SAFUN

Happy New Year!

So what’s new for 2010? I am coaching my first volleyball team! This is something I have always wanted to do but never ran into the opportunity. When my aunt contacted me about a volleyball club needing a volleyball coach for a 12 & under team, I jumped on it. I’m passionate about the sport and passionate about working with our youth so I felt this was my calling.

I can’t tell you how nervous I was meeting the parents. I have been in business for 7 years and have had to present to high profile clients and executive leadership numerous of times but never was I this nervous. These parents were meeting someone for the first time that would be working with their daughter for the next 6 months. I needed to earn their trust. Talking a bit about my experience helped. The next step was proving myself.

I outlined what I was going to go over in my first practice and reviewed it over and over and over and over in my head. Once practice came and I started running the drills, I realized that I was way ahead of myself. These girls are only 9 and 10 years old! I needed to teach them the fundamentals of just passing the ball and controlling the ball. I had to go back and re-outline my practices. I now have the hang of it.

Our first tournament was this past weekend. We are in the 12 & under division so I knew we were going up against girls that were older than my girls and had 1 year under their belt in club volleyball. Mentally, I was prepared for this. Was I prepared for our opposing team to be twice the size of my team? No! I showed up at 7:30am to see a bunch of mammoths warming up. I only had a few girls there and we were scheduled to play at 8am, against the mammoths! My poor parents were so freaked out. I kept my composure. I got my girls warmed up and ready to play. We had to play them so there was no use in freaking out. And although we lost, we took the mammoths to 3 games. Not bad.

We went on to lose 1 more match but won our last match, yeah! I was so exhausted by the end of our last match. I had such a blast and left with an amazing feeling inside. We are only going to get better and now, I actually want to play some more mammoths.

This year, it’s not about my success. For me, it’s about helping my girls succeed.

We were blessed with a beautiful weekend in San Antonio. The Jefferson High School 4^th Annual Trick Treat & Trot 5K was a big success. My Uncle Paul is head basketball coach and teacher at Jefferson High School. He puts this event together every year to help raise money for the basketball team to attend a tournament in Washington DC.  As a graduate of Jefferson and coaching there for 20 years now, he does a lot for the school and the community. Many of his students have never had the opportunity to travel outside of San Antonio and they might never have that opportunity. Participating in a tournament in Washington DC gives them that opportunity and what greater place to go then our nation’s capital.

Former Mayor Ed Garza and Mayor Julian Castro, both Jefferson graduates, along with the Spurs Coyote and Silver Dancers all came out to support the event. It’s always great to see family, friends and neighbors come together to support our youth.

See all photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/safun/sets/72157622550148251/

I am a Junior Achievement (JA) volunteer and I started this semester’s program 3 weeks ago.

JA Worldwide is the world’s largest organization dedicated to educating students about workforce readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on programs.

I was a Program Assistant for PREP (PreFreshman Engineering Program) back in 2001 and this was when I discovered my passion to inspire our youth. When I started working at Rackspace back in 2003, I was introduced to Junior Achievement. I love Junior Achievement because it allows me to take business practices from my work life and share it with students. Students are learning their basics in school – which is needed – but they need to understand how it pertains to the real world.

As members of this community, I feel that it is our responsibility to inspire our youth. We can’t leave it up to only our teachers. I know that I would have never gotten to where I am at today without certain individuals inspiring me throughout my childhood and young adulthood. I am still being inspired, not only by accomplished individuals but from our youth. I learn so much from the students I teach.

This semester, I am working with middle school students.  It’s something about this age group that I feel like I can connect to the most, more so than elementary or high school.

The topic for this semester is Entrepreneurship. Yay! My favorite!

The first day I met  with the students, I was so nervous! I got all these butterflies in my stomach. I kept thinking “will they like me?” “will they listen to what I have to say?” “do they care?”  I had done this before but when you meet a new set of students, it’s like going in for an interview.

No matter what, I had to come in very confident. They needed to know that I knew what the heck I was talking about. I am already young so sometimes I may not be taken seriously.

I first had to introduce myself and let everyone know what I did for a living. We were going to go over the basics of Entrepreneurship. Then we were going to play a game, structured like Jeopardy, where I gave them hints of CEO’s and/or companies and they had to guess the name.

I had a very energetic group of kids. It took them a while to settle down. I introduced myself and explained what I did. I educated them a little about the Internet. As soon as I mentioned YouTube, MySpace and Facebook, their attention level went straight to 100%. These were things they knew about and could relate to. I talked about the founders of these companies and how they had a vision. They loved it!

Phew! I was in. We went on to play our game and not only did they learn but I actually learned about CEO’s I didn’t know of before.

Last week, they had an exercise to develop a blueprint of their Teen Club. This was essentially teaching them how to build a business and think of ways that they would sell it – who would come and how much it would be. They designed their entire Teen Club.

This past week, they created slogans and commercials for a  preselected product. These were products that were unheard of and weren’t necessarily real. The products we used were spray on pantyhose, an alarm watch that only woke you up when it sensed you had enough sleep and then programmable paints for your home. All were real products except the programmable paint (which makes me think…).

They were so creative! They came up with slogans and even promotions. They are very smart kids. I hope they remember the lessons we are learning:

1. Fill a Need
2. Know your Product and Customer
3. Be Creative and Innovative
4. Believe in Yourself

(Sometimes real world businesses need to be reminded of these basics.)

More updates to come as we continue our sessions.

Today was the “Walk with us to Cure Lupus” event at Brackenridge Park. My family had a team, Team SOL (Stomp Out Lupus), and we set a goal to raise $3000. My mom was the team captain and she got our team to raise $3688 as of today. The overall goal for San Antonio was $12,500 and we raised $22,656. Phenomenal! We are raising money for the Alliance for Lupus Research. Lupus is a disease that it difficult to diagnos and the medications to treat Lupus are very strong. We want to learn more about this disease so we can find better treatment methods as well as create awareness. We are doing this in memory of my Aunt RoseAnn who lost her life to Lupus at the age of 27 years. We also have members of our family on both sides that suffer from Lupus.

My Aunt Ruby helped put the event together and she did such an amazing job. We had such a great turn out. There was a balloon arch, Ronald McDonald appearance, drinks and snacks and a t-shirt contest. The weather was also perfect. It is so moving to see family and friends come together for a common purpose.

I really like Brackenridge park. It’s well kept and it is right in the heart of San Antonio. My only complaint? There are no recycling bins! We had tons of plastic bottles left over and the only option was a trash can. This is LAME San Antonio! So as a citizen of San Antonio, I am going to be contacting the San Antonio Parks and Recreation Department and inquire about putting recycling bins at Brackenridge. I will update you with my findings.

My Aunt RoseAnn was diagnosed with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) when she was just 14 years old. She battled the disease for 10 years before she passed away at only 27. She was such a happy person – energetic, optimistic, full of laughter – that you would have never known that she was suffering, but she was.This is a photo of her at her wedding. She actually was very sick on this day but she insisted on having the wedding. She passed away months later on New Year’s Eve 1994.

Other members of my family also suffer from different forms of Lupus.

Lupus is a chronic, potentially devastating autoimmune disease in which the immune system turns against the body’s own cells and tissues, causing inflammation and tissue damage.

There is still not a known cause of Lupus which makes it difficult to treat. All the drugs used to fight the disease usually make the individual extremely sick. Lupus affects 1.5 million Americans, more than patients with AIDS, SICKLE-CELL ANEMIA, CEREBRAL PALSY, MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS, AND CYSTIC FIBROSIS combined!  Thousands of Americans die from Lupus ever year. The scary thing is that it is extremely difficult to diagnose because it mimics other illnesses.

The Alliance for Lupus Research needs donations to further their research in discovering the cause of this disease and finding more effective forms of treatment.

My mom is captain for our team SOL (Stomp Out Lupus) and has set a goal of $3000. There will be Walk with Us to Cure Lupus on  Saturday, May 2nd at Brackenridge Park.

More Facts About Lupus

* Lupus can affect many parts of the body, including the joints, skin, kidneys, heart, lungs, blood vessels, and brain.

* Lupus affects people of all ages, including children, but it most often strikes people when they are between the ages of 15 and 45. Nine out of ten people with lupus are women.

* Lupus is three times more common among African American women than among Caucasian women, and is also more
common in women of Hispanic, Asian, and Native American descent.

Join the Cause!

On Saturday, May 2nd, I will be participating in the 2009 San Antonio Walk with Us to Cure Lupus Walkathon. You can join me in the fight against lupus by making a pledge on my behalf, or becoming a member of my team and walking alongside me.

100% of the proceeds from the Walk will go to Lupus Research.

My Personal ID Number is TXS-40062

You can donate online on my personal page. If you decide to sponsor me by sending a check, please include this number in the memo line.

Send your check directly to the ALR office at 28 W. 44th Street, Suite 501, New York, NY 10036.

The Alliance for Lupus Research has initiated a nationwide Walk program that is designed to raise both awareness and dollars for the fight against lupus.

The Alliance for Lupus Research was founded in 1999 through the vision and commitment of Robert Wood Johnson IV and the support of the Arthritis Foundation. Since its inception, the ALR has committed more than $50 million to lupus research. Now we seek to raise unprecedented additional funds for lupus research through the Walk Program. Walk proceeds will enable us to support the work of well-established researchers currently working in the field and to attract bright and energetic new scientists to lupus research.