I first met Cornelia in the spring of 1999 when I was the Head Women’s Lacrosse Coach at Georgetown University and Cornelia’s sister, Bowen, became a member of my team. In a short amount of time, I came to know the entire Holden family and discovered that Cornelia was an incredibly unique and gifted individual.
While I developed a personal relationship with Cornelia during this time, it wasn’t until Bowen became my assistant in 2002 that I began to depend on Cornelia in a professional capacity as well. At this point in my life, I was struggling to balance the demands of being a high-powered Division I lacrosse coach, with the challenges of being a new mother and the wife to a surgeon who was living in another city. My daily struggle was magnified when I gave birth to my second child in January 2004, a week before the start of the lacrosse season.
It was in the midst of personal and professional chaos that Cornelia became my counselor, coach, and friend. At a time when I felt as though I had nowhere to turn and no one to talk to, Cornelia helped me work through my “crap” as we fondly came to call it. She listened without judgment, provided effective advice, and most importantly, inspired me to find my own answers to the daunting questions that seemed unanswerable.
During this time, Cornelia also worked with my team to help them improve their individual and team performance. Her work transformed how my players related to one another and how we competed together on the field. With Cornelia’s help, our team rid itself of personal and group baggage and we learned how to truly embrace the joy of competition without the fear of failure or loss. It was an incredibly liberating experience for all of us who were a part of the 2004 team, evidenced by our incredible success, and the number of participants who still maintain strong personal relationships with Cornelia and close bonds with one another.
By connecting with people on their own level, Cornelia finds a way to intimately understand those she is working with and in doing so, helps them reach their true potential. Simply put, Cornelia is amazing!
