Bunmi Akinnusotu sets her sights on sports for life
As a child, I was always the girl who jumped fences, ran through mud and loved competing against boys. Hoping I would become a little more “girly” and less physical, my mother enrolled me as a ballerina. She soon realized that while ballet kept me engaged, its pace was not a fit for my active and energetic personality. Through sports, I was surrounded by inspiring and incredibly respected coaches and mentors, I developed a healthy perspective what it meant to be a woman, and I gained important leadership skills that helped me become a successful woman. While I no longer jump fences and run through mud, I am still drawing on my experiences as an athlete to take me through life.
I was first introduced to the idea of being an athlete when I was 12 years old by an aunt who was an NBA fanatic. We would dream about how amazing it would be to play in the WNBA. Though I never made it to the WNBA, basketball would be my first love and the beginning of my athletic career–volleyball soon followed. In high school, Ruth “Dudy” Plante, convinced me to continue to play volleyball and invested significant amounts of resources and patience in my growth. During the summer time, I would play pick-up games or in leagues at the YWCA in Woonsocket in order to stay in shape.
Because of coaches like Dudy, who left no room for excuses, demanded excellence in and outside of the classroom and held high standards, I excelled as a high school athlete. My success eventually led me to play at Bryant College under Ted and Teresa Garlacy. Ted and Theresa, like Dudy and other coaches demanded nothing but my best, were advocates for academic and athletic excellence, and taught me how to persevere when times were hard. Throughout my athletic career, there were adults who brought out the leader in me and taught me about life in ways that I couldn’t have learned any place else. This is why it is important for girls and young women to be involved with sports.
Beyond the health benefits, sports is an avenue to failures and victories that reveal some of life’s greatest lessons that create dynamic leaders. Whether it was managing personalities as Team Captain or losing to a team that should have been beaten, sports forced me to look inward for ways I could make tough situations better, inspire my team, and move on. Girls and young women have a lot to gain if they learn early on how to be reflective, persevere and lead during good times and bad. As a growing teenage girl or maturing young woman, our sense of self can often be tested by internal and external pressures. Fortunately though, being an athlete can help provide a safe space to be yourself and stay positive.
Young girls and women who play sports also develop healthy ways of understanding and navigating womanhood. There are stigmas for being a female athlete: your femininity and sexuality are questioned, your intelligence is assumed to be pretty low, and if you’re a woman of color your racial and/or ethnic authenticity might be called into question if you’re playing particular sports. As an athlete, your coaches and teammates are focused on nurturing and developing your talent. On and off the court, you’re encouraged to be your best self for you and for your team. And because girls are around other athletic women, they can relate to one another’s challenge and be a positive source of strength. When girls are able to use their energies into developing themselves and those around them, it becomes a little easier to embrace their own femininity and become the woman they were born to be.
Sports presented a world of amazing women and men who have mentored and guided me on and off the court. Personally and professionally, being an athlete left a lasting impact on how I support my community. Every team I played for, participated in some form of community service. I always felt I should support my community because someone supported me. As an adult, this still holds true in my life and my career path reflects my commitment to making this world a better place to live for everyone. Sports, for me, provided important life lessons, helped shaped my career and created lifelong friendships. And while I may be in heels and I may wear more dresses, I’m still the energetic tomboy at heart and proud of it.
Bunmi Akinnusotu was born and raised in Providence and attended middle and high school in Woonsocket. She graduated in 2003 from Bryant College and became an Americorps volunteer for a domestic violence agency in suburban Chicago. Later, she started her career as a corporate fundraiser for the United Way Metro Chicago and YWCA Metropolitan Chicago. Akinnusotu was an active community member in Chicago and supported organizations like YWCA, Urban League and Young Chicago Authors. She’s currently enrolled as a graduate student at Columbia University where she is studying Education Policy and International Development. Akinnusotu credits her coaches and mentors for her successes.
photo courtesy of Bryant University
