in Paris. I did things I should not have done, but people make mistakes, especially at my age, when you feel you are so smart but in fact you are an asshole.” I love cycling, even when it's too cold outside so I haul my bike upstairs from the basement into the den and rig the frame onto the wind trainer then sit on the seat and pedal, going nowhere fast but happy as air cycles in and out of my lungs and sweat drips slippery onto the frame. I love the women who team up with men, and also compete directly against them, like pioneering skipper Dawn Riley, who entered the first fully coed crew in the America's Cup this year, and Rebecca Rusch, who competes in “the toughest race in the world”: the Eco-Challenge. This includes more than five days of whitewater paddling, lake kayaking, glacier trekking, technical climbing, horseback riding, walking, bushwhacking, and navigation -- at altitude and in blizzards, on almost no sleep. In December, Rusch and her Atlas Snowshoes/Rubicon teammates -- two female, one male -- traveled 250 miles across rivers, mountains, and rugged terrain in Patagonia, Argentina, and finished fourth: the first time a predominantly women's team finished in the top five. (April 9 and 10, 9-11 PM (ET/PT), Discovery Channel). I asked Rebecca what she loves about the Eco-Challenge. “I love the sheer absurdity of it,” she said. “You ask your mind and body to do the impossible, but somehow, it becomes possible. I love the crucial mental aspect of the race, and the amazing terrain we cover, the close bond formed with teammates, the confidence I gain each time. I am always amazed by the way my eyes are opened to myself, my team, the country we travel in and the sheer power of the human spirit.” So much to love, so little space in this column. One more thing: I love WeSweat.com, where we're raising interesting questions, like who female athletes are, and why our love matters. Which brings me to this question: What - and whom - do you love? For reprint permission contact the author, information below. To contact Mariah about her presentations, call 703/276-8323 or write to her at Mariah@MariahBurtonNelson.com Home © 2000-2002 Mariah Burton Nelson 2002
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