Sonya Elliott – Page 46 – Back on the Court

PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: The Power of Positive

I love quotes. I use a couple of my own from time to time and I love finding quotes that fuel me.

If I talk to one of my kids before their games I always end with, “Play hard and have fun!” When I sign my memoir I use, “Always believe in you.” And when I was coaching I searched out quotes to encourage and inspire. Our locker room walls were covered in quotes, my coaches and I would text quotes to the players and I would use quotes in my pre-game speeches. Our team was surrounded with positive energy, added fuel to the fire of our intended goals.

During the five years that I was head coach, I watched the energy change with our team. My final year, we were in no way perfect, but we grew as a team and placed 6^th in State and more importantly, we grew as a group of young women who learned to stay positive in the face of a challenge, and positive quotes were one small piece of the puzzle.

What are some of your favorite quotes?

Monday’s Pen to Paper: Change Is Life

There have been a lot of changes going on in my life, and though basketball and writing are still priorities for me, it’s been, and will continue to be, a challenge to settle into a new path.

Last spring I left my position as head basketball coach at the high school in my neighborhood and started closing out my PeaceLoveBasketball business because I was ready for a change. I decided to focus on my writing and put energy back into modeling (and catch up on projects that I had let go over the last 5 years). Then summer hit and so did even more change. The usual sports camps and family vacations took place of course, but then my daughter had heart surgery, our dog had two surgeries, and I lost my grandmother just as my daughter was headed off to college.

A lot of change.

Fortunately, I have learned over the years that change is a part of life. And what I experienced this summer is not much different than most people experience throughout their lives. Loss is a part of life, leaving jobs, sending a child off to college. You follow a path, make a plan, but it often gets uprooted. This might make you cry, or laugh, or feel lost for a while, but there is also hope and better times. Change is life.

Yes, I’ve felt lost and sad at times, but I’ve also had some of the best times with my family and friends this summer. So I continue to remind myself to enjoy life and do the things I love and to believe that change will keep me moving forward and help me to find my way.

Remind yourself to search for the good in change.

WRITING PROMPT #1: Write about changes in your life…

WRITING PROMPT #2: Beverly […]

Monday’s Pen to Paper: Time For A Date?

This summer I haven’t had many dates. Not with my husband or with my writing, and that’s a bummer. Fortunately I have my Thursday writing date with my friend Jenny. Those have been consistent every week (though not always on Thursday since it’s summertime), but beyond that it has been difficult to fit writing time in. The “must do’s” often sneak ahead of my writing, but one way I find time is by making a date with myself, putting it on the calendar and then escaping to a coffee shop or the beach, like a real date. Maybe I should try the same with my husband.

WRITING PROMPT #1: Where is your favorite place to write? Why?

WRITING PROMPT #2: Kendra peered out from behind the curtain as her date made his way to her front door…

PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Good For Your Body & Soul

Sonya Elliott
Morning hike to Ollalie Lake

My recreational basketball team took the summer off so I’m using it as an opportunity to get in better shape for when we start again in the fall. Over the last couple of years I have lost a lot of strength and flexibility. My wind is still okay, but on the court it’s been tougher to rebound and play defense when I can’t hold my ground like I used to.

But not for much longer. I have been mixing it up with beach volleyball, weights, yoga, hiking and conditioning boot camps every day. And this morning, as my daughter and I hiked down from Ollalie Lake, it was nice to be sore again, not the sore that keeps me from bending down and weeding the yard or taking the plates out of the cupboard, but the good kind of sore that reminds me of how many muscles keep the human body moving and assures me that I’m getting stronger so that when basketball starts again, I will be ready.

My body will be ready and my mind will be ready. I have I been missing basketball, (Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?). So whether you’re a weekend warrior or a seasoned athlete, it doesn’t hurt to mix up a little. Not only is it good for your body but it can be good for your soul.