Role Models according to Meredith

Yes, You are a Role Model

Women’s sports and fitness has changed since I was a high school and college athlete, but we still have a long way to go for our young ladies. I love watching the growth in women’s sports, fitness, Crossfit, and all of the above. How empowering for women, how exciting for our young girls. These young girls can now see that it’s ok to be smart, genuine, kind, athletic, and last, but not least strong. Our culture is constantly showing young girls that it’s more important to be beautiful and sexy, but I want my daughters to realize that life is about so much more, that THEY are so much more. I mean look at the “role models” Hollywood produces…Miley Cyrus, (ughh) Lindsay Lohan, (really??), the Kardashian girls, (I mean come on!?). This is the best you have for our young ladies?! I want my girls to have role models like Kerri Walsh, Camille Leblanc-Bazinet, Mia Hamm, Misty May Treanor, and Jennie Finch. These women are strong, smart, talented, and beautiful.

I know that all of the athletes I listed above are amazing, but I also know that as a mom, I am the number one role model in my daughter’s lives. So how do I want them to see me? I want them to see me as a loving, giving, hard working, genuine mom who has struggles like anyone else. I want them to see me get stronger, to get sweaty, to get dirty, to try new things, to never give up on the task at hand. I want them to see me help others. I want my actions to speak louder than my words. I don’t work out to stay skinny, that’s not it at all. It’s not about being skinny, it’s about being fit. I do it to challenge myself, to see if I can be stronger or faster than I was yesterday, or the day before. I do it because I love it and I do it so my girls can see how much I love it. I do it because sometimes you need to de-stress. I do it for me. I do it because playing volleyball in high school and college was simply amazing and I would love for my girls to have something similar to look back on. I can’t tell you the score of a single game that I ever played in, but I can tell you how it felt to win, to walk away knowing you and your team came together and did the best you could. I can also tell you how it felt to lose, how I had to learn to become a gracious loser. I can tell you who my favorite coaches were (and still are) and who had the most influence in my life. I can tell you that young women need these role models, these coaches, they need us, their mom’s, to teach them how to push themselves to be strong. To be strong physically, but also mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. To be ready, ready for whatever may come their way.

So do my daughter’s play sports? Absolutely. I will encourage it until the day they graduate. Will they always? Maybe not. I hope that along the way they will have coaches and teachers that will inspire them, test them, push them, and make them better. I want them to want to be better than they were yesterday, to always learn and be open minded, to be confident, to be kind, to put others first. Finally, I want them to be strong because when your mind, body, and soul are strong, you can do anything. They can do anything, we can do anything. So mom’s, let’s get strong together. For our daughters, for our daughters’ daughters, and lastly, for ourselves.

Meredith Forkum