What Happens If I Pull Down His Pants?

Today, I played flag football–for the first time ever in life.
And, while I am no Curtis Martin (nor worthy to carry his gym bag), I didn’t do so bad, I must say.

Defense is the name of the game–and that was my game of choice. At the start of the day, I said “I can run and grab flags, but not so sure you want me receiving.” And that’s what I did. I ran…and tried desperately to grab flags. And I did! Admittedly however, I could have grabbed a few more if I wasn’t being timid. I was so concerned about reaching for some guy’s flag and accidentally grabbing…ummm…more than I should…that I probably let a few get by me that I shouldn’t have. Especially when I watched some of the male players–they were pretty aggressive with going after that flag (regardless if their opponent was a man or a woman). So next time, I will be too! 🙂

Rewind: The Darden Cup is a series of sporting (and non-sporting events/contests) that run thought out the school year. It’s a competition amongst the five sections: the section w/the most points wins. Today’s event was the second of the year (the first was softball, which I missed). And, yes, the illustrious Section B won the scoring points (our section won all 4 games–go B1 and B2!). It remains to be seen if we also won participation points (I think Section A had more).

Play: And now we’re back to the future.
But I’m done talking about flag football…

Only to say that, next time, I want to put myself in a position to be a receiver.
After both playing my first game and watching other women comfortably take on that role, I want to challenge myself to do that as well. And I must say, I’m a bit surprised that I immediately discounted my abilities (before the game even started!). I walked on to the field saying “I can’t catch so don’t throw to me.” And I automatically positioned myself as (and convinced myself that I was) “the girl that can’t catch”. What type of message does that send?? I never really tried. Furthermore, at one point during the game, I was open, so my teammate threw to me. And I probably could’ve caught that pass if I tried–but a) I wasn’t even expecting him to throw it my way and b) as soon as I realized he did, I assumed maybe he was throwing the ball away and didn’t REALLY expect ME to catch it so I didn’t do much.

The moral?

This translates off the field as well.
So many times we (women) discount our abilities at the door. We assume that someone else is better than us or smarter than us or more equipped to handle a certain job or responsibility and so we start to project that lack of confidence…and reinforce it…even if it’s not true.

Imagine what would’ve happened if I walked on the field (experience or not) and said “Even though I’ve never played, I know I’m athletic and I know I’m good. Let’s make this happen!”
I’ve done that before, so I know how that feels–it’s pretty awesome. And it works.

Yes, there’s something to be said for skill but I really do believe in mind over matter. If you tell yourself you WILL do something, I believe you will do it. And if you tell yourself you won’t do something (or that you’re not good at something, etc.), you won’t.

Ok…off to do some school work…