(49 Weeks)
There was that picture of me in my Yankees tee holding the baseball bat over my shoulder. But I was only posing then. I started taking tennis lessons when I was 5 or 6, but I don’t remember anything I learned that far back. I think the year I became an athlete officially was 1973. That spring, almost a year after the passage of Title IX, my dad signed me up for T-ball. He gave me a glove for my birthday and a practice T for my First Holy Communion.
In 1975, I added soccer to my repertoire. My mom wanted me to try cheerleading, which I did that same year. But when I didn’t make the “A Squad” that would be cheering for boys’ football, and was relegated to cheering for boys’ soccer, I decided I was a player, not a cheerleader.
The following year, I started playing rec basketball too and then represented MBS in the parochial school league during 7th and 8th grade where my height helped me gain some advantages and my dad instilled in me the importance of practicing free throws. One of my greatest athletic memories was hitting two foul shots with seconds on the clock to win the league championship over our rivals at Immaculate Conception.
After a family vacation to the Pocono Mountains in 1977 to try some downhill skiing, my parents realized I had a talent for that too and outfitted me with all the necessary gear. I started joining my friends almost every Saturday morning every winter at the Bergen County Park’s Campgaw Ski Area that was just a few miles from home.
I developed a love of soccer after I found my niche as a goalkeeper. I always loved playing in the dirt. The muddier the day, the better I played. I was fearless. Another memorable athletic achievement was one of the best games I ever played in goal at a Memorial Day tournament in Alexandria, Virginia. Despite a 1-nil loss to Reston, I had an incredible number of saves in a game we should have lost 10-nil. It was pouring rain the entire game.
In high school, I earned five varsity letters. Three for basketball. One for softball. And one for being the scorer/stat keeper for the boys’ soccer team. There was no girls team. I still played on a traveling team in Franklin Lakes in both spring and fall, and at the high school, the boys’ coach often let me practice with the boys. That’s where I got even better.
I was good enough to play in college, but ultimately decided on a college that didn’t have a women’s program. My parents stressed that academics were more important at this juncture and “it’s not like you’ll ever have an opportunity – as a girl – to play professionally.” It was 1983.
My freshman year, I volunteered to keep the stats for the men’s team and got to know the AD. I campaigned for the next few years for a women’s team and finally in my senior year had the honor of being the starting goalkeeper and captain of the inaugural La Salle University Women’s Soccer Team. We lost every game. But we were the first of what has now been 38 successful seasons.
But in all my glorious athletic achievements, do you know what’s the one thing I hated? That one thing I was constantly avoiding?
Running.
Did you really think this wasn’t going to include a fundraiser? It’s me. Of course it is! Over the course of these 60 weeks, I am hoping to raise $6000 for the children of Mercy Home for Boys & Girls (that’s just $100 a week!). To learn more about Mercy Home and my why, please visit my fundraising page. Thank you.
