Game Changer: coming full circle to change the face of fitness

English and phys ed were, without question, my favourite subjects. I would have been content to review classic literature and volleyball drills all year. So when it came time to apply for university, I debated between two befitting majors — communications and kinesiology.

My interest in sports was obvious. It seeped into everything, from my artwork to my friendships. Pursuing a degree in physical education was a logical direction but I was hesitant to continue down what I saw as the road most travelled. I didn’t want to be, by default or otherwise, yet another black person in sports.

My talents were not limited to sprinting and spiking and I wanted the world that existed beyond those familiar high school double doors to know that. I was a gifted student with a love of language, an understated interest in the arts, and the drive to succeed in business. A unique coop position granted me early entry into the professional advertising world and my decision was made. I became a communications major idealistically fixed on effacing media stereotypes.

Funny: after four years of undergrad studies and over ten years in marketing-communications, I’ve come full circle back to fitness and athletics. Some things have changed since then, some haven’t. I’m still that athlete testing my abilities on new terrain. I’m still that woman wanting to stand apart from the crowd and defy popular expectations. I’m still that person who wants to shift images and viewpoints. Only the playing field has changed.

I look through the glossy pages of fitness magazines filled with convention and consider two stances. On one hand, I want to be in there posed and flexed as a dark haired, chocolate skinned reality not to be denied. On the other hand, I have no desire to join line-up of sexualized bikini babes whose representation opposes my brand of strength and beauty.

Is there a place for me in this popular fitness world? Does an undiscovered tribe await me, or is there a gap for women like myself, I wonder? And so I find myself filling my pages with my own reality. The reality of a smart, creative, beautiful, ambitious, athletic, healthy, thirty-nine year old black woman who has won, lost, taught, learned, given birth, grown, and still has so to share.