Spotlight
Cha Cruz-Behag: Set, Spike, Mom!
Professional volleyball player Cha Cruz-Behag shares how lessons as an elite athlete have motivated her to become an MVP mom.
Volleyball coach and professional athlete Cha Cruz-Behag appreciates the value of persistence practice and patience. Experiences on the court have also informed a hands-on parenting style to son, Leon Sol. “Just like the process of training and practicing volleyball, being a mom is also difficult,” begins Cha. “Oftentimes, I would cry out of emotional or physical pain but I know we just have to keep on going.” She goes on to quote a verse from the Bible, which has been foundational to her journey. “It says in Hebrews 12:11, No discipline is enjoyable while it’s happening. It’s painful but afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.”
Entering Motherhood
This is not to say that the motherhood journey was entirely smooth sailing for Cha. She admits to having been frustrated on more than one occasion, saying: “The first week of trying to breastfeed was truly deflating. I felt frustrated that I couldn’t give my baby milk and he needed it. But I’m glad that all it really needed was consistency and me not giving up.” Cha is now three-months shy of hitting the two-year mark of breastfeeding.
Patience, according to Cha, got her through and beyond the first few months of being a first-time mom. She adds, “Not just patience in teaching, reminding, and modeling, but also patience with yourself. There’s so much to motherhood that I have to learn and improve on.” As she slowly found and defined her own parenting style, she discovered that self-love and acceptance were key. “I’ve also learned that we need to mother our kids in our own ways without comparing ourselves to others.”
Cha: “Don’t rush.”
Ever the motivator and coach, she offers coaching tips to other first-time parents still navigating their way around a new way of living. “Don’t rush and it’s okay if you don’t meet your set goal right away,” affirms Cha. “It takes a lot of work! Just like in volleyball or any sport for that matter, people will mainly see the outcome whether good or bad, winner or loser, Champion or runner-up, but the true essence of what it means to be an athlete or Mother, happens behind the scenes. Let’s go Mama! We can do this for our family!”
As seen on Modern Parenting: The 100 List Anniversary Print Issue available on OMG Newsstands on Lazada and Shopee. Digital copies are also available through Magzter, PressReader, Readly, and Zinio.
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