In honor of USA Ultimate club nationals this past weekend, I present to you one of the most bad-ass women I know. She has many frisbee accolades, one of which being a Callahan winner (think Heisman trophy but for frisbee). Frankly she's amazing without those recognitions. She is stealthily empowering and is always reaching out to the youth and women's community in Atlanta. Many would not be the ultimate player or person they are today without her leadership and gumption. So today's #womanwednesday is:

"My name is Miranda Knowles and I am a strong woman. I do what I think is right with fervor and conviction. Sometimes I'm wrong and I learn from that and love it when people stand up with/to me to help me grow (Matthew Knowles, Madeleine Frey, Anraya Palmer, Alison Stargel, India Stubbs, Leslie Coleman Renjilian, Isabel Arevalo, John Boezi). I have changed a lot as an athlete, coach, teacher and person over my 35 years and I am unapologetically proud of who I've become. Some people don't like me because I speak with strength and confidence, but I don't care. Sometimes I even feign strength when I feel weak so that girls I teach, coach or see on the street know that it's possible to be this way, for women to walk and talk with bravado (bravada!) and courage.

Gwen Ambler and I used to talk about matching up against each other when she played for Fury and I played for Riot. We acknowledged that every time you pick a matchup you have to be confident that you are better than the person you're matching up against and that can become a good kind of cockiness. I've taken that feeling and let it seep into my real life, meeting every "matchup" at work or at home with the knowledge that not only can I do this, but I am good at doing this, maybe better than most. I think this behavior is uncommon in women or is at least frowned upon in women...but I want to be part of a world where women can show their strength, confidence and even cockiness in many fields and be admired and revered for it. I have amazing female role models (Samantha Salvia, Alyson Walker, Eileen Murray, Tiina Booth, Madeleine Frey, Stacey Winston) so I can see them doing this work and hope that many can look to me for inspiration someday, too."