WinningEdgeBasketball

I look forward to having the opportunity to meet with Robin Roberts from GMA in New York on Tuesday Nov.20,2007
This is special, more special at this time of year with thanksgiving coming. There is no greater gift in our lives to have graditude for what you love and to share with family and friends. By reading her book I know every person can strive to live a life of meaning. It's faith that embraces all kinds of people together. Here is my essay...enjoy!

When “Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts announced recently that she was fighting breast cancer, a knot formed in the pit of MaryKay Monaghan’s stomach. She felt as if she knew Roberts personally, even though her first meeting with the television star still was weeks away.

Monaghan, who lives in northern Hoffman Estates, had just finished Roberts’ new book, “From the Heart: Seven Rules to Live By,” an account of the lessons Roberts has learned in her transformation from college basketball star and ESPN commentator to morning talk-show host.

Monaghan was so moved by Roberts’ words that she entered the Robin Roberts essay contest through the Women’s Sports Foundation, which was looking for contestants to share the lessons they’ve learned through their involvement in sports.
Grand prize? A meeting with Roberts.
She found out during the last week of July that she won.

“She recieved a voice mail from The Womens Sports Foundation telling her that
she had won, and I just couldn’t believe it. I didn’t tell anyone for a while because I just didn’t think it could be true,”
said the 53-year-old Monaghan, mother of three boys and
a former elementary school physical education teacher who now runs traveling basketball programs
for boys and girls with her husband.
“I’ve never entered a contest like that, but it was really important for me to express what I felt about all the things I learned from sports.
“Each night, I’d sit up in bed and jot a few things down and then I put it all together.”
True to her roots in elementary education, Monaghan found a fun way to express herself.

I made points by using each letter of the alphabet. For instance, “A” was for the good attitude she learned to keep, and for the adversity she often had to face while playing sports. “B” was for how she learned to believe in herself. And “C” was for how I learned to be committed and confident.

Monaghan grew up playing sports in Chicago and eventually went to UIC on a scholarship for basketball and softball. She briefly was a free agent for the Chicago Hustle professional women’s basketball team of the late 1970s.

“I think your experiences can be your best teacher and I want to share them with the girls I coach,” Monaghan said.
“I don’t just want to be their basketball coach; I want to be their life coach.”

"7 Rules Sports Taught You" by MaryKay Monaghan
Essay written for Women in Sports Foundation - 2007

When I was growing up in Chicago, my three brothers were so involved in sports and my father was so involved as a coach with them. I had no choice but to love sports; I did. I was a tom-boy. I turned out to be the better of all three brothers. I would always play baseball or basketball with the boys in the neighborhood or at the Chicago Park District. We only came home to eat and sleep. I could hit a ball farther than some of the boys, and I was a fast runner. I always wanted to be a professional athlete, but back then chances were slim to none the opportunities for women. During my high school years my gym teacher, also a park district teacher, loved sports herself. She recognized my passion and talent for basketball and softball. She decided to start a team and organize sports like AAU basketball and softball team for girls. Organized sports for girls/women were limited. She was one of my best coaches and still is a special friend in my life.

All three of my brother's received college sports scholarships. I was very fortunate also to receive a college scholarship for basketball and softball. Back then, my dad did not encourage me or my two sisters to pursue a education, let alone for a girl to play sports. It was not lady-like, and old school.

I believe God blessed me with some natural talent. During my college years I knew I wanted to be a Physical Education teacher. I had just graduated college and was offered a secure job as a gym teacher with Chicago Park District. At the same time, they had just started a (WPBL) Women's Professional Basketball League called The Chicago Hustle coached by Doug Bruno. I was so excited to hear the news. I was invited to try out as a free agent. Thinking to myself, dreams do come true. This was my chance! After talking with my dad and discussing the pro's and con's the Park District job would take preference in my life than basketball.

I then swallowed my heart. I always put my heart and soul into playing the game. All those experiences on the court or on the diamond have been a big part of my life till this day and will never leave me.

Sports taught me life is a game... it’s how we handle the curve balls thrown are way and to face the challenges as best we can. We must believe to be as good as we can as a person first.

I can proudly share with you that all my time and hard work playing sports made me the person I am today. I am proud to be a inductee into the Chicago 16" Women's Softball Hall of Fame in 1978. It’s a great honor. I still play co-ed softball and I make physical activity/exercise a part of my life. The experiences I have learned through sports has taught me what it takes to live your life to the fullest each and everyday because there are no guarantee's in life, for tomorrow never comes we can only live in the
moment and give it all.

Rule 1
Have a Goal... short and long term. Write them down. Choose daily to improve spiritually, physically and relationally. These daily goals are reached by doing things which may not be comfortable at first but eventually will become habits. Habits are powerful things. Habits turn actions into attitudes,

and attitudes into lifestyles.

Rule 2
Adversity....How do I handle it? Do you let it beat you, or do you use it to make you better? Adversity can teach you more about yourself than any other success or title or award in life. It makes you discover the obstacles and things about your endurance and ability, to turn a negative into a positive.

Rule 3
Believe in yourself. Know that you have to work and earn it and continue to deserve it. You must take care of your beliefs. Make it easier to turn a mistake into a positive and share those rewards with one another.

Rule 4
Always make a commitment to improve. Develop daily discipline to work in specific areas and define your target; a way to know when you've achieved your desired results.

Rule 5
To take a first step toward change is acceptance and once you accept yourself, you open the door to opportunities. Change is not something you do, it's something you allow.

Rule 6
Take the challenge no matter how successful you believe yourself to be, you can never feel as if you've reached the end...it’s endless. There are always new and exciting challenges out there, and part of maintaining anything, is knowing when you need to accept them.

Rule 7
Have a relationship with God, family and friends in your heart. Make it your primary priority. We need to always stay focused on what really matters in life. We all have are own beliefs and interests that we call are own but we have to gather are strengths from the core. We are never alone. We have to develop a collective resolution and try to allow each other to be a part of what you do. It’s all about relationships and there is no other blessing bigger than a FRIEND.

In the silence between the noise, in the stillness between the motion, in the empty space between the world of things, is a present so beautiful so real. That if we opened it we would never want anything else.

Play it....From the Heart!

Robin Roberts:"From the Heart" Seven Rules To Live By From the Heart published by Hyperion Books 4/2007

Robin Roberts:"From the Heart"
Seven Rules To Live By
From the Heart published by Hyperion Books 4/2007