But I Wasn't an Athlete

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a sports fan. Starting with the San Antonio Spurs & San Antonio Stars as a little girl, sports have been a part of who I am. But I sucked at them. From pee-wee soccer to trying out to my middle school basketball team, I never excelled at the games. I wanted to be good. I wanted to be in the game, but my lack of hand-eye coordination & clumsiness decided I was meant to be in the stands. My family frequented Reds games growing up (I had my 12th birthday party at one). I was the only student at many lacrosse & softball games to cheer on my friends. I was one of the loudest in the stands when we won state in football my senior year. I was a high school sports fan. I was also a choir kid, a bit of a social outcast, and lived much of my childhood in my sister’s shadow (to no fault of her own) at a school where sports defined you.

During my junior year of college, when I realized I wanted to work in sports & took my first sports management class, I sat in a room full of current & former athletes. Everyone I talked to played something through high school. The only sports team I ever made was the 8th grade tennis team, where my tryout was to show up & say I wanted to play. I had just transferred schools, I didn’t know anyone and I felt so out of place. Every class I took talked about all the incredible transferable skills you learn as an athlete. From teamwork to time management, how to take criticism to standing up for yourself. Every professor would drill into us to talk about our athletic experience in interviews. So I started to tell myself: “But I wasn’t an athlete, so there’s no avenue for me in sports.” It was causing me a lot of anxiety about my future and it wasn’t healthy.

Me in my new Tim Duncan jersey!

So I tried to flip the script myself. I looked at my “fan perspective” as something that sets me apart in a good way. I’d go into interviews and explain that because I have always been in the stands, I am qualified to know what fans really want. I really believe this shift in my mindset is what lead me to my first real sports job, with the Cincinnati Reds. Now, four years & five sports jobs into this crazy career, I look back on those first sports management classes and laugh a little. In grad school, I am still in the minority of not being a former athlete, but I don’t feel embarrassed about it anymore. I might not have played sports in high school, but I found other ways to learn those same lessons & others too. Like in choir, we had to work in harmony to make the song sound good, the same way a soccer team needs to work together to score.

Now, I view my perspective as a superpower, not my kryptonite. So what if I wasn’t an athlete? I didn’t need to be to be successful in sports. And you’ll still catch me in the stands of every game I can!

Working Sneakerball for the Storm last season