So this past Thursday we had another day out of class...I have to say I love these random holidays that Smith gives its students - First mountain day and now Otelia Cromwell Day. Mountain day is merely some random day when the president decides that the weather is beautiful and all the girls should go into the mountains and play...although this year the weather sucked. Otelia Cromwell day is a celebration of the first African American graduate of Smith College. This year we had a host of events - a panel speaking covering the topic "Dialogue across Culture" with two amazing women, Majora Carter and Luma Mufleh, and some other topic speakers such as "understanding white privilege." I had the pleasure of attending the panel speaking and although I have heard the story of Luma Mufleh many times before throughout class this semester, I was even more inspired seeing her in person both in the panel and in class for a more intimate discussion this morning. Her story is amazing.
After meeting her today I realized that she is truly a phenomenal woman. She is humble in character, and she believes in everything she does. As a coach, I admire her and I aspire to have the impact on just one person's life as she has in the lives of all her athletes. In my philosophy and ethics class we had to write what we considered our personal coaching philosophy to be. I thought I would attach an excerpt from what I wrote:
"When I think of myself as a coach, I envision myself being a mentor, teacher, role model and friend to each and every one of my athletes. Coaching is more than just being a leader of a team. To me it is developing the whole athlete both on and off the court. It is helping and teaching the athlete the rules of the sport as well as in life. I look to be an inspiration to my athletes and not someone who simply acts as a dictator everyday. I want to be able to provide hope that with hard work and belief in oneself, most anything can happen. It is not always about having the most talent, but sometimes about having the biggest heart and the want to achieve greatness. I love my sport and I want to share that love with my athletes. I am in this to teach what I know to make my athletes the best that they can be."
In the coming years my philosophy may change but this is what I stand by now. Just as Luma has inspired her kids as well as myself, I want to have that impact on others. I guess it's safe to say I want to change the world...so I'll start one person at a time and I'll use the one thing that has been a constant in my life since as far back as I can remember...track and field.
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