One of my all-time favorite movies I've watched was on the Golf Channel (what a shocker) and really exemplifies myself and what drives me. It's a golf drama based on the life of former Tennessee State men's golf coach, Catana Starks.A former women's swimming coach, Starks takes over the newly formed men's golf team at Tennessee State, but she doesn't get the same support from the new athletic director that the other sports do. The scholarships she can offer aren't as good as some of her other colleagues. Good golfers are not pounding on her door to play at a school with a first-year golf program and first-year female head coach at an HBCU. On top that the athletic director has it out for her.
But despite all this, she still recruits and builds a full team of golfers - who she affectionally call "table scraps" - and wins the the Minority Collegiate Golf Championship.
Coach Starks battled many things, but the one big thing is something that women still face in the athletic world today: succeeding in a field dominated by men.
Fight for recognition is something females are still fighting for today. Fortunately we have some warriors who have already set the table for us and we met them tonight at a "Sports As A Classroom" panel sponsored by Harvard Business School. Our panel included, legendary Harvard women's basketball head coach, Kathy Delaney Smith, Harvard women's ice hockey head coach Katey Stone and a few of KDS former prestigious former players.
One of the first things mentioned by the moderator was over 80% of all current female CEOs played some type of sport. The reason was simple. Sports teaches important concepts we need if we are going to make our life a success. It teaches us teamwork and being a team player - a concept I take very seriously.Back in May, when an Associate Director of Athletics at Harvard commended me for being a team player, that meant the world to me. It means more than any award I could receive or anything could accomplish in my career. If I can make someone's job a little bit easier that's what I want to do. And that is exactly what life is about. It is about taking care of the people next to you - whoever they are.
Another thing sports teaches is a sense of resilience.We're all going to fail. We're all going to lose a game, but we don't stop playing. We "just keep going" no matter what we are faced with. Sometimes it is a hard challenge, but we keep pushing forward. Climbing the brick wall.
Current Massachusetts Attorney General and former Harvard basketball player Maura Healy spoke well on the subject of diversity and inclusion. When she mentioned that everyone brings something to the table, it made me think back to the13th hole of the fall ABCD get-togther of 2019.Our birdie was a total team effort. We used our D-player's perfect drive, then our B-player hit a perfect ball down the middle of the fairway, 100-yards out from the green. I, being the A-player, hit one of the best shots I've ever hit in my life and the ball nuzzled six inches from the hole.
We drive down to the green and as we are getting out of our carts I call out to our C-player, "you're putting this ball. I'm not taking my putter." Her and I were the only two who walked down to the green. She made the putt and completed one of the best team birdies I have ever witnessed. (Oh and yes we came in first place for low net.)
These are the things that made Harvard an incredibly rewarding experience. It's the people that you are able to meet and forge lasting relationships. It's why I was always taken aback and hurt when I heard others (out of respect I won't name names) said mean things about Harvard, and how in his mind "it did me wrong."
That really hurt. It was an experience not everyone gets in their professional lives, but more importantly it hurt because of all the amazing people I was able to meet and form friendships with. I'm growing up and wouldn't trade it for the world. I just have to build on it.I ended up walking back to the athletic complex parking lot with Crimson women's ice hockey associate head coach, Lee-J Mirasolo. It was pretty funny she's walking out the door behind me, on the phone, she says "I have no idea where I am." I yell back, not really expecting her to really pay attention, "turn left and you'll walk directly into the Stadium."
It was a good time and we had an enjoyable conversation back to the athletic complex.
