Fox Business Network Reporter Sandra Smith, a former track and field star, uses the skills she learned as an athlete every day in her career. Sandra tells us about how teamwork and achieving your personal best are as important as winning:
"Sports have helped test my physical and mental limits. Participating in track & field and cross country running since the early age of 7 helped discipline me in the classroom and make me agressive in the workplace. In track, your body and mind are constantly tested in a way that pushes you beyond what you knew you could do. On a track, on your own two feet, there's no one else to lean on, no one else to blame. And reaching a personal best time was always more important than winning."
"During a race, I would buck up and tell myself "I can do this", and push myself to the max. I brought that same mentality into the classroom. It helped me reach high levels in mathematics. My favorite subject was calculus. I love math, because there is always a clear answer. Same reason I love track and field: there is always a finish line. Fastest time wins. Later in my running career, at the NCAA Division 1 collegiate level at LSU, I became an Academic All-American. This achievement stood for so much. Mainly, it was the balance I had learned to maintain by having a hearty class schedule while traveling the country for one of the best track programs in history."
"And at the end of the day, while track and cross country do come down to a mental and physical test of oneself, no victory is possible without the support of a good team. The same applies to school and career. At Fox Business and everywhere my career has taken me, teamwork is essential to personal and professional development. I can not express enough how important sports were in helping me get ahead, and I believe that to be the case for girls worldwide. We need sports to make us aggressive, test our limits, boost our confidence, and teach us the strength of a good team. Girls can take lessons learned from sports and apply them in the real world. Sports helped make me a strong, disciplined, aggressive, and well-balanced woman. And for the sake of technology, science, and engineering around the globe, sports will help make many more girls, successful women in the workplace. Go team!"
I used to work with Sandra and I agree with her that competing in sports growing up prepares one for professional life. You learn how to compete and what it takes to be competitive and win.
I can tell you Sandra takes her experience in competition into her work. She was a pleasure to have on the team.
She has also been a terrific supporter of the 2 BigHearts Foundation, a foundation created to raise awareness of women's heart disease..
Posted by: Jim Clarke | February 18, 2010 at 04:05 PM