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for the love of the sport
Looking at this picture I can take myself right back to summers on those courts. I rode my bike to the courts everyday, played for three hours and rode home. It was bliss…I loved every minute of my tennis summers.
I started the game with a tiny wood racquet at the age of 7, spending every summer there after in lessons. And then some winters, indoors too. I soaked in every part of the tennis world, watching every slam, knowing every pro…I loved my sport to its core.
In all of my years on the court it never occurred to me that there was a moment in time that we as females had to fight to play. It never occurred to me that we as females were denied the opportunity to be athletes, to compete equally. When I wanted to try a sport, I did just that.
In my adult years, I became aware that the women before me fought hard to give me and all other female athletes the right to compete. It is something now that is not lost on me, we (all female athletes)are their legacy.
Crazy thing though…in this moment in time where we as a nation have evolved in so many ways we female athletes are still having to fight for equality. There are moments I just don’t get why, why can’t we compete side by side, get paid the same, have equal opportunities? We are close but not close enough.
Answering that why question never seems to be simple…in my mind we shouldn’t have to ask. Equality in sport should be something we don’t have to think about, it should just be. Today, our young women are more aware of what being equal means, of following and idolizing female athletes that are empowering and inspiring. They are forward thinking and understand their rights and what TITLE NINE provides. We have continued the conversation, we are talking with our young athletes and educating them on equality and what is rightfully theirs to own. They are listening and they GET IT.
We with strong voices are speaking up and being heard. To be able to step out on the field, court, pavement, course etc and be able to do what brings us life-to do that without a thought or a fight that right there, that is a true right.
THANK YOU to the female athletes of our past-you risked and fought. Never will I take that lightly. Every stride forward, every step I take onto the court I will do it with gratitude. To the female athletes of our present who are living their passion, who are using their voices and standing in their power-THANK YOU. Our female athletes of the future are waiting in the wings READY. READY to fulfill their passion and will get to do that in my mind, with EASE and EQUALITY.
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fresh start
This new year brought the urge to restart. To move where my heart and head have been pulling me for a long time. It is hard to let go of something that has been created from scratch, from thoughts and dreams…Chadwick Home came during a huge transition in my life. A time where I had been let go from a job I truly loved, working with people I trusted who I had let into my life in all ways. The ending of that job was an unexpected gut punch and was handled inappropriately by leadership. I walked away angry, hurt and heartbroken.
Grieving that loss took time. In that time I realized going back to work for someone else was not in my emotional capacity. It was time to take a leap and create something of my own. Something I could be in my own world with, in my own skin and run my own race…the risk in my mind, was well worth the reward.
Chadwick Home took shape through lots of brainstorming, chatting with my closest humans and many drafts of plans. It was a blend of all the things that I love, a way to create and a way to make a living using my own narrative not anyone else’s.
This new venture, this new love was hard to put out into the world…there was something so incredibly vulnerable about clicking publish. Chadwick Home then became open to all the people and all the things-which of course was the end goal but it felt so hard to let it fly. How would this new buisness be seen out in the world? How would I be seen? Will it work? Will it make sense? Will it be a success? Risk vs reward.
Over the years the reward was extensive and y’all took Chadwick Home in and supported my dream. Ahhh…for that I could not be more grateful! The gifts and boxes I created were never as big as the gifts that came back to me through you.
In the last 12 months I started noticing a shift in me, in my passions, in my creativity and at times lack there of. I felt stagnant and couldn’t figure out how to pull myself to a new level conceptually. I need that challenge, to me it is always important to be fresh, new and work outside of the box. I am not one to follow the crowd in my ideas, I want to be the leader of the crowd. I noticed the box market and its saturation and felt that as a business. I noticed myself sharing/talking more about fitness, running and sport than my product/home/lifestyle. I clearly was feeling more at home in that space than within the space I had originally created.
I kept in the cozy of the Chadwick Home space and fought that strong call for change for a while. I was changing, my heart, my being was changing. What I valued, what I wanted to put out to you…to share in community with you was changing. I needed to stop fighting the flood of all the things and actually change.
Once I made the decision to re-brand, everything came rushing to me-like at warp speed. The name, the logo, the direction and purpose. I felt the flame of excitement once again…that risk vs reward playing strong in my heart. This is me, I am fitting in the box where I used to feel so awkward in.
torrechadwick is me, is where I am right in this moment of life. It is where my heart beats. To inspire. To be inspired. Women to women. Girl to girl. To live bold, big and to take up space. Living life brightly, shining in who you are. My goal: to celebrate women and girls with unconditional support. To champion self care, growth and the athlete in all.
The scaffolding is up on this re-brand and I am working hard at developing its framing and structure…that comes with intentional thought and time. I have a strong hold on this but have lots of questions to ask and research to do…I want to give you the very best of me and I know that being a lifelong learner is the way to make that happen.
Fresh start. New perspective. I am here and ready…moving forward one step at a time.
