Hello! And welcome! I’m so glad you’ve found our site, and I can’t wait to bring you this summit!
About Me
I’m Christina McKinstry, your host and creator of the Powerful Women Athletes Telesummit. I’m an assistant track & field coach at San Francisco State University, in my 5th year of coaching the women’s throwing events. My background is in Chemical Engineering (Environmental emphasis), and I worked for a Top 5 US energy corporation for 3-1/2 years before finding my passion in human energy and human engineering!
September 2011 team-building hike
Each year, I look for new ways to make my team stronger, and this year I was inspired by a couple telesummits I listened in on for women in business. The hosts interviewed women that were very successful in different businesses, and they shared their hard-earned lessons in success.
I was so inspired, and learned so much, that when I was thinking of ways to inspire my athletes this year, I thought, “Why not do the same thing: Have LIVE interviews with the most powerful and successful women athletes in our sport?”
I initially thought I would just get all my athletes in a room with a speakerphone and call up a top athlete for a brief interview each week, but then I realized that many more people could potentially benefit if it was put online and made available to any athlete, any team, any person across the country interested in learning what makes these athletes successful.
And the Powerful Women Athletes Telesummit was born!
Today’s women track and field throwers are not the steroid-pumping, quasi-male females from the 1980′s. These are real, relate-able women with high integrity, work ethic, great character, and values we can learn from. I think that once you get to know these ladies you’ll be so proud to support them as they chase their dreams to represent our country in the 2012 Olympic Games.
Me with my team, dressed in costume for our Halloween Throw-A-Fit fundraiser this year!
About the Telesummit
There’s a current in society today toward collaboration, information-sharing, and networking. My intent with this telesummit is to create a bridge between those with knowledge about how to be successful in this sport at the highest level, and those who want to achieve that success. Together, we’ll all get better!
Secondly, its about educating Americans about our sport and letting people know these awesome women athletes exist!
Lastly, I think our listeners will find that the same philosophies and disciplined actions that lead to truly great performances in track and field also produce successful results in our educational, business and personal pursuits. In short: The lessons we learn from sports matter. Think of it as your cross-training for the year!
More Background…
I began my own adventures in throwing in 6th grade with the shot put and discus, and picked up the javelin throw in high school in the state of Montana. After injuring my shoulder playing volleyball in high school, I decided to focus on track and field as a college pursuit. I walked on to Montana State University’s track & field team, where I focused on the hammer, weight, and discus throws, occasionally dabbling in the shot put. By my senior year I was on a full ride scholarship and a team captain, an academic all-conference honoree, and competed at the 2003 NCAA Division I National Championships in the hammer throw.
After working in the corporate world a few years, I became certified in massage therapy, yoga instruction, and became certified as a USA track and field coach. I started and operated a massage therapy company and worked part-time for a national security consultant, when I began coaching at a 17% full-time salary under the mentorship of the beloved Dr. Harmon Brown in 2007 under head coach Terry Burke.
What thrills me about coaching is the infinite complexity in the art of bringing out the absolute best in each athlete every day, for months and years on end. I love getting to form relationships with some truly exceptional people. Some days I like to think of what we do as a sophisticated form of mental therapy involving heavy metal objects!
Email: christina @ powerfulwomenathletes.com