Crystal Dunn’s body is on display and also explained.

About this time of the year, when ESPN The Magazine publishes its annual Body Issue, I usually go off on what they are trying to prove. Athletes are in great shape? Duh, what a surprise!

I would like to see C.C. Sabathia in the near buffo, because the Yankee pitcher is about 50 pounds overweight and still pretty good in his late 30s. At least I’m happy that LeBron James isn’t back in the Body Issue this year, at least from what I’ve seen.

But former Carolina soccer star Crystal Dunn has a nice explanation of why she has made her body work in a sport with women of different dimensions. Dunn talks about being 5-foot-2 and 125 pounds, which seems like a good proportion. But most of her weight is on the lower half of her body, which isn’t prototypical for fleet soccer players with great foot work.

Dunn has become one of the most versatile athletes in the game – ACC offensive player of the Year one season and Defensive Player of the Year the next. She has the perfect physique to do both; the stout lower body keeps her from being thrown all over the field by bigger opponents, and it allows her to be an aggressive defender against attackers.

Little wonder that Dunn’s athletic role model is Serena Williams, who has the antithetical body of a tennis player with both speed and power. Only after Williams proved she is one of the greatest athletes of all time have people come to admire her unusual body for her sport. That is Dunn’s goal as an atypically looking soccer star.

So, this year, I am giving props to the Body Issue, which is more than a bunch of buffed athletes posing while hiding their private parts. The featured athletes talk more about their bodies, how they developed them and how they use them for success in their respective sports.

Dunn says she now gets complimented for being so strong and effective on the pitch. And she credits the coaches who gave her a chance to show she could play the game as well as the taller and swifter players.

Whereas she was once embarrassed by her strong and muscular legs, Dunn is now proud of what a unique soccer player her lower body has helped her become.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Related Stories
‹
Chansky's Notebook: Bailing Out
Roy Williams probably had reasons for the soft statements. Carolina fans reacted strongly to the video of a team party after the win over Duke. Only Armando Bacot and Day’Ron Sharpe were in the video, but a statement from players and managers said it was supposed to be a closed event that other students and […]
Chansky's Notebook: Please, Go In!
UNC men's basketball faces what is an early season must-win at Georgia Tech. Art Chansky says a look at the statistics is painful, but not terminal.
Chansky's Notebook: Leaky Steps Up
Dean Smith used to say he’ll be happy with a one-point win. The legendary UNC basketball coach struggled spiritually between playing well according to his teachings, regardless of outcome, and winning no matter how poorly you play. Since his job was to win and he was so competitive, he chose the latter. If he was […]
Chansky's Notebook: Rock(et) Star
Ben Kiernan was UNC’s MVP of the Notre Dame game. When Mack Brown went over the 31-17 loss, he gave mixed reviews to the two main branches of his Tar Heels’ play. He said the offense was good in the first half and then “went dead” in a scoreless second half. He praised the Tar […]
Chansky's Notebook: Goals and Ambitions
Garrison Brooks has both opportunity and pressure. On paper, the ACC looks as weak as it has been in some time due to widespread losses to graduation and early departures to the NBA, and no sure-shot superstars in the incoming recruiting classes. A beneficiary of this development is Brooks, the Carolina senior who was second-team All-ACC last year and earned the league’s […]
Chansky's Notebook: A COVID Debate
Clemson was livid that Florida State wouldn’t play the game. Let’s be lawyers, and make a case for each of the teams that did not play its scheduled game over the weekend. Clemson had traveled to Florida State when it learned a player with mild symptoms who had practiced with the team all week tested […]
Chansky's Notebook: Draft Dodgers
Carolina and Duke players have lost ground in the NBA draft. Like everything else with sports in the COVID era, the NBA draft goes off tonight after being postponed for five months. And if you look at the various mock draft boards, certain things jump off your screen. First of all, about half the names […]
Chansky's Notebook: A Two-Thirds Bet?
What if Phil Mickelson and Mack Brown amended their bet? With the Masters being moved back to this weekend due to COVID, perhaps the three-time champion should revisit the fun bet he made with Carolina’s football coach back in 2003. The famed lefthander was still seeking his first Green Jacket when he partnered with the Texas football coach at the […]
Chansky's Notebook: Kudos To Carolina
UNC teams did a commendable job beating the odds. Who among us thought the ACC would be playing football and other fall sports last summer? With the pandemic upon us and the medical experts still learning, the seasons looked like a long shot. While other conferences pumped the breaks and/or called off football, the ACC […]
Chansky's Notebook: Extra Motivation
Carolina’s schedule could be working to its advantage. When the COVID-revised list of games came out, it looked troublesome for the Tar Heels with Virginia Tech and Florida State basically bookending Notre Dame and Miami with four rivalry games in a row right in the middle. Coaches usually don’t like that because it takes a […]
›