Women Who Inspire: Celebrating Women's History Month

March opens a celebration of Women's History Month, a time to honor the incredible achievements of women in various fields. It's a reminder of the strength found in their stories and the barriers they've broken, especially in sports. Join us as we explore the journeys of inspiring women athletes like Wilma Rudolph, the first American woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympic event, and Simone Biles, who pushed boundaries in gymnastics while advocating for mental health awareness. 

We delve into how their journeys reflect resilience, determination, and courage, encouraging all of us to find the motivation to pursue our dreams despite obstacles. This episode offers rich insights into the past and present while inspiring future generations to chase their aspirations. Together, let's honor those who paved the way and support those currently making strides in various arenas. 

Join the conversation and reflect on the women who inspire you! Don't forget to subscribe, share, and leave a review to help us spread the word about the incredible contributions women make to our world every day.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction and Overview of Women's History Month
• 20:00 Stories of Inspirational Women in Sports
• 40:00 The Meaning of Resilience and Courage

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome to Sisters in Service podcast. Most of you know me as a strong advocate for women veterans in being recognized not only as veterans but also as women who are changing the world through our passion of serving even after service. This podcast is my passion by telling all the stories of military brats, military spouses, active duty and veterans, not to forget the veteran service organizations that help us along our transition journey. I want to thank you in advance for listening. I hope that you will join me. Every week, a new podcast and episode comes out every Tuesday, so I hope that you will join and I hope that you enjoy. This podcast is brought to you by Small Space Pilates. Are you ready to get fit and fabulous from the comfort of your own home? Look no further than Small Space Pilates. With live online Pilates and strength training classes, a video library and a no perfection allowed policy, you can achieve your fitness goals without ever leaving your house. Click on the link for your complimentary week and start your journey to feeling fabulous today. Hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of why Not Wellness. I am your host, kat Corchado, of why Not Wellness. I am your host, kat Corchado, and this month is March. I'm glad to see March. There's going to be more daylight, there's opportunities, you're going to see things blooming and birds singing, and the weather starts to get warmer and more daylight, thank goodness. What I also want to celebrate this month is Women's History Month, because we are freaking fabulous and I think we need more than a month, but you know month's a good start, right? So let's talk a little bit about how Women's History Month started and why it's important. So Women's History Month started as a local celebration in Santa Rosa, california, the Education Task Force of the Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women planned and executed a Women's History Week celebration in 1978. I know way, way back. The organizers selected the week of March 8th to correspond with International Women's Day. The movement spread across the country as other communities initiated their own Women's History Week, celebrating the following year year. So let me start off by saying that I want to tell you how I got started. Well, what got me thinking about not so much fitness, but just in sports in general? So what I want to do this whole month is celebrate women's history for sisters in service, which would be women veterans, or women who were in the military and why not? Wellness is going to be women who have made history in sports in some form or fashion. But you might be surprised to know that the one person that how can I say this I was in awe of is not a woman. I know, weird, right, it's a man. Hear me out.

Speaker 1: 3:38

So, back in the day, I have been watching the Olympics since 1960. Not sure I knew what I was watching, but it's OK, I enjoyed it. I thought it was exhilarating, and every time someone get on that podium I was like, oh, it's great, I love this. But it wasn't until I saw Bob Beeman, who participated in the 1968 Mexico Olympics, mexico City Olympics. So he participated in the long jump and I believe he was the last person to go in the final round and I believe he had scratched twice. What scratches? What that means is that when you start to jump, you have one step. If you step over the line, you're just not disqualified. But you don't get that. That jump doesn't count. I don't care how. The tension was pretty fierce.

Speaker 1: 4:44

So Bob Beeman took off on this last ditch effort. So think about this. Everyone's watching you. You have one opportunity to make the stand the gold medal, silver medal, bronze medal, stand or not. He starts to run, he lands and he actually it was a world record 29 feet two and a half inches. Now that doesn't mean a whole lot to you, right? I get it.

Speaker 1: 5:28

So before Bob Beamon, the world record was held by a gentleman named Ralph Boston from the United States. He set a record of 27 feet 4.75 inches. Feet, 4.75 inches. Bob Beeman takes off and does 29 feet 2.5 inches, which shattered the previous record by over 55 centimeters, or 21.75 inches. Now, why is this significant? When he took off, I held my breath, why and I had to take a breath because I probably didn't take a good breath he jumped so far that it was almost out of the pit for anyone who's run track and field and it was a record. Here's the thing that's amazing the record stood for 23 years and it was broken by Mike Powell in 1991. And it was broken by Mike Powell in 1991. That started me wanting to be in sports. I thought what did he do to do that? I want to do that and I did. Eventually my career was pretty much running more than the field part of track and field. But that's where this started and which gradually went into the fitness field where I've been for the last 40 years.

Speaker 1: 7:01

So, with that said, let's talk about Women's History Month for just a second and celebrating it. It's important to celebrate all women, not just because we're honoring the past. It's about inspiring the future. It's a time to reflect on the trailblazing women who broke barriers and shattered ceilings, who dared to dream and had the courage to act. That last sentence had the courage to act. We all have these, wouldn't that be great? And we go, oh, and then we immediately start disqualifying ourselves oh, I can't, I don't have time, nothing will come of it. People make fun of me. No one's ever done it before. Blah, blah, blah. Have the courage to act.

Speaker 1: 8:00

Celebrating Women's History Month is about recognizing the strength, resilience and determination that women have shown throughout history and how these qualities continue to shape our world today. Because they do. This is a testament to the battles fought and the victories won. Just because a woman was the first time to go and do anything doesn't mean that she won at it. She attempted it and then later came back and maybe won, kept competing, whatever that was, but it's that resilience that I want to do this again. It's a testament to the battles fought, the victories won and the milestones achieved in the quest for gender equality. That's huge. There was a time, for those of you who are in my age group, where women were not allowed to compete in sports, even in college, which is where title nine came about, because it was equal if you gave it to the guys, you had to give it to the girls teams. Thank goodness for title nine. Oh, oh see, I got all. It's a time to remember that every right we enjoy today was once a privilege denied. It's a reminder of how far we've come, but also of how far we still have to go.

Speaker 1: 9:30

But the most important part of this is about inspiration. Who inspires you? Who inspires you to start crafting? Who inspires you to start doing that thing that you've dreamed about doing? Who's the person that you look up to? It might be someone and I'm going to pick fitness because I'm a fitness person. Do you ever see someone who's in the gym all the time and they look unbelievable and you think, oh, I want to look like her, I want to be motivated like her. Go talk to her, find out her story, because, believe me, she probably didn't start there.

Speaker 1: 10:10

It's the stories we see the end result. Oh, that person's so good at business. That person's so successful as an entrepreneur you don't know their story, where they started from, where they are now, how long they take them. We say, oh, it's overnight success. Well, if 40 years is overnight success, I guess so was overnight successful. If 40 years is overnight success, I guess so. The stories, and that's what we're talking about. It's about inspiration, but it's about the stories of women who refuse to be defined by their circumstances, who women in the sports arena who I feel are near and dear to my heart.

Speaker 1: 11:03

Number one Wilma Rudolph. She was in track and field and she won I don't know a gazillion medals in the 1956 and 1960 Olympics. Wilma Rudolph was considered the fastest woman in the. She became the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field during a single Olympics game. Think about that for a second. The first time to ever, first American, first woman, three medals. She inspired me. I read about her story. The second person who I find inspiring is Simone Biles.

Speaker 1: 12:03

Now, what you may not know about me I am five foot 10 and I competed in gymnastics. Yes, I competed in gymnastics. Yes, I did. I had a gymnastics career, not Simone Biles' gymnastic career, let's make this clear. But here's the thing. People say, oh, you're too tall. But no one told me that. So I said, okay, let me see, can I do this Now? Could I do this now? Could I do balance beam? Oh no, can you imagine five foot ten on that? No, I did it. I competed a few times when I was when it was necessary. But man, that four inches of beam, look, it might as well not exist when you're five ten looking down at it. But yes, I was a gymnast and I've been watching Simone Biles for a long time and by now everyone knows who Simone Biles is. But Simone Biles is one of the greatest and most decorated gymnasts of all time. She has a combined total of 30 Olympic and World Championship medals. Now let's pull back for a second. We see the end result Wilma Rudolph, first American woman, three medals over two Olympic Games. Simone Biles most decorated gymnast of all time.

Speaker 1: 13:37

How do you think they got there? Do you think they had bad days? Sure, did they have competitions where they were less than what they wanted, absolutely. But look at the perseverance. Look at what they had to go through to get there. Look at what Simone Biles had to go through when she had what they call the. I call them the swirly, she calls it something else. I've been on those uneven bars and if you don't know where you are in space and you can't find the floor, that is the most dangerous thing ever.

Speaker 1: 14:19

I had the utmost respect for Simone Biles when she pulled out of the Olympics and said I can't do this. But everyone was like you need to compete and she took so much heat and I applauded her. I still applaud her for what she did, because if more people realized that it's not worth your life and, believe me, it could have cost her not only her gymnastics career but her life if she had not pulled out. But both of these women had meets where they didn't place. They had meets where they may have been hurt and couldn't compete which is the worst thing, by the way, but look at what happened because they persevered.

Speaker 1: 15:16

So I'm saying this in the why Not? Wellness episode only because if you have started and started again and started again your fitness journey, keep plugging away at it, persevere. Because someone's watching you, someone in the gym is saying, wow, she's here all the time and she's just so persistent, consistent, motivated. Yes, someone's looking at you motivated when you're thinking why am I here at 6 am? Am I crazy? Someone's watching you, someone is admiring you, just like you're admiring someone else, in whatever genre. Find out what they did. Find out what they did. Find out what they're doing. Follow them. Find out their journey and then take your own journey. We can all drive from the East Coast to the West Coast, but we all take different routes, but we all eventually get towards the end of our journey. Get towards the end of our journey, we all get there.

Speaker 1: 16:27

So, with that said, I love Women's History Month and again I'm going to say this let's honor the women who came before us, let's support the women around us and let's inspire the women who will come after us, because when women succeed, humanity progresses, and when we tell women's stories, we inspire a new generation to make history. So with that I'm going to end this episode of why Not Wellness. Thank you for listening. Think about those women that you admire that maybe you don't think about all that much. When you see them. You're like, oh yes, every time. So I hope you celebrate Women's History Month in your own way and I hope you continue learning about women's contributions in society and to society in whatever way they are doing this to be successful. So, kat Corchato, your movement specialist, and I'm going to say till next time, keep it moving, thank you.