WEEK #40: DALLAS PRICE

Please tell us a little bit about yourself.

I’ve been an athlete my whole life, playing as many sports as my schedule could handle from field hockey, baseball, cheerleading, badminton, track to of course rugby.  My life consisted of music and sport for as long as I can remember.  I was an extremely insecure kid, and I excelled easily in sport so it’s where I felt the most confident.  Not looking after my body side-lined me in my early 20s and I walked away from everything fitness related.  There were days I could barely walk or stand cause of the pain.  It over took my life and after years, I decided to do something about it.

This brought me to the world of weight training and my passion for helping others reduce pain and regain their best life. I have been a personal trainer now for over 13 years and a business owner for 7 years. From athletes to the elderly, my goal is to help my clients live the life they want without being held back by their health. After rehabbing myself for about a year, I returned to playing rugby about 10 years ago and haven’t looked back.

I now split my love of rugby with playing and coach 3 junior girls rugby teams.  Being a trainer, I think it gives me a huge advantage as a coach as I understand proper movement patterns and cueing for safety.

My schedule is constantly changing with my job and team commitment and that’s what keeps me engaged.  I couldn’t do the same thing every day because my attention span wouldn’t last.  I plan on opening a training facility in the next couple years with a ton of ideas on programming for youth athletes and individuals with medical conditions.

Please share a story about an internal or external barrier you have faced. How did you overcome that barrier?

Early on in grade 9 I developed an eating disorder. I always had an athletic build, which years ago was not so celebrated.  I was bullied by girls in high school and called fat, which has probably to this day, made me very insecure around girls.  This pushed me to play co-ed sports because I found boys to be less catty.  I struggled with wanting to play sports but not wanting to eat in fear I would gain weight. Through college the only thing that gave me reason to eat was that I wanted to play rugby in the summer and if I kept up my lifestyle, I just wouldn’t have the energy to.  Mental health was not a hot topic back in the day and finding people to talk to was tough.

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

After becoming a trainer in my late 20s I realized I needed to find a healthy relationship with food if I was to help other people. I’d love to say it was an overnight change, but it’s taken years to accept how I look and the shape that I’ve been given.  As I got older, I realized being strong for a small girl was something to be proud of not ashamed of.  I love that rugby celebrates strong girls of all sizes. I found comfort that I was actually good at my sport because of my bigger legs.  I love what my body can do when I feed it good food and treat it the way it deserves.  This 14-year long struggle allows me to relate to a lot of the girls I coach and support them in areas of body image and bullying.  I realized that people who bully and put others down do this out of their own insecurities, not because there’s anything wrong with you.  I also have zero tolerance for bullying or cattiness on the teams I coach, which allows for a safe place for all my athletes.

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

FIERCE

This can be used in so many different contexts, but to live fierce is to live with passion, intensity, power and aggression. I have been told my whole life to ‘calm down’.  But I think life is better when you’re fired up and passionate about it.  So live Fierce!

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

‘Though she be but little, she is fierce!’ – William Shakespeare

Never apologize for being emotional, passionate, excited, upset, angry, loud or opinionated.  You were given so many emotions for you to feel them.  It’s ok to be sad and cry, or get angry and yell.  The world will try to bring you down to a complacent stagnant place.  Be annoyingly intense in life, because we need more people who are passionate and fired up about things to create change and progress.

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