Confidence, Competition, & Cashflow

Welcome back to Proof It's Possible! This episode explores the profound impact of sports on women's success, leadership, and life skills. Jamie and Dayle discuss how sports build resilience, teamwork, and networking opportunities, shaping future entrepreneurs and leaders. Tune in to discover: 

• How putting your kids in sports sets them up for future success
• Sports teams as a networking and social connection opportunity 
• How sports can help build your child's confidence in the long-term
• How sports teach your kids invaluable skills like thriving under pressure, problem-solving, and handling disappointment
• The lifelong connection with your sports team 

Entrepreneurs, we'd love to hear from you! Did you play sports growing up? How do you think that has impacted your life and your business? Share your thoughts with us — we’d love to hear! DM us on Instagram @dayle_sheehan_designs & @jamiedfrancis! See you next time!

This episode is sponsored by our Ultimate Girls Trip! Be sure to go to www.proofitspossible.com for more info.

For More Information:
• Proof It's Possible Website
• The Ultimate Girls Trip Instagram

Dayle:
• Instagram
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Website
• Interior Design

Jamie:
• Instagram
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Website 

Transcript

Jamie (00:31)
Hi guys, welcome back to Proof It's Possible. Today we are chatting about women in sports. And I'm telling you, this is like a hill I am prepared to die on because I value kids in sport probably more than anybody in the world because I think that it sets you up for future success. I think that all of the things that you learn in sport are transferable skills that can help.

lead you to a successful career or a being an entrepreneur or whatever that looks like for you. And there's actually statistics to back it up. Like, you know, I think it's 93 % of C-suite females played competitive sports in their teens. yeah, so I think that there's so many things that are like, you know, like you have to learn to

Dayle Sheehan (01:15)
⁓ interesting.

Jamie (01:23)
take your losses, you have to learn to reset. Like you get up to bat and you strike out, you have to figure out how to be like, it's okay, next time I'm up to bat, I'm gonna do better. How am not gonna let this affect me, you know, for the rest of the game. And you have to have that quick kind of reset and you have to accept failure and you have to celebrate your wins and you have to rely on your team. Like there's so many skills that are just.

Dayle Sheehan (01:33)
Yeah, for sure.

Mm-hmm.

Yes.

Jamie (01:49)
beneficial for ⁓ just future success. I mean, had I learned at a younger age that like, you're gonna hear a bunch of no's, you're gonna, you know, do things that are not great for your business. Like, yeah.

Dayle Sheehan (01:52)
Life in general, yeah.

you're gonna not make the team, you're not gonna get, not

get the job, not get the, you know, and the thing is, is like, if you didn't make many teams in your life, when you don't get the dream job or, and it makes you pivot and gets a different job and you learn like, obviously I either have to work harder or I have to pivot and learn something new or get better for next year or whatever it looks like, you end up.

Jamie (02:29)
practice more.

Dayle Sheehan (02:33)
having a much better, thicker, tougher skin that I definitely think helps you in business.

Jamie (02:40)
I also think it teaches some lessons that aren't necessarily fair, but are very realistic for what happens in real life. you you didn't make a team because of politics or somebody took their friend instead of taking you or, you know, the coach doesn't like that you play a different sport, whatever it is. Like, you know, there's all kinds of reasons and yeah, it's not fair, but guess what?

Dayle Sheehan (02:49)
Yes.

Jamie (03:05)
Real life isn't fair either. Somebody with less education, less experience, less skillset might be killing it in business. you might think, well, I'm more educated. I have a better platform. I have a better idea. But you have to look to them to be like, what are they doing differently? Or like, yeah, that's a tough.

Dayle Sheehan (03:07)
Exactly. Absolutely.

Better friends with the boss. Yep.

Jamie (03:28)
pill to swallow, but I'm not gonna let it get me down. I'm gonna keep trying. All of this.

Dayle Sheehan (03:31)
Well, and on the principle

of even just relationship capital, the amount of relationship capital you build up in your life by playing sports. I look around at people that we know like your husband and just dad and like playing sports, whether they were like while he was young, while he was, you know, he was a kid still or young adult. It's like the friends and relationships he built through the ability to play a sport.

even once he was an adult and into his career, it was like he could play on a rec hockey team that had people that were great networking opportunities with, but it wasn't just like a go shake hands and drink drinks and, you know, kind of get together. It was something he actually liked doing, which was play hockey or play golf or go to the like workout club and, you know, play racquetball or something. And

Jamie (04:22)
Yeah.

Dayle Sheehan (04:24)
Getting to use your ability to like ski because that's part of a networking opportunity to meet more people and more people and more people is a huge, huge skill. And like I look at your kids and before you guys moved to where you live now, your kids weren't in school yet. They weren't in sports yet. So they like didn't know anybody. And then when they moved, when you guys moved and they got into everything because they're eight, they aged into the right age for this stuff.

they literally know everybody in town some way or another. Again, it's almost weird now to find a kid between your three kids in their general ages that you don't know that they played on the opposite team or they played on your kids team or, you know.

Jamie (05:06)
100%. Everybody I

know, everybody I know here is through my kids' sports or school. Like there's no other, I am literally one degree of separation away from everybody that lives in this town that has children. That's just like the cold hard facts. You meet so many people and you become friends with so many people that you wouldn't necessarily even.

Dayle Sheehan (05:17)
Wait a minute.

Yes.

Mm-hmm.

Jamie (05:32)
become friends with. A, might never cross paths had it not been for sports, but you also wouldn't have this, you know, like similar interests, collective kind of thing that you're cheering for or promoting.

Dayle Sheehan (05:46)
reason to sit in the stands for an hour here or an hour there together

and find out about each other. then like going back to even just the child in the sport, I do think like such a key piece in this world is feeling like we're good at something at some point in our life. Because once we're an adult, there's like less opportunity to be like, you're like big dreams of going to, you know, the NHL or playing for this particular college.

Jamie (05:51)
Present.

Yeah.

Dayle Sheehan (06:14)
They come and go because they're not realistic for everybody. They're not realistic for most. Yeah, exactly. So we need to like figure out what our children good at. And then that even if they were only good at hockey or softball or soccer for the five years that they were, they felt they were good at it when they were like a kid or a teenager, it was something they really, really believed in themselves about.

Jamie (06:18)
Well, once you're 30, you're not gonna make it to the show. You know that now, so...

Dayle Sheehan (06:43)
because maybe they aren't great in school. And a lot of entrepreneurs are C students. That is something that is also a proven scientific type fact because it takes a lot of hard work to be an entrepreneur and you're not risk averse. It does not take having the smartest brain in the world. so there are C students every day building big companies and being entrepreneurs.

and doing the thing. So if a kid goes through their life thinking like, I'm terrible at school, I'm probably not going to get to make much of my life here. At least if they're great on the soccer fields, they have that and that builds their confidence in a different way with different things and different parts of their brain that I actually think is the key factors in trusting themselves and you know, believing in themselves, whatever that looks like.

Jamie (07:21)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, things that other skills that you don't necessarily like relate with sport bar. But for me, it's like handling pressure. Like, you know, you you're the last shift before the buzzer. You're the person at the plate that's, you know, with two outs. You're the person who has to do the the shootout or, you know, whatever, whatever sport you're playing.

Dayle Sheehan (07:47)
Hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Jamie (08:03)
There is a lot of pressure that happens and the better you get at accepting and handling and reconciling that pressure in your mind and in your body, the better you are for all aspects of life. mean, whether that's financial pressure when you're older or it's like speaking in front of a crowd because you're a CEO that needs to address the media, pressure is all around us and the better you are to weather that storm when you're young, like that's just a skill that's gonna continue to build.

Dayle Sheehan (08:16)
Absolutely.

Jamie (08:32)
The other thing is, it teaches you at a very young age, problem solving. So like, okay, I didn't, I wasn't able to score that goal because number 12 is just killer on defense on the soccer field. So what other ways could I get around him or her, or how can I get creative in making a play or how can I, you know, be different? And there's so much problem solving that has to happen. Even conflict resolution.

Dayle Sheehan (08:32)
for sure.

Jamie (08:59)
You're not gonna be on the team with 20 people that you like or 12 people that you like. You might actually have a lot of personality conflicts on the team, but you still have to work as a team and you still have to figure it out. And that is so reflective of what you're gonna have to do in your regular life when you're an adult.

Dayle Sheehan (09:00)
Yes.

Mm-hmm.

Absolutely. Well, and it one thing that I will say about that is that I think that what also makes an amazing athlete, and very likely an amazing entrepreneur is they don't get one hit of conflict or not getting the goal or whatever. And then they don't they're like, Okay, well, I'm smaller than everybody else. So I'll never get a goal. They're like, How could I be faster?

Jamie (09:18)
⁓ So here's, whoops, sorry.

Dayle Sheehan (09:44)
How could I have a special move where I loop around? You know, like in that problem solving, they come up with the people that are the most successful at it. Like I read a stat and I don't know the exact details of it, but that Kobe Bryant didn't make the basketball team like several years in a row. So he just practiced and practiced and practiced. And then all of a sudden he was the best player of all time. And it's like,

Jamie (09:44)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Dayle Sheehan (10:10)
It's hard to imagine somebody at that level never made the team because we assume everybody that played a sport and then made it to the top of the heights of success in that sport, they were just always a phenom. They were always heads and shoulders above everybody else. It was easier for them. And it wasn't, it isn't always. Sometimes it's because they practiced, because they figured out the route.

Jamie (10:33)
to,

I went to this like mental health thing in town and it was six NHLers. ⁓ and they talked about their road to success, like their road to the NHL and one out of six had a pretty linear route. Like, you know, they made the team kind of right from anthem to the NHL, you know, like it just was a pretty linear. Yeah. Every the other five.

Dayle Sheehan (10:40)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

every time. Yeah.

Standard process, yeah.

Jamie (11:02)
was story after story, like, well, when I was 15, I got cut from the team and then I didn't make the B team either. And then I didn't, you know, it was like failure after failure, after failure, after failure. And then it's like, and then one day it just all came together and I got drafted to the NHL. And it was such a like eye-opening thing. Cause I'm like, man, I just gave it so much less credit. Like I just thought.

Dayle Sheehan (11:10)
Hmm. Yeah.

Jamie (11:27)
Everybody took a very linear, you know, you were an exceptional athlete and they noticed you at 13 and then again at 15 and then again at 17 and next thing you know, you were drafted and off you went to the NHL and that's not how it happened for you know, five out of six of these guys and I was like, wow, you really just don't hear about these stories because nobody gets on the like sports net and is like, hey, so it's been really hard to get here. Like they talk about the game or they talk about.

Dayle Sheehan (11:52)
Yeah.

Yes, exactly.

Jamie (11:55)
whatever, you

don't always get to hear the path in which got them there. But it is super interesting the resilience it takes and the like, nose that you hear and the crushing experiences where you're not the number one draft pick, you might not even be drafted at all, but you still might make the NHL or whatever that looks like. I think sports are just the most important thing you can do for your kid to set them up for success.

Dayle Sheehan (11:59)
Mm-hmm

Jamie (12:23)
I also will say this is not business related, but a child that is busy playing sports and who has one degree of separation to almost every adult in town is far less likely to be getting into trouble. A, because they don't have as much time, free time where they have nothing to do. B, they have this sense of responsibility because they can't just go.

Dayle Sheehan (12:35)
Mm-hmm.

Jamie (12:51)
you know, do bad things in town because everybody recognizes them because they know them from sports. And they know their parents and they know they're going to get caught and they know that, you know, if they're smoking on the corner, somebody's going to see them and probably tell their mom or their dad or whatever that looks like. So I also think it's good for them to stay out of trouble. Like it's good for all of these other skills, but it's also really good to keep your kid out of trouble.

Dayle Sheehan (12:55)
and they know their parents and they know they'll get caught.

busy. Yeah, for sure.

Yes, and

it's connection because the thing is is that what gets us in trouble as kids is not feeling connected at school, not feeling connected with friends, not feeling like we have anybody to hang out with on the weekend. If we're if our lives are full, we we do not look for trouble because I don't think anybody really wants to get into trouble. They just are left to too many of their own devices.

potentially.

Jamie (13:46)
I also think that if you are having a hard time at school, like you're not fitting in, you feel like you don't have a lot of friends, there's a conflict because now you're in middle school or you're in high school and they started hanging out with people that you don't really love and it doesn't feel right for you anymore or there's a big fight because you guys are all hormonal and crazy, you still...

Dayle Sheehan (14:00)
Your friends are shifting, whatever.

Hmm.

Jamie (14:14)
can rely on your sports friends. And that in itself is such a win for your mental health because you don't go home and think to yourself, I am all alone in this world. I have no friends. You still have connection outside of school that has nothing to do with your friends at school. You could have the worst day at school and then go to basketball practice with a group of girls that go to five other schools and still feel like you belong. Totally. Totally.

Dayle Sheehan (14:38)
But they might be your soulmate because they have the same interests as you and they are funny and you

guys have inside jokes that you got at the hotel at your sleepover weekend for the tournament. And like it's, it's a set of memories that school friends may never provide for you because you don't necessarily see them that much. Even if they are your friends, they might stay surface level. Yeah.

Jamie (14:50)
100%.

Yes. And

I want my daughter, one of my daughters had a teacher who's at the beginning of the very first parent teacher interview that I ever had with her. She said, what sports does she play? She's a sporty spice teacher, which I loved. What sports does she play? Did any of the kids at this school play on her team or play the same sport? Because if there is ever trouble, because going into middle school, there's bound to be some hormonal trouble, friendship trouble.

I need to know who her connection points are that she has in the sports world so that I can make sure that if I ever see her alone at lunch or struggling socially, that I can make sure that I connect her with, you know, her ring out friend or her softball friend or her whatever that looks like. And I was like, you are the smartest teacher I have ever met. Like having that social IQ and knowing what her students

who her students safe places were outside of her school friendships. I was like, A, it's brilliant and B, you aren't just looking out for like the academics because I fully believe that academics will come. Everyone will learn to read and write eventually, but it's the social skills that we learn at school that are who shape us into who we become as an adult. And I was like, what a brilliant teacher you are that you're not just focused on like, did they learn their French? Did they learn to read and write?

Dayle Sheehan (15:58)
Mm-hmm.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Jamie (16:23)
you're

focused on like, have they become a good person? Do they feel like they belong? Do they have friendships and feel socially connected? And I was like, I'm just obsessed with you. And now my other daughter got her too and she's just the best teacher. But anyways, ⁓ so I just want to finish by saying some of the stats that I pulled up. women, just one second, I've lost them.

Dayle Sheehan (16:35)
Amazing.

Mm-hmm.

Jamie (16:48)
80 % of Fortune 500 female executives played competitive sports growing up. 74 % of executive women say sports accelerated their career success, and 71 % of women leaders, manager to C-suite, have a sports background. So this isn't just like the feeling. What's that?

Dayle Sheehan (17:06)
Those are big numbers. Yeah, those

are big numbers. Like that's a huge amount of like high percentages because obviously within the percentages of kids that don't, know, not every kid has opportunities to play sports and not, you know, the world's got a lot of variety of what's going on. And some kids, some people like me and you, neither of us were really sports kids, even though our parents are very sporty and wanted us to be.

but we did do certain sports. just wasn't, like we were like in the swim club and things like that, but well, you did.

Jamie (17:36)
Well, I played all the school sports, but I just wasn't like

a highly competitive athlete. I was like, yeah, this is fun, but.

Dayle Sheehan (17:43)
Same like I was like I I'm doing this for fun and friendship and so I wasn't looking to be the best I was looking to to like make friends and I thought that was a very worthwhile trade to do the activity for the friendship because that's who I am

Jamie (17:55)
I'm

Absolutely. Okay.

Final story, because this is like a very, I'm very passionate about this topic, but my final story is, so I was given the fundraising coordinator position for my daughter's softball team because I didn't show up to the one meeting because I was away. And so it was assigned to me and I was like, I know nothing about fundraising. I don't, I don't want this position, but anyways, here I am. So I was like, what do I have to lose? I'm just going to reach out to all of the,

fastball companies, I figured out the email addresses for the companies. I Googled like who's the president and then I figured out like if it's first name dot last name at company dot com or whatever. And I just went and I emailed like, you know, 50 people guessing at their email addresses and said like I'm the manager of a, you know, fundraising manager of a softball team here and blah, blah. And I got one response.

from the president of De Marini, which is a female sports or softball brand. It's an amazing brand and they make like Louisville sluggers and like all the big, big, cool bats that you see. And she wrote me back and said, like, I love this. I chose, I'm a fastball player. I chose my career based on my love of the game. We are a full female.

led business. And I love the fact that like you're advocating for females. So what I'm going to do is send you a some bats that we have been using as our testing, like our engineers have been testing them to see how they perform. I'm going to send you a bunch for your team and you guys can use them as your team bats. And then she sent them to me, which was amazing. And she sent me a bunch of stickers and she sent a little letter to the girls. And so then I replied to her like a big thank you and a picture of all the players and said like, you know,

this has meant so much to us, blah. And then she responded and said, tell your girls who are 13 and under that if they ever want a job at Daymarini, yeah, they just, they should get into engineering, sports engineering, and we will happily, you know, like provide a job for them because we believe in women that play sports. And I was like, what? That is,

Dayle Sheehan (19:56)
Wow.

Yeah, crazy. But like interesting because I didn't even know that sports engineering was a thing. you know, and if that's genuinely anyone's dream. Yeah.

Jamie (20:14)
Well, why not?

Like if

you love fastball and you're like, want to figure out the mechanics of a bat or how to make a ball go farther. It's the perfect job for you. But I was like, so interesting that she basically was saying here, if they're. Yeah. Which is so cool.

Dayle Sheehan (20:26)
Mm-hmm.

Perfect, yeah.

Here's the roadmap to get to work here and be part of this. Yeah. And

it is, it's so cool. And I love when big companies do cool things and, are about community, like about bringing up communities and, know, cause she could have been like the other 49 people that you messaged and not responded and you know, no, you wouldn't have known if she just never got it and got the email wrong or

Jamie (20:49)
really.

Dayle Sheehan (21:01)
if whatever, amazing. And it's amazing that you did that too, because sometimes in life, all you have to do is ask. Have the confidence to ask. Yeah.

Jamie (21:08)
100 % yes, yes.

And okay, one last little fast fact. There was a bit of a delay because she's like, let me know when you get the package, but it was coming from the States and of course I'm in Canada. And then the packaging come for a long time, but it was kind of over Christmas. And I was like, you know, we're just packages just take long time over Christmas and it's international shipping and whatever. So finally like enough time had passed and I'm like, I do feel like I need to like check in to make sure that it didn't get lost or something.

Dayle Sheehan (21:34)
Yeah.

Jamie (21:35)
So I checked in with her and she was like, I'm so sorry for the delay. I had a baby, but I'm back to work now. And I was like, okay. So just a reminder that women are really amazing. Just a baby and then she's back to sending us free bats. Anyways, if you're looking to support a female led business, I highly recommend Daymarini. Their bats are unbelievable and they're...

Dayle Sheehan (21:43)
Alright.

Yeah, no kidding.

doing her thing.

Jamie (22:00)
kindness is even better, so.

Dayle Sheehan (22:03)
Amazing. All right, thanks for joining us and we will see you next week.

Jamie (22:05)
Okay, yeah, until next time,