Meet Danielle Dunlap

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Danielle Dunlap a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Danielle, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

When I was young I wanted to be the first women to play in the NBA. Not a teacher, ballerina, doctor… A professional athlete.

From a young age, my mom, dad and nana taught me to be resilient. When I was 7 I was interested in playing basketball… we lived inner city South Bend, Indiana. My parents got me signed up for the city’s basketball program where the kids were assigned to teams. I arrived to my first practice being the only girl on the team. Not realizing this at the time, but being told later I was also the only white girl on the team as well. I continued to work hard even though I didn’t get passed the ball a lot, or get a lot of playing time when games came around.. towards the end of the season things started to change and my teammates started being nicer to me, passed me the ball and coach let me be a part of the plays. After the season was finished and we won the championship, my parents told me that the coach had approached them to ask why I wanted to play basketball and if I wanted to be put on another team and “why didn’t I want to go to dance class”? Over the years this has shaped not only my work ethic but my views on race. I didn’t see anyone different that me out on that floor… I saw other kids that loved to play basketball.

Moving forward into my high school sports I continued to play basketball. Something that I had to work so hard to be good at because it did not come naturally. Time in the gym created a passion & what would be my first love. As and 8th grader I was slotted to be on the varsity team my freshman year. I went to summer practices & was excited to play with the big girls. Before the season started I fractured a small bone in my foot & couldn’t play. I played with the girls I grew up playing with that next season, watching the varsity girls on the spectator bench after we played. I continued to work hard, however politics of the school came into play and I started seeing more of the bench than the court. I would cry during the games & wait till the 4th quarter to get some playing time because the coach “had to”. I was MISERABLE & wanted to quit. My parents wouldn’t let me, my dad said that I needed to follow through on my commitment to my team and to myself. So I gutted it out.

Being active my entire life, I tried to find a new passion & found competitive cheerleading my senior year. My mom took me to the best gymnastics gym a few times a week to learn how to tumble. I received a cheerleading scholarship to college & cheer’d sideline for football & basketball. I wanted to be the best, so I started watching my nutrition & got into weightlifting.
After college I searched for my next athletic pursuit, I saw this workout on YouTube called CrossFit. Then saw the 2013 CrossFit Games on ESPN, these girls were ripped and so strong. I found a CrossFit gym in town the next day & fell in love again.
I missed my first regional qualifying spot in 2016 by 2 spots. With more motivation than ever that following year I qualified in 2017 for my first regional CrossFit competition in the Central East, one of the most stacked regionals in the world. I learned a lot from my first big competition, from dealing with the adversity of a tough judge to placing almost dead last in a workout with handstand walks (which I just learned).

The following year I committed to a team that had made it to the CrossFit Games multiple years in a row. I was almost guaranteed a CrossFit Games ticket (or so I thought). The rules changed and team went from 6 people to 4. I had to fight for my spot on the team, after declining my individual invite to go team, my team decided that I was to be the alternate. The choice of having the best attitude that I could, working hard at our practices and showing up in whatever way I was needed came from that little 7 year old girl on the basketball court playing as best she could with the boys that didn’t want her there. I was heart broken, but I still showed up.

I became a mom in 2019, but my passion and drive to show that team that I was good enough fueled my training in 2020 and 2021 to place 9th at the MidAtlantic CrossFit Challenge and THE most stacked regional competition in CrossFit.
In 2022, I decided to try team again because I wanted to go to the CrossFit Games. This is the biggest event in our sport and all I have wanted was to call myself a CrossFit Games Athlete. I drove an hour & 12 min 3-4 days a week to workout with my team. We made it through quarterfinals and finished 3rd at our semifinal to punch our ticket to the CrossFit Games. We, (I) finally did it, but something did not feel right. A month into games training I got an email as a team captain that one of my teammates tested positive for a banned substance and that we were not able to compete at the CrossFit Games. Working so hard, getting there and getting it taken away from you because of another persons unbelief in his ability was devastating. I tried to support him & believe in him that he wasn’t knowingly taking something, but he pushed away & got angry. Ultimately showing his guilt.
Everything happens for a reason, God puts those challenges in front of you to help you grow.

2023, I continued to work hard.

This past season, in 2024 I found my team. They were back home in Michigan. I competed with them before. They were good people that were not going to knowingly do anything to hurt or disappoint me. We trained together for the qualifying events, the open & quarterfinals to make it to semifinals and place 4th in again, another stacked competition. This past August after all the heartbreak I’ve experienced through sports in my lifetime, I competed at the CrossFit Games with Team 8th Day. We placed 5th in the world.

My first love, my first heartbreak and the resilience that I was given through sports made me the woman that I am today. And at 34 years old, mother, wife and business owner, I can finally call myself a professional athlete.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I have a passion for helping others live a healthy lifestyle. I received my degree in Exercise Science with an associates in Psychology. After trying CrossFit, I quickly became a Level 1 trainer and now have my Level 2. Nutrition is the base of our pyramid & quickly became interested in learning how to fuel my body for sport and longevity. I became a PNL1 certified coach, started doing nutrition challenges & working with individuals on their body composition goals. I started Humble Hungry Athlete in 2022 to help people achieve their goals, feel better and get healthy. Always trying to make myself better, I received a certificate in functional nutrition and metabolism specialization, working with clients on living a healthy lifestyle, fueling their bodies & digging into lab markers to optimize their health. My clients range from sports performance athletes to moms, auto immune disorders, pcos, perimenopausal, metabolic, pregnancy and nightshift workers. I love working with a variety of people to continue to keep my knowledge and spread health and wellness.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Three qualities that were most impactful on my journey was a growth mindset, resilience and belief in God. Ultimately believing in his plan for me made all my heartbreak no less hurtful, but there was always light at the end of the tunnel. Understanding that one day I would see why I went through it. I have a beautiful daughter, loving husband and it’s all because of his Grace.

To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?

The most impactful thing that my parents did was let me follow my dreams. My dad worked and my mom took me to all the basketball games, camps, practices, got me on all the best teams and hired the best coaches. When I was interested in doing something they made it happen!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.humblehungryathlete.com
• Instagram: @jackeddanielles

Image Credits

Bruce Williams
Fleo
Maya McComas