To the PE teacher who told me in third grade that I shouldn’t even try out for the sports team because I had a “hunchback” and “no talent”:

Thank you.

You helped make me who I am today.

I went on to come to the United States on an academic and athletic scholarship.

I ran track.

I competed at a semi professional level.

I became a national championship qualifier in track and field and triathlon.

And now I’m a sports scientist, coach, athlete, mother, and a woman writing a book to empower other women, not tear them down.

Because no woman should pull another woman down.

Especially not a little girl.

Now I get to teach my daughter something I wish someone had protected in me earlier:

Nobody gets to define who you are.

Nobody gets to decide what your body means.

Nobody gets to shrink your future because they cannot see your potential.

You once told me, “You won’t be like us.”

You were right.

I won’t be like you.

I will never be like you.

I will be the woman who teaches her daughter, and every woman I coach, that her body is not a limitation, her dreams are not up for debate, and someone else’s cruelty is not a prophecy.

You did not break me.

You built the fire.