My daughter has always been a focused individual. I’ve described before her intense effort at learning to walk. Another example of her concentration has been her dedication to fitness and sports throughout her life.
She grew up with a big brother who loved sports. He played T-ball, then basketball, and she tagged along to all his games. She never enjoyed playing baseball of any sort, but she played volleyball and basketball as soon as she was old enough for her school’s teams in those sports. By that time, she’d played basketball with her brother for a couple of years, so unlike some other girls in her class, she knew which hoop she needed to shoot for.
One day—she probably wasn’t more than seven—we were talking about college and sports at the dinner table. The topic of athletic scholarships came up. When my daughter was informed that a kid could go to college for free on an athletic scholarship, she was ready to try.
“It doesn’t happen very often,” I said. “And you have to be really good at your sport.”
No matter—she was going for it. She got up from the dinner table and went outside to shoot hoops.
Through middle school, she threw herself into her games. Literally. She ended up on the floor frequently trying to block a shot. During one basketball game, I heard a sickening thunk as her knee hit the floor. I told her she had to wear her volleyball kneepads in her basketball games. My instruction lasted one game.
When she got to high school, we were out of town for the freshman volleyball try-outs, so daughter joined the cross-country team instead. She ran cross-country all four years of high school. And she played basketball for three years of high school as well. Plus, one year she played intramural badminton, and she threw herself on the ground in those games as hard as in basketball. I mean, really—who views intramural badminton as a competitive sport?
As it turned out, our daughter wasn’t good enough for an athletic scholarship to college. However, she walked on to the Georgetown crew team her freshman year, and she rowed all four years at Georgetown. She started her freshman year on the women’s open weight team, then shifted to the lightweight team for her later years. That lightweight team took silver at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association national championship regatta her junior year—a proud moment for daughter and her parents. Her involvement in rowing got her father to take up the sport as well.
Now, many years later, our daughter still runs, including races up to half marathons. She also rows competitively as a master’s rower at the Pocock Boat Club. One problem caused by the pandemic stay-at-home orders for her is that her team cannot row. She runs with friends while social distancing, but it’s impossible to row six feet away from your boat mates.
The exercise keeps her fit and healthy. But what is more important is that through her athletic endeavors our daughter has made great friends. She is still close to high-school friends from her cross-country team. College friends from rowing became roommates, and those women still get together regularly almost fifteen years after their graduation.
And also important is that athletics for her are a healthy stress reliever. She handles the pressure of a demanding job much better than I did at her age. And her ability to run off her worries (or row them off) are a big part of her success.
Today is my daughter’s birthday. We can’t be together because of the pandemic and the difficulty of traveling, but I think of her today and admire the woman she has become.
Happy Birthday to my daughter!
