024: More Than Meets the Eye: Overcoming Life's Setbacks to Achieve Her Dreams with Taylor McQuillin

 This week's podcast episode is another Guest Speaker Replay from March of 2020. Taylor McQuillin was a standout pitcher at the University of Arizona, represented Team Mexico at the 2020 Olympics and is a current pro, playing with Athletes Unlimited.

In our conversation, Taylor shares what her journey to the pros looked like, including overcoming partial blindness to become a dominant collegiate pitcher. She talks about the mental skills that have helped her most along the way and about her hopes for the next generation of softball athletes.

Episode Highlights

• How the professional drafting process works
• How Taylor chose to play softball
• How she succeeded despite physical limitations
• How mental skills have helped her in her career

Connect with Taylor
 Instagram: @taybeezzyyy
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/taylor.mcquillin.18

More ways to work with Fearless Fastpitch

• Learn about our proven Mental Skills Program, The Fearless Warrior Program
• Book a One on One Session for your Athlete
• Book a Mental Skills Workshop for your Team or Organization

Follow us on Social Media

• Facebook @fearlessfastpitchmentaltraining
• Instagram @fearlessfastpitch
• Twitter @CoachAB_

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome to the Fearless Warrior podcast, a place for athletes, coaches and parents who know the value of a strong mindset. I'm your host, coach AB, a mental performance coach on a mission, former softball coach, wife and mom of three. Each episode we will dive deep into all things mental performance, mindset tools and how to rewire the brain for success. So if your goal is to gain the mental edge and learn the secrets of mental performance, you're in the right place. Let's tune in to today's episode.

Speaker 2: 0:38

Hello, hello, hi guys, hey, hello, Hello, how's it going. Good, how are?

Speaker 3: 0:43

you.

Speaker 2: 0:45

Good, I am seeing all sorts of faces that I haven't seen on here forever, so you get to meet lots of Fearless Warriors tonight.

Speaker 3: 0:52

Awesome, awesome. I'm so glad I got here on time. My class literally just ended 30 seconds ago, so it's perfect.

Speaker 2: 0:57

Oh my gosh. Yes, are you guys using Zoom for your class too?

Speaker 3: 1:02

No, so that was the good thing. So I could just pull it up A thing called Blackboard Collaborate. So it's basically just the same thing, just a different app, I guess, sure, yeah, cool, great.

Speaker 2: 1:16

I will give a quick introduction. I have asked Taylor to come on and be a guest speaker and share her story. Just a little bit about Taylor. Taylor played at Arizona and she is currently in the NFP, which is the pros and she plays for. I want to get this right the Cleveland Comets and you are on Team Mexico for the now 2021. Sounds so weird Olympics, and yeah, and you're. Are you coaching now too?

Speaker 3: 1:47

I am currently well, obviously I'm at home right now with my family, but I was a grad assistant at the University of Arkansas helping out their softball team this past year. So not really sure how that's going to play out next year with everything going on right now, but still a plan.

Speaker 2: 2:06

Yeah, very cool. So I've kind of given a quick introduction and if we just dive right into it, if you could tell us you know about you more, about your bio and just kind of knowing that you've been in these girls' shoes and that they're looking up to you to kind of place the path and how they can follow.

Speaker 3: 2:25

Yeah, awesome, cool.

Speaker 3: 2:27

Well, I mean, I think, amanda covered it pretty well, but I played at the University of Arizona from 2015 to 2019. So I just graduated last May, so it's my first year out of college. I'm currently a grad assistant at the University of Arkansas. As of April 30, the beginning of May I'll be done with my first year there, so I'm still enrolled in classes and all that kind of fun stuff. I'm from, originally from Orange County, california, but about two years ago my family moved to Tucson, so that's where we are. We're in Tucson, arizona, right now, so a lot closer to the university that I attended.

Speaker 3: 3:06

I do play in the pro leagues in the NPF for the Cleveland comments. This summer will be my second year, and then this will also be my second summer with the Mexican national team as well. We qualified last August for our birth to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. That is now officially been moved back a year to 2021. But they still call it Tokyo 2020. So if you guys ever use that hashtag is still 2020, even though it's a year behind now.

Speaker 3: 3:36

But yeah, that's pretty much kind of what, what I do and where I'm from and all that kind of crazy stuff. I think that something new that like nobody really knows, that I'm kind of just starting to spread out. I recently signed a contract with a new pro league called athletes unlimited and that will be their first ever season will start mid to late August and it's only a six week league, but it's really exciting, super cool. We're kind of it's a whole revamp of what a league looks like. So I don't really know a whole lot about it yet and we're trying to get the word out and everything. So all over social media and stuff will just keep. You guys will just keep seeing a whole bunch of stuff about athletes unlimited and all that kind of cool stuff. But that's kind of really the only new thing we have to offer right now about my life. But that's just kind of a brief rundown, I guess, of a bio for myself.

Speaker 2: 4:34

Yeah, very cool. So it's cool too because you'll bring the perspective that you've played travel ball, you played high school ball, you played college ball, you've coached college ball, you're playing in the pros and now you're looking into this new league and so literally the whole evolution of our sport, and I'm sure these girls will have lots of good questions for you. But the biggest thing that I would bring to this and these girls is different perspectives of how did you get started with softball and what did your journey look like.

Speaker 3: 5:05

Yeah, so it's so obviously I'm from California. California is a huge outlet for color, for softball and recruiting and playing on the top teams. So I was kind of just honestly really fortunate enough to be raised in the right place at the right time. But it goes back to the coaches that I've had. So I've always had good coaching on the teams. I've been on really supportive people, great teammates, been fortunate to play on great teams with great teammates who have also worked their way through the recruiting process, the college level, playing in the pros, being grad assistants, all that kind of stuff too. But it really just goes back to hard work, guys. I mean, not everybody gets fortunate enough to be in great places at great times.

Speaker 3: 5:59

I know some people obviously struggle with growing the game of softball in their area and that's really something that has been super eye opening to me as I've gone throughout college and then I've been doing pitching lessons and working with girls at Arkansas and kind of just like learning about different people from different places. We all understand that every place is different. Softball is still a growing sport. My generation is trying to do and I'm obviously what Amanda's trying to do is grow the game, guys, any way that we can grow the game from where we are and get you guys to understand it and then you guys to grow the game. That's our goal here, right? So but yeah, just for me personally, I grew up with tough parents, parents that wanted me to succeed at something, no matter what it was, whether it was athletics, academics, no matter what I chose to do with my life. If I wanted to be an artist, I was gonna be the best artist I could be, because if they're paying for it, I have to do it well. And so just having the tough parents, along with the coaching and the teammates that I've had it allowed me to be driven to work hard right. If you have a strong work ethic, that's gonna get you guys really far right. Everybody.

Speaker 3: 7:13

The common saying is hard work beats talent. When talent doesn't work, hard right. So you guys, especially for me, it didn't come easy. I had to work so hard to get to where I was because I wasn't the most talented person from day one. Even growing up, even getting into high school, halfway through my recruiting process, I was always kind of on the back burner until I really said you know what? Like one day I'm gonna be where the people at the front are and I'm gonna be better than them and I'm gonna go to school and I'm gonna compete against them. And for me it was just doing a ton of extra work making sure I'm doing pitching lessons as much as I can, doing hitting lessons, working out all that kind of extra work stuff. And you can do it with your teammates and your friends. I know right now it's a very strange time in the world and it makes it really hard. It's hard for me too, so I totally understand guys. But when we do have those opportunities again to be around a ton of people, the best way for me to be the best that I could be was playing with the best, working with the best, working out with people that I knew were gonna push me just as hard as I would push them. So that's really cool.

Speaker 3: 8:22

But I think the biggest thing was I wanted to go to college, and because I wanted to go to college, I knew that financially, the only way I was gonna get there was to get a scholarship. And to get a scholarship you have to work hard and you have to be good at what you do. And then, on top of that, you also have to realize that scholarships aren't guaranteed, right? Nobody is guaranteed a scholarship by playing a sport, right? Nobody's guaranteed a scholarship by being really good in school.

Speaker 3: 8:52

So on top of that, I had to make sure I was maintaining good grades and doing whatever I could in case I didn't get an athletic scholarship. So I could bust my butt to try to do everything I can to get some type of scholarship academically too, and so it kind of just it obviously worked out in my favor athletically, but if it didn't, I always had that backup option of okay, I can apply to a school and I could probably get in because of my grades. So academics are just as important, guys. And I know school is not fun and exciting all the time and you always go through classes like, oh my God, social studies again, like what are we learning about today? It just it happens, guys, like it's a thing, not everybody enjoys school, but it's going to get you far and if you guys just push through it and do the work and be present, that's gonna help you guys so much, no matter what.

Speaker 2: 9:45

Yeah, being present and doing the work. That's I mean throughout all of that, whether it's academics or athletics, doing the work and putting in the work, and sometimes that takes extra work yeah, that's. I think sometimes we hear that, right, Like, we hear that and we see that from our parents and in motivational quotes and all over Instagram. But Taylor is a testament to that and I think sometimes you guys lose sight of, well, what is this actually going to get me? And I think that, right here, I mean the more that we can show examples of that, that's awesome. So it hasn't always been easy, right, Like, tell us about roadblocks. Obviously there's been setbacks and there's been trials and there have been things that you didn't expect. Talk to us about that.

Speaker 3: 10:29

Right, okay, so a really cool backstory to who I am. I was born with something called Duane syndrome in my left eye, which means that basically from the day I was born I've been legally blind in my left eye. So my parents decided, hey, like what can we do to? You know, see what her limits are, see what Taylor can do, see if sports are even an option. Let's try to get her hand-eye coordination better. Let's see if anything you know athletically could be an option for her. They started throwing me in a bunch of different sports. I found softball and I felt like softball was really my calling and so I kind of stuck with that and I'm really grateful that I did, especially getting to meet all the people I did along the way.

Speaker 3: 11:15

But I think that being blind in my left eye has been the easiest thing I've had to overcome because, one, I was already born with it, so I didn't know anything different, and two, I didn't let it define who I was as a person or an athlete, right. So I think that my biggest adversity that I've had to face, the roadblocks that I've had to face, are the same ones that you guys face daily, that you guys face all the time, the getting over the procrastination or having a really bad outing, and how the heck do you come back from that, right? Or even the simple things, like I'm a pitcher, so for me it's like, oh, I had a really bad day, this pitch wasn't working, how am I going to fix this? And that is normal for any other pitcher. Every other pitcher is going to experience that, and it's just the simple things. It's everything you guys face. Those are the hardest adversities that I've had to overcome too. So I want you guys to know that every athlete has to overcome these little roadblocks, right? Because if we make them bigger than they are, it's going to be a lot worse and a lot harder for us to actually move past it and then say, okay, like, how are we going to move past it? Right? So for me, just, I guess, just believing in the right people at the right time, right.

Speaker 3: 12:30

So I've had coaches who are like I don't think you could ever really get there. So what did I do about it? I said, okay, I'm going to find a coach that does believe in me and I'm going to prove you wrong. And because I did buy into the coaches that did believe in me and I chose to surround myself with the people and the teammates and a great support system.

Speaker 3: 12:51

That's truly like the best thing you guys can do is, no matter what, have a great support system, coaches that believe in you, teammates that will support you and believe in you and cheer for you, no matter what right, even on your worst days, they still know that, one, you're a great teammate and, two, they have your back, so you're going to have theirs, right? Those are the easiest way to overcome adversity, guys being a good teammate and teammates will be good back to you, right. And then on yeah, and then on top of that, like truly just believing that you can do whatever you put your mind to right. So if you don't believe in yourself and you guys don't have the confidence in yourself, you guys can't expect other people to have confidence in you, right? So overcoming adversity really is self-confidence and being around the right people at the right time.

Speaker 2: 13:39

Awesome and just yeah, the impact of your support system. We talk about that in the Fearless Warrior Program. That is the first module that they go through, and so I think it's something that's taken for granted. But obviously you know, if your parents wouldn't have started you at what I mean? At what age did they start discovering which sports?

Speaker 3: 13:59

Well, I started, so the first thing that I was put into was dance and taekwondo. So a lot of little girls get put into dance when they're younger. Great way to make friends, great way to let the parents not have to babysit their own kids, right and three. It's just, it's something you can see if somebody can do. It's fun, it's easy. You know all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 3: 14:20

Well, right next door was actually a taekwondo studio. So my dad was like I'm going to go sign her up. And my mom was like we should just stick to dance. My dad was like, absolutely not. So then I would go back and forth between classes, one at taekwondo, then I go back to dance, then back to taekwondo, then back to dance.

Speaker 3: 14:38

And then one day they were like let's throw in soccer, let's try swimming, let's put her in softball and see you know if this is even an option. And so, little by little, you know, as they could realize that I wasn't fazed, you know, like by a lack of eyesight, that I was still like, okay, you know what? Yeah, let's try it, let's just do it. When they saw how optimistic I was and how kind of like fearless I was, it made me realize. It made them realize like okay, we can, she's normal, like she can do anything that any other normal vision person can do, and so I think that's really kind of what grew this, the concept of what does she want to do? She can do it as long as she thinks she can.

Speaker 2: 15:17

That is awesome to have that at such a young age, so cool. Yes, so you've talked about obstacles. You've talked about recruiting. I kind of want to open it up and see what you guys think Taylor has shared so much with you guys already. Has anything come up for you guys on either something similar and I know that we've talked about this in some of the different teams of how many times you've been told, well, you're not good at it, well, you're not good enough, by a coach or a teammate, or you know roadblocks, right, and I don't know if anything is coming up for you guys or specific questions around that, but I'm sure Taylor would love to answer them. What you guys got Anything about recruiting? I know you guys always have recruiting questions. Maddie, how did you get to be in the pro leagues?

Speaker 3: 16:02

Okay, so obviously like it works. A little bit similar but different to the way that other pro leaks work. But basically, our senior year of college, there are opportunities for you to enter the draft. So, similar to the MLB draft, they call it the NPF draft. The NPF draft is the National Pro Fast Pitch League and that's specifically for softball and coaches will reach out from the or commissioners, whatever it is from the league and ask the college coaches are any of your players interested in the draft? These are some of the people that we've been looking at. They're really, you know, a really high commodity. They really they'll probably go get picked up in the draft. Are they interested in the draft? Are they going to enter in the draft? And then I chose to enter the draft my senior year after talking to my coaches and then basically on draft day, they just watch the draft and kind of just wait for your name to be called. So it's really similar to, you know, football based like all the, all the normal stuff, the, the NBA, wnba. It's similar in that sense, but it's a lot smaller. So the MLB has, you know, however many rounds. The NFL has, however many rounds. Typically, the NPF only has four to six rounds and in each of those rounds there's usually only like five or six players. So at the end of the day only 20 to 25 players are being drafted out of however many softball players. Softball seniors are in the league so or in college softball, and you can go in the draft as long as like as long as you're in college, from whether it's division one to division three to NAI, you can enter the draft no matter what, within those requirements obviously. But it kind of it kind of works pretty similar that way.

Speaker 3: 17:53

The new pro league I'm in a little bit different. I advertised it and I had my sports agent who just happened to be my uncle. He thought it was a great opportunity and reached out and they responded. It said they were super interested. We had a lot of phone interviews, zoom interviews, back and forth, obviously, because we're all in different places at different times. But and then from there it just kind of is like okay, sending a contract, revising it, looking at over, having meetings about what to change what not, and then signing the contract. So once the contract signed you're basically in the league. So I hope that helps a little bit. But the leagues were a little bit different and this is also the first year of that new league. So once it once athletes and limited kind of like this is kind of like the trial run. So once they get all the kings out of their system there might be a different method to how they'll like draft people and how that stuff will work out.

Speaker 2: 18:54

Thank you. Yeah, of course. Awesome question, Maddie. I've been curious about that too. A lot of people don't know about it.

Speaker 3: 19:02

Yes, absolutely it's. It kind of flies under the radar, especially with college softball being as well known as it is. So anything that we can do to grow the game beyond college obviously, because I'm sure you guys some of you guys will get to a point in your life where you know you don't want to end your career playing college softball, right, you want to go further than that and I think that right now it's a struggle in society today because female athletes don't really have a lot of options beyond college that are well known and well paid. So it's not, it's not a lifetime job. So we're trying to make it so that eventually, one day, your generation and the generations after you have those opportunities and we can grow female athletes and their, their games as well.

Speaker 2: 19:51

Oh, so cool, Reagan, what you got girl.

Speaker 4: 19:55

When you were growing up, who did you really look up to?

Speaker 3: 20:00

Are you just talking about, like, athletically or in general, in general, in general? Ok, well, first and foremost, my dad is my most important person in my entire life and he has gone through a ton of medical conditions and struggles of his own, and so for him to be able to live life and overcome his own obstacles every day, that really just showed me that I could do anything, as long as he could do it because of everything that he's been through. And so for me, I think he has been my biggest inspiration in my life.

Speaker 3: 20:37

But from a athletic perspective, as a pitcher, you always look up to the cat ostromans and the Monica abbots and the Jenny Finches, especially from being from Arizona, right, but my favorite female athlete actually is Leila Ali, and I think that it's really cool. So my mom was an amateur fighter when I was growing up, and so for me, I always thought it was really cool to sit and watch the fights with her and the boxing matches and all the UFC stuff, and so when I was younger, I got to watch Leila Ali and just hearing the story about her father and her wanting to be just like him but be the female version and be the best female version that she could be. It was just really awesome because I think that she is a huge reason why female sports are being more looked at today and why females are starting to have a voice in athletics and in everyday life. So for me, she was one of my biggest inspirations, for sure, athletically.

Speaker 2: 21:40

Awesome question, cool, ok, so we're going to keep rolling. Oh, claire, you got one.

Speaker 5: 21:48

How come? Why, when you were younger, did you pick softball out of all the other sports you played?

Speaker 3: 21:55

Yeah, ok, that's actually a really good question. I get that question all the time, so I mean I guess it could be similar to what some of you guys have gone through. I'm sure that softball is not the only thing that you guys have ever tried in your life, right, regardless of whether it's a sport or anything else. And so I think a reason why my parents threw me into all of the stuff that they did was to find out if I had a passion for anything or if there was something I really liked doing over other things. I did piano lessons for a really long time, did a lot of music lessons, because my grandma is very musically inclined and tried doing all that stuff. I tried a whole bunch of sports. I tried to do a lot of different outside activities with friends just to kind of see what I liked. And one day I just walked into softball and I was like you know what I could see myself really buying into this sport and buying into the process of what it's like to be a softball player.

Speaker 3: 22:53

And then, obviously, when I was younger, the Women's College World Series had started becoming a bigger platform on television, and so that's when I got to watch the UCLA's and the Arizona's and the Tennessee's and the Oklahoma's all in it and things like this on TV playing softball, and I think that just the emotion, you know that softball players have the excitement, the, the crowds behind them. It's a fun and exciting game to watch, right, and it's fast-paced and I really liked that, um, but I really wanted to be in a team sport, I think, at the end of the day, and I just felt like softball gave me that all-around feeling of I, this is what I want to do, um, and I kind of just knew it. And so when you get that that feeling of you know, when you know, you know, I think that's for me that's exactly what happened. So I just was like yes, like I know, this is what I want to do. Thank you, yes. Of course.

Speaker 2: 23:44

Very cool, regan, you got a quick one before we dive in so I fit too.

Speaker 4: 23:49

So like when you are struggling, what mentally?

Speaker 2: 23:55

Regan, how did you know my next question?

Speaker 3: 23:57

That's awesome, regan's a mind reader awesome, awesome, um.

Speaker 3: 24:03

So, yeah, there's actually, um, a lot of different Types of, I guess I, from what I'm told, you guys call them mental skills. So, um, there's a ton of different like mental skills that I've used throughout my game, that I actually still use in everyday life, right? Um so, getting out of struggles, right, overcoming adversity, um, the biggest thing, don't forget to breathe. Sometimes, when we hit the panic button and the game moves quick on us and life is going so fast, sometimes we just forget to like, stop and breathe, because how are you supposed to function without breathing, right? It's really, really hard. I don't know if you tried it, right? Um, so, don't forget to breathe. Take a step back, take a deep breath, right? Who cares if anybody's looking at you sitting there like You're a lot calmer, right, and that's that's another thing. Don't care, it doesn't matter what people think, right, it matters what you think.

Speaker 3: 24:52

What you think is the most important, right, and that goes back to the whole self confidence as well, right? If you don't believe in yourself, you can't expect others to believe in you, right? Um, but there's also, um, this is actually a piece of advice that I, or something that coach Kendra Arizona had taught me um, there's, everybody gets those butterfly feelings right where your your tummy is like fluttering, and you get like all built up and worked up, right, that is totally fine, right, there's a difference between good butterflies and bad butterflies. It's totally fine to have the butterflies, but what we want to do is keep them in a straight line, right, and any type of formation that we can. What we don't want to happen is when those butterflies are fluttering all over the place and I'll out of control. Right, it's fine to have butterflies, we just got to keep them in control a little bit, right, and that breathing and that self confidence is 100% going to help those butterflies stay in line and be like yeah, I'm a little nervous today, or I've been struggling a little bit, but I've been working really hard too. So I know one day it's going to break through and today could be that day to set that this pitch, this game.

Speaker 3: 25:53

It could be that, that opportunity for me to overcome whatever I'm struggling with, right, um, and then, on top of that, for me as a pitcher, I think the the biggest thing that I've learned is to visualize success, right. So it's not going to help you guys if you walk up to the plate or get a ground ball hit to you, or Throw a pitch and you're visualizing yourself making an error, or you leaving a pitcher over the plate and somebody hitting a home run, or A pitch coming so fast that you forget to swing, and then you strike out, right, like it's not going to help you guys to um, sit there and and see all the bad outcomes that could happen. Right, the those moments, if you guys have ever laid down where you're like, oh, I'm laying in bed and, um, I see myself and my team winning a championship and this is the outcome, or this is we're going to win this game, or this next pitch is going to strike somebody out. You know, like stuff like that, right, visualizing success, because when you visualize success, you can feel it happen, and when you can feel it happen, it tends to happen, right, and there's going to be times where it doesn't, but that's part of life, that's part of the game, right, it's just, it's something that everybody goes through, right.

Speaker 3: 26:59

So, but as long as we can visualize it and then we can believe into it, right, we can buy into that process, um, and then, along with that visualization and that self-confidence, is the self-talk right. So if we can tell ourselves like, maybe it's not, like, oh, you got this, you can do it, like. I don't really thrive off of self-talk like that, for me personally, I reinforce the confidence that I have right. So, as I'm visualizing success, like, okay, I've clearly seen that this girl is not going to hit an outside pitch, so why am I gonna? I'm not going to throw one now, that's going to make her hit it, right. So I'm going to visualize what I'm going to do, I'm going to be successful at it, and then I'm going to execute.

Speaker 3: 27:33

Right, so my self-talk is a little bit different and everybody's self-talk is going to be a little bit different, right, if you're one of those people that is super peppy and loves to cheer for yourself and yeah, you got this, come on, you know, um, but those your two, that's what your teammates were there for, right? So your, your self-talk has to come from within you, like, don't like attack the zone. You know, work in your account, you're going to get this, you're going to get a good pitch to hit, like that kind of stuff, right, um, but everybody is a little bit different, so you just have to find what works for you guys individually and then really Accel off of that and then thrive off of what you guys know. You're good at what you want, right?

Speaker 2: 28:12

So good, so good. Um, taylor, do you have any questions for these girls? What do you want to know about these girls?

Speaker 3: 28:19

Yeah, um, let's see. Okay, so what when you guys are struggling right, and I guess you guys, this is like your option, your opportunity to explain how you guys overcome adversity. But, um, when you guys are struggling and having some, you know, self-doubt and trying to work your way out of it, what are some good um mechanisms that are coping mechanisms, or Um, optimistic things that you guys do to work out of that yourself?

Speaker 4: 28:48

So when I pitch and I struggle, I like to like go to the back of the mound and like focus on something else and breathe and help me calm down.

Speaker 3: 29:03

Okay, awesome guys, I think this is. This is a huge thing, one because I have done that so many times too. Right, there's a soft focus versus a hard focus. Right, hard focuses when you're on the mound. You see, visualize you attack the strike zone. Right, soft focus is just breathing. Right, you break, you stop what you're doing. It's that 20 seconds of non existence in your mind, right, whether you'll, you know, you look out at the flag behind you or you just take a deep breath, look out at the grass, look down at the ground and just say like, okay, I'm out of focus and now I'm back in. Right, that is huge, because not everybody can be 100% focused for 100% of the time. Right, it is, it's just it's not possible, right, so we have to be focused when we're focused, even when we're struggling. Right, but those non focused times or those recollection times are so beneficial, so that is 100% a great idea, reagan. I love it.

Speaker 5: 30:00

Hey, maddie, maddie you're up, I kind of do the same thing, except like I do like motivational talk, I like tell myself I know I can do this because I've been trained to do it.

Speaker 3: 30:10

Yes, okay. So that's amazing. This is all great stuff, guys, and I actually implement this stuff into my game as well. You guys train to be to be athletes, right. You guys trained to be softball players. So you guys go out there and you know what you need to do to get the job done, right. You know that you've worked so hard to do it. But another thing is you know that you guys can do it because you've done it before, right.

Speaker 3: 30:34

So maybe even taking a step back and for me, actually this is key like this is such a vivid moment that you just brought up Maddie, because we play the UCLA in a super regional my junior year and it was the bottom of the third inning bases loaded, no outs, right. And eventually I just sat there and I'm saying, telling myself, like why are you letting them beat? You? You've worked so hard for this, you know you can do this, you know you can get them out. This is all you've worked for me, and I don't think I will ever forget, like pitch to pitch was a constant reinforcement of your better than them. You can beat them, you can do it. You've already done this, you've trained for it, you're ready, right.

Speaker 3: 31:14

And so everybody goes through stages like this, guys, right, but what Reagan and Maddie are talking about, 100% true, right? These are the easy, some of the easiest things that you guys can do to flip your game around right, or even improve it right, or even if you're doing just great, it doesn't have to be a struggle, right, that you're overcoming, but just being able to sit there and say, okay, I'm good, I'm going to reinforce myself, anyway, I'm having a great game, but I know I can still do this, so let's make it even better, right? These are great ideas. I really, really, really like, like them a lot.

Speaker 2: 31:50

Okay, time for one more, and then we're going to wrap it up and send you guys on your way. Claire, what you got.

Speaker 5: 31:57

I visualize me making that pitch and focusing on that one mechanic and thinking back to like a good play that I made or a good pitch, and thinking that that's what you're doing, so I'm going to go ahead and do it again.

Speaker 3: 32:14

Yeah, guys, that's so awesome, just like, like she said, visualizing right, believing in yourself and then actually executing right. Sometimes the execution isn't going to work the way we want it to, but as long as you're confident in what you're doing and you believe in yourself, no matter what the outcome is, you're going to be just fine in the end, right?

Speaker 2: 32:33

So I love this question, I love what it brings out in all of our guest speakers, but if you could go back in time and you could give yourself advice, what would that one piece of advice be?

Speaker 3: 32:45

Yes. So both of my travel ball coach and my college coach completely emphasize this every single day. It's my favorite advice that I like to pass along to everybody else, and I'm sure a lot of you heard it, but for me it just really hits home because I've heard it my whole life and it's always just reassured me that everything's going to be okay. But be where your feet are, right. So we are living in a present time, right, no matter where it is, right now we're all sitting at home in our rooms, in our houses, right here, right now, right on a softball field. Same concept be where your feet are. Your feet are on that field. Be present, right. Be present with your body, be present with your mind, be present with your feet, right. Anything that you do, right, be where your feet are. And then that's always one of my go to thoughts, right. And then, while you're there, you got to trust in the process, right. So be where your feet are, trust the process. All of your guys's processes are different, right, mine's a lot different. I'm from California. You guys are from all over the place, right, whether it's Michigan, nebraska, california, no matter where you guys are, all of your processes to get to where you're going to go completely different, right? No two people are the same, right? No two athletes are the same. You are your own individual person and you guys can determine the outcome of who you want to be and what your life is right.

Speaker 3: 34:04

And that always goes back to being where your feet are right, because as long as you are present in every single moment that you live in, you guys are going to be totally fine, no matter what happens in the future. Right, flush out what happened in the past. Keep those good memories, get rid of the bad ones. Sometimes use those bad memories to get you guys better, or get you guys. Use that as motivation to get better in that moment and then in the future it'll pay off right?

Speaker 3: 34:23

So definitely, 100%, guys, be where your feet are right. That down, memorize it, tape it to a wall right on a mirror. Do something, because that is the most important thing that you guys are going to be in. The best advice that has ever been given to me in softball. And if I could go back and if I would have known that myself without having it like ingrained, ingrained, ingrained, as like getting older, if I would have known that from the start it could have been world changing right. So now that you guys know it, you guys can remember it, you guys can implement it, you guys can tell your other teammates, can tell your coaches Anybody right, anybody in life right, no matter what happens, softball, not softball, just walking around the street, just be where your feet are right. You never know what's going to happen. You never know what opportunities are going to come your way.

Speaker 2: 35:15

So good, so good. I love that and it's serving you in the future. I mean, this is something that you're going to carry with you for the rest of your life as a coach, as a pro player, wherever life takes you.

Speaker 3: 35:27

Absolutely absolutely.

Speaker 2: 35:28

Oh cool, taylor. Thank you so much. I always end it if the girls want to reach out to you. What is the best way to get in contact with you to ask additional questions?

Speaker 3: 35:38

Yes, so additional questions. I have social media platforms that I check regularly the. You can go on Instagram, twitter. Some people reach out on Facebook. I can, but any any other type of platform. I try to answer any type of questions the best of my ability. Thank you so much, taylor.

Speaker 2: 36:00

I appreciate your time. Yes, thank you guys.

Speaker 3: 36:03

So much for listening to me about my life and any other questions, please feel free to ask.

Speaker 2: 36:09

Very cool, awesome. All right, have a great week, you guys.