Fortitude by Deanna Smith

Love watching the World Cup... definitely recognition that the pull up jump shot is not dead in basketball. It’s the key to adding versatility to your game as a scorer. Especially when the D collapse. Love it!! 💪🏀❤️

It's Fortitude Friday and as we celebrate the highs and lows of the Olympics I thought it only fitting that we reflect upon Rio's theme of LIVE YOUR PASSION. Everyday we wake up with the opportunity to do something amazing. However for many of us we fall into a routine accepting our day to day life for what it is. Have you taken the time to even ask yourself What is your passion? My challenge for today is to look at all of the areas of your life and ask yourself are you LIVING YOUR PASSION? Because if the answer is no! Then what are you going to do about it? Today is the time for you to start to LIVE YOUR PASSION!

The journey through life sees many people come and go in your life. Many amazing people that have an impact included. When I think about all of the amazing people that I have met or the people that went out of their way to look out for me it makes me feel lucky. There have been so many people that have been there for me and I just wish that I had stayed in contact. Moving around at times sees you lose contact with the people that you become closest to with no excuses other than life passes by. Social media does make it easy to stay up to date with what people are doing but it's not a conversation, it's not a check in. Recently through great conversation I have realised the importance of re connecting with the people that matter the most. I have had many amazing people that have come into my life and I have sadly lost contact with them. This Fortitude Friday my challenge to you is to reconnect! Call someone that you were close to and have lost contact with for no reason other than to check in, say hi and thank them for having an impact on your life. It's not too late to reconnect. For all of the young people that are yet to move away or lose contact with someone special. Be thankful for the nice people that you do have in your lives, parents, friends, coaches, team mates, the people who would do anything for you.

Regret "a feeling of sadness, repentance, or disappointment over an occurrence or something that one has done or failed to do." Should you look upon a choice you made with regret or learn from it and ensure that you don't have make the same mistake again? When I am asked about my biggest regret it would be when I walked away from a team that had my back, that was prepared to do anything to help me achieve and grow into the best player I could become, but for some reason I felt that the grass was greener somewhere else, that the opportunity by going to another team would lead to me achieving my dream. Upon reflection, yes I regret this decision but I ask myself what did I learn from it? I learnt that it is important to believe in yourself and what you are doing, sometimes whilst the grass appears greener or someone says they have something better to offer, it isn't always better, it isn't always what you need and it sometimes it just doesn't align with your values. If I had my choice again I would choose believe in me, believe in what I was doing, trust even more than I did in the people that were supporting me and you know what, who knows what I might have achieved? Now all I can do is LEARN! My challenge to you for Fortitude Friday is to reflect upon something that you have regretted and identify one thing you could learn from it. By changing our thoughts and learning from our decisions, we really can live with Fortitude

When you are focused on the outcome you tend to lose your attention to detail. The focus should be in the process. With a quality process comes the desired outcomes. For example if I am just worrying about making a shot then I may forget to use my legs or follow through. However if I am thinking about my legs and follow through I am more likely to make the shot. My challenge to you is to identify what you are aiming for and pay closer attention to the details and process that will get you there., rather than worrying if you will get there. What could you do better?!

It is easy to focus on what we don't have, opposed to what we do. We are wired to think about the negatives in our life more than the positives. However when you take the time to think about what you DO have, you will realise there are a lot of positives in your world no matter what is going on! It is not easy to find the positives in a bad situation, however through my own experiences finding things I am grateful for has helped me to smile, even for a brief moment and has helped me to realise that whilst I could focus on what I don't have and feel even worse, there is more personal power and positivity in focusing on what I do have. The power of positivity.
The choice is yours.......
My challenge to you on Fortitude Friday is to think about and say thanks for three things that you are grateful for today.
I am thankful for: 1) My amazing family and friends. 2) A warm home with a comfy bed to come home to each night and 3) Today (gameday) I am especially thankful for the ability to still be able to step out on a basketball court and play the game that I love with a great group of girls.
What are you grateful for?

Sometimes it is hard to fit in when you are the odd one out..... I have been doing a lot of workshops and having a lot of conversations with young athletes who are struggling to connect with their peers because of their commitment to their sport. I remember very clearly at high school that feeling like I didn't fit in! My friends very quickly stopped asking me what I did on the weekend because they already knew the answer.... Basketball. They stopped asking me to things such as parties or to go shopping because every time they asked I had always said I couldn't because I had.... basketball. This left me feeling very disconnected to my peers and feeling alone. At lunch time I would play basketball with the boys, I enjoyed this but it was even more so to avoid having those conversations and feeling left out. How did I get through it? My goal, my dream, my vision and my team mates. I knew what I wanted.... I wanted to play basketball for Australia way more than I wanted to go shopping or to a party and drink or even to fit in! My team mates were like minded and dealing with similar things so I related to them a lot more than with my school friends. My commitment to my dream wasn't just about the words but the actions and the choices I made. I chose basketball and whilst it was hard at the time to be that different person, the one that didn't fit in and was left out, I would never change the choice I made because when I sit here and reflect upon my journey, I had so many amazing experiences and met so many beautiful friends and people along the way that have all shaped the person I am today all because I chose to commit to my dream of playing basketball for Australia. Please share this post to show your support for young people who commit to being their best.

Check out Fortitude's new website at www.fortitudesuccess.com
and share it with all of your friends. My dream is finally becoming a reality and I can't wait to start with the first Girls With Fortitude Workshop.

Very excited to be back where it all began in Perth

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Welcome back to the Hawks - DEANNA SMITH
Perry Lakes Hawks are delighted to announce the signing of Deanna Smith to the Lady Hawks SBL team.
Doccy was a member of the Lady Hawks 2008 Championship team and played 40 games over 2 seasons with the Hawks.
Read more about Deanna's signing at our website:
http://www.foxsportspulse.com/assoc_page.cgi?client=1-6713-0-0-0&sID=124321&&news_task=DETAIL&articleID=37992115

We talk about confidence so often in performance. Today I was asked how was I able to build confidence for myself that wasn't positive reinforcement from my coach or my parents. Especially when things weren't going well, what did I do to turn things around? This question really got me thinking because there were so many times that I felt I didn't have the confidence or the strategies to help me through. Even to this day I feel that the importance of the mental side of the game was one that I didn't learn until too late. Who knows what I could have achieved if my mindset was right. Until this day I am still working on this part of sport. It is an ongoing journey that I can't imagine will end. However Looking back on the mental strategies that did work for me which I developed in the later part of my career were definitely things like visualisation, having three things I could control and that I could put my focus into that took me away from the negatives (just effort things), positive self talk and a gratitude and positives journal. This was a great tool especially after a bad game to refocus me on the positives and find the good in sometimes what felt like the worst game in the world. It focused me on what I could do and it also kept me focused on why I was doing what I did. The reminder that it was because I loved what I did and nothing could take that away from me, not even my self doubting thoughts anymore!! If there is one thing I would like you to learn from my experience is that the game is just as much about the mental side as the physical so take the time to work on it as much as you do the physical. If you have any other strategies I would love to hear them?

Fortitude Friday!!!! Tag someone that you have relied upon to help you through the tough times. Everybody needs a support network to help them when times are tough. I am lucky to have some amazing people in my world that I trust and know they only have my best interests at heart. #❤️