As a young girl in cycling, I didn't have very many female role models in what used to be a male-dominated sport. However, my home state of Indiana happened to produce the most tenacious female cyclist I know. My teammates and I would go on long training rides touring the plains of central Indiana, which would take up the majority of our weekends. On one training ride, in particular, we had stopped halfway through our ride to fuel our appetites at a random gas station. While my teammates and I devoured our gas station baked goods and sugar-filled drinks, a man walked up to us. He chatted with our coach like they knew each other for a while, and then he turned to me pointing at my shoes, and said, "You remind me of my daughter." I was sporting my bright pink cleats just like my favorite cyclist. Confused as to who this man was, I turned to my coach after he walked away. "That was Chloe Dygert's dad," my coach informed me. Chloe will be competing in the road cycling events as well as track cycling events for Team USA at the upcoming Olympic Games. She will be the one wearing bright pink cleats.

I have been involved with sports ever since I could remember. For the past 6 years, cycling has been a huge part of my life. My teammates were my best friends and my coaches were the adults I trusted the most. Even when I wasn't training, I was always with my teammates. I would travel to a new city almost every weekend to race my bike. Everything revolved around cycling in one way or another and I absolutely loved it. I did cross country too, but only because I was told it would help me become a stronger cyclist. I was not a super fast runner, but I wanted to be faster. I wanted to become faster in both cycling and running. One day, I went in for physical therapy to help me get the most out of my muscles, specifically for running. While I was there, I could see my future self doing the same job. I watched my physical therapist in his natural habitat and I knew I wanted to have the same job when I grow up. I would be able to work with people, make connections with them, and get my body moving throughout the day. It seemed like the perfect job for me and my heart has been set on it ever since then. Recently, I watched a documentary called Athlete A. It was about the toxic culture inside USA Gymnastics. One person in particular was Larry Nassar who was the team doctor. He exploited the young athletes and the other coaches and staff members helped cover it up. This sparked a wave of anger inside of me. I had never directly heard about young athletes being exploited in this way before. They were being used and it absolutely disgusted me. These athletes used to have a safe space in their sport, but that was stripped away from them. Once I become a physical therapist, I will be able to specialize if I want to. One specialization option is sports medicine, so I will be able to work with athletes. I want to be able to provide a safe space for young athletes. I want young athletes to be able to fall in love with their sport. I want to do everything I can to stop young athletes from being exploited and used. This is just one small step towards helping young athletes fulfill their potential in a safe environment.

My future self will be empowering young athletes as their physical therapist by keeping them healthy, cheering them on, and being a role model of a true leader.

Look good, feel good? At least that is what they say. This may be true, but listen to your body and you will feel good. Your body will tell you when it is thirsty and needs water and it will tell you when it is hungry and needs nourishment. One of the easiest ways to feel good about your overall health is to practice healthy eating habits. I am a firm believer that if you listen to your body and practice healthy eating habits then your mental and physical health will improve. It is amazing how everything works in harmony when it is given the resources. This statement can be true for many things, especially the human body. The human body is extremely complex and it is smart enough to send signals to your brain telling you if it needs more sodium, sugar, carbohydrates, or many other things. When these signs are ignored, the body might flip out and shut down. This is why you should listen to what your body is telling you it needs and that includes practicing healthy eating habits. These healthy eating habits will lead to better mental health as well as physical health. I have been very active my entire life. One thing that comes with being extremely active is the appetite of three grown men as a little girl. I would spend hours running and jumping around and I still do. There were times that I would just eat whatever I could get the quickest and easiest. Usually, the quickest and easiest meals are not the healthiest and not what I really want. I realized quickly that there was a direct correlation between an overall bad feeling in my body and the bad eating habits I had. Once I started practicing healthy eating habits, like adding fruits and vegetables to almost every meal, I started feeling healthier and happier. I have even developed a system with my teammates. We would eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner like normal, but then we decided to name our in-between meals. We developed three meals into five meals a day and they are called breakfast, first lunch, second lunch, first dinner, and second dinner. We are not very creative with the names, but we loved telling each other the kinds of food we ate for each meal. I have gotten so many amazing ideas for foods to try because of this system with my teammates. However, most importantly, we helped each other feel good about nutritious food which also made us mentally and physically stronger.