Cherish Every Moment: Ashley Noonan
Sports were my entire identity growing up. When I was asked in school to define who I was as a human, the word athlete always came first. I felt the most joy, connection, excitement and love for life when I was expressing my intensity on the ice or the field. Although I never was the most skillful player, nobody ever beat me by working harder than me. I had low confidence for many years, as I trained in power skating to improve as the only female player, and always felt like I would never be good enough. I used to whisper to myself on the ice “If I get good at one thing in life, I will be an amazing fast skater.”
It’s funny because with years of hard work, my speed on the ice became my greatest asset. It was also my strength when I ran on the field in soccer as well. Soccer always came second to hockey training wise, but I deeply believe cross training enabled me to be powerful in so many transferable ways. Hockey and soccer connected me to my deepest friendships, and taught me so many personal lessons about sacrifice, commitment, teamwork and change that I will deeply cherish for the rest of my life
My first advice to any competitive athletes still playing their sports at high levels- cherish every single moment, because one day you won’t be playing in the same way and you will miss that buzz so much.
My next advice, is to cherish and love your body for it’s strength, and everything it does for you daily. Rest when you need to, slow down, alter your training, eat well & enough to fuel your movement. You only have one body, and it will send you messages when you are doing too much. After transitioning away from sports being my entire life, I really struggled with my self-identity. What was I worth if I wasn’t a successful athlete? Where would I receive the same validation I got externally after playing a great game? How would I release the pent up energy in my body when I wasn’t competing?
To be honest, it’s still been a learning curve years later and I continue to commit to redefining who I am, and remembering my worth as a huma-being has nothing to do with my abilities as an athlete. Through my years as an athlete I also developed Bulimia, which took years to recover from as I navigated the long journey to self-love. Today I still struggle with pacing myself, training wise, because I love the energetic release I get from intense training but sometimes I will jeopardize my body to get those endorphins. I am learning to move slower, and that walks are also exercise. I am learning to breathe deeply, and slow down, because I don’t need to move through everyday life at the intensity level of a hockey game. I am learning to be flexible with my schedule, and move in ways that serve what my body’s needs on any given day. I will always be learning, but I will also always be an athlete at heart. I am just much more than that, and you are too.