All you have to do is ask!
Some like to dream and others like Malikka, make things happen! After reading about a number of the NIKE/ESPN Girl Magazine hosted team school days, Malikka decided to make some moves of her own and wrote to ESPN Magazine to request her own team day.
Ask and you shall receive, Malikka and her softball team were given a day all to themselves with gold medalist softball player, Jessica Mendoza. Jessica taught them some new team warm ups, gave tips for mentally preparing for next season as well as some good offensive and defensive techniques.
Jessica was the ideal athlete for this high school team. Not only does she hold softball clinics herself, but she genuinely enjoys working with young athletes.
The girls fell in love with Jessica the moment she walked into the gym. Jessica has an incredible work ethic. It started in her early childhood when her father mandated a rigid workout program for Jessica and her siblings to follow. Now that she’s a mom, she’s taken up her father’s traditions and set up a program for her little baby boy to train.
How she balances time for training, competition, working as a sports commentator for ESPN, being president of the Women’s Sports Foundation and the importance she places on family is what impresses me most. I suggested she start a workout video of how to train on the road. Her secret (which is obviously not a secret anymore) is she creates workouts in her hotel. Her favorite: the bathroom lunge. Since bathroom floors are always made of tile, Jessica likes doing lunges in the bathrooms. She puts a towel underneath her foot and she says the slippery floors help her work on her core as well as strengthen her legs.
Balance and support are the two most critical things as an athlete Jessica says. Jessica’s family is her foundation and finding time for everything is just what Jessica has learned to do through school. For Malikka and her teammates, now more than ever, these girls can take this unique experience and use it as motivation throughout next season. Malikka and her team had a personal training day with one of the best in the game, and to think all Malikka had to do was ask.
For more on this story, as well as additional video, please visit Nike Women Online.