Linda Anderson and her children: daughters Madison Smith and Tiffany Brown, grandson Bodhi Brown, sons Mason Smith, and Calvin Smith walk the beach in Satellite Beach Saturday afternoon.
Even in her early childhood, sports were just another part of life for Madison Smith. Like her two brothers, she started soccer at age 3 and went on to play multiple varsity sports in high school.
Her mother didn’t have those experiences. Linda Anderson, Smith’s mother and current Satellite High School athletic director, grew up in Pennsylvania before the passage of Title IX, which has since opened up new avenues for girls in sports.
Linda Anderson gets held up by her children Tiffany Brown, and Mason, Calvin and Madison Smith on the beach in Satellite Beach Saturday afternoon.
“She definitely told me when I was growing up that she didn’t have the same opportunities,” Madison remembered. “She really encouraged being involved in sports, not for the competition aspect but for the teamwork and for being healthy.
“She saw sports as an opportunity to show what kind of person you are.”
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That view is a reflection of Linda Anderson’s 17-year career. For Anderson, sports has been central to the role she plays for the Scorpions family and for her own.
Anderson took up running while working through college, both in her home state of Pennsylvania and after following her parents south in 1983 to finish her master’s degree in education.
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“My kids are always moving,” Anderson said. “They inherited that from me. Mentally, things aren’t right unless they’re getting those endorphins.”
These days, her knees keep her from running much, but she’ll bike 15 or 16 miles when she finds the time, or walk three or four miles when she can.
Anderson started running in her early 20s – she’s 59 now – joining a friend to get moving, even if it wasn’t part of her typical routine.
“I didn’t know what a 5K was. I didn’t even get around the track one time at first, but we pushed each other, and, before you know it, we’re doing a mile, two miles.”
Linda Anderson (center) and her children (from left) Madison Smith, Mason Smith, Anderson, grandson Bodhi Brown, Daughter Tiffany Brown and son Calvin Smith walk the beach in Satellite Beach Saturday afternoon.
Anderson estimated she’s done “hundreds of road races” now, but as a child, competing in sports wasn’t something she did.
“Nobody even suggested it,” she said. “That was not something that was brought up.”
Anderson went to high school about the same time Title IX became reality in 1972. The civil rights legislation outlawed discrimination on the basis of gender by educational institutions or any receiving federal aid. Anderson, who has helped with the Satellite track and field team the last two years in addition to her administrative duties, expressed regrets that she never knew about the sport of cross country.
“Girls’ things were pink,” she said. “If a little girl got a softball glove, it was a little pink glove.”
Life has been different for Anderson’s four children. Madison played soccer, basketball and swam. Mason’s sports were football, soccer and track and field, which he carried on while attending the University of Pennsylvania. Calvin also took up football, soccer and track.
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Anderson’s oldest daughter, Tiffany, took a unique path of her choosing. Rather than team sports, she followed what her mom described as “a fearlessness about her.” Though she started with the flag team, she’s tried everything from massage therapy to yoga to skydiving.
Skydiving and massage have become part of the family business for the now-Tiffany Brown. She’s shared the interest in yoga with mom and her siblings, and Anderson has even tried skydiving.
“Over the years, it’s just evolved. We’re a physical family,” Madison said. “Everyone’s tried paddle boarding. There’s nothing quite like being on the water.”
While mom watched them experience something she didn’t in varsity sports, they all came to share the down side of it with her. Each suffered sports-related injuries, something Anderson has watched her own children and many Satellite athletes experience.
“When you’re down and not part of the team, that’s worse than the physical part (of injuries),” she said. “That was depressing for them and for me as a mother. That’s also the thing with the job.
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Satellite High track and field coach Doug Butler has witnessed occasions when his boss has seen her duties veer from the administrative toward things more consistent with an unofficial “mom” role.
“I know that she really looks after the kids that are struggling academically or have home issues,” he said. “If there’s something you need, she’s there. The support is incredible.”
He has seen Anderson work to help those in need, including a staff member displaced from her home and athletes who couldn’t afford competition shoes.
More Scorpions than she can count have brought their problems to her.
“What it all boils down to, I think, is just relationships,” Anderson said. “Kids that are on a team learn to have good relationships, and that carries on to the rest of their lives.
“That’s why sports are so important to me. It’s all relationships.”
Contact McCallum at 321-242-3698 or bmccallum@floridatoday.com . Follow @Brian_McCallum on Twitter and facebook.com/FLtoday.brianmccallum.