Start Lines and Strong Foundations

Building routines, reframing resilience, and making space for every kid to move, play, and grow.

💛 From the Ground Up

What if the most important races aren’t the ones for medals—but the ones where every kid gets to start?

While the world’s best athletes take center stage in Tokyo, just down the road, kids are learning to leap, sprint, and smile through sport. World Athletics Kids’ Athletics isn’t about podiums—it’s about possibility. It’s about meeting movement with joy, inclusion, and access. Because the future of sport starts here, from the ground up.

🎙️ Strong Girl Talk Recap: Getting Back into the Groove + How Smart Routines Make Strong Athletes

As the school year kicks off and training calendars reset, this week’s Strong Girl Talk episode with Molly and Sasha is a timely reminder that routines aren’t about rigidity—they’re about rhythm. Whether you’re heading to class, practice, or the start line, getting back into the groove starts with small, intentional choices that build consistency, confidence, and connection.

We talk morning routines, sleep, mental reset strategies, and how to adapt when life doesn’t follow the plan (spoiler: it rarely does). This episode is all about finding flow—not perfection—and treating your routine as a tool to support performance, well-being, and long-term love of sport.

It’s a great listen to anchor the start of your fall season.

Catch the full episode here: Getting Back into the Groove, also on YouTube | Apple | Spotify

📚 Book Spotlight: Do Hard Things by Steve Magness

We’re revisiting a book that continues to hit home: Do Hard Things: Why We Get Resilience Wrong and the Surprising Science of Real Toughness by Steve Magness. First released in 2022, this isn’t your typical “tough it out” self-help manual. It unpacks the myths of mental toughness and replaces them with science-backed strategies rooted in self-awareness, honesty, and adaptability.

When I first read it, Steve signed my copy with the words: “Own your story.” I’m still learning how to do that—how to acknowledge my accomplishments without minimizing them, and how to use the resilience tools I already have. Do Hard Things reminds us that toughness isn’t about silence or stoicism—it’s about being real, being reflective, and showing up anyway.

💛 A must-have for athletes, coaches, parents, and anyone who’s trying to do the hard things—in sport, and in life.

🔗 Learn more about the book and check this one to the Yellow Running Shoes Goodreads shelf.

🧠 Research Highlight: Nurturing Student Mental Health Through Equitable Movement and Sport

This week, we’re spotlighting a powerful blog recap from Ophea: “Nurturing Students’ Mental Health: The Importance of Equitable Movement and Sport in Schools.” This piece captures key insights from a recent webinar on why movement isn’t just nice to have—it’s a mental health necessity, especially in school settings.

The blog underscores that sport and physical activity in schools can help students regulate emotions, reduce stress, and build resilience—but only if those opportunities are designed to be equitable and inclusive. Featuring insights from researchers from the Mental Health and Physical Activity Lab (where Cathi is the director), educators, and community leaders, it calls for systems-level change to ensure all students—regardless of gender, ability, background, or body type—can move, play, and participate meaningfully.

It’s a must-read for teachers, parents, coaches, and anyone invested in building better school environments through movement.

🟡 Read the full blog recap

🏃‍♀️🚶🏼‍♂️Sports Highlights

Sasha is soaking it all in Tokyo as she watches the World Athletics Championships. She’s been in the stadium all three nights, and while she missed 🇨🇦Evan Dunfee’s race walk win, she did get to see both the men’s and women’s marathons. From seeing Duplantis break the world record in the men’s Pole Vault (again!) to Julia Peternain winning a bronze medal in the women’s marathon with the slowest qualifying time there have been so many amazing moments. Follow World Athletics for great coverage of the event.

World Mountain Bike Championships wrapped up. Our main highlight is 🇨🇦 U23 Champion, Isabella Holmgren, who won both the XCC and XCO as defending champion in this event. Great to see Jenny Rissveds win the XCO women’s event, and a Swiss woman, Alessandra Keller, win the XCC in her home country. Jen Jackson, 🇨🇦 rider, was third in the XCC.

Canada got through to the semi-final at the Women’s 15’s World Cup of Rugby, beating out the Australians. They will face New Zealand in the semi-final this weekend.

The WNBA is going into playoffs, while women’s soccer in North America continues with 🇨🇦 NSL and 🇺🇸 NWSL.

At a USOpen Press Conference with Aryna Sabalenka there was an announcement about a modern day Battle of the Sexes - Sabalenka vs Kyrgios. Not sure how we feel about this, we know the match will be entertaining with these two characters on court together.