IGNITE Your Champion Body
Coaching is about modeling. It is about setting an example. Being the person someone can learn from by watching, listening, and conversing. Being a coach requires being in the limelight to show your girls that we all struggle with the same negative self-talk, the same tiredness, and the same flaws that make us beautifully unique. We use our bodies to show how beautifully imperfect we are and how the imperfections make our star shine bigger, brighter, and more radiant! In this episode of IGNITE, let’s discuss the ways we make our Champion Body the perfect coaching tool.
I have seen various personalities, various body sizes, and various levels of motivation throughout our GOTR practices. I am always joyful to hear a girl say, “I don’t run or do any sports. Do I have to run?” The beautiful thing about running is that everyone’s perception of “running” varies. We each have our own unique experiences, thoughts, and feelings on what running is defined as, how running feels, and what running looks like to us. Our bodies are uniquely designed to carry us forward. How we show our girls that our Champion Body can move forward at the best pace and in the best way it is designed to do, is in showing up and moving forward with them. We are designed to withstand a certain level of pain or discomfort. When our girls see us pushing through achy feet that we have already been on all day long, they see dedication. When our girls walk-and-talk with us, they learn about difficult surgeries or aging discomforts, and they see compassion. Our Champion Body is uniquely shaped, just like theirs. Our Champion Body has ailments and discomforts, just like theirs. Our Champion Body has good days and bad days, just like our girls. We set the perfect example for moving our Champion Body at its own pace, with its own limitations and comforts, achieving its own goals.
Many of us coaches would not describe or define ourselves as “runners.” I have run several half marathons, two full marathons, and an innumerable amount of 5Ks, and have days, seasons, and years that I do not call myself a runner. I have a friend who has run many half marathons and the same amount of 5ks as me, and she has NEVER called herself a runner. And, she has the absolute best story about finishing last in a race, telling the police escort he was fine to leave before she could see the finish line, determined to finish. As the popular athletic cliche says, “Running is 90% mental and 10% physical.” That’s why the ‘I CAN’ power really takes hold of our girls who come to practices as their best unathletic selves and finish not one but two 5Ks in a two month timespan. It is incredible that we set the perfect model of what a Champion Body can do with the right amount of ‘I CAN’ power to shine, regardless of body type, race, age, and ability.
My oldest daughter has played competitive soccer with the same coach for the last four years. We have had challenges and successes. Definitely at times, it feels there have been more challenges than successes. Definitely at times, we question our decision to try another year. Definitely at times, we see the hard work and the long season pay off with victories. Her coach sent us an article titled, Confessions of a Coach, with no known author. The whole piece beautifully states everything that is wrapped up into the gift of being a coach. This excerpt reminds me of us GOTR coaches:
Coaching isn't about being perfect.
It's about being present.
It's about caring enough to have the hard conversations.
It's about loving kids enough to hold them accountable.
It's about building something bigger than a scoreboard.
And maybe someday, long after the trophies are packed away and the seasons are over, you'll realize that the coach you thought was "too hard" wasn't trying to make your life difficult. They were trying to make sure you were ready for life when it got difficult.”
That’s what being a GOTR coach is about- assisting with friendships, breathing through hard conversations, battling negative self-talk, caring enough to be vulnerable with our own insecurities with running. We are runners. We are walkers. We are joggers. We are motivators. We are cheer leaders. We are cheer followers as we are the last one across the finish line, setting the example that we do hard things with our Champion Body too! We are the perfect model of what a Champion Body can do when we persevere through the surgeries, pregnancies, and injuries. When we champion through the negative self-talk, the mental fatigue, and all of our flaws, our girls see the Champion within each of us!
RESOURCE LIST TO IGNITE YOUR CHAMPION BODY:
Bodies Are Cool by Tyler Feder
Every Body is Different by Miriam Moore-Keish
Get Out of Your Head by Jennie Allen