BRANDI CHASTAIN

brandi

Brandi Chastain Celebrates after 1999 World Cup Win

Eva and I got to eat dinner with Brandi Chastain. No really! I was the emcee for the Salute to Champions dinner for women’s athletics at the University of Nevada and so they sat us right next to Brandi for dinner. So what?? you ask!! Ok so soccer isn’t exactly America’s favorite pastime and Monday Night Soccer 20121109-112950.jpgwill likely never be aired on a network. But sports heroes, from any sport, are my kind if heroes. And Brandi is one of the all time greatest in her sport. And she’s a really cool chick as well. She fully engaged Eva in conversation, even pulled out her iPhone to show us pictures of her 6 year old son, Jayden. During her speech, she had lessons on competing, celebrating (remember she made celebrating famous for ripping off her shirt after winning the

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 World Cup game against China) and not giving up on people. But the lesson that struck the deepest chord in me was about communication. During one of the World Cup games, Brandi accidentally shot a goal in the wrong goal!! Right after, her teammate Carla came running up to her and said, “Don’t worry about it. We are going to win this game and you are going to be a big part of that win.” Well they did. 3-2. And Brandi ended up scoring the final goal. But her game could have gone horribly wrong had her teammates blamed her for giving the other team a point. Her head could have been hung low by her teammates instead of held up high. Communication is so life changing. We don’t realize how powerful it can be. I think about all the times Eva spilled milk at the dinner table and I got on her case for making a mess. Wouldn’t the situation have been better handled had I said, “Let’s clean up the mess and try again tomorrow night. I believe in you.” How many times do we communicate negatively and gotten nowhere. When we encourage instead of dispirit the only option is improvement. Words may not break our bones but when used wisely they can actually make us stronger. Thank you, Brandi Chastain, for communicating that to me.

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