#32 – The Power of Passion: How This Career Change Led to 6 National Titles, a Lasting Impact, & an Audible Original Book | Empowerment & Career Advice

[00:00:00] Loree Philip: Hi, and welcome to the daring to leap podcast. I'm your host, Loree Philip. I'm so excited to dive into this week's episode with you this week. We have a special guest on the podcast. Kathy Murray is here. Kathy has such an inspiring story that it was made into an audible original book. Called the Munich cowboy cheerleaders.

[00:00:22] Loree Philip: We discussed her leap from medical sales to making a bold move to move to Germany, to pursue her passion in teaching fitness and how she ultimately ended up leading a German cheerleading squad to six national titles in cheerleading. Let's dive in. Kathy Murray is a certified professional trainer with over 30 years experience in the fitness industry.

[00:00:47] Loree Philip: Kathy has owned her personal training business fit bodies for 24 years. And in 2022 coauthored the audible book, the Munich cowboy cheerleaders based on her time [00:01:00] coaching the squad where she coached them to win six national titles in cheerleading. Welcome, welcome, welcome to the podcast. Kathy.

[00:01:09] Kathy Murray: Thank you. Thank you, Laurie. Thank you for having me. It's good to be

[00:01:11] here.

[00:01:12] Loree Philip: Yeah. So I'm so excited about this conversation with you because Your background, your story. It's so, so compelling, so inspiring. And what we're trying to do with this podcast is elevate ourselves through listening to these. impactful, empowering stories of women who have done some really courageous things.

[00:01:38] Loree Philip: And so what I'd like to start with you is to hear a bit about, okay, well, before you started doing all of this stuff in the fitness world, what were you doing before? Where did you start your career and how did that shift for you?

[00:01:53] Kathy Murray: Okay. Well, I started in right out of college. I kind of had a some [00:02:00] people call it a gap year.

[00:02:01] Kathy Murray: I actually won a fitness competition. At the time it was called the Crystal Light National Aerobic Championship. I think it's called the United States Aerobic Championship now. So I entered that with my roommates. It was like our senior year, our last thing to do, and we ended up winning. So we traveled around the United States.

[00:02:21] Kathy Murray: We went to Japan representing Crystal Light and General Foods. And then after that, I thought, okay, I'm going to jump into my career. And at that time it was medical sales. I started in medical sales started with a a smaller company actually was ironic cause it was a German company. And then I went, I went along to Abbott and I, they had two divisions, they had a pharmaceuticals and they had diagnostics.

[00:02:49] Kathy Murray: So I was in the diagnostics field where I sold the chemistries for labs that type of thing. So that happened. I was in Ohio at the time. That's where I'm from. [00:03:00] And then they transferred me to Pittsburgh working there. And probably five years in. I knew that this was you kind of look at that what five years and what 10 years like I couldn't see past that because even though I liked the flexibility of medical sales, because I wasn't like an office person, it just was.

[00:03:24] Kathy Murray: I've taught. I continue to teach fitness part time. I'm still taught in the, in the gyms and things like that, but it just was not for me. And I really had a passion for fitness. I really loved getting people fit. I love that, that teaching aspect of it. And I had a friend come to me who was teaching internationally and said, Hey, we need American instructors to teach be fitness educators overseas.

[00:03:53] Kathy Murray: And at this point, I'm in Pittsburgh, I'm miserable, and I decided, okay, she [00:04:00] wanted me to go to Japan for a month. Of course, my my supervisor said, absolutely not. That's just way too long to be out of your territory. So I told her, if you have something for two weeks, I'm there. I could take vacation. So she had Italy and Germany.

[00:04:14] Kathy Murray: Left, did the two weeks there. I was remember I was a former aerobic champion. So I did a lot of master classes and, and taught all over. They had different fitness organizations there. And when I came back, I was like, Oh my gosh, that was just, I was just a new person. But then I came back to sales and it was like, wah, wah, wah,

[00:04:35] Loree Philip: reality sets in, Oh,

[00:04:37] Kathy Murray: goodness.

[00:04:38] Kathy Murray: So I, one of the gyms that I taught at in Germany, they had American instructors that, that instructor was leaving and they offered me, Hey, come here. It's a six month contract. You know, we, we obviously will pay you. You'll work at a gym there. We'll give you housing apartment. And I just packed [00:05:00] everything up.

[00:05:00] Kathy Murray: I I told my parents, of course they thought I was absolutely insane because I got my degree and medical sales and this is what you live for. And you have the stock options and the car and you're making good, great money. And it just was not for me. So I told them what six months to go and see if this is the right thing.

[00:05:24] Kathy Murray: I love fitness and that's kind of how I made that transition over to Germany.

[00:05:29] Loree Philip: Yeah. So this opportunity came up and you had just had this experience overseas, getting your feet wet, doing this kind of work and you loved it. So when this opportunity came up, obviously your family and everybody was like, what?

[00:05:44] Loree Philip: Yeah. Was that enough? You were just like set on it at this point or were you still was there some still underlying doubts or fears that you had to get through before you went ahead and decided to drop everything [00:06:00] and

[00:06:00] Kathy Murray: move? I think the unhappiness that I was going through at the time, I think that kind of took over any fear because of course I didn't know Germany.

[00:06:09] Kathy Murray: Of course, I've never been to Germany. I've been overseas, but I mean, I was with the championship in Japan, but so those thoughts jump into your mind, why you don't know the language. How was it? How was it going to be? You have this perception of what Germany is, but I just thought you're teaching fitness.

[00:06:28] Kathy Murray: You know, how bad can it be? And so I had to convince my parents my dad was he's from the old school where you stay at your job, you get your pension, you don't have to love what you do, but it's a job. My mother was a little bit more flexible. Okay. I'm not sure, but if this is what you want to do, you are working.

[00:06:53] Kathy Murray: So let's just do it. So I think the thought of. This is what I want to do. I'm passionate about [00:07:00] fitness and being unhappy was those were the underlying things that I said, I have to just go to figure it out.

[00:07:09] Loree Philip: Yeah. Yeah. The unhappiness. Is a key for a lot of people for sure, where it takes to that point where you really realize that although your career looks great on paper and to friends and family, if you, if you don't feel great or even good while you're doing it that is a very clear sign of.

[00:07:35] Loree Philip: This is probably not your path. So you get to Germany. Tell me, tell me, tell me about the Munich Cowboys and how all of that came

[00:07:45] Kathy Murray: to be. Well, I had, I started teaching at the clubs. I was hired as a, at that time they were bringing over American instructors to teach Germans, Italians, the Europeans, how to teach aerobics.

[00:07:59] Kathy Murray: [00:08:00] Obviously it started in the U S so they had certification program. So I was teaching at the larger conventions, teaching instructors and teaching classes at the the gyms. I did that for a while. One of the instructors one of my students had come up to me after class one day and said, there's a lady here and she has the cheerleading team here.

[00:08:23] Kathy Murray: You know, obviously they heard that I had been a cheerleader all the way through college. I cheered for the Ohio State University and we won a national championship when I was there. So she said, I heard you were a cheerleader. Of course she doesn't speak any German, any English. So they're translating.

[00:08:41] Kathy Murray: And she asked me to and I was still learning, still, still learning German at the time. And she asked me to come to one of their practices. So they had an American football team there called the Munich Cowboys, and they cheered there in the summer. They cheered in English. So I [00:09:00] went by and I looked and I said, okay, they were Girls, wait, if I have a 20, 15, 20 girls, they, they didn't have a school affiliation.

[00:09:10] Kathy Murray: So they were as young as 15, 16. And then I had a 2021, you know, so some people, some of them were in school with someone working and yeah, they were, they were doing the best they could with them, with an American sport. I thought, wow, they're a little, little rough around the edges, but it was, you know, I was teaching fitness, which is great.

[00:09:29] Kathy Murray: But. Cheerleading also is one of my loves. So that's how that happened. I started coaching them for their teams and then they said, Hey, we have a championship. And that's kind of how that started, where I started doing the core act choreography for their, their championships. I had little to work with because at that time, they really, their level was pretty, pretty beginner.

[00:09:53] Kathy Murray: So we really had to work on trust. This is what cheerleading is about. This is discipline that [00:10:00] comes with it. This is the hard work. They were smoking. That was one of the first rules is no smoking at practice. So it was a complete. Fish out of water for me because it's like, this is, I had to teach them.

[00:10:11] Kathy Murray: This is what cheerleaders are about. This is what they do. So that's kind of how I transitioned. It I was still doing fitness, but that's how I transferred transitioned into being their coach for the Munich Cowboys cheerleaders.

[00:10:25] Loree Philip: So how long were you coaching them? So you came in, they were And they wanted to go to the championship type competition. Right. How did you take this group that you couldn't speak their language at the time get them to trust, get them to focus, get them to learn all the tools they needed to go and become [00:11:00] champions.

[00:11:00] Kathy Murray: Well, it was interesting because the six month contract I extended for four more months.

[00:11:06] Kathy Murray: So now we're at 10 months. So the six months contract ended up being a five year journey. Oh, wow. Wow. So when they showed me the, the videotapes of the. Championships. I'm like, okay, they're trying they're, they're imitating the American championships with date, which they also had on tape, but they just were they weren't very tight.

[00:11:33] Kathy Murray: So I think the trust was there because they were like, she's not only is she an American and she's a cheerleader, but she has been on a championship team. So I had their trust there. It was just a matter of them of teaching them. We have to do a conditioning program because you guys aren't in shape.

[00:11:55] Kathy Murray: This is what you have to do. You have to be on time. You have to have set rules. [00:12:00] Okay. Three, three strikes. You're out. You have to audition to be on the championship team. It's not a given, even though they were going to all be on the team, but they didn't know that. Yeah. Yeah. So just

[00:12:11] Loree Philip: that

[00:12:11] Kathy Murray: meant something, right?

[00:12:13] Kathy Murray: Yes. The competition to, to try out and, and make it and be a part of that team. They had material and I choreographed and gave them new material, but teaching them how to dance, teaching them who's going to stand on who, who's going to be a base. Who's going to be a flyer. Okay. This isn't going to work.

[00:12:31] Kathy Murray: We're going to put you up there. And I had a lot of experience because I was cheering for an all girls team in high school. And then when I went to college, all of a sudden I'm being thrown around by guys. So I know that fear of being a base and having everyone stand on you to now you're on the top.

[00:12:50] Kathy Murray: So that fear and, and that trust level just kind of build it just kept on building each time for them to [00:13:00] say, okay, we're going to, if we don't get it, we're going to just stay here all night if we have to that, that that practice and practice. I had mantras every championship I had there's no I in team.

[00:13:13] Kathy Murray: You know, everyone has to work together. I had another mantra. You're only as strong as your weakest link. So the girls that aren't that great, you have to bring them along and, and, and make them strong and encourage them to another mantra was pain is only temporary victory was. Is forever. So when they're tired and they twisted their ankle and they had all these aches and pains, I told them that there is nothing all that goes away when they announce your, your name for that trophy.

[00:13:43] Kathy Murray: Yeah, all of that just goes out the window. So we started with simple stuff. Ford rolls. You know, cartwheels, but I had it look aesthetically pleasing with the music and having them move around the floor. And then, okay, now we're going to tumble. [00:14:00] Now we're going to do harder stunts. And so each championship, they just got better.

[00:14:05] Kathy Murray: I said, we, you guys have an American coach. When we go to the championship, they're going to be saying, what is Munich Cowboys doing? And we need to be on that level. So that those are the type of things that I instilled with them. They, everyone wasn't happy. I mean, the other German coaches. They were not happy because they thought I would, they had an advantage, which they had an advantage of me, of me being an American coach, but they still had to do the work and, and we still had to build upon their, their skill level.

[00:14:40] Kathy Murray: So that, how

[00:14:41] Loree Philip: long did it take you guys to get to to progress and, and, and win the championship? I'd

[00:14:48] Kathy Murray: say, I'd say probably two to three years. We. The first year. Okay. You know, you have drops. That's another thing that you encourage them. If you drop or [00:15:00] you do something, you have to get back up. You can't let it, let it rattle on you.

[00:15:04] Kathy Murray: Then as our level picked up and they became a little bit tighter, we started to make waves. Again and I talk about this in the book I tell them, look, you, if you hit a perfect routine and we have the difficulty level above everyone else, we should win. And sometimes that didn't happen and it was obvious so that was tough to teach them.

[00:15:30] Kathy Murray: Okay. So we got knocked down, we're going to come back so much better that it's going to be obvious that we. We're screwed in that last competition. So just getting them to dust themselves off they're crying and I'm trying to be strong, even though I'm really upset because it's not their fault, but just to just say we, we're going to come back and we're going to come back bigger.

[00:15:55] Kathy Murray: So those types of things, several years. And then we were kind to camps here [00:16:00] in America and FLoreeda. They got their material. I incorporate that incorporated that into their new championship. And we came in first and then the regionals and then the nationals and then, yeah, so it just it was a fun, fun journey.

[00:16:18] Loree Philip: Wow. What, what an accomplishment that is so cool.

[00:16:24] Kathy Murray: Thank you. Yeah. If

[00:16:25] Loree Philip: you, yeah. If you think about it, like there's Kathy in medical sales. And there's the same you teaching cheerleading squad, how to be champions in Germany. What, what a difference that

[00:16:45] Kathy Murray: It was, it was quite it was quite exciting.

[00:16:49] Kathy Murray: I mean, I had to learn the language so they would want to speak English. And I would say just, I need to. Mess up don't speak English to me because I'm trying to learn the German [00:17:00] and they, your ear develops first. So they would speak to me in German. And then I would say, okay, yeah, that's what we're going to do.

[00:17:08] Kathy Murray: So then as I became more fluent, then I was able to actually. Speak back with them to German. So it was just, it was just the process. I don't think you even, I even thought about it until I started writing the book on how that evolved.

[00:17:23] Loree Philip: Right, right. I mean, there's so much there, including, you know, we set out to do something we're passionate about.

[00:17:32] Loree Philip: There is a bit there around. That sometimes it feels like it's selfish a bit, you know, it's it's for me. This is my passion. I want to do it. But the reality is. And you're a great example of this. You go out and you're doing your passion and it's spreading out and you impacted the lives of that team in ways that you probably couldn't even imagine when you [00:18:00] started out, right?

[00:18:01] Loree Philip: Is that how you feel about how it went?

[00:18:05] Kathy Murray: I think that I didn't realize as much. That, that as much as when I was writing the book and I reconnected with probably 12 of the girls and told them what I wanted to do. And we just I'm like, you know, they were 16, 17. I was a lot younger.

[00:18:24] Kathy Murray: I was in my early thirties and I just reminisce and talk about. What their favorite things were what they didn't like and it was great. It was a great cause now they're like forties moms married professionals. And what really touched me is that some of those mantras they were using.

[00:18:48] Kathy Murray: Yeah. As adults, they were like I have my team and business. I tell them this mantra and that was my family. These were my sisters and [00:19:00] it, I was exciting about coming to, to practice. I tell my kids, look dust yourself off, get back out there and practice if they're disappointed.

[00:19:10] Kathy Murray: So I did not really realize until I started writing the book that how much they listened and how much they had taken into adulthood. That is

[00:19:21] Loree Philip: that is so cool. And that's actually an interesting point around how you didn't realize that until you were in the process of writing your book. And you know, I, I think a lot of us don't really realize how impactful we can be with other people because we don't go take the next step and hear about what happened with them and what they're doing now.

[00:19:50] Loree Philip: And because it's this. Ripple effect, whenever we have a positive impact on somebody, they go out and they're spreading that [00:20:00] same kind of energy out as they move through their lives. And then all those girls, their kids are now hearing those mantras from their moms and they're going to go out.

[00:20:11] Loree Philip: And so at the end of the day. When I started this topic and I said sometimes when we feel like we follow our passion, it's selfish at the end of the day, our ability to make a really big impact is so much greater when we're following something we care about, when we're following our passion or actually doing

[00:20:37] Loree Philip: our purpose, where you could have impacted people in medical sales, I don't know about this, right?

[00:20:47] Kathy Murray: And they were young. There were 16 think about when you were 15, 16, what do you care about? A lot of them cared about boys. They were dating some of the guys on the team and just, teenagers, they're [00:21:00] emotional.

[00:21:00] Kathy Murray: So, and I was reminding them of that. The one she didn't want to come out to cheer because her boyfriend had just broke up with her and she was in the locker room and I was trying to get her out, you know, those things. So you really, at that stage, you don't think that, that nothing's going, getting through.

[00:21:16] Kathy Murray: So that's what really shocked me and surprised me when they were very candid on what cheerleading meant to them. Some of them still started. One of the girls is still cheering. She's a coach and she coaches the Munich all stars. One girl started up because we had to order the, the uniforms at that time from America.

[00:21:39] Kathy Murray: She started her. Where they can get the pom poms and the the costumes, she started it in Europe. So they were like, we wouldn't have done this if we had not cheered. So those things were just so awesome to hear[00:22:00] how much cheerleading had touched their lives and as a coach, how much it meant to them.

[00:22:07] Kathy Murray: Mm hmm.

[00:22:08] Loree Philip: Now, if we could fast forward to today. And you're Kathy now, and you're looking back at, I love to hear what impact this had on you, this whole experience about what you're capable of, what is possible for you going through such a big stretch of experience for yourself? What did you, what did you really learn from

[00:22:33] Kathy Murray: this?

[00:22:33] Kathy Murray: I think the biggest thing, well, there's, there's several, one, follow your passion and really don't let, if that's, if that's how you feel, don't let anything get in your way. I didn't let my parents get in the way I went there, things weren't all it was a different culture.

[00:22:53] Kathy Murray: So there were so many things that I remember being in an apartment. I remember trying to get my first [00:23:00] apartment and as a African American. My roommate was half German, so she was a journalist living in Munich, so she was helping me get an apartment, and we that was back when you looked at the paper, and said, okay, this apartment's for free it's free, call them up, and she would call and say, hey I have a friend, I'm coming over, and every time I showed up, they were like, No.

[00:23:26] Kathy Murray: And, and my, my, my, my roommate who obviously is half German and white said, I just don't get it. When she just said on the phone, the department was, it was free to rent and we show up, you know, this went on three or four times. And I just said, Come on. When I show up, they're like, Oh, this is who was supposed to be.

[00:23:50] Kathy Murray: Absolutely not. So, you know, there's no discrimination laws or anything like that. And I finally actually got a student that was an attorney that had to help me get my apartment [00:24:00] so those types of things that we, there's a lot of things that, that, you know, as Americans I took for granted and over there, it was just it was a different.

[00:24:12] Kathy Murray: It was different time. It was different culture. But for me, failure, wasn't it? Wasn't an option. I did not want to go back to sales. I could, I had told my parents, okay, I have the safety net. I'll go back. But for me, it was like, I'm done. I'm going to, this is fitness is going to be it. I don't know what I want to do yet with it, but this is it.

[00:24:32] Kathy Murray: I started my personal training business over there. I just started in the advertising in the English speaking magazine. American trainer in Munich. I would go to people's houses. Wow. That's how I started my personal training business. A friend of mine, she was a student who was married to German, helped me do my logo.

[00:24:52] Kathy Murray: And I, so I learned a lot about business. I had to have contracts. I had them have them in German. I had to have them in English because I had Germans, Israeli, [00:25:00] French. I had the United nations of of, of clients. So I had to know how to My business together and I just did it.

[00:25:11] Kathy Murray: And I said, I was in my thirties then and I had to kind of make it up as I went along. But that's when I look back, I think, wow, you're not wanting to fail here has pushed you to, to stay. And you know, there, that those things with the apartment and a lot of the, the racist things that happened, I thought, well, you choose to be here.

[00:25:32] Kathy Murray: So this is what you want to do. It's, you take it the good and you take the bad. So, yeah,

[00:25:39] Loree Philip: yeah that in and of itself could have sent you home, right? Like I can't even get an apartment. So you look back and you say don't give up on your passion. Failure is not an option. And these are things, these are maybe their mantras that [00:26:00] you ended up holding on to that got you through it.

[00:26:05] Kathy Murray: Correct. And I have a great another little, I have this on top of my, in front of my desk is if it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you. So you have to be challenged sometimes for the bad for it to. to change you for the better. So, and I went through a lot of challenges there. Traveled a lot.

[00:26:27] Kathy Murray: I remember being in Slovenia and I missed the train and I didn't have any money. I didn't have their currency. When I look back when I was writing a book, I thought, wow you know, faith was a big thing. I, I was like, look, God doesn't have me here. He has me here for a reason, even though I'm going through all of this I just have to Suck it up and do it.

[00:26:52] Kathy Murray: So just learning the travel on trains and just going to different countries. It [00:27:00] just was such a great experience that I went through and I, and I would, I wouldn't have changed it for the world. Cause it's made me the person I am today. Yes.

[00:27:08] Loree Philip: Yes, it is. It is exactly what you're saying that in the challenges is where we see so much growth in ourselves.

[00:27:17] Loree Philip: So much growth as much as in the middle of it. We're like, oh, why am I dealing with this? And we'd rather coast through life. But you know the coming out victorious through the challenge that's the making of epic movies and stories become for a reason right like right That's where you come forward and your best self shows up and makes it happen.

[00:27:45] Loree Philip: And that's sounds like what you ended up instilling in these women to go become champions, cheerleaders again and again and again. And how many, how many times did they win at the end of [00:28:00] the day? Oh,

[00:28:00] Kathy Murray: wow. Well, Once I left Germany and moved to Atlanta, and I had my own fitness studio here, they continued to bring me back for three years.

[00:28:12] Kathy Murray: I, I, I kept on going back. I do the choreography. One of the, the manager had a condo in, I think, FLoreeda. So I would meet some of the girls there, map out, here's the new music, and that type of thing. But I do have to pause and give my co author kudos because if it wasn't for her, Martha Hall Kelly, she's a multi New York times bestseller.

[00:28:35] Kathy Murray: She writes historical fiction. She's lilac girls lost roses. So she was writing lilac girls at the time and as a personal trainer, obviously you are a therapist also. So she would always tell me about her shop, shopping this book and trying to get an agent. So when audible came to her in.

[00:28:55] Kathy Murray: Probably 2020, 2021, Audible said, Hey, we want you to write [00:29:00] a Audible original, a novella, short story on Audible. And she's the one that said your story is so compelling from when you lived, lived in Munich. That I think I should, we should pitch it. And so, yes, we pitched it and then we started, they thought it was a great story and we started co-writing.

[00:29:19] Kathy Murray: So she, I wouldn't mute a cowboy's cheerleaders wouldn't exist if it, it wa wasn't for Martha Hall. Kelly .

[00:29:27] Loree Philip: Yeah. And it, it would've existed. But there is so much value in being able to share it on a big platform. Right? Yes. Like it would it you impacted these women in Germany and their lives. And now that we can share the story and spread it, other people can get inspired.

[00:29:51] Loree Philip: To stretch themselves to see what's possible to make things happen to follow their passions, like all these types of things, or [00:30:00] even just be entertained. It's like in the day we love stories. Right, right. That's true. It's it. It's very cool. The story gets to be shared. And I want to thank you for coming on to this podcast to share it.

[00:30:17] Loree Philip: Thank you. And I think we're going to wrap up here. So if you could share with our audience how they might connect with you and check out your

[00:30:27] Kathy Murray: work. Okay. The book is called the Munich Cowboys Cheerleaders, and it's available and audible. And I encourage anyone that has not listened to an audible book that it is.

[00:30:39] Kathy Murray: It's like being there with the narrators and everything. So it's on audible on Amazon and you can reach me. My website is fit hyphen bodies, B O D I E S dot net and all my social media is there and you can order the book as well on my website.

[00:30:57] Loree Philip: Thank you so much, Kathy, for sharing your [00:31:00] story, for being you or coming on here.

[00:31:04] Loree Philip: It's been a real pleasure.

[00:31:06] Kathy Murray: Thank you.

[00:31:06] Loree Philip: Thank you so much for listening to this episode. If you've enjoyed it, I would love for you to subscribe. If you're already a subscriber, don't forget to share the podcast with a friend. Hope you all have an amazing week. Until next time. Bye.