How I Spent My Day

Remember when social media first started to become popular and people started posting on Facebook every little thing they did?  Like folded laundry, took a shower, went to the gym... nothing really out of the ordinary, usual everyday kinds of things?  Like today, my brother just re-posted his first Facebook post of each month of 2019.  How four people liked that is beyond me.  Or remember when AOL Instant Messenger had "Away Messages" that would automatically get sent back to anyone who wrote you because you were away from your computer?

One time in college, I had an "Away Message" up that was a quote from the band "3 Doors Down."  Here's a YouTube link to one of their hits, "Here Without You," in case you need a refresher. I don't remember the quote I used, but it was probably from this song.  Anyways, I had their quote as my away message and I probably didn't have proper punctuation to identify it as a song because my sister called me at 2AM and when I sleepily answered from my own bed in my dorm room, she asked "Who lives 3 doors down from you that you're spending all this time with?"  Ha!

Anyways, now that you are reflecting on all the simple things you used to post on your own social media or the things that annoy you when you read them from others, I'm going to tell you how I spent my day today. An Abby Play-By-Play for your reading enjoyment.  I'm sure you all want to know.

Today is Monday, December 16th.  I woke up around 7:30AM, before my alarm.  I usually don't need my alarm to wake up, so today was no exception.  I have Mondays off and was excited that I had signed up to watch the Breakthrough Summit, a digital leadership conference for women in sports.  If you missed it, you can still watch the replay by signing up here.

LaChina Robinson and Jill Ellis

The Summit kicked off with introduction from ESPN Basketball Analyst LaChina Robinson (Twitter @LaChina Robinson) interviewing Jill Ellis Head Soccer Coach for the 2019 World Cup Champions US Women's Soccer  National Team.  I didn't plan to live tweet quotes from today... but then the inspiring quotes just wouldn't stop coming.  Coach Ellis talked about her career path, things coaches should consider as they work towards the top, her experience working with outspoken professional athletes in the current environment where women are voicing their opinions, loudly, about the inequalities in opportunity, pay, the workforce, and so many other areas.  My favorite quote from this interview was Coach Ellis saying "If I'm the same leader today that I was two years ago, I'm failing."  The value of personal growth is enormous, and I heard her loud and clear.

At this point, I got out of bed and made a bowl of Frosted Flakes with Almond Milk and some grapes which I enjoyed while watching the next portion of the Summit. LaChina had an interesting discussion with a panel coming from three different sports backgrounds.  Dr. Jen Welter (Twitter @jwelter47) is considered to be the first woman who worked in the NFL when she joined the Arizona Cardinals Coaching Staff in 2015 after a successful career as a Pro Footballer herself.  She said she called herself a 'Pro" because they didn't earn enough money for the "fessional" and that when her team won a championship following a 12-0 season, she got her first paycheck along with her championship ring. The check was for $12.  But she was paid to play her sport, football, and that was a big deal.

LaChina and Panel: Jen, Ginny, and Charmelle

Also on the panel was Seattle Storm co-owner Ginny Gilder (Twitter @ginnygilder) who I've previously written about here and who is an Olympian Rower.  What stuck out to me from Ginny's talk was how the Storm ownership group, Force 10 Hoops, initially came together to determine why they wanted to collectively purchase the Seattle Storm.  They wanted to support a team that the community loved, but they also wanted a platform to use to support the changes they saw necessary in the world.  After five years working with the team, I had never heard that story, and now I can't wait to hear more about it.

Third on the panel was Penn State Senior Associate Athletic Director Charmelle Green (Twitter  @charmelle44) who played college softball at Utah and was the only black female athlete on campus at that time.  She talked about her career path and about learning from your mistakes and using them for growth.  Carmelle is also the President-Elect of WeCoach who sponsored this event.  The Vision Statement of WeCoach is "recruitment, advancement, and retention of women coaches of all sports and levels."  Throughout today's event, data was presented showing that female coaches don't stick around as long as their male counterparts.  The data improves if the female coach was, herself, coached by a female coach.  The data also improves if females were asked as student athletes if they would consider coaching as a career after college - compared to those who were never asked to consider that path.  The data was presented in an online live Q+A chat during their lunch session by two of the later presenters.

It was at this point that I unfortunately had to head out for my appointment with my therapist because #mentalhealth.  In the car I listened to the presentation of Felecia Mulkey (Twitter @BaylorAcroCoach), Acrobatics and Tumbling Coach at Baylor University who discussed the process of developing a team culture using Dr. Bruce Tuckman's "Developmental Sequence of Team Development" model.  She uses boundaries, clearly defined expectations, and consequences paired alongside coaching staff congruency to make sure her team functions as a program.  I liked her discussion of how a coach can't really choose the culture of their team, the culture is what the team thinks it is and the coach can impact that culture with how they lead.  Then I had to miss some of the Summit, but it's going to be available in recorded form and I guarantee I'll catch up and watch WNBA All Star playing for the Connecticut Sun, Layshia Clarendon (Twitter @LayshiaC) because she's an awesome human being and I was bummed that I missed it today.

Betsy Butterick

Following mental health came physical health.  I made it to the gym in time to catch my old pal Betsy Butterick, The Coaches' Coach and Communication Specialist. (Twitter @BetsyButterick) with her presentation. What could be more motivating on the treadmill than watching Betsy demonstrating how easy it is to tangle up communications as she was instructed to make a PB&J sandwich.  Something so simple went horribly wrong in a memorable visual presentation.  I first met Betsy in 2007 when I worked for the Connecticut Sun and she worked for the Seattle Storm.  We were both doing laundry for our teams and there was a small group of us around the WNBA at that time who were around the same age, all hoping to find our paths in women's sports. She's paving the road for many behind her and elevating so many coaches with her work, doing amazing things.  We both participated in the Women's Basketball Summit which I wrote about here, and you can check out her latest work here!

I missed the next presentation and a half because I needed amped up music to deadlift, but then saw the second half of the data on women in coaching presented by Dr. Nicole Lavoi (Twitter @DrSportPsych).  Dr. Lavoi is the Director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport at the University of Minnesota, but what I did hear was a combination of optimistic room for growth and disbelief at the current status of the NCAA.  It made me sad to hear how few women hold higher up roles in NCAA Intercollegiate Athletics as well as coaching women's teams around the country.  Women in higher ranks will ultimately help women get the jobs in sports they aspire to have, so the future will hopefully have room for more female athletic directors. There are report cards grading athletic departments based on their gender hiring practices.  UConn doesn't look good with their D, but the shining light was seeing my college professor, Dr. Laura Burton, on the Tucker Center staff.  She was always pushing for improved gender opportunities 15 years ago.  I didn't know the Tucker Center existed, but I can't wait to read through some of their research in the upcoming weeks and finish watching her presentation.

LaChina and Holly Warlick

By now I had made it home for a late lunch... I'm sure you're wondering... chicken salad in corn tortillas, taco style. I was able to finish watching the last interview with former Tennessee Lady Vols Women's Basketball Head Coach Holly Warlick, who spoke highly of legendary Women's Basketball Coach Pat Summitt.  Holly's top quote was "You meet the same people on the way up that you do on the way back down, so treat people with respect."  She also gave the advice to young coaches that they really need to love what they're doing.  Coaching is a huge time commitment that requires you to sacrifice time away from your family, so loving it and having family support are essential.

Then I went to Target.

Overall, a pretty awesome day.  I really enjoyed the parts of the Summit I was able to watch and can't wait to fill in the gaps soon.  Hopefully they'll do a repeat next year.  What did you do ttoday?