08/16/2024
ESPN does a yearly issue meant to celebrate athletes and the power and beauty of the human form.
This is Lauren Chamberlain. She is a softball player, an accomplished athlete who hit 30 home runs as a freshman, setting a single-season record. Here’s some of what she said about why she posed:
“I don't think I said yes for myself necessarily. I said yes for the girls around the world who might see the issue and see someone who looks like them -- someone who's thicker, bigger, not as jacked as the typical athlete -- and that could give them that boost to love their bodies. Sometimes, in high school and early college when I was dealing with insecurities about my body, not eating was disrespectful to my body. Not giving it what it needs to perform in order to achieve a certain look. You're after this unattainable look, this Instagram look, and it's not achievable. I still deal with that insecurity. How am I not shaped and curved like that Instagram model? But you know what? She can't hit a ball like me or move like me. She can't do what I can do.”
I love this because we all have our own super powers. I can’t play ball like Lauren, but I have my own awesomeness going on and so do you.
We all do! 💕 Happy FriYAH!
