WEEK #10: COURTNEY McLEOD

Please tell us a little bit about yourself. 

I am a professional certified life and leadership coach and I help women own their greatness, live with passion, and do things they never thought possible. I have two beautiful girls (ages 8 and 11) and they are both involved in multiple competitive sports and I love watching them play and grow through sports.

Sports have always been a life saver for me. I am an only child so as soon as I got home from school as a kid I would be knocking on doors to see who wanted to play…I would play anything. Sports was always an outlet for me to turn to when other areas in my life were not going well like school, friendships, my parents getting a divorce, etc. Sports helped me build my confidence, develop leadership skills, and taught me how to be a good teammate.

I played volleyball, basketball, badminton, tennis, track and field; in high school, and my favourite sport was playing competitive softball as a pitcher. I have such wonderful memories of games and teammates and a highlight would have to be how proud my baseball team was when we got the silver medal at the provincials after many years of coming up empty handed. I couldn’t imagine my life without sports.

Please share a story about an internal or external barrier you have faced.

In June 2009, I found out that my best friend, my biggest cheer leader, my mom had terminal cancer and I was completely devastated. I was six months into a new job and I also had a two year old to care for. My mom lived in London Ontario and we are in Toronto, so I made the trip to see her as much as possible. Eventually I took a leave from work so that I could be with her and on December 12 2009, I sat

on her bed and ran my fingers through what hair she had left until she took her last breath. I was also pregnant and physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted. For a couple of years after her death, I felt like a muted grey version of myself and the largest challenge of my life was to grieve and to get myself back to my colourful, joyous, passionate self.

How did you overcome that barrier? What skills did you develop in sport that helped you overcome that barrier?

Sports helped me build my confidence, so that when I was grieving my mom’s death I knew that although life would never be the same, things would get better. After I lost her, I decided to change my career from media to having more of an impact on helping people grow, so I went back to school at York University as a mature student and got a Psychology degree. The skills I developed over the years playing competitive sports such as determination, ability to focus, and time management helped me when I went back to school as I managed my studies and taking care of my young family.

Remembering the importance and impact having supportive teammates around me, I started playing volleyball again and I am still playing every Thursday. I also created a women’s group and we have spayed each other with champagne like we are a professional sports team. We function like a team where we support and celebrate the uniqueness of every member and we help each other get outside our comfort zones so that we can grow and build confidence together as we do things like movie stunt school, knife throwing, bubble soccer, etc. Playing spots and doing fun activities with other amazing people keeps me feeling alive and young. Never stop playing!

If you had one word to describe your character, experiences or philosophy what would it be? Why?

AUTHENTICITY

Life is more fun and freeing when we give ourselves permission to be our true authentic selves. I model authenticity for my daughters because I want them to be confident and proud of who they are.

If you wanted to motivate a young female athlete to #BuildHerUp, what quote would you use? Why?

“Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” Henry Ford

In life and sports so much of what we do and the success we achieve have to do with our minds and whether we believe in ourselves. It is important to continue to push ourselves outside our comfort zones and do things that we never thought possible so that we can continue to build confidence. Believe in yourself and your strengths.

Check out her inspirational talk, “When You’re Told You’re Not Enough,” which has been viewed almost 3 million times!

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