For most of an athlete’s life, their main focus is on their career. The thought of having a family could seem like a hindrance, but athletes who make family a priority in their personal lives don't let their careers stop them from starting a family. Juggling a career in sports on top of starting and raising a family is not easy, which is why there are a number of athletes who retire early, but we should not worry because there are new athletes in the making. Inheriting their athletic genes is an advantage their children have apart from fame. When the primary role models in the children’s lives are athletes, it shouldn’t be a surprise that they will follow in their parent’s footsteps. This is exactly what happened to Pamela McGee and her kids, Javale McGee and Imani McGee, Muhammad Ali and his daughter Laila Ali as well as the Powless family.
Mother’s day has passed, and it seems like the perfect time to celebrate athlete mothers. One of them is Pamela McGee. She’s a retired and decorated WNBA player and Olympian. She is also the first WNBA mom to have a son and daughter drafted in the NBA and the WNBA, respectively.
“The McGees always fight. We always bounce back. We’re always gonna be at the top of the food chain.” — Pamela McGee.
JaVale McGee has so far garnered titles as a three-time NBA champion and Olympic gold medalist, among many others throughout his career. His sister, Imani McGee-Stafford, was drafted by the Chicago Sky in the 2016 WNBA Draft but announced hiatus in the spring of 2020 to focus on getting her law degree.
"My mother did so much without knowing what the future would hold.” — JaVale McGee
Father’s day is right around the corner, and what better way to anticipate this than by looking at the greatest boxer of all time as a father. Muhammad Ali is a nineteen-time world heavyweight, only losing five times throughout his whole career. He has had a total of 61 recorded fights with 56 wins — 37 of which were all knockouts.
When his daughter first showed interest in boxing, he was against the idea of letting her have a career in the sport. He knew all too well what could happen in the ring. He asked his daughter what would happen if she got knocked down. Laila, with the same confidence, passion, and drive just like her father, replied, “Well, if I get knocked down, I’m going to get back up, just like you did.” If she got knocked out, Laila doubted that the scenario will ever play out, but if it does, she said, “I'll ask for a rematch.”
“My dad met his match when he had me, OK. That’s the funny thing. My father met his match and he knew it.” — Laila Ali
Her pro-boxing debut fight only took 31 seconds before Laila won the match by a knockout. For the entirety of her nine-year career, she won twenty-four matches with twenty-one knockouts and zero losses.
“And I knew that he was loving the ‘Ali’ chant every time that he came into the arena. He missed boxing. He missed being able to just move around, walk around, talk, do the things that he used to do. Because of his Parkinson’s disease, he wasn’t able to anymore. So, I felt like I was fighting for both of us.” — Laila Ali
A family can come in many forms with different dynamics, bonds, and personalities. For the Powless household, their common bond is their love for long-distance events in sports. Jen Allred-Powless is a long-distance marathon runner. The Guamanian Olympian has participated in seven World Athletics Championships and has also bagged multiple medals in the South Pacific Games. Her husband, Jack Powless, was a triathlete and an air force veteran with twenty years of service. He has participated in fifteen ironmans and is now a North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Famer. Both Allred and Powless are now coaches.
As soon as they could walk, their children, Neilson and Shayna, were already enrolled in triathlons, soccer, and track and field. Neilson is the first Native American to compete and race in Tour de France — the world’s most prestigious, difficult, and longest race covering 3,600 km and running through several countries in Western Europe.
“It is the most dangerous sport in the world. So for any parent to have to watch their child, it's extremely difficult, it is sweaty palms, ... and it's not easy to watch your child.” — Jen Allred-Powless
Shayna is also a professional cyclist. She and her husband, Eli Ankou, started a non-profit organization to empower the youth through sports, specifically focusing on football and cycling camps called the Dreamcatcher Foundation.
Although it should be a norm already, it is only natural that parents worry about their children when they pursue risky endeavors, especially because Powless and Allred-Powless know how dangerous it can be.
“We never pushed them into it. [...] We just encourage them that whatever they do that they do their very best.” — Jack Powless
Without our parents, we wouldn’t be where we are today, so regardless of what day it is, we should celebrate our mothers and fathers. Athlete or not, we follow our parents in their footsteps, whether it be their personality, habits, or maybe our future parenting styles. We may have our differences, but as our parents, they continue to shower us with love and push us to maximize our potential.
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