Recently in downtown Austin, Texas where I live and where Strong Athletic is based, I ran into an old friend. We were catching up after a decade of not seeing one another and he told me about his daughters. I asked if any of them did sports or if they were athletes. He said, yes, the middle one was a soccer player, but the other two "just do," dance and gymnastics. Unsurprised by his old-school, traditional views of sports and athleticism, I quickly reminded him that dancers and gymnasts are in fact athletes. He then asked me how you know if something qualifies as a sport. I asked him if either of his daughters that did dance and gymnastics had to implement great amounts of skill, endurance, focus, strength, strategy, coordination and determination. His response was a very proud, "Yes! They have to implement all of those qualities and more!" I then told him, that those are just some of the qualities that you'll find in sports and athletics. 

Unfortunately, nothing about the conversation I had with him was novel. I wasn't surprised that I had it because my friend's antiquated and diminishing beliefs are only too common to find. If you're not sure of what the problem is, read on and I will tell you. People who play traditional sports, such as basketball, football, soccer and swimming are usually quickly granted the title of "athlete," while those who play sports such as quidditch, and roller derby or who do dance or gymnastics are not granted the title of "athlete." The sports that are less likely to be labeled as such, also happen to be sports that are dominated by women and girls, making it so that active females often question if they are even athletes. 

This biased way to look at sports is outdated and is disparaging to the millions of athletes who are involved in nontraditional and non-mainstream sports. There is power in saying that you play a sport and that you are an athlete. When we hold the word "sport," as an exclusive thing and we create qualifiers for who can use the word athlete and who can't, we create barriers and exclusivity, something that sports and athletics already have too much of. 

The athlete that is featured in the photos of this blog is Mandie Pitre. I met Mandie in 2013 when I was looking for the "missing link" in my performance in roller derby. Mandie was an instructor at Castle Hill Fitness in Austin, Texas and by chance someone recommended that I go to her Mat Pilates class one morning. I had walked past a few Mat Pilates classes when they were happening, and I was so biased in my opinion of them. The classes looked to me like they were aerobics for my grandma, and I took a snobby approach, deciding that I was way too athletic to try pilates. What a mistake that was! Lucky for me, the day at the gym that someone recommended I attend her class, I wasn't feeling very motivated to do my usual workout, and so I decided a nice low-key class was what I needed and I signed up. 

What followed was one of the most memorable experiences I've had in sports. Mandie, who is a great teacher, ran us through a 50 minute session of "waking up" our bodies. She showed us simple maneuvers that helped us to access our deep inner core and muscles I had no idea I had, much less, no idea I hadn't been using. Mandie's classes soon became a part of my weekly routine and I also started to train with her privately. Taking pilates was a game changer for my athletic career and also for my coaching. I literally could feel myself getting stronger each week. Plus, I started to tap into the muscles and strength that I already had, just by learning how to engage my muscles. I noticed immediate changes in my roller derby game, both as a jammer and a blocker because of the work I'd been doing in Pilates. I also was happily surprised one day when I jumped on an Erg (rowing machine) and my splits were as low as they'd been in college, and I hadn't even been training in rowing. 

Mandie is an accomplished dancer and choreographer. She is the owner of Beyond Core Pilates where she teaches pilates. In addition to being a pilates instructor she is also a certified yoga instructor. When she's not training people on how to use their bodies, she does Capoeira at Evolução East Austin.  Mandie is a true athlete and so much of her life has been embedded in sports. I am so fortunate that I was able to study under her. She did more for my athletic career than many coaches I had. She taught me more about my body's strength and ability then I knew was possible. I hope that every athlete is able to find their own "Mandie" so that they can train under them and learn how to truly utilize their muscles and their strength. 

In regard to people downplaying the athleticism that is needed to be a dancer, or a gymnast or to do yoga, pilates and other "fringe" activities, I'm over it. I'm over this biased phenomenon and I'm working on breaking the barriers within sports and athletics and I need your help changing things. This is what I'd like your help doing, if you're on social media, please post a photo of yourself playing your sport (the more sports the better), or doing whatever it is that you do to stay healthy and physically active. Write or type one simple word across the image: "ATHLETE". 

Please use the tag #strongathletic and #strongathleticchallenge  and tag us @strongathletic in your post so that we find your image. If you have a similar story to the one I told, consider sharing it in the same post. It's important for other people to know why calling some people athletes and not others negatively impacts humans when they are downgraded from the empowering word "athlete" to "oh, their just in.... (fill in bad-ass sport here)".

Then go listen to Strong Athletic Podcast Episode No. 3, which discusses this very topic. If you have a similar story or this post hit home for you and you'd like to write about your own experience, please email us. 

This post covers: women in sports, girls in sports, why sports that are primarily played by women are not considered sports, why sports that are primarily played by girls are not considered sports, is gymnastics a sport?, is dance a sport?, are dancers athletes, are gymnasts athletes, is quidditch really a sport?, is roller derby really a sport?, what is capoeira?, is pilates a sport?, is yoga a sport?, are people who do yoga athletes?, are people who do pilates athletes?, top reasons why it's harmful not to refer to people as athletes, why you should start using the word athlete to refer to yourself, why you should start calling the physically demanding activity that you do a sport, How to tell if something is a sport, how to tell if someone is an athlete