I grew up practicing pretty much all sports, and tennis racket still is – one of my ‘toys’. I was, therefore, really excited to meet tennis legend Martina Navratilova in Singapore at the WTA Finals together with a group of fabulous female leaders: Member of Parliament and Microsoft Managing Director Jessica Tan, and WTA President Micky Lawler.

Photo: Left to right: Executive Lifestyle expert contributor Karen Lee, founder Gina Romero, special features writer Rachel Lee, expert contributor Susanna Hasenoehrl

During a special morning session at the Racquet Club brunch, Martina and her corporate counterparts led an in-depth discussion on women’s leadership. Martina talked about challenges she faced along her long career as an athlete, as well as her personal and professional observations as a WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) ambassadress.

What stuck with me most was her fearless, bold encouragement not to overthink but to ‘just hit the ball.’ During her professional tennis career, she used to be rather unconventional and even change a racquet amidst a winning streak “because it was a better racquet”. According to her, you can always go back to old solutions, if a new one fails.

As a stepmother, Martina is a strong supporter of girls in sports which – research has shown –  makes them stronger, and more likely to perform well at school. Also, sporty girls are far less likely to end up in abusive relationships. No wonder the Women’s Tennis Association embraces ‘strong is beautiful’ as their dogma.
As a mother of two girls, I fully support Martina’s drive to bring more girls to sports. My vision for my daughters is for them to be in charge of their own future, bold and strong – whether I like their decisions or not. I was never told by my parents in what line my career should be, or what to strive for in life, so I guess I inherited that philosophy.

For our daughters, my husband and I deliberately chose a school which is not solely focused on academics. A school where they emphasise socio-emotional skills and have both girls and boys do lots of sports, swimming being compulsory. As Martina brilliantly put it, “you think better the more active you are.”

Following such an illustrious sports career, I asked Martina about her next big game – the next ‘ball to hit.’ I was happy to hear that being a good parent was her answer. I truly believe this should be a priority for any mum or dad. Being there for your kids, mindfully, is a good place to start.

Our family loves to go for walks and bicycle rides together. Our girls play outdoors every day, and swim on most days. Personally, I exercise in some shape or form on most days. A game of tennis is quality time for me and my husband, and we try to get our kids on the court, too.

Apart from her mission to get kids – and especially girls – into sports, Martina is passionate about our shared responsibility towards our planet. She has been a vegetarian for most of her life and is now considering becoming a vegan – because of the environmental impact of cattle and dairy farming in particular.

“Watch the documentary Cowspiracy,” she says. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) agriculture – especially dairy and beef production – are responsible for 18% of the total greenhouse gas releases worldwide, which is more than the whole transportation sector.

I can only support Martina in urging all of us to rethink our eating habits from a sustainability perspective. I founded Yourfamily.Kitchen to help families make better food choices, so this topic is very close to my heart. Let’s also not forget that so many processed foods and snacks contain palm oil. Just because we now have blue skies in Singapore again does not mean that the fundamental problems behind the illegal land clearance in Indonesia have been solved. We’ll have another season of haze – again – next year if we don’t all take action. How? Inform yourself which products contain palm oil and reduce your usage of them. Demand sustainable sourcing practices from producers. Your wallet speaks, and you should, too.

It’s great to see Martina driving responsible world citizenship and empowering girls and women through sports. I look forward to seeing more female role models championing these causes, and creating more impact. Women rule – let’s go and hit the right balls.

This post was brought to you in association with The Racquet Club, The Definitive Hospitality Experience.

_{Image of Martina Navratilova courtesy of Racquet Club.}

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