Topic: News: Tim McRae Making An Impact At New Smyrna High School

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Calling on inward beauty
By Melanie Stawicki Azam

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- They've heard the stereotypes plenty of times before -- they are undertaking a "manly" sport and girls who are strong must be "beastly" and unattractive.

But the women on New Smyrna Beach High School's weightlifting team said "trash talk" is not going to stop them from participating in a sport they love.

"Whatever, I don't care," said Nicole Lomupo, 18, who has weightlifted for four years and competed at February's state competition. "I enjoy it, and it doesn't matter what people say."

Teammate Patrice Doemer, 15, agreed saying, "You just blow it off." And, Alexa DeCristofaro, 16, joked she can always remind those giving her flack that she's strong enough to beat them up.

Generations of women -- both today's teens and their grandmothers -- deal with body image pressures. Marilyn Monroe may have been a more voluptuous ideal in the 1950s than today's models, but the focus on physical beauty for females remains.

However, local women deal with these self-esteem issues and overcome these hurdles in a variety of creative ways.

RAISING THE BAR

Tim McRae coaches both the men's and women's weightlifting teams at New Smyrna Beach High School and said the major difference between the two is the attitude.

"Women are a lot easier, because they listen," said the former Olympic competitor. "Guys think they know everything."

And his teachings paid off. Five of the women competed recently at the state weightlifting competition in Gainesville and placed second, McRae said.

"The girls have done a fabulous job," he said, watching them practice in the school weight room alongside their male peers. "You couldn't ask for more."

Lomupo, one of the five who competed at state competitions, said she's been athletic her whole life and joined the weightlifting team after taking the sport as a class. It involves training about two hours a day six times a week, but she enjoys it, she said.

"It keeps you in shape, and it keeps your metabolism up," the senior said. "After a workout, you feel really good about yourself."

Senior Adrianne Berthiaume, 18, said women's weightlifting is slowly becoming more accepted. In fact, the state just made it an official sport at the high school level three years ago, she said.

Both men and women face a challenge continuing the sport after high school, McRae said, since there are few college scholarships and programs for weightlifting. They can either shoot to compete on the Olympic level or pursue the sport individually.

DeCristofaro said she got into weightlifting because of her dad, who trained at the Olympic training center for the sport in the 1980s.

"I just did it, because I was good at it and I could win," said the 16-year-old girl.

Doemer, 15, said she really wasn't into any sports before, but she found weightlifting was an immediate challenge she liked.

Daria Turner, who coaches the team with McRae, said weightlifting helps in nearly every other sport and also teaches the teens to focus and work hard toward a goal. Weightlifting also involves both team and individual competition, she said.

"I think it really improves their self-esteem," she said. "These girls have a lot of determination, a lot of drive."

HELPING AND HEALING

It was 28 years ago, but Jennifer Longdon can still remember clearly when she first felt uncomfortable about her body, like it was an uncooperative enemy rather than a friend. She grew about seven inches in one year and felt too big, standing 5'6 and 110 pounds next to her 9-year-old peers.

"I never really felt like a pretty little girl," recalled the 37-year-old Ormond Beach woman.

Longdon said she was also highly sensitive, analytical and constantly strove for perfection, all qualities she feel made her more prone to an eating disorder like anorexia. She began dieting when she was 9 or 10 and finally sought therapy when she was about 20.

"It's kind of a good girl's way of acting out," she said. "My own way of making peace was to regiment and diet."

Although she was severely underweight at times, Longdon said she was never hospitalized. She is now a balanced eater, she said, but still keeps a food journal to keep her on track.

It's also become important to Longdon to try to educate others about eating disorders, her focus is on helping parents better understand the condition.

"I feel like there is a message I can get to parents, that it's not their fault," she said. "I don't know if my parents could have changed the way I processed things."

Some personality types just tend to be more susceptible to an eating disorder, Longdon said. But she said she was able to overcome her anorexia by finding other coping skills and changing her behavior. Instead of internalizing everything, she said she now speaks up when something makes her upset and has found healthy ways to relax and clear her mind.

Edgewater resident Cindy Jackson serves as a local coordinator with the National Eating Disorders Association. Last weekend, she held a yard sale at her home to help raise money for NEDA and help educate the public about eating disorders.

"People need to be helped," Jackson said. "People still think eating disorders are a choice; they're not."

Jackson said her daughter, now 30, has been struggling with an eating disorder since her teens. One of the most frustrating things, she said, is many insurance companies don't treat eating disorders as a full-fledged medical problem and sometimes refuse to pay for treatment.

"It's not a joke. It's life or death," she said. "(My daughter) is one of the most courageous people I know in my life."

Social worker Julia Howe, 37, said she specializes in treating women's issues, including eating disorders, because she wanted to help women like Longdon and Jackson's daughter heal.

Women may have more opportunities nowadays, she said, but the pressure to meet a Western feminine ideal, touted as ultra thin and youthful, hasn't changed.

"Women got more equality, but yet we still have the same expectations of wife and mother," the Port Orange woman said.

Howe treats a variety of eating disorders -- from anorexia and bulimia to binge eating -- thatsometimes result in obesity. Often, the disorders are entangled with problems like depression, anxiety, obsessive behavior or other issues in the person's life. A team -- consisting of a doctor, therapist and dietician -- is often needed to treat such conditions, she said.

She and other area professionals, along with volunteers like Longdon and Jackson, are also involved in a non-profit organization called COPE, which educates the community about eating disorders and explains how to best help those who suffer from them.

Longdon said it's especially tough for teenage girls who are barraged with media images constantly telling them if they are thin, they will be rewarded.

"It becomes almost seductive to you to be small and waif-like and be taken care of," she said.

Howe said parents can help their children by having structured, healthy meals, not using food as a reward or pacifier and not overemphasizing the child's weight.

"Help them feel good about their bodies," she said.

BEAUTY IN MANY FORMS

As she teaches a roomful of students to weave baskets or do another ancient art, artist Dodie Ulery said she is reminded of generations past. For centuries, woman around the world have been getting together, creating art and things of beauty together.

"There's such a peace and harmony in that circle," the Ormond Beach woman said. "That's what being a woman is all about -- creating."

South Florida artist Mary Segal also sees women's issues mesh with art. Her sculptures, made out of cosmetic containers, are part of a three-woman show, "Grl Trio." The exhibit of light-hearted feminist works was on display this month at Atlantic Center for the Arts' Harris House gallery.

"It's kind of an adult version of playing dolls-that's kind of the attraction with it," she said of the fascination with women's cosmetics.

Segal said she collected perfume bottles and lipstick cases from friends and family -- including her three daughters -- to make into unique sculptures.

"I wanted to call them '100 Beautiful Girls,' and I wanted to make 100 (sculptures)," she said.

Feminist reflections on what it means to be a woman and society's messages definitely figure into her art, Segal said, although the message is often subtle.

"I want it to be thoughtful, but I didn't want to bludgeon people over the head with it," she said.

Ulery said feminist thought may not be so evident in her traditional artwork, but it is present in her consciousness. She said she gets tired of seeing women pummeled with unhealthy "Barbie doll" images.

"Women are the soul of the race, and we're allowing ourselves to be destroyed," she said. Ulery said she tried to teach her daughter, now 29, to be strong, independent and confident and find a balanced life. But she said she also realized she needed to teach by example.

"If a woman doesn't take care of herself first, she can't take care of others," she said. "You've got to be a strong, well-balanced woman to raise a strong well-balanced woman."