TT Thursday : Toni Harris earns first football scholarship for skilled position; my weight loss challenge week 38
As people have said they liked the inspiring stories and would like more, today we have Toni Harris, a young woman who is making headlines this week.
(Toyoto Superbowl ad)
Long after being kicked off the Little League Football Team at age 6, refusing to take no for an answer even after being kicked off the football team again in middle school, Toni Harris became the first female footballplayer in a Toyota Superbowl Commercial, seen driving a car for Toyota. She followed up this past week, after choosing between several offers, by becoming the first woman to sign a letter of intent accepting a football scholarship for a skilled position at a university. In 2017, Becca Longo received a football scholarship for the kicker position. Now we have a woman who will be playing defense.
(Today Show, video published on youtube February 27, 2017)
For the last two years, Harris has been playing football for a community college. She was the first female football player for East Los Angeles College, playing defense as a free safety while maintaining her position as an honors students.
Harris has not had the easiest life. She went into foster care at age 4 and was not adopted until she was 13. During this time she loved football but had a problem finding a team she could play for in Detroit because they were sticking to the all-boys rule so when she got kicked out of football, she went into gymnastics and cheerleading. Still she never gave up on football. When Today show asked her why football, she said”Watching my cousin when I was younger about 4 years old, I’d seen like all the passion and competition and the love everybody had for each other… I tried it and I fell in love with it. I chose defense because defense is more exciting than anything else.”(Today Show, video published on youtube February 27, 2017) In high school, the coach gave her a chance and she proved herself on the field. She said, ““I’m getting a little emotional about…the fact that he gave me a chance and believed in me, it put so much joy in my heart.” (Los Angeles CBS, Oct. 13, 2017). She was also nominated homecoming queen at her high school.
Planning to play football in college, Harris’s life took a turn. At age 18 she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, at stage one, and lost half her body weight. “My family helped me stay grounded, and my faith,” Harris said of staying strong during her cancer recovery. “I did want to give up, I thought things were over because it’s like you take two steps forward and you get stepped back five more steps. So you kind of want to give up on those things. When you don’t have a background of people supporting you and you’re dealing with it on your own at first, it gets hard. You just want to give up on it but I constantly had my friends… I had my mom and them praying for me and my pastor praying for me … I said, ‘You know what? I’ve fought through everything else in my life.’” (Today Show, video published on youtube February 27, 2017)
Harris fought back her cancer into remission and afterwards found a community college that was willing to accept her on their football team if she passed muster. She said, “In high school the guys weren’t too fond of me playing but they warmed up to me. When I got to college, it was surprising. My teammates had already warmed up to me… They were like my second family.” (Today Show, video published on youtube February 27, 2017) The Huskies coach Bobby Godinez said, “When she first approached me… naturally I was a little nervous… I didn’t want anybody getting hurt.” Godinez said. “She’s earned everybody’s respect… her resilience, her perseverance, everything that she kind of encompasses, kinda bled through into everybody, after that we said we gotta get her on the field .” (Los Angeles CBS, October 13, 2017)
While Harris heads off to university, she has her eyes set on the next field beyond that: the NFL. She would love to play for the Seattle Seahawks. If not her, Harris hopes she paved the road for some little girl watching now.
References:
This Woman Tackles Every Obstacle In Life
Los Angeles CBS, October 13, 2017
Female College Football Player Gets Full Football Scholarship After Cancer Battle
by Helen Murphy, People Magazine, February 27, 2019
Toni Harris Makes History with Football Scholarship
by Jessica Bennett, Ebony, February 28, 2019
From foster Care to football scholarship, a gridiron phenom sets her sights on the NFL
Women in the World, February 27, 2019
Antoinette Harris Just Made History With Full College Football Scholarship
Because of them we can, February 27, 2019
Toni Harris Just Made History as One of the First Women Awarded a Football Scholarship
by Abby Gardner, Glamour, February 27, 2019
Weight Loss Challenge Week 38
I lost another pound this week and hit 198.7 and am fluctuating between that and 201.7. It’s still a struggle because I had had hoped to be down to goal weight of 197.6 so I lost another challenge this week. I did not lose 12.6 pounds which would have been the 6% loss for three months. However, it is important for me to remember I did lose 11.5 lbs in three months which is 5.5% loss. It is vital when you are moving toward a difficult goal that if you don’t reach that goal at the designated time, you still pay attention to the progress you did make. I did start at 252.1 and have now lost a total of 53.4 pounds doing the HealthyWage challenges (I am an affiliate for HealthyWage because I like them and studies prove people with a little financial incentive to lose weight have a significantly higher percentage of success. Worked for me.)
Also, I’ve been thinking about it and realized I am doing better than I thought. My car is still working. Yay! But in the past when I’ve gone from no car to car, I gained 10 pounds within two months due to the drop in exercise. The bus takes more time and I have to walk a half mile to the closest one. I don’t like the time a bus costs compared to a car but the bus has its compensations : exercise and reading time while riding. I didn’t just exercise on the way to the bus stop. I often did stretches and other exercises while I was waiting too. So what I realized is that I didn’t gain the 10 pounds that I always gain when I start using a car to go everywhere. I am doing better than I thought. Still I’m not at 197.6 which is what I wanted. I will shoot for it next Wednesday so hopefully next Thursday I will have good news on that front.
Now that I can get to places easier and faster, I have to start a new routine where I incorporate exercise (walking) into my life to make up for the walking I no longer do to the bus. I think the best thing for me since I like photography, is find a safe place to leave my car and start doing 1-3 mile walkabouts shooting urban pics. I’ve mapped one out for tomorrow. I plan to park at a library and then do a two-mile walk.
Current challenges
name | end date | goal | expected | ontrack? |
WeightLoss Takeoff | 3/3 | 197.6 | 197.7 | no |
Shrinking Scales | 3/6 | 193.5 | 194.1 | no |
New Year’s Slimdown | 3/26 | 189.8 | 193.1 | no |
Get Lean in 2019 | 3/27 | 189.8 | 193.3 | no |
Motivation Masters Jackpot Challenge | 5/1 | 192.4 | 201.1 | yes |
Healthy & Happy Jackpot Challenge | 5/5 | 192.4 | 201.7 | yes |
Healthy Wager | 6/4 | 187.1 | 204.0 | yes |
These are my past awarded challenges
My past HealthyWage challenges. (Net winnings doesn’t include Paypal charges to move the money into my bank)
name | end date | goal | lost | bet | won | net winnings |
Pound Droppers | 2/27/19 | 197.6 | 11.5 lbs | $20/mo | $0 | $0 |
Winter Winners | 2/20/19 | 197.6 | 9.0 lbs | $20/mo | $0 | $0 |
Scale Watcher | 1/16/19 | 202.3 | 12.9 lbs | $20/mo | $103.05 | $43.05 |
Healthier Holiday | 1/6/19 | 202.3 | 12.9 lbs | $20/mo | $105.67 | $45.67 |
Big Buck Losers | 1/2/19 | 202.3 | 12.9 lbs | $33.33/mo | $155.25 | $50.25 |
Falling Pounds | 12/26/18 | 206.7 | 13.2 lbs | $20/mo | $111.86 | $51.86 |
Big Losers | 12/3/18 | 209.7 | 13.4 lbs | $33.33/mo | $143.25 | $43.25 |
Poundshedders | 12/3/18 | 209.7 | 13.4 lbs | $20/mo | $96.59 | $36.59 |
Going for Goal | 11/9/18 | 219.7 | 14 lbs | $20/mo | $92.94 | $32.94 |
Slimming & Winning | 8/27/18 | 237 | 15.1lbs | $20/mo | $151.40 | $91.40 |
Totals | 53.4 lbs | $680 | $960.01 | $280.01 |
I am also an affiliate for Amazon: “We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.”
22 Replies to “TT Thursday : Toni Harris earns first football scholarship for skilled position; my weight loss challenge week 38”
incredible…
have a great day
I’m glad you enjoyed Toni’s sotry. Thanks for visiting!
That’s a wonderful story to share! Thank you!❤️
Glad you enjoyed it!
…I can’t imagine wanting to play football.
Me either but I think it’s good if someone wants to play and is good at it, they can. I’d much rather be able to read a book and write but there was a time only a couple hundred years ago that only the rich could afford tutors to learn to write because there were no schools. I am really glad society changed and put up schools so everybody could learn to read including me. I’m really glad they created libraries because they’ve widened my access to books and most books can be published. I know to other people it doesn’t seem related but to me, the social changes that opened up education and reading to the masses, is the same one opening the doors to women in sports, Asian Americans writing science fiction and all kinds of things. It’s the idea that stereotypes don’t have to define us and we can do what we love. Give me a camera and I’m happy. If we’re good at it, that’s a plus.
Toni’s cancer story is pAwesome! I hope she never has to deal with that again. I don’t women athletics. It changes everything about their physical and emotional make up. I’m truly worry about our world where men are more feminine and women are more masculine behaving. I like a man who’s not afraid to be a man and a woman who’s not afraid to be a woman. I’m so glad that I’m not dating! 🙂
Congrats on the weight loss and holding yourself accountable. You’re such a brave soul! I found the key to my weight loss success is with reducing calories. Exercise helps but it’s so easy to fall into the mindset of I can sneak a treat in without any harm but that’s not true. Regardless if I’m active or not, cutting calories works the best and if you put both together then WHAM, you really have the power on your side! 😉 Good luck to reaching your goals! Walking is a great way to burn calories. I had a friend who lost quite a bit of weight incorporating daily walks into her schedule.
I agree Toni’s story is awesome. While being more physical does change one’s body (I need to do that!), I don’t think it makes a person more or less feminine or masculine. Toni is very feminine. She loves dresses and ran for Prom Queen and admits to being a girly girl. She also loves football. If a man doesn’t do sports, it doesn’t make him less masculine. I think being masculine or feminine is something we feel and depends a lot on our culture and how we were raised. I think it’s something people can talk about for hours about what makes a person feminine or masculine but I don’t think there really is hard and fast rules. Did you know being a typist used to be a man’s job? Then it changed for awhile and people thought women were particularly suited to typing. Nowadays everybody types. It’s funny, I think I’m not that feminine because I don’t do housework that well and I would much rather read a book or write. When I was young, my mom would make my sister and I do housework while my brothers went out to play and I used to think it was so unfair. Now my brother is much better at housework than I am because he’s a neatnik but he’s also very masculine. Talking with an old highschoolfriend, she mentioned that she thought I was one of the most feminine in our group because I liked wearing dresses and jewelry. Back then, it was popular to wear pants and jeans to school. Nowadays I prefer to wear pants and I rarely wear makeup because I like to be comfy but I don’t think it affects how I feel. So I guess housework has nothing to do with it but it’s just a feeling I have about myself.
I am still struggling with the weight loss. It’s weird stalling after having a successful six-month run but I am starting to walk more again. Without a car, U used to walk a lot like your friend but having the car back changed things. So now I am making the effort to go out and walk as it’s not part of my travel routine any more. Anyways I keep working at it. Like you said, food is a big part of it too.
Thank you very much for visiting and commenting. I appreciate it.
What an inspiring story Toni has! Thanks for sharing it – nice way to start my day. 🙂 You’re doing awesome on your weight loss challenge!
I thought Toni’s story was inspiring too. I’m glad you enjoyed it. Thank you for your kind comment on my weight loss challenge and for popping over.
Wow, what a story! Thanks for sharing Toni’s challenges and victories. I had a female friend in middle school who tried out for the football team. Caused a big uproar with the school, the coaches, the boys. She eventually gained their respect though. Your own progress is really exciting to witness. 🙂
That is so cool that your friend persevered and won the school over.
thank you for the lovely compliment. your encouragement means a lot.
You’re welcome! Yeah, she was something else! I admire her steadfastness to herself and goals in spite of adversity.
🙂 Me too. I admire both your friend and Toni.
I’d never heard of her so thanks for sharing, she sounds like one incredibly strong, determined young woman!
I think you’ve been doing really well, and definitely agree that regardless of when you reach goals you need to appreciate the small steps of progress. Glad the car’s still working, and hopefully the week ahead will be good for you in terms of health and weight. Have a relaxing weekend 🙂
xx
I’m glad you enjoyed reading about Harris. I do think she is a remarkable person. Thank you for your encouragement. I think it helped to tell you all my intentions because I went out and walked a couple miles today so yay! It’s been awhile since I did that (since before my car was fixed). I hope you’re having a great weekend.
I think your weight loss is amazing. There are no failures here. Look where you started and look where you are. A win-win.
Have a fabulous day and weekend. ♥
Thank you! I appreciate your taking the time to pop by and your support helps.
Hope you’re having a great weekend!
Wow, ovarian cancer so young! And I appreciate how she is looking toward the future…if she does not make the NFL, she hopes she paved the way for another female. A very inspiring girl. Thanks for researching and posting.
Glad you enjoyed it. Research is fun when the person you’re reading about is so cool. I’m glad I found her.
Toni is incredible and we hope she has an amazing career,
I agree. I hope so too!