Summer Sanders
We Dare You!
Make Better Choices
Be active, Summer says: “We are what we eat! I believe that more now than I did when I was an athlete. We, as moms, need our energy to be up and our moods to be patient and bright from the moment we get the kiddos up to the moment we snuggle in with our partners at night. We are the glue that holds most all of the family together. With that in mind, we don't have time to be sick or tired. We need our bodies to be well fed, well exercised and well rested.”
To stay energized, she developed these easy short-cuts:
- Pack your fridge and pantry with healthy, fresh and kid-friendly items, like low-fat string cheese.
- Keep nuts like cashews and almonds around; they’re great for snacking.
- Especially in the summer time, stock up on tons of fresh fruit!
- Cut up fresh veggies like peppers, carrots, cucumbers and celery—it will give your family a better chance of choosing them as snacks over less healthy items.
- Make drinking water a priority. Fill up a water bottle and keep it with you, kind of like the sippy cups you have on hand for your kids.
Summer and her kids make it their goal to pack a no-waste lunch box—cloth napkins and reusable utensils are only the beginning. Visit The Daily Green to find out how you and your kids can join in on the fun; you’ll also notice a little extra effort can save you a lot of 'green' as well!
To keep up with Summer, visit her website.
Sports Talk
January 2011
The thrill and challenge of competition shaped Summer Sanders into a striking swimmer, TV personality and passionate philanthropist. The four Olympic medals she won during the 1992 Barcelona Games are among her many accomplishments, which started at age 4, when she swam a lap to prove she wasn’t too young for swim camp. Through her childhood and into college, the demands of the sport set the stage for her success—inside and outside of the water. “My sport was pretty brutal: it was up to me to put the work in or I wasn’t going to better my times. If I didn’t better my times, I wouldn’t qualify for meets. It was black and white, but it was very cool that it was all in my hands.”
After winning three gold medals at the Goodwill Games and six NCAA titles, Summer applied her skills, experiences and what she knew best into television as a sports reporter, entering a field dominated by men. “In the world of sports, it’s different when you’re a female. You have to work a little bit harder to prove yourself,” she asserts. But she also had the experience of being an athlete at the peak of her career, which gave her the confidence to interview guys like Kobe and Shaq. “I felt my job was to represent myself well so that I could empower girls to pursue sports—to not be afraid to set their goals high and dream big.”
NBC’s Inside Out, FSN's The Sports List, and NBA's Inside Stuff are among the shows in her reel. She was a special contributor to Good Morning America, the TODAY show and still contributes to the Rachael Ray Show. Each segment is an opportunity to try something new, and at times, extreme: While covering the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Summer tackled alpine skiing, luge and skeleton.
Recently you could’ve seen her on the Celebrity Apprentice. “There were 30 reasons not to be on the show, but the opportunity to introduce the country to a cause I wholeheartedly believe in, Right to Play, was more important,” she admits. The organization uses sports to teach children how to solve problems, resist peer pressure and communicate effectively. With other advocates, Summer went on missions, first to Rwanda in 1996, and then to Sierra Leone in 2001, where she interacted with teenage boys who were raised as child soldiers during the 10-year civil war. “It was life-changing for these 16 and 17-year-olds who knew nothing except war; by way of sports we started to teach them conflict resolution. On one occasion we were playing Frisbee, and the boys wouldn’t throw it to me because I am a woman. We stopped the game, explained that I was a valuable member of the team, and carried on.”
“Sports made me who I am; you can teach a child so much through athletics programs,” says Summer, who was appointed a UNICEF Ambassador in 1995. She is also actively involved with ‘nPLAY, an organization dedicated to combating childhood obesity. Now a mother of two little ones, she approaches her work with new perspective and a desire to be a positive example for her children.
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