Growing up, “The hottest girl in the room” certainly wouldn’t be how I described myself. As mentioned before, my go-to look in high school was jeans, a t-shirt, and a swipe of mascara. I thought I was attractive, but I always knew there would be girls with better clothes, hair, makeup, you name it. So I chose to go a different route. I chose to care about things that matter. Does that mean I don’t care about my physical appearance at all? Of course not. I’m still a girl. I like to feel good about how I look. But the choices you consistently make in life will drastically affect where you end up ..read more

If you’ve ever played on a team that’s been on a losing streak, we all know how the post-game speech goes. If you’ve ever been a senior in that scenario, you also know all the coach’s frustrations will be aimed directly at you. I vividly remember how I felt as I was receiving each of these body blows… And it was annoyed. I’d be mentally rolling my eyes through the whole thing.  I tell you this, so you can be better than me. It’s easy to think, “The way the game/event went down was completely out of my control. How is this my fault?” or “Why are the coaches blaming me for something THEY di ..read more

Whether you remain close friends with the same core group from your childhood or you grow in and out of friendships as the seasons’ pass, one thing remains true. The people you spend your time with are either positively or negatively affecting your life. Just like everything else, this isn’t black and white. In my opinion, I don’t think you need to drop those who aren’t necessarily growing with you like a bad habit. We all have our own flaws and I believe it’s important that we remember not to be so critical of those we love. But of course, it’s a fine line. It’s also important not to waste yo ..read more

The number one concern most girls have about weight training is getting too big, bulky, or thick in general. I hear a lot of strength coaches make fun of this concern. They’ll retort with something like, “Do you know how hard you have to try to get big from lifting?” Or something along those lines. But I’m calling bullshit. Unless you play a sport that does a hell of a lot of running or conditioning, your body will look different. But before this scares you, let me explain. The goal of any strength and conditioning coach is to get you stronger, faster, and more durable than before. This is so ..read more

Setting the scene It’s my senior year and we’re just starting our fall season. There’s a fall season, which is basically a practice season, and a spring season, our regular 55 game stretch. During that fall and winter-time period, there are fewer NCAA restrictions on the number of hours you can have official practice. AKA, you’re at the field ALL THE TIME. Meanwhile, in trying to make the most of my senior year, I had a little too much fun with my fellow teammates. We hit it hard during the week and even harder at the bars on the weekend. You see where this is going…? Fast forward It’s now the ..read more

If picking a college major, career field, or general path in life is daunting, then I’m here to tell you not to worry because I was in your exact same shoes. Going into college, I had no idea what the hell I wanted to do. I don’t really think I can even say I “pursued” a business degree because the reality was, at first, I was just there to be there. I went to school to play softball and get an education to get me a decent-paying job afterward. On top of that, I was incredibly underwhelmed by just about everything I saw at the job and internship fairs. All the careers just seemed so… Boring. A ..read more

One of the biggest hurdles I continually had to get over in college was not feeling validated in my efforts. I felt like I was stretching myself thin as a multi-position player and wasn’t getting acknowledged for all that extra time and energy I spent at the field. I even skipped class every now and then just to get more reps in (but also, let’s be honest, the class that always got skipped was statistics). There simply weren’t enough hours in the day. I’ve come to learn something over the past few years. I wish someone told me back then that going the extra mile is the standard. And although I ..read more

In honor of Mother’s Day, I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge all the beautiful things about my mom. The things that made me feel so fortunate to grow up the way I did. It’s important to remember that a moms’ love doesn’t always have to be soft and sweet. Sometimes it’s the moments of tough love that ultimately end up shaping us more than we know. So without further ado: Thank you for teaching me the value of a home-cooked meal every night. Thank you for forcing me to help cook said meals every now and again while you had your wine. Thank you for showing me how to be a loving, devoted, an ..read more

As promised in last week’s post, Choosing the Right College, I’ll be providing a behind-the-curtain view of what college looked like for me. In doing so, I hope you get whatever insight you might need to help make a more confident decision for yourself when that time comes. My thought process during the recruiting phase  Like many other athletes in high school that lived and breathed their respective sport, I had a dream to play for a school with a top athletic program. Around the fall of Junior Year was the time to make your verbal commitment to the school recruiting you. If you mis ..read more

Picking out a college to go to is a huge decision. If you’re looking to play college athletics, luckily, that helps narrow down your options. Unless you’re a mega-stud who has college coaches begging you from every corner of the country to come play for them. To those people, I say bravo, and I envy you. I’m here to steer you in one direction and one direction only… Go big or go home. But hear me out on what I mean by this. It’s incredibly easy to get wrapped up in the hoopla of college recruiting. I remember all the gossip like it was yesterday: “Omg, did you hear where Susy accepted an offer ..read more