The Fearless Warrior Podcast

073: Embracing Your Identity Beyond Softball with McKenzie Long

• Amanda Schaefer

Share episode

We reached way back to 2020 in our guest speaker files to share this awesome conversation with former Michigan State Spartan, McKenzie Long. In this episode, Kenzie shares her journey of identity transformation after serious injuries sidelined her athletic career at Michigan State. Through challenges, faith, and community support, she shares how she learned that worth is rooted in self, not performance.

Episode Highlights:
• Importance of mindset in overcoming adversity 
• The struggle of identity tied to athletic performance 
• Lessons learned from failure and unmet expectations 
• The role of faith in personal growth and resilience 

Connect with Kenzie

Instagram: @kenzie_long

Ready to learn the techniques that will actually increase your softball athlete's CONFIDENCE?


More ways to work with Fearless Fastpitch

Follow us on Social Media

Speaker 1:

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, 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:

This is Mackenzie Long. I'm going to give you a quick bio for her and then she's going to introduce herself. But she played at Michigan State University for your shortstop. Kenzie played shortstop. Now she is director of training at Turn Into Softball in Michigan, coaches high school coaches an ATU national team and has a really, really cool story that I've loved hearing about. So Kenzie and I have connected so much over like email and Instagram, but tonight is the first time that we're like actually seeing each other's faces. So I'm super excited for this call too. So, kenzie, go ahead, take it away.

Speaker 3:

First of all, thank you guys for letting me on and you know, just thanks again, becca, for you know inviting me on also, but it's good to meet you guys. So kind of like what Becca was saying. So I grew up, I was born and raised in Southern California and I played softball in Southern California for forever since your guys' age, starting right away and then I had the privilege to get recruited and play softball at Michigan State and it was just an opportunity that I couldn't pass up. So in 2014, I find myself on campus and I'm a freshman and right away I jump on campus and before I even get started on campus, I'm like super stoked. I'm like, okay, coach J is gonna, she wants me to be the starting shortstop my freshman year. This is super awesome. Um, let let's get started.

Speaker 3:

Well, right when I first day of practice, I hurt my knee and I dislocated my knee and I'm out for three months and I now I can't. I can no longer, um, you know, practice with the team. I can no longer engage, I can no longer do some of that stuff. And you know, and I thought, man, okay, if this is bad, that that seemed bad, but it wasn't. You know, that was just the start of kind of my story, kind of like Becca was saying and so, you know, I get back from my injury and I, um, earned the starting spot, my you know first, first game. And I was like, okay, cool, I am McKenzie long, the starting shortstop at Michigan state. Like this is super cool, I'm playing at a big 10 school. I am like that was like who I thought I was, you know. Like, when people ask me, like who are you? I'm like I'm McKenzie Long, I play softball at Michigan state. Um, it like turned into like what I found as like my identity, like I fully grasped that and I was like, okay, I didn't want anybody to know me besides the starting shortstop. Like that was it, you know.

Speaker 3:

And so I went on playing, you know, for the first year and towards the end of the middle of my first year, I started having complications in my left arm, which is my non-throwing arm, and all of a sudden I lost feeling in my arm and, um, I lost feeling in my hand, I lost feeling in my fingertips and I can no longer feel my arm. But I didn't want to tell anybody because, again, my identity and who I was was rooted on the fact that I was a shortstop, so I kept playing on it and I kept playing on it and I'm like I don't want to tell anyone, because if I tell someone that I no longer going to play anymore, and then you know who am I at that point. And so finally got to the point where it was getting really bad. So I finally said something and I told them okay, look, my arm is hurting, but it's no big deal, I can still play. I can still play, I'm good, no big deal. And um, then, finally, you know, I get to go to the doctor and I find out that I have a very severe injury, um, where it's called thoracic outlet syndrome. But like I had a very severe case, which all it is is like you have like this area in your shoulder where all your nerves and arteries and veins run down and mine was damaged, and so, like I lost feeling in my arm, lost feeling. So that was great. Well then I'm going in to have emergency surgery and when I get out of surgery, the doctor says you are no longer, you are. It's career ending, your career is over, you're not gonna be able to play softball anymore.

Speaker 3:

And it was like a gut check for me, because I was like, well, wait a second, like I'm the shortstop, like what are you talking about? Like, and you go up for so long and you find yourself invincible. You know, you're like, wait a second, that stuff like this doesn't happen to me. And invincible, you know. You're like, wait a second, that stuff like this doesn't happen to me. And so I told him straight up, like, straight up, I said no, I'm that's, that's not true. Like this isn't the end for me, solely because I didn't know who I was. If it was the end for me, um, so I told my coach that I wanted to come back and I wanted to, um, play again the next year. And she was like, okay, we'll support you in whatever you want to do, as long as it's your choice. And so I was like, yep, that's what I want to do, I want to play again next year.

Speaker 3:

So I come back from my sophomore year I'm still rehabbing my injury, trying to come back and I find myself, like, slowly, like, like falling into like sort of a depressive state, just sad, you know, I didn't know who I was. I was finding myself not wanting to hang out with my friends as much, not wanting to go out, um, and you know, hang with my teammates and um, and so one day, um, I decided, you know what I'm going to go, I'm going to figure this out like this. I don't want to live like this forever. So I started hanging out with a few of my friends that went to this thing called AIA, which is athletes in action, which it's a Christian um, it's like athlete based Christian group. And so I started going there and I was like you know, and I just told him, like here, here's where I'm at is I don't really know who I am, I'm sad, I'm hurt. I you know this injury is now taking more of just stop away from me. It's taking my friends away. You know, this injury is now taking more of just stop all way for me. It's taking my friends away, my emotional state away, things like that.

Speaker 3:

Um, and one of my teammates was gracious enough to like say hey, come over for dinner with me, let's talk. And I went over there and as clear as day after dinner, she said to me you know, kinsey, I love you and I'm sorry that you got hurt, but, to be honest, god doesn't love you If, if you play another softball game again. He loves you because you're you and he doesn't care if you ever play a game again. And that was the best thing I ever heard, because, as as harsh of a reality as it was for me, I was like you're right, I'm sitting here, I'm finding myself sad, lonely, you know, because I was hurt when it was only because I couldn't figure out who I was when. When she's exactly right, like it doesn't matter if I play a game again, like I'm not, I'm not going to heaven. Because I'm a good softball player, because I'm the starting shortstop at Michigan state, I'm going. I'm going because I have a relationship with him, and so it was the coolest thing ever.

Speaker 3:

Because, um, after that, I started, started, you know, built, working really hard into making sure that I started going to these bible studies and hanging out with my friends again, and I slowly started seeing my mind shift and so you know. So, fast forward a little bit. It's February, so our season opens February 15th and I'm cleared to play again on February 13th and I'm like, okay, like no matter how the season goes. I remember writing myself a letter. I wrote myself a letter and I just said, dear Kenzie, I said, if this is how, whatever happens this year, just remember who you're rooted in. And I wanted to do that because I knew this was going to get hard right. It's not like a flip of the switch where you know, oh, all of a sudden this is all easy for me. It wasn't, and so I wanted to make sure, at my best moment, that I wrote myself a letter so I knew I could always fall back on that and read that.

Speaker 3:

And so, first game, my freshman year, um coach Jake calls it was our head coach and she told me she goes, I don't want you to swing this game, I want you to play shortstop, I'm going to put you in the lineup, but I want you just to bunt. And we're in the bottom of the seventh and she gives me one opportunity to swing and I actually hit a walk-off home run, that game. And the only reason why that's cool is, yeah, the story itself is cool. But it was cool because when I, when I touched home, I was not. I was no longer happy because I was playing softball again or because I just hit a home run. I was not. I was no longer happy because I was playing softball again or because I just hit a home run. I was happy because I knew that if I didn't come through in that moment, I was still the same person and I was still mattered the same and I still. No matter what happened.

Speaker 3:

Whether I played the rest of my sophomore year or not, I knew that I was able to have that mind shift that gave me the opportunity to know that I'm valued more than just being a softball player, and so I was able to play the rest of my sophomore year, played my junior year and then my senior year was a little bit of struggle just because of my injury, but I was able to play most of the year, um, but a lot of it. You know, as every year, I was able to find myself growing more and more and that what I do on the field matters more of how I act and respond than how I play. And it was really, really cool for me to. As much as that injury was really hard, painful, it put me in a bad place. I still am dealing with issues to this day with it.

Speaker 3:

It was one of the best things that ever happened to me because it allowed me to open my eyes to the reality of who I am and not what I do, um, and it actually made me want to do exactly what I'm doing now, which is train a bunch of you guys, right? So I'm like um, like Becca said earlier, I'm the director of training at the softball facility and I work with 300 of girls that are very similar to your guys's age and and it you know, and it's and what the reason why I do what I do is because I want you guys to know, and our girls to know, that they're valued more than just being a softball player. Yeah, being a softball player is super cool and being an athlete is super cool and any sport that you play is super cool. But you know, whether you play that game again or not, you are more important than just that sport and just that game, and what you're doing in that game is way more important than um, than how you're actually playing itself. You know how you're responding, how you're treating your teammates, how you're doing things like that, and and as I grew in my college career, I was named captain my sophomore year, which seems crazy because that was the year that I was hurt and coming back, but it made me realize. You know, I wasn't named captain because I was really good at shortstop. My teammates didn't know if I was ever going to play shortstop again, or if I was ever going to play softball again, and they still named me captain. It was because they, you know, it was because of how I acted that they cared.

Speaker 3:

And I think so many of us, especially at your age, like if we have a bad game, we place our value on that, when we don't even realize that people around us are way more worried about how we respond than how we actually play. So, fast forward to now, that's what I do for a living is I train girls and I, you know, constantly remind them that you know who you are is way more important than what you do and and I'm thankful for my injury in a way that that kind of helped me learn that. So that's a little bit about my story. And, you know, I played all four years at shortstop at Michigan State. Three years after being told I was never going to play again and after having, you know, a pretty significant injury that would take most people out, I, you know, god willing allowed me to continue to play and and use this as my platform and continue to use it as my platform. So yeah, that's a little bit about my story and my fun little adventure at Michigan state. That's awesome.

Speaker 2:

That gives me chills, just the, the identity piece. And we, we talk with these guys. That's the. I see head nods and, like your guys' eyes are getting wide. Like you guys have dealt with injuries. We've talked about injuries. We've talked about hard stuff, adversity, and one of the first things that we talk about in the Fearless Warrior Program when, in that foundational stage of where's your identity? Who are you? You know, and it's and Kenzie, like you're saying, it's who you are, it's not what you do. And I think that, like you were saying, like learning it through college, I think about my own story, like I wish I had known that when I played, you know, because I didn't learn that until I was done and I was like wow, like the freedom and the joy that you have when your identity is not rooted in how you perform.

Speaker 3:

No, I think it's so awesome that you guys are starting like this early because, like Becca just said, I wish I would have known this earlier, because of how much joy it is to play.

Speaker 3:

You know the sport, because I know now that whether I go over three or three for three it really does not matter. And you know, honestly, it matters how I respond, more in the oh for three moment than when I go three for three. And that kind of gave me like it, like inspired me to make sure that whether I was staying the same and I was always, no matter what, giving God the glory, because if, if my identity truly is in you know in what, not in who I am and not what I do, then if I change how I act and respond when I go over three, then I'm not actually practicing what I'm preaching. And so it kind of it challenged me, you know, it gave me a challenge and I love challenges and it made me think, okay, if I respond this way, then maybe my teammates around me will respond this way. So I think it's awesome that you guys are learning this this early.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, totally. What do you guys think I can see? I can see a lot of your wheels turning. Do you guys have any thoughts for Kenzie? Any questions for Kenzie?

Speaker 3:

yeah, don't be shy. I'm open to answering any questions that you guys may have. I would have loved to you know, learn this stuff early, like you guys are, so I think it's awesome that you guys are taking this step this early yeah, totally.

Speaker 2:

And the other thing too, Kenziezie, that I wanted, I wanted to hear your thoughts on and I think would be helpful, is so this mindset shift of your like okay, my identity is not in what I do, but then you had to step out on the field and you had to. You know, you had to live that out. What was that process like for you? Was it like had to live that out? What was that process like for you? Was it like, oh, I know the truth, the, the switch has been flipped and I'm good? Or was it like a daily like to learn?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, yeah, that's a question. It was. It was daily. You know, it was writing things on my glove. It was, it was reading my Bible before I even played the game.

Speaker 3:

You know, I think that was the biggest thing for me, was anything that I did. I had to remind myself I had this thing. What we did was a focal point and and it it was all we called it was a focal point and it was like you looked at something like if you were having a, you know you just struck out, or you know somebody just hit a home run off you for your picture. It was like you know somebody just hit a home run off you for your pitcher. It was like you looked at this and it gave you the reminder that, okay, let me refresh, this is, this is who I am, and, and so it was a daily reminder of, like you know, I found myself, you know, still getting upset or you know, wanting to kick dirt after I make an error and I'm like, okay, hold on, relax, let me look at who I am, let me breathe, let me look at my glove and see, you know, whatever I wrote on my glove to bring me back to the moment, because it wasn't, you know, as much as it was a mindset shift, it wasn't a flip of the switch, you know it wasn't, it was daily processing.

Speaker 3:

You know, I still am doing it to this day, like I'm still having to remind myself that now I coach and now I have to remind myself that how they perform doesn't change who I am, you know. And so even then, now, I'm still still constantly, daily, making sure that I um, you know, do whatever I need to do, whatever that is for you guys, you know, whether that's you know readings, quotes or scripture, whatever that is. To make sure that you're reminded um daily, because it is a daily conversation that I have to have you know, is to make sure that you're reminded daily, because it is a daily conversation that I have to have you know to this day. And that happened five years ago, six years ago.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, and it sounds like that we talk sometimes about like grounding and refocusing, like in a game situation or even like at school. Things are stressful during your day. Things get stressful at home. How do you refocus, how do you reset? And it sounds like for you it was hey, I got to look down at my gloves, or I got to look at the scripture that's written in my pocket, or the, the quote that I just read, um, and so it sounds like that was kind of your way of like hey, reset, refocus. I got this, I'm good.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. So one of the one of the things that really helped me was everyone knows Philippians 4.13,. Right Is I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. But there's a Bible verse, philippians 4.11. And it talks about you know being. It talks about going through. I know what it's like to be high and I know what it's like to be low, and I about you know being. It talks about going through. I know what it's like to be high and I know what it's like to be low, and I know you know. I know what it's like to have plenty and I know what it's like to have nothing. And then it talks, and then the last verse, the last part of the verse, says but I'm content in all things. And then it goes on to talking about being, um, that you can do all things through strength, christ, who strengthens you. So I think what?

Speaker 3:

What I found myself is reverting back to the content part, that word content and and it's easy to be content when, um, when things are going good, right, the word content means like happy or, you know, joyful or whatever. And so I found myself really thinking like, okay, if that verse challenges me to be, if I can, if I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. Well, the verse before that tells me that I have to be content in all things before Christ can strengthen me. So so that word content was something that I always lean back on, which was actually what was written in my glove. Was the word content?

Speaker 3:

Because in those moments that were hard or stressful or whatever is, I was like, okay, am I really content right now? Like, am I content? You know, having a four month quarantine and it challenged me right To be like no, this is hard, but remember God, god can strengthen me, but I need to be content first. So it rooted me. So for me, it was really that word content kind of challenged me of you know I, what is that like? So I encourage you guys to go look at, if you guys have your Bibles or do things like that is, look at Philippians 4.11. It's the you know. It really challenges you to see what the highs and lows are and stuff like that, before you can get to Philippians 4.13, which is, you know, the most common sports verse.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, that's awesome and just like kind of, and it puts. It puts all of that, the hard and the challenging and the messy and the things that are going on. It puts it into perspective and it it empowers us to say like things are wild. Right now I'm sitting in quarantine, or I'm suddenly not at school with my friends, or I just struck out three times, whatever it may be, but in the midst of such wild circumstances, it's like, hey, I'm, I'm not going to drown in these things, I'm, I'm going to be okay, I'm equipped to handle them, I'm strong, I'm fearless, I'm you know, I can do all things, like you said, but it comes from that, that foundation that you've built.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I love the word equipped. I think that's like the biggest thing, right, was I think for so long, you know, when I was a freshman, is I wasn't equipped. You know, I wasn't like my identity was in, was in my sport, because I wasn't equipped to be my have, my identity and anything else but that. So it wasn't until I made it a point to be equipped, like kind of what you're doing, like this is you guys are equipped because you're you're jumping on things like this that you know help you put things in perspective and, and I think you know the biggest change was that word equipped. I went from being unequipped to being equipped and now little things like that. You know, god met me there and then I was like, okay, now I'm ready to have that mind shift, change, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's so good of.

Speaker 2:

Just I picture, I picture all of you guys like walking out on a field and it's like hard stuff happens, right, you strike out, you get hurt, umpire makes a bad call, you know, and we we can zoom out and you know school's hard, friendships are hard.

Speaker 2:

Sometimes it's hard at home, you know, whatever it may be, and there's all these challenges around us, but being equipped to, to be strong in the midst of the challenges and be like this challenge isn't going to take me down. And I think when our identity like you were saying, kenzie, it sounds like when your identity was rooted in in all these other things, it's much easier to feel like, oh, things are getting hard and this giant wave is coming and it's about to take me out, whereas when you're like I'm equipped with tools, with truth, with you know all of these things, with confidence, whatever, whatever it may be the truth of the scriptures what is what Kenzie's talking about? And no matter what comes, I'm, I'm good, I'm strong, I'm ready, and it's still going to be hard we talk about that all the time of like it's okay to acknowledge that it's hard, but in the hard we don't. You know, the hard never takes us out, Cause you're always. You're always can be stronger than the struggle.

Speaker 3:

I love that Cause. I love like the hard, you know, like that. That's why that verse meant so much to me the uh Philippians 411, because it didn't just talk about the good of all things you know, like. Again, it said when I I know what it's like to be high and I know what it's like to be low, and so it gave me the freedom to say you know what, I am in a low spot right now, but that's okay, you know, because a there's a you know you can't have a mountain without a valley and and I think you know the valleys are so important but for for it's so easy to discredit the valleys and then want to be away from the valleys.

Speaker 3:

But I think, for me, I learned so much in the valleys then on the mountaintops, you know, and I think I think it's because of being equipped and and really truly not just saying okay, my identity is no longer in my sport, but trying my best to live that out and challenge myself to not only live that out but make sure the people around me knew that I was trying to live that out as well. It was rough but, like I said, it was one of those you know again, acknowledging that it was hard and I still deal with it. You know, actually the other day I just re-injured it a little bit, but I think you know I I would do it over again if I knew that this was going to be the outcome of it. And and it's just learning now and now. From here on out everything else seems a little bit easier to handle, not because the injury was so bad, but because now I know how to handle it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and those those tough moments and those, those moments of defeat. Or sometimes I know coach AB talks to you guys about how do we reframe failure, how do we think about it differently. And I, and even looking back, like Kenzie, looking back at her story of like hey, I would do it all over again If I could have seen then what I, what I know now. But it's hard to see it in the middle of the hard stuff. So that's that's why we're here, guys we want to speak this into you and remind you that in the midst of the hard stuff like hey, there's a bigger picture and you're going to come out on the other side of it stronger.

Speaker 4:

you're going to come out on the other side of it stronger and anything.

Speaker 3:

You know, that's what I, you know, I and I also. Just really quick, a little tidbit that I heard the other day is I love this quote is how to read, like when you said something about reshifting your mindset on failure. I always, I always tell my girls, failure is not failure, it's feedback and so and so that's kind of helped. You know too, is just viewing failure, viewing these things as just feedback to for your next thing, right, because this isn't the end of the road, no matter what you're doing playing softball, doing life, anything, you know, if, if you view failure as feedback, then it gives you, it empowers you to move forward into your next opportunity, or if you've been a failure, then it empowers you to step back, actually. So you know, that's something that I heard the other day that was actually super cool.

Speaker 2:

Well, I love that, yeah, and that that mindset of seeing failure as feedback. It stops us from I don't know. Raise your hand if you guys have ever made an error, struck out, got a bad grade and all of the sudden it's like, oh my gosh, I'm a bad softball player, I'm a bad student, I'm not smart. Yes, that happens and but when you see it as feedback, it's like, no, this is just going to give me some feedback to intelligently start again with new information. I'm smarter now that I. I'm going to learn from that strikeout. I'm going to learn what I can do better.

Speaker 2:

But, like Kenzie saying, with identity, none of that defines us. None of that is powerful enough strong enough to to label us as anything. It's just a circumstance that we can learn from. So I love that. Failure is feedback. That's awesome, yeah, and kind of going off of that Kenzie, one of and this maybe we can end on this question, because I know you guys have have stuff going on um, but Kenzie and I connected because I for the first time, because I saw an Instagram post of yours and I was like scrolling through my personal Instagram feed and I think it was. It was about your knee injury.

Speaker 3:

It was like it just an injury.

Speaker 2:

In general, I think it was just a cool picture, but I have my knee brace on, yeah yeah, yeah, and you had talked about unmet expectations and dealing with disappointment, and the question I wanted to ask was if you could give advice to anybody going through dealing with the disappointment of unmet expectations or a goal that they have for themselves that maybe it's taking a little bit longer to reach, or whatever it would be. What, like what, would you tell yourself in those moments?

Speaker 3:

That's a good, that's a really good question. So, um, you know, I think unmet expectations happen way more than we think, right and um, it happened all around us. It's happening right now, right With. I think unmet expectations happen way more than we think, right and um, it happened all around us. It's happening right now, right With. I don't know how your guys' school is, but in Michigan they're all not in school or you know, things like that are that are happening.

Speaker 3:

So I have two ways that I've dealt with it. One is relying on truth. Right, and this is this is what I rely on is if God went before me and it was good, then it wouldn't have been unmet, it would have been met. So, therefore, the unmet expectation wasn't meant for me in the first place, and so I try to really really rest my my truth on that is knowing that God loves me more than I love myself, which seems crazy because you would think that you know nobody could love you more than you love yourself, which seems crazy because you would think that you know nobody could love you more than you love yourself, right, simply because you're the one living your life. But God loves me so much that he cares so much about me to go before me and have a plan for my life. And so, whether it's an expectation, whether it's whatever it is, I know that if it's not meant to be, then it's because God chose it for not to meant to be.

Speaker 3:

And if that's the case, then I really want, I really want to rest in that truth, right.

Speaker 3:

And then there's times where just unmet expectations like right now, like you're not in school, and things like that and I, what I try to do is I try to challenge myself to if, if all, if I really really believe in the fact that my identity is not in any of these outcomes or if any of this stuff, and I want the people around me to see that through me, and so how I react in those unexpected unmet expectations or things like that, is how they're going to choose to react in their unmet expectations.

Speaker 3:

So if, if I am upset that I'm not going back to school, or I'm upset because you have every right to be right, but I think if we remember and rest in the truth and then remember that the people around us are going to get better with how you respond, then it challenges us to respond in a matter that you would want your friend or your best friend to to be as well, and so I kind of really really rely on the truth of it. And then I challenged myself to be the hands and foot of that truth and make sure I live it out.

Speaker 2:

Totally, totally that leadership, that leadership component of it too, of like, hey, I know the truth, I have all these things, these, I'm equipped with all of these things and truth to help me through the hard. Yeah, let me go equip my teammates.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, totally.

Speaker 3:

And you don't realize it until, like, you don't realize that so many people are cause you guys are in things like this right, your leadership, your and you don't realize that so many people are are really like like looking at you to how they respond until they respond like you, and then you're and you don't realize that so many people are are really like like looking at you to how they respond until they respond like you, and then you're like, oh, wait, a second, that's not how I wanted you to respond, Right, and so I think you know anything you do, right, you want to respond how you would want everybody else to respond around you, because now you're just leading them and not even realizing it totally, totally ash, you put something in the chat do you want to read it?

Speaker 4:

sure, I can kind of talk about it. Maybe I can simplify it. Well, I was talking I said like something about earlier when you said you were thankful for your injury. It was really cool to hear you say that because, like, I had a knee dislocation and just yesterday, like on our coaching call with coach ab, she had us do one of the journal prompts but she changed it a little bit to like, if we could go back in 2020 and redo, anything like what would we change and what would leave the same? And I was telling her like at first my first thought was I would go back to that day and not, like, go to the place where I hurt my knee, but then I thought more about it and I thought that I really would, because in the long run it it's only made me stronger and, like I've learned so much from it that day and then everything would be better.

Speaker 3:

But I like you, like you said, I bet you're not just a better, better because of it, but I bet you're a better teammate, you know, better leader, better everything because of that moment. So that's awesome.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, Ash, that's like I like stay here. I get chills like so proud of you for that mindset, Cause we would talk like months ago and kind of when you were in the. It was still kind of like you were just getting off your brace and like there was still like a lot of hard in that.

Speaker 4:

and like now here you are, you're like I'm feeling good and I'm so much stronger for that struggle yeah, and like, at first it was really rough because, like I was in a brace a lot longer than the most people, because, like I dislocated it, got released from physical therapy and like partially dislocated it like a week later, and so it was really hard because like and in that time I really was just like, could I not? Like this shouldn't happen, like I just got better. But now it's like if it wouldn't have happened, like I wouldn't have learned some of the things I've learned.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, yeah, I bet you you really lead way better because of that too. You know, you're just you. One of the things that I love about, and I'm sure you're realizing, is how much more empathetic we are when we go through harsh things. Right Cause now you're like I know how to help you, let me help you.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, it's hard to. It's hard to meet, like meet someone in their struggle when you haven't necessarily struggled before yourself. And, ash, you do that all the time, even even when we talk as a group.

Speaker 4:

If somebody else, like, has an injury or something, you're like I've been there, girl, I got you, yeah yeah, because I think it was like a year ago, maybe two years ago now, like I had a shoulder injury too. Like my muscles didn't form right in one part of my shoulder from, like the way I was been throwing, and like I just didn't give some of the muscles time to completely build up the strength that the muscles in the back of my shoulder did. So like the front of my shoulder was just kind of the muscles weren't very strong there, so like it started putting a lot of pain in the back.

Speaker 3:

Yes, you've been through it. You've been through the ringer.

Speaker 2:

Hopefully it's never an injury but another obstacle in in the softball life or in school, in life in general. Here you are learning these lessons of like I'm good. It may not be an injury, it may be something else, but you're like I I'm good because I'm equipped to handle it. But yeah, to to be healthy on the field is such a blessing and um, I think also that's super cool.

Speaker 3:

But I think you, listening to this stuff too, I'm sure is helpful when your teammates do have something or your friends do, because then you're, you know well, like hey, I, you know, I've heard how this happens. I've heard how people struggle. You know I maybe haven't gone through it, but you know here's some tools of what I've learned to how to help or how to get through it. You know. So you know you can still lead or be an example, even though you haven't, and hopefully, god willing, you don't have to go through anything. You know.

Speaker 2:

Totally, totally. Yeah, there's, there's power in in learning from experience, but also in learning from other people's stories. And that's what's so cool about you guys being together on coaching calls, because you learn from each other. You learn from people like Kenzie and you know we, to just share stories and kind of empower each other in it, because we all come from different stories, different experiences. But Kenzie, kind of like you're saying of like, hey, we, we learn something, we bring that to the table and we empower those around us with, with our story. Cause there's there's never, there's always a purpose for even the hard.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome. Yeah, well, thank you so much for being with us.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely. Thank you again for having me, you guys.

People on this episode

Contributor

Amanda Schaefer

Host