026: Navigating Peaks and Valleys in Life With Cory Huminksy

This week's podcast episode is a re-broadcast of this month's guest speaker presentation, Coach Cory Huminsky. Cory is a pitching instructor out of Pittsburgh, PA. Cory is a former University of Pittsburgh student-athlete, where she holds the career and single season ERA records for Pitt Softball. She is also a former Colorado Gatorade Player of the Year award winner. She is a pediatric cancer survivor and autoimmune disease warrior who has scaled Mt. Kilimanjaro and climbed to Mt. Everest Base Camp. One of her core values is resiliency, not just as a pitcher or as a player on the field, but also in life.

Episode Highlights:

• How Cory's struggles with her health taught her resilience
• Cory's recruiting journey
• Cory's experience climbing to Mt. Everest Base Camp
• Her advice to her younger self

Connect with Cory:
Instagram: @coachcory_fastpitch
www.coachcoryfastpitch.com

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, alright, so we have a guest speaker tonight for the Fearless Warriors. It is our January guest speaker call and tonight we have Cori Huminski. She is a fast pitch softball instructor out of Pittsburgh, pennsylvania.

Speaker 1: 0:50

I have gotten to know Cori as a coach and somebody who's a huge advocate for the mental side of the game. She's a former pit alum and she holds the career and single season ERA records for pit softball and she is a former Colorado Gatorade Player of the Year Award winner, which is a huge deal. She's also a pediatric cancer survivor, an autoimmune disease warrior, who has scaled Mount Kilimanjaro and climbed to Mount Everest Base Camp, which we shared that photo in the Facebook group. One of her core values is resiliency, not just as a pitcher, but as a player on the field and also in life, and I am so excited for her to share her story for you guys tonight. You guys are going to get to ask questions. All the amazing things, cori, welcome.

Speaker 2: 1:38

Hi, thank you for having me coach AV. I'm excited to be here.

Speaker 1: 1:42

I know it's kind of a fun little intro. So give us a look into your life right now. I know you're doing a lot of coaching. What's your typical week look like? And we also get to kind of show behind the scenes of what it's like to have coaching be your career, right?

Speaker 2: 1:58

Yeah, yeah, I basically give lessons six days a week, every evening, weekdays, after everyone gets out of school until like nine o'clock at night, and then Saturday and Sunday in the mornings, so pretty much all the time as much as I can. So that's what I do most days. And then in between that I've got four dogs, four cats and a bunny, so I have my hands full of lots of pets and and then my husband, so him and I do a lot of stuff together traveling and going out to eat and stuff like that.

Speaker 1: 2:33

I love it so much. So for those that don't know your story and I know that we're going to share this on the podcast as well Give us a quick background of you know. Why are you so passionate about resiliency and I know you weave that through a lot of your coaching with your girls in person. Why is that so important to you?

Speaker 2: 2:52

Yeah, I mean, I think it's so important because I just got like a giant dose of it when I turned 11 years old. That's when I was diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer and all of a sudden my life went from, you know, just being a kid and playing softball and going to school and to suddenly being in the hospital and doing all these tests and all this stuff. And it's hard to be prepared. I don't think you can be prepared for that, especially at that age. So I just, you know, had to kind of learn as I go and figure it out. And you know, and now as a coach, I do have some students who I've met who are like going through some really serious things, health wise or family or whatever it may be, and so I think the more I can be open about it and talk to them about it, it's good for them, because sometimes you can feel really alone, and so so I like to be open with the kids and talk to them about, you know, what they might be going through to.

Speaker 1: 3:52

Yeah, and I think the perspective of if we are struggling on the mound or if we, you know, go over three that day. And what message would you give to girls if you know I think we get so caught up in softball, right and not not to compare our lives to other people, because there are children out there that are facing really big battles and as you guys get older, you're going to face even bigger battles beyond the softball field. How does that give us perspective? Or how does that? How does it give you perspective after going through that?

Speaker 2: 4:28

Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 4:28

I mean, I think the biggest perspective I have is just like every day is a new day and so you know, yeah, you're going to everyone's going to throw a bad game or mess up or, you know, do something really embarrassing Once while I was pitching, like I pitched and almost fell over because I caught my shoelace.

Speaker 2: 4:45

Like it was very embarrassing. I'm not going to lie, but, like you know, things happen and you just, you know, the next day, the next game, you know even the next batter is a new one. So you know, I think that helps because, just like when you're going through something like every day is a new day and you just kind of move forward through it. And I think that puts things in perspective when you look at it like that, because I think it's really easy to like, like you said, like go 0 for 3 and freak out and in reality it's not that big of a deal. I think it becomes more of a big deal because we make it such a big deal. If we move past it, it's a little bit easier to handle.

Speaker 1: 5:25

Yeah, and can you take us back to those times? What was kind of going through your head? If you can think back to those moments of I just want to see the softball field again, I just want to be able to walk, to talk, to have my childhood, what kind of motivated you to get through those times?

Speaker 2: 5:44

I really think softball was what helped me get through it, to be honest, because that was something I really loved. I enjoyed it. I had a lot of good friends there and I wasn't able to do it for a while and I missed it and I know my dad thought that was a really big part of my rehab of getting back into being a normal kid was to start doing the things I had been doing before. So when I got the all clear that I could start playing softball again not even play, like to start to fix and try to pitch and all that kind of stuff that kept me going I had that to look forward to. It was something I was hoping for and waiting for, and if you don't have something that you're looking forward to, I think that also makes things really hard to get through. There has to be something that is pushing you to get through it all, and for me it was definitely softball.

Speaker 1: 6:36

Absolutely. A lot of you guys are currently in the program and so we haven't quite gotten to it. Unless you did your homework early. We talk about your why. I would love for you guys to share your why in the chat for Cori to see. I think that would be really cool. And we have a different mix of Warriors. So we have Cori, we have our alumni who have graduated from the program, we have teams, have gone through the program, and then currently we have team. Is it team 21? Are you guys team 20? Team 20,? Right, I'm getting ahead of myself because we're already planning for team 21. But team 20 is currently going through the program. So we talk about your why. What do you feel like? Was your reason, your why? What kept you going? Even past the? You came back. You conquered cancer. Was there ever a thought in your mind of what life looked like afterwards? What motivated you?

Speaker 2: 7:33

I mean that's a hard one. I think it's just when you go. I would never wish anything bad upon anybody, but I think when you go through something that's really hard, whatever it might be, it just puts things in perspective, and so it makes you appreciate things and it makes you kind of just look at the world a little bit differently. And I think that's what all of this did a little bit to me was just make me realize that some things really are insignificant and don't matter and you can't hyper focus on them, and then some things are really big and important, and I think it just gave me a lot of perspective.

Speaker 2: 8:18

And I do think that that's part of why I went through all of this was because I needed to learn how to see things differently. And so I think that's how it kind of that's what I got out of all of it, and to just experience things and push yourself to do things that maybe you thought you couldn't, because you're capable of a lot more than you think and until you're kind of tested with that, it's hard to know. So I think this tested me a little bit and pushed me through, and that's kind of, I think I don't know. That's my why. I mean it just pushed me to try more stuff and go outside my box and not be afraid of everything.

Speaker 1: 9:02

And when we first talked a while back, you had mentioned hiking right Of like can I do this, what would this look like? And having that identity, I think you really had to challenge that identity of can my body do this? What if I try? So what was that kind of thought process in that adventure?

Speaker 2: 9:24

It was honestly and you'll laugh about it, but I started doodling things. I was like, can a cancer survivor do this? Has anyone else done this? And that's actually how I ended up getting connected with the organization I climbed with was because this guy is a cancer survivor and he does this every year and he brings people who are cancer survivors to do this to show them that you can do things more than you think you can. And so that was definitely it was something to push myself again, cause I pushed myself through softball and I tried to like achieve the best I could and then it was over, I graduated, it was done, and I kind of had an identity crisis and I was like, who am I without softball? So I think this gave me that like new thing to like try to do and push and have fun. I've met some really cool people like from all over the country, which is really really cool, so it's just kind of expanded my horizons a little bit as well.

Speaker 1: 10:24

So Do you feel like there's parallels of softballs? Really hard for certain reasons, and you know, obviously getting to base camp of Mount Everest is very impressive, right, and I don't know which one is higher. Is Mount Kilimanjaro higher or is Mount Everest Mount?

Speaker 2: 10:41

Kilimanjaro is higher it's 19,000, and about base camp Everest is 17. And then obviously, the top of Everest is like 29 or something absolutely ridiculous. But yeah, I mean it's hard, it's really hard and I would have played it to being similar to like you know, we've all been in those tournaments where you're playing like a bazillion games in one day, right, either we got into the losers bracket or like some of these winter tournaments where you play like eight games in one day or something ridiculous. Indoors, by the end of the day you're like exhausted, right, like everyone's kind of like just swinging the bat, hoping to make contact because we're just tired. And I feel like that's how it was.

Speaker 2: 11:27

Like climbing the mountain, like I started off really strong and then I like started to slowly get really, really tired and really, really exhausted and then I had to push myself. I'm like you can't quit, Like I mean you'd have to turn around and go back down anyways, like you still have work to do either way. So so, yeah, it's like this. I think softball is kind of like a metaphorical mountain as we keep climbing and then you go from like 10 U softball to college softball. I think that's a mountain as well, like you're getting higher and higher, the difficulty gets harder. So yeah, I think there's a lot of similarities in that regard.

Speaker 1: 12:02

Absolutely, and yeah, and that's it that brought up. Another question is tell us more about your college experience, because I know you had some incredible stats playing in college and I think one of the challenges that we hear a lot from guest speakers and anyone who's gone at the next level is you go from being one of the best players at your high school to then going to college. What was that like for you transitioning to Pitt?

Speaker 2: 12:26

It was definitely a huge transition. I mean that my example from the pitcher side is, like you know, in high school ball or maybe even a little in travel ball, you know you'd have to really worry about that middle line up right, Like those really strong girls. You get to college and like literally every person was the best hitter on their team and then they're all on one team. So as a pitcher it was really this like you have to be on point, like every single batter. There is no batter to take off, there is no time to relax. So I think that intensity was huge For me.

Speaker 2: 13:02

It was also and I think girls do a little better job of this now but when I was younger I like went to the gym a little bit, you know, I kind of like made sure I stayed healthy and active, but I wasn't like lifting and doing cardio all the time. You get to college and like I got my butt kicked as soon as I got to Pitt, like I couldn't move. I remember like barely being able to block. I was so sore. So that was a big change for me was like having a lot more of a strong, you know, lifting and conditioning routine plus softball and then, of course, school ball. Like it, you know, college is harder than high school, so so, yeah, that was a big change, with all of that too, well have you ever thought about that?

Speaker 1: 13:44

if you only lift, even just three to four days a week, we would lift for an hour and then we do conditioning for an hour, so that's two hours of your day, and then you have a three hour practice, so that's five hour days. So now you're up to if you lift three days a week, that's 15 hours, and then you add in the extra six hours. I mean that's a part time job.

Speaker 2: 14:06

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 14:07

It really was active.

Speaker 2: 14:09

Yes, I used to think about that. I'm like I'm literally doing like a job plus school, like a manual labor job plus school. Ok, diggin' ditches Right, and I would. I'd be so tired. I became the queen of naps. I tell all my my seniors when they go off to college if, because I was like can you give me one piece of advice? I'm like take naps, like plan them because you need them. And yeah, I mean it was. It's hard, it's a lot to handle, but I think it really sets you up for life. I mean you can do all that man. You can handle a job and anything else you need to do afterwards. So, and it's so much fun, Like I would never do it differently. I had a blast. It was. It was an amazing experience.

Speaker 1: 14:57

Agreed I would. I would go back to college in a heartbeat. So we'll kind of pass the mic to our warriors. You guys always come up with great questions. If you have questions for Coach Corey as far as her mentality, her mental skills, what she sees as a coach, her college experience, some of the questions that I've asked her, you guys have some great questions. Does anyone want to unmute and ask Coach Corey a question? Or, if you want, you can type it in the chat. I see, presley, it's not softball related, but do you ever want to try to summit Mount Everest?

Speaker 2: 15:32

So I personally do not, because I think it's really high and very dangerous. I really just wanted to see Mount Everest in person. That was my goal. But I do know of a couple of people, like the guy Clottings with and the like our guide, who did climb it and they said it was absolutely amazing and it was one of the best views you can ever imagine and they loved it. So I lived vicariously through them in their stories.

Speaker 1: 16:02

I feel like I got fed videos on the algorithm and now I'm just freaked out about how treacherous climbing Mount Everest is. It's like the algorithm knows. Yeah, presley, would you put that on your bucket list? I live in Washington state, so I'd like to summit Mount Rainier, but definitely not Everest.

Speaker 2: 16:22

Yes, very cool. I would like to do that one day too.

Speaker 1: 16:25

It sounds awesome. What other questions do you guys have? I have a question, and I kind of went this route too. But what was that decision like for you after college? When did you start coaching full-time and when did you realize that you could stay in softball as a career?

Speaker 2: 16:44

Yeah, I did start working a job when I went to grad school. Then, after grad school, I started working a job like a normal five-day a week kind of job. Then I was giving pitching lessons on the weekends. Basically I love doing it, but I didn't have room, I didn't have enough time to do it. I slowly started adding a few more here and there. Then I started having a few days where I could get off early for my other jobs. Then I added some night lessons there. Then it started building because my kids started then pitching. Well, then other people like to use your pitching coach. It started building.

Speaker 2: 17:27

Then it got to a point where I was working 70 hours a week and my husband actually was like can we have a talk? I was like okay. He was like I don't see you anymore, you're working way too much. What do you want to do In a perfect world? I want to just give lessons all the time.

Speaker 2: 17:46

I would love to do that, but I was afraid of failure because I would have to fill all my hours with lessons. Like, could I actually do that? Are there enough people interested in lessons that sort of thing? I have a wonderful husband and he basically just was like just try it. If it fails, it fails, but if it doesn't, you'll love it, so just try it.

Speaker 2: 18:12

So I ended up basically quitting my job and then working very quickly to try and reach out and tell people that I was opening up my lessons. I ended up it was like in less than a month I had filled up full time and everyone's on reoccurring lessons. Pretty much. If someone graduates or if someone decides they don't want to pitch anymore which is fine too then I'll have an opening. I never thought that was going to happen. It was a little bit of just jump into it slash, having a really good support system who was encouraging me to do it, and it worked out, but I never. When I was in high school or college I did not see this as my path, so you never know what will happen.

Speaker 1: 18:59

And that's incredible, because I know how hard it is to fill that and I'm so proud of you for chasing that because it is scary, right? Yes, it is. I make the joke here in Nebraska, rhonda Ravel and some of the other college coaches are the only coaches that coach full time, and I think there's more opportunities for us, and so I just if you guys listening to Cory's answer to this, if you guys want to stay involved in softball, but there's a question mark in your head of what that would look like, there are going to be so many opportunities for you guys after you graduate that you get to make it what you want it to be, which is so cool.

Speaker 2: 19:37

The cool part too is it's not just the pitching right. Like, yes, I'm coaching pitching, but I actually love the relationships that I'm forming with my students. It's like I have a bunch of them that feel like they're my own kids and you know we talk about everything like softball and non softball and it's just so much fun to see them grow and I think that's that's probably the part I love the most, and that's not even the softball like part. You know what I mean. So so yeah, I mean it's just fun to be involved in people's lives and you know that's the part I like.

Speaker 1: 20:13

Agreed, agreed. So, colette, you've been waiting patiently. Do you want to unmute and ask your question? What made you want to play softball?

Speaker 2: 20:25

That is a great question. So I was actually born in Orange County, california, and out there when I was a kid softball was like the thing to do. Everybody did it. My best friends played softball and so I tried softball. I also tried like basketball and volleyball and a bunch of different stuff, but I really loved softball. So I just kind of stuck with it and that became the main thing that I played. And it really was just because my dad threw me a bunch of sports but softball was the biggie out there when I was a kid. So that's kind of how I got started with it.

Speaker 1: 21:00

Those of you in California on the call. Is she right? She's right. Zuma, yeah, like the Mecca of softball it is. It's the Mecca. We've got one in the chat that I saw came through Ray. Do you want to unmute or do you want me to read it? Do you want me to read it? She's going for it. You want to ask your question, ray? What are some tips when, like, your team's not doing so good or whatever, and you get like and you're just getting really frustrated?

Speaker 2: 21:30

Yeah. So one of the things I think is really cool about softball is it's a team sport, but it also has this individual aspect to it, and I think one of the things that helped me the most when, like, if I was getting frustrated because we, like the team, was having trouble, but I felt like I was doing okay, I would try to take a really deep breath and try to lift up my teammates and tell them like it's okay that you made that error, like let's move on or, you know, bring us together if we're not hitting well and I think that's something that's really important is, like I think it's very rare to have an entire team that everyone's having a bad day. Usually just a few of us might be having a bad day. So if you can kind of take it upon yourself, if you feel like you're one of those people that is having like a good day, to try to lift up your teammates having a bad day, the whole team atmosphere gets better. Instead of everyone kind of moping, you try to bring everybody up and I think that helps a lot.

Speaker 2: 22:29

And I think if it's personally you that's having the bad day, this is something I would always ask myself and you can laugh. It's a little bit funny, but I think it helps put things in perspective. I would always like, if I give up a home run or I did something bad, I would always stop and go. Okay, when I'm like a 90 year old grandma, is this moment gonna be the thing that I remember? And the answer is probably going to be no. You're gonna remember the big things, like winning a championship, or like maybe you threw a perfect game once, like those are the things I remember. Now I don't remember like the little times when I maybe had a really bad game or something. So I think it puts it in perspective. It makes you be like it's gonna be fine, just move on. And so I would always ask myself that question and it just helped get myself in a better place.

Speaker 1: 23:18

I hope that helps. Good question, Ray. I like that. Am I like your answer? Will this matter when I'm 90? Are we gonna be revisiting these memories in the nursing home? Probably Maybe that one home run that you were like.

Speaker 2: 23:30

I have one home run. There's one I remember exactly like it was yesterday. I know who hit it, I know her name, I know where's spent to school everything.

Speaker 1: 23:37

Yeah, maybe one. Maybe there's a few in there, but the rest not so much. Okay, we have another question. Oh yeah, what was your recruiting journey like?

Speaker 2: 23:45

Sure, I actually had kind of a fun like different recruiting journey. I think Camps weren't really big when I was a kid, I mean, like I went to my local college camps. But now there's a lot of college camps which I think are really great. But for me I have a little bit of funny form in my pitching, so I didn't want to send videos to college coaches because I was afraid they'd be like what is she doing? And they wouldn't take another look. So I did a lot of sending stats and sending coaches where I was playing and any articles that might have been written up or anything like that, and I just basically wanted to get them to come to games. So then I made sure I went to like our team went to tournaments where the college coaches were, because you need to be seen. So then they were there and, to be honest, I had a couple of different schools I was looking at and I hadn't heard anything from Pitt whatsoever until my very last national tournament in August, right before my senior year. And then all of a sudden they contacted me, wanted me to come out and were offering me a scholarship, but they hadn't responded to any of my emails like the whole summer, like I basically assumed they had no interest, but in reality, you know, one hadn't seen me. But also I think they might have been looking at some other pitchers before me and then one of them, you know, decided to go elsewhere.

Speaker 2: 25:15

So I don't know that I was like a first pick. I think I might have been like a third or fourth pick, but you never know what's gonna happen. You know, some people didn't choose to go there, so then they go to their other picks, but then, sure enough, when I got there I ended up being like a starting pitcher. I was pitching everything. So, like you know, you just never know who might come out of the woodworks at the last minute. You know, you don't know what might be the best fit for you.

Speaker 2: 25:38

Some other schools I thought I really liked, but then when I actually went and visited them I didn't like them as much. So I think you can't put all your eggs in one basket and you can't rule anybody out too early or think like all is lost if you haven't heard from someone for a while because they might last minute be like you know what? Actually, you know this is what I want. So you know, that was kind of my journey. I didn't expect it to go where it did, but I'm glad it did because it was great. I really enjoyed it there.

Speaker 1: 26:10

Awesome question, malia. So to piggyback off of that, when you visited Pitt, did you get the feeling that everybody talks about when you know? You know, like when you step on campus? Did you get that feeling? Yes, I did?

Speaker 2: 26:24

I basically kind of went on like a in call. I moved to Colorado when I was like nine years old and in Colorado they play softball in the fall. So I my senior year I had softball in the fall. So then I had to wait till that was done so I could go start visiting the schools. So I basically kind of did like a bunch of visits all at once and so I went to like five or six different schools in like within like a week kind of thing. I kind of piggybacked them all and I think every school I left and had some sort of feeling of like I like it, but I don't like this one thing, or I like this, but I don't know about this one thing.

Speaker 2: 27:02

But when I went to Pitt, like there was nothing that I didn't like. Like I liked the campus, I liked the city, I liked the team, I liked the coaches, I liked the academics, I just kind of liked everything. So there was nothing that you know. And I remember actually asking my parents like what do you think? And their response was well, it doesn't matter what I think, what do you think? And so you know I was like well, I don't, there's nothing I don't like and they're like oh, that seems to answer your question.

Speaker 2: 27:30

And I still like, was, you know, debating a little bit, because I was, you know, I analyzed stuff a lot, but it just I, you know, I did, I had that feeling that it was just, it was a good fit and I think big private was I also really liked the girls because at the end of the day, you're going to be spending so much time with them that if you didn't feel comfortable or you didn't like like their vibe, like it would be hard to spend all your time with them. So I think that's the part that really got me was just how much I really enjoyed the team and the coaches.

Speaker 1: 28:04

So yeah, that's awesome advice. So one more question on that, because I think you guys do you guys have a lot of questions about recruiting. And is this helpful? Because I think a lot of us have big goals right. We want to play further. I think so often we get in our heads about well, I don't want to come across as needy or desperate and I want to make sure that these college coaches are paying attention to me. Did you let Pitt know that they were your top school once? You made that realization when you were emailing them?

Speaker 2: 28:36

I think I want to say I didn't let them know right away because I was still trying to. I don't want this to come across bad either, but like, in a sense, you're you're kind of trying to sell yourself, like you want to get the best, like deal you can, so like I wanted them to give me their best offers right.

Speaker 2: 28:56

So, like I wanted Pitt to give me their best offer, I wanted, like I was also really interested in UPenned and I visited there and I wanted their best like. So I wanted everyone's best offers Because that also helps make my decision, because at the end of the day, you know, if I can get scholarship money that does help with what you owe later in life. So I did kind of think about those things as well and I wanted to have them. Not if they knew I was totally like 100% I want to go here. Then they don't feel like they have to try as hard to get me. I wanted them to try hard to get me so that I could get my best offer. You know what I mean. So I didn't just tell everyone what I was feeling right away. I kind of used it as a negotiating tool, if that makes sense.

Speaker 1: 29:45

Yeah, that absolutely makes sense. But you know, letting them know, hey, you are a top school, you're on my list, I would love you know I visited campus, and that's something I wish I could redo in my recruiting journey is just letting them know, hey, I could see myself here. And because they're taking a gamble on us too, does she want to come here? Are we a top school?

Speaker 2: 30:05

Those types of questions Absolutely Like they knew like every school that I had like gone to, like actually visit, like do an official visit and stay with the team and all that. Like they definitely knew I was very interested, but they knew I was seeing a couple schools so they didn't know where I stood with those few, but they knew that it was like very serious with those few schools that I was looking at for sure. Yeah, but I also I went into the office once with my coach and she had like all this paperwork and stuff sitting there and I remember asking her like what is all of this? And she said this is recruiting. And I was like oh my God, like so then that like I know a lot of my students will be like she, the coach, hasn't emailed me back.

Speaker 2: 30:47

I don't know if I should email again. And I had to remind them like they receive thousands, thousands of emails and letters and videos and like all the things. And I said it's so like I miss emails and I don't have thousands of them, right, like I miss texts and I don't have thousands of them, so it's so easy for them to accidentally skip by you when they have other things coming up to the top of their inbox. So I always tell everybody, like, don't be afraid to like, keep emailing because, like you're not being annoying but you do have to, like you know, be present in there and and you know you. So you do have to be a little bit persistent, and it's not annoying, it's what's needed because there's just too much coming in. So right, I think, that's important.

Speaker 1: 31:37

Malia had a follow up question what did you major in Um?

Speaker 2: 31:42

that was kind of. I kind of went in like five different directions. I was originally planning on getting into the medical field. So I was kind of going into this like neuroscience, biology kind of field and then I decided that maybe I didn't want to do that and I'd rather work with animals. So then I started taking a bunch of prereqs to go to veterinary school. So I actually have like like, uh, my master's is in veterinary public health. I was going to work, um, like with animals and move in that direction.

Speaker 2: 32:14

And then I didn't do that either. So I just kind of went everywhere. But my master's is in veterinary public health, my bachelor's is like a psychology with biology and a minor in chemistry. I don't know what I was doing and and then and then now I coach softball and have like a farm of animals basically. So I just I think it's hard to decide. I didn't know, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I didn't have like this clear path. So I just took like a full bunch of classes in like every it just means you're a really good entrepreneur with a lot of passions.

Speaker 1: 32:48

That's a good thing.

Speaker 2: 32:49

Yes, well, and you know what, and I, I laughed because like I have this degree that I use in psychology, but like I don't work in psychology but softball and pitchy is psychology. So like I actually find that I use a lot of the like mental side of things and stuff, um so, and then having a master's in public health, I mean it that a lot of that has to do with softball and athletics and all that too. So it kind of all worked out, I guess in the end.

Speaker 1: 33:15

All works out in the end. You just teed up a beautiful question, so one of the questions that I always like to ask all of our guests and this can be our, our last question of the night, so we can hit you on your way. This has been so fun. The question that I always ask is you are a time traveler and you could go back in time and tell your past self one message. What would you tell yourself?

Speaker 2: 33:38

That is such a good question, um, for me, I think I would tell myself that everything is going to be okay, because I, you know, when I was little and I got sick, and then we didn't really touch on it, but like I got sick again when I was 17 with an autoimmune disorder, and so like I just like felt like why is this happening to me? Like what did I do to deserve this? Like I'm a good person and I just like I had a lot of those like mental breakdowns in that regard, and I think I just didn't know what was gonna happen. I didn't know if I was gonna be okay, I didn't know if I was gonna get sick more.

Speaker 2: 34:18

And I think if I could go back and tell myself like hey, everything, like it turned out okay, you're doing fine, like you're gonna get through all this, I really think that would have been all I needed to hear and I heard it a lot from, like my mom, my parents, but that I think I think it would have been that, because you ask yourself a lot of questions when stuff's not going right, you know. So that's probably what I would have told my son.

Speaker 1: 34:45

That's a great message for everybody, because it does. It does, Corey. Thank you so much. This has been so fun to get to interview you. What is the best place to stay in touch with you and follow? I know you're active on Instagram. Is there somewhere else that you would? What's your best place to have us follow on socials?

Speaker 2: 35:04

I have a Facebook and Instagram, and I started at Twitter because apparently it's important for recruiting, so I'm trying to learn that, but I do have all three.

Speaker 1: 35:13

It is Coach Corey, fast pitch that's probably the best place to stay in touch and then, of course, like email as well Amazing, and so if you guys have any follow-up questions or maybe you think of something after the fact that you would really want to hear about Corey's story, or just questions in general, you're active in our community and I love seeing your stuff, so thank you so much for your time tonight and sharing your story and it's gonna continue to impact so many people and inspire, because it does. It all works out Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 35:44

Well, thank you for having me. I love what you're doing. I think Fairless Fast Pitch is so needed, and I'm glad you're doing it too. We appreciate you too. Thank you, corey.