Women and Sports: Handstands on Paddleboards – Where Trying is the Best Part

My English friend Jo Moseley and I met by chance as I looked for three international teammates to run with me in the Women Can Marathon in England in May 2018. Jo was a 53 year old English woman who had never run more than a 5K but was willing to try. I identified with her since we were the same age and her positivity spilled out the moment I met her the day of the race. Our other two teammates were in their early thirties and from two different countries. After accomplishing the 26.2 miles of hilly, beautiful countryside in the southwest region of England, with our other teammates, Jo and I kept in touch and communicating about her next adventure – learning how to surf.

Since I live and work in the middle of New York State where surfing isn’t an option, unless I drive to the ocean about four hours away, I envied her adventure of learning to surf. My brother surfed in the cold waters of Maine when he was eighteen years old; I wish he had taught me although his wet suit wouldn’t have fit! So it made sense for me to live vicariously through my friend Jo as she learned to surf this summer and then added the challenge of trying to do headstands on paddle boards after surfign! I think she is still trying to do one successfully in the cold sea water in the northern England.

Her adventuresome nature spiked my own interest to do some adventuresome sports. I ran in the Boston Marathon in 2017, zip lined this fall with 8 other women, skied the moguls one whole day when I was 17 on the ski slopes where I avoided them for years and learned to ice skate well after dating a hockey player! Thanks to my youthful spirit, I played safety in a powder-puff football game and tossed the coin at the Syracuse Sting Women’s Football team in Syracuse one night. I have learned that trying a new sport or adventure is the best part of sports.

After becoming an empty nester five years ago, my inner 17 year old female risk taker came over me and I created a division to my company called the Women’s Athletic Network to bring women entrepreneurs and business women together through sports to jumpstart their fiery youthful spirits and support female athletes. I am on the brink of planning quarterly events for my female followers to try new sports and adventures together. From white water rafting to ice hockey to tandem bike riding and more, hopefully women will join me on new adventures adding risk taking into their hearts to use as businesswomen in the New Year.