The Fearless Warrior Podcast

088: Freedom to Fail: Creating Champions Through Mental Performance with Ellie Cooper, MPM

• Amanda Schaefer

Share episode

In this week's episode, I interviewed Ellie Cooper, a former Florida State University (FSU) softball player and the Director of Player Performance for FSU's softball team. She shared her experiences from struggling college freshman to mental performance coach and how the mental game transformed her athletic career and coaching philosophy.

Episode Highlights: 

• Creates an environment where athletes can express their authentic selves
 • Focuses on teaching how to respond to adversity 
 • Advocates for intentionally developing environments where it's safe to fail
 • Emphasizes that what we consume "waters our mindset"

Connect with Ellie: 

Instagram: @coachelliec


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 1:

Ellie Cooper is the Florida State Softball Director of Player Performance. She is in charge of implementing and developing the mental game and player performance while assisting with the day-to-day operations of Florida State softball. Previously, she was a player herself at FSU and was named to the All-ACC team twice as a mainstay at second base. Now her passion for softball is carried through coaching at one of the best programs in the country. Florida State has made a regional appearance every year since 2000. Fsu has also had some phenomenal runs at the College World Series as a 2018 National Championship and a 2021 and 2023 runner-up, getting to see behind the scenes of such an amazing program, not just for its wins but for its culture. I am so excited for you to hear this episode. Let's tune in. Welcome to the Fearless.

Speaker 2:

Pod, thank you. Thanks for having me. I've heard great things, so I'm excited to be on.

Speaker 1:

Well, I'm excited to grill you and interview you. I know you're doing a lot of things and at the time of the recording you're in the grind of season, so give us a quick. Who is Ellie? Where's she at? What's she doing?

Speaker 2:

Cool, yeah, okay, so my name is Ellie Cooper. I am currently the director of player performance at Florida state for the softball team. Um, I'm in my third season as this role in this role, full-time with the, with the Seminoles. Um, I actually played softball at Florida state, full-time with the Seminoles. I actually played softball at Florida State. I grew up in St Louis Missouri. So, yeah, that's kind of where I am, what I'm doing. We're really on the back half here of the regular season. We've got one more series left head over to Virginia Tech this weekend, have a good opportunity to possibly win the ACC regular season and then we head straight to the tournament. So that's kind of where we are, really in the thick of it.

Speaker 1:

so I'm excited to be here yeah, one one thing at a time. So hopefully by the time this episode airs, we're going to be cheering you on and supporting your girls. So I could take this multiple directions. We could go back to past, ellie of like how did you get here? We could go to future, ellie of like what are you working on right now? Which way do you want to take?

Speaker 2:

it? Well, definitely, I feel like my past plays a really big role in where I'm at, which plays a really big role in where I'm going, so we can we can talk about past Ellie coming into future Ellie, just because it plays such a big role in what I'm doing now and why I'm passionate about what I'm doing. So we can go there. What was the?

Speaker 1:

spark. Like what talk about your career of? Like when did you discover mental skills, mental performance and and how did that help you? And you know, obviously, again we know the thread, the red thread through all of it. But like, where's where did the spark happen?

Speaker 2:

So I would say growing up I was a pretty tough kid. I really liked to do challenging things. I was really big into like fitness and I would like race against myself. I would run a mile and see how fast I could run a mile. So I was always pretty mentally tough. My dad played fast pitch stop.

Speaker 2:

I was actually born in New Zealand. He's from New Zealand, so I literally grew up in the game. So I was around my dad a lot and I was around older girls because he coached older girls who were really successful who went on to play division one softball, division two softball, all of those different things. So I grew up around the game and I grew up around older people. I played up in softball I think I was five years old playing 10U fast pitch and my dad kind of just like threw me into it and was like, oh, she'll figure it out. So grew up pretty tough. I had natural leadership instincts. My mom basically runs a hospital in St Louis, so it's kind of come from both sides of my family athletic and leadership. I was. I grew up in St Louis, missouri, and I was always pretty good on the teams that I was on and I was fortunate enough to you know I was. I grew up in St Louis, missouri, and I was always pretty good on the teams that I was on. Um and I was fortunate enough to you know I was pretty highly recruited chose to come to Florida state best decision I ever made and I came in in the fall. I crushed the fall Um I was. I was great in the weight room, I could keep up with the conditioning test. Um had a pretty good showing in our fall games and then I earned a starting position.

Speaker 2:

I actually started at first base my freshman year and it took me about 20 games to fail enough and I was out of the lineup. And it wasn't because I wasn't working hard, because I was working hard, it wasn't because I wasn't following the rules and I wasn't bought in, because I was all into all of the things. It was literally because I finally got to the moment where I was like, oh my gosh, I did it. I'm living my dream and I wanted it so bad that I started to fail because I was trying to force results. And then I started to fail so much that I didn't know how to get out of it because I never failed that much in my life. So I got to the point where I was just like rock bottom, I need help. We worked with Brian Kane. He was our mental performance coach. He's my mentor, he's why I do what I do. So I worked with him a lot. He worked with our team, but then I kind of dove into it with him individually and I kept working with him.

Speaker 2:

My freshman year I still played. I was kind of like I would come in off the bench and I would play defense. I would get some pinch hits every once in a while. If someone got injured I was the one going in. So I was still getting a little bit of opportunity, still struggling a little bit, but I just was working on my mental skills. And then we ended up getting to go to the World Series my freshman year and I got a pinch hit against Baylor, against Whitney Canyon. She was a fifth year senior, so she's like 22.

Speaker 2:

I'm 18. I'm at the World Series and you would think like, oh, like, this is where Ellie should freak out, right, biggest at bat of her life. But I just went back to like all the things that I was working on with my mental side of the game and it was just like me and my routine and my breath and the pitch, and I ended up hitting a double in my first at bat at the World Series. And that's where it clicked for me and I was like, wow, I'm never going to go back to where I was before and I'm just going to keep moving forward with all of this and take this stuff really seriously. So that's kind of the moment where it clicked for me and I never looked back. It changed my life. It changed my career. I had a really good career. The rest of you know my time at Florida State and that's kind of how I got into the mental game.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and if it was all about working harder, I think in your mind you were probably looking at this situation like, literally, how much harder could I possibly work physically? It was like no amount of physical reps. I mean. Can you go back to that moment of Ellie Like? Did you find yourself saying, well, I just need more reps in the cages? Were you trying to change your mechanics, Like? At what point did you realize, man, this, this isn't physical.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, I think I like realized it kind of right away because I worked really hard all fall. I did all the extra work. I had a really good fall too. But you're not so focused on outcome when you're playing a scrimmage game in the fall it's just like, okay, let's see what I can do against these, these kids. Like I remember we went to Georgia and we played against Georgia a legit team and I had a great you know, I had a great day there. And so I was like, oh yeah, I can do this, Like I can hang with these girls. And then my whole lens of softball shifted once we actually started playing games that mattered for where we wanted to go in the season. That mattered for where we wanted to go in the season. So then my lens of softball changed, which created that internal stress.

Speaker 1:

And.

Speaker 2:

I. It basically became unintentional hard work, where I was just like trying harder, which I know you know does not work well.

Speaker 1:

Right, yeah, one of the things we tell our members inside our programs one-on-one athletes, on the podcast all the time is no amount of physical work can overcome a negative mindset. And it's not that there's anything wrong with you. That's literally how our brains are wired, and so what a beautiful gift that you not only do this work as a mental performance coach, but you get to share your story literally in the exact shoes, like you can literally tell your girls look, I had the knolls on my chest. I was literally in your shoes, do you? How often do you tell them the current players? Do they ask? Do you offer?

Speaker 2:

I think it like, if it comes to the surface I do, I fall back on like telling stories about myself, because stories help them connect, so we can connect a little bit on a deeper level, and I think it just helps me to like I'm more understanding. I don't get frustrated at them for how they feel and what they're doing, because, like I've felt it before and I've been there before, so it's just like, okay, like what's the solution? How are we going to help you move forward? Because I know it's possible.

Speaker 2:

I, mine, was completely mental and I'm not there's. I don't have a special gene inside of me, like you don't just have it or you don't. It's not a fixed thing, it can grow and it can be learned, like mental performance, confidence, all of those things. That's a trained skill. So I know that they can train it and do it if they care about it enough. But, like you know, you can only lead the horse to the water. You can't make it drink. So at that point then it's in their hands to make that choice for how they want to use that information going forward.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely Well, we can jump forward, because I want to make sure I'll write this down so we can talk about it later as we talk about the four stages of buy-in. But before we get there, yep, go through the next evolution of ellie. So you, you finish out your freshman year. Then what?

Speaker 2:

then I go on, finish my career, won a lot of softball games, won a lot of championships. Um had a pretty devastating end to my career. We got upset in Super Regionals my senior year and then I was a student assistant coach in 2018. That team that upset us came back to Tallahassee. We beat them to go to the World Series. We lost game one of the World Series and we came back and won the World Series. So I was coaching first base and I was in it with them every day Through that super great to see full circle moment. Everything happens for a reason, and that is another day of my life where I was like holy cow, everything truly happens for a reason. You never know the day that you're going to understand that, but it will come if you have that mindset.

Speaker 2:

And then, after we won the national championship, I ended up getting a coaching job at East Carolina University. I was there for two years. I loved my time there. I learned a lot about myself and what I truly love. In my time at ECU, I just realized how important mental performance was for players and for coaches, and there wasn't a lot of females in the space at the time. That was around 2019, 2020. So I ended up quitting my job at ECU and taking a really big leap of faith and going into the mental performance thing, which led me to where I am now. Um 2022, lonnie Alameda offered me this job that I'm in now, and I've been here for three years, so that's kind of my evolution.

Speaker 1:

Which is awesome. Which is awesome. And you and I are both in the same, so we're both certified by Brian Kane and that's how we got connected. So shout out to Kaner Just all the cool things that he's said about you and the evolution of your career. So, hearing it from from your perspective of, like you guys all see the shining highlights.

Speaker 1:

You know, I remember watching, you know you guys, in 2018. At that time, I had kind of known about mental performance, but I didn't really know what it was. I was coaching as a head high school coach and I said, okay, I'm going to teach my players about breathing techniques, I'm going to teach my players about visualization, and I wasn't certified yet. I didn't really know what it is that I was doing. We were just kind of dabbling in it.

Speaker 1:

And then here to watch the women's college world series, and you know they're kind of dabbling in it. And then here to watch the women's college world series, and you know they're, they're talking about it. The announcers are explaining it and I mean, coach has kind of been at the forefront as far as programs go. I think she's not been afraid to invest in it more heavily than other programs and it shows, yeah, and even more so now. So talk to us about the past three years of, like, what does your role look like? What are you excited about? What have been kind of those spark moments in, even in your culture and your program?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So yeah again, coach, a super forward thinking. I think I'm the only one in my title. I know that there's other you know performance coaches working with teams, but I'm full time with just Florida State softball. She has always taken it really seriously. She's always had the courage to set a time practicing physical skills, to work on the mental game, to build the culture, to build the leadership. It's still something that we do to this day.

Speaker 2:

Coming in, we didn't really know what my role was going to look like on a daily basis, so we kind of just let it happen organically. Yes, a big part of my role is mental performance and helping our athletes develop the tools in mental skills, in mental performance. Another big part of my role is just helping them balance their lives as students and athletes. That obviously plays a really big role in performance in general too. You've got to take care of the person off of the field so that they can step onto the field and play free. And then we take our culture very seriously at Florida State and we know it's not just something that you can talk about, it's something that you do and it's something that you work on every single day, like your physical skills, like your mental skills. So I help her with our culture calendar, just getting creative and and helping develop the culture and maintain the culture that she's created, and then helping with some leadership stuff.

Speaker 2:

I was the captain at Florida State when I was here, so I've always really been big into leadership and it's just something that I've kind of intangibly had and I've been, I've had access to really cool people like Brian Kane, who have helped me become who I am. So I'm still utilizing those people to this day. We still bring in people outside, people to help us with mental performance, to help us with leadership, to help us with all of those things. So I kind of help, you know, merge all of that stuff together as well. So it's kind of my daily, daily thing. Whatever we need, I'll, I'll figure it out.

Speaker 1:

I need like a whole nother hour to to dive in. I just I want to hop on a plane and come shadow and see you guys, cause you know you're dropping these things like culture calendar and again, like we get an inside look and you're telling us kind of an inside look. One of the questions that I can't help but think about is you've set this culture and it's not a set it and forget it. You guys are integrating it. You know, every day, weekly, monthly, when you're evaluating players to come in I'm very curious about this You're sitting across the desk from a prospective athlete or you're seeing these prospects at these camps. Like how are you guys, as a coaching staff, evaluating them, knowing that you guys put place a very high priority on culture and the mental side of the game? Like, how are you, how do you determine if they're a good fit?

Speaker 2:

and I think that we naturally gravitate people who want to play at Florida State. For that reason, when we bring kids in you can kind of tell right away who fits in and who doesn't, because it's such a particular group of individuals that some people that come in on visits kind of stick out because they're not all in. And we don't go straight to judgment by any means. We know that humans are all different, but you can kind of tell and I just think that our brand of softball, the camps that we put on, things like that, people gravitate towards us. Obviously we have great things at Florida State but we're not the sexy program. We don't have million-dollar facilities. We don't play in the SEC. The ACC is growing. It is such a great conference to be a part of. But if you're coming to Florida State, you're coming to Florida State because you want to be a part of who we are and what we do, not what we have, not the material shiny things. So if you're looking for the material shiny things, you're probably not coming to Florida State.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and so can you give us some examples of, like you kind of mentioned? You can see it? I guess I don't I don't know how would I would articulate this, because I think it'd be hard for you to articulate it. It's a, it's a vibe, right, like it's an intuitive energy, like it's yeah, so. So one of the things that we talk about with our athletes all the time is the body language and the, the mistake that parents get. And I wish, like if you're a parent and you don't hear anything else, like, please listen to this. It's not that we don't want any body language, we want passionate, fired up players. You said all in, like, what are you looking for when it comes to watching body language?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think it's. I mean, we talk about it all the time. I can tell where my athletes are at just by their body language. I can tell who we're playing against, where they're at, just by their body language. Obviously, I am in it every single day with our athletes. I am at practice to watch things like that. So I see them all of the time. And it doesn't even everyone. All of our athletes are so different. Like we talk about. You know the personalities of the individual and what they look like. So Jason's body language is completely different than Michaela Edenfield's body language. They're completely different people. They compete in softball completely differently, completely different than Issa Torres. All three of them are three completely different than Issa Torres. All three of them are three completely different humans that can compete differently. So, depending on that human, I know what their body language is going to be like when they're their best.

Speaker 2:

Like, jason is very stoic, you're not going to know where she's at, which can be tough for me. I'm like Jay, you hear you not, I don't know, but that's also a good thing. And Issa, she's super smiley. She's, you know, but that's also a good thing. And Issa, she's super smiley, she's, you know, she's up, she's like always eyeing up her teammates. She's talking. So as soon as Issa goes down here and she stops talking, I know, like I don't know, mikaela Edenfield's big on connection, like she's a very, you know, confident, big body language, strong softball player, so you know when she's not there. So I think knowing the individual is is big. But again, just engagement, being able to eye up your teammates, being able to eye up the people that are talking to you, um, I think is the number one indicator where you're at internally.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that that eye contact is very telling.

Speaker 1:

And I love what you said about the individual, because all of those players that you described, I mean you can watch it, watch super regionals, watch the college world series Like you're going to be able to tell right away, but as individuals, as a coach, you're, you're integrated into this. It's just as much as if we were to hire, uh, you know, a hitting coach. What's a hitting coach's job? To analyze and watch their swing, their stance, their approach, outfield coaches, pitching coaches. It's like if we can do the same thing for mental performance, like there are indicators that we can look for to adjust. So that's so cool that you you mentioned that. And, as parents, what I heard you say is don't expect your athlete to just fall into what you think they should be doing, like if they don't need to be smiley and happy, don't force them to to just fall into what you think they should be doing, like if they don't need to be smiley and happy, don't force them to have that smiley and happy body language or if they need to be stoic.

Speaker 1:

How do you find out? Yeah, you act like have a conversation, what does your athlete need? And maybe they don't even know. How would you guide like a, let's say, an incoming freshman comes in. How would you guide them on that Like, how do I know what I?

Speaker 2:

need coach. The first thing that we do with our athletes is we take something called the mental MRI. So Dr Tom Hanson is also another one of my mentors. We work very closely with him. I've actually done his certification as well.

Speaker 2:

Um, so we'll take the mental MRI. Um, it kind of goes into just a lot of different things. It's a very lengthy thing, but what we really like to use it for is personality. So I don't know if you've ever heard of the disc personality. So we dive into that a little bit because it just helps us understand our athletes better.

Speaker 2:

We're not judging how they're responding to softball, it's just who they are and in life. So there's your natural self and there's your sport self. Ideally they match, so we don't have friction. We want you to be who you are off the field. On the field. That's when you're going to play your best. That's when you're going to be your most free. But sometimes we see that the natural self shifts differently into the sport self, which is fine. It's helping that athlete understand how to make the best out of that. And then we have that talk amongst ourselves as a team, because now it's helping me understand my teammates at a different level. We really stretch the non-judgment thing just because everyone is so different, and I think it's helped us a lot as coaches to understanding the individual.

Speaker 2:

And then the mental MRI also just goes into, kind of like, how you view yourself as a softball player and how you view softball in general. So just as they come in, it helps us get a little bit more of an understanding of everyone in our program. And then we get to have the conversation. When we have nine new freshmen coming in next year, because we're graduating nine seniors, we're going to sit down and we're going to try to understand everyone as soon as we can so we know how to operate on the softball field.

Speaker 2:

And then it really helps us get a view of like why certain people respond a certain way, why certain people are competing this way, and then it kind of helps the teammates talk each other's language. I'm going to talk your language, not my language, because then we're going to connect on a deeper level and it helps us as coaches too. We want to talk your language. Yes, we have this umbrella of our core values, our standards at Florida State, but we also want to speak your language and have you play big and play free and play your brand of softball underneath the umbrella of our values and our standards of Florida State. And if we can get each individual doing that, that's when we see them have that self-expression and that freedom you know to be who they are.

Speaker 1:

I love that so much. We do a simplified version. We don't do the disc, but we do color personalities, nice, the four domains of the colors. But the self-awareness that that player even gets right Of like, how do I fit in with your culture? Who am I, you know? And the other thing that disc shows is in times of stress, right Of like, you're preparing for the pressure long before the pressure moments hit, which again look at the success of your program. It's it's all intentional. It's all intentional. Yeah, can you? I would love for you to talk about the four stages of buy-in. I don't know how you guys use it, but let's say you get your nine freshmen on campus and we have to assume that a percentage of them may not have been exposed as deeply to mental performance like. What's that process to get them to understand? You know what is mental performance? What are the mental skills we use here and why does it matter?

Speaker 2:

yeah, um, it is complex, it's super complex. But again, I think that because of who coach is, so the head coach is going to play a really big role in that. Like, we know that the coaches are going to play a real like. If coaches not bought in to mental performance and and what I can bring like, it's going to be hard for the players to do the same. So the coaching staff is all in. So that's the most important part of the coaching staff is an all in on that. I like my role like doesn't matter, and how she weaves that into the weekly processes is plays a really big role in that. But again, I think, number one, it's like we already have our incoming kids. You know mental MRIs, we, you know we, we already have that. So we already are setting I've already talked to them about it, you know, Um, so we've kind of set the tone with that already.

Speaker 2:

Um, our coaches do a really good job of bringing our incoming kids in, whether it's they're coming to a camp or they're working a camp, something like that. So they've already been in and around this program a ton in the last year. So we've already just set the tone a little bit. Yeah, it's proactive, Yep for sure. So it's already in there.

Speaker 2:

Another little fun fact is we're taking our team to London this summer and our nine incoming kids. That's right before school starts, so they're going to get an opportunity to spend a lot of time together for about a week. So, again, setting the tone with that and the buy in there, and then you're going to come in and you're going to be drinking from a fire hose and again, I think that the returners play a big role in the buy-in there. You know what they, what they talk about in the locker room, how they handle things in the locker room plays a really big role. So you're putting some more trust marbles in with your returners and then the freshmen come in and then they're like oh, this is just what we do, you know so now, this is what we do here.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so they've been to camps and they've been in classroom. You know classroom settings with me at camps that they've been to. So it's just kind of like oh, that's just what we do at Florida State. And again, like I said, if you're coming to Florida State, you're coming to Florida State because you want to be a part of who we are and what we do, which is set from, obviously, lonnie Alameda and just goes down. So I think that's a big part of it. And then it's just me getting to know them. Like I'm not going to sit down and be like this is what you're going to do, this is how we do it. That's not how it works. It's like how can I get to know the athlete and what they need from me?

Speaker 2:

Everyone's on a different journey, every freshman. You just come in and you naturally have this learning curve of like I'm on my own, how do I manage my schedule and sleep and eat three meals a day? That's where we're going to start. We're just going to figure out your schedule. We're going to figure out how you're going to get your sleep need and how you're going to eat three meals a day, and then we can start to go from there and again, the self-awareness piece is really big. You learn a lot about yourself in the fall as a freshman, so just kind of starting there and then you just kind of build from there. And everyone takes it differently. There's some people who are like all in, and there's some people who are like I feel OK, I'm like, oh, that's great, you do your thing, you're on your own journey, on your own pace, um, but we, you know how it all comes around.

Speaker 1:

So I don't know if that answers your question. I mean, keener calls it the. Okay, I'll try it. Right. I'm like, oh, okay, I'll, I'll try this thing out. And then like your spark, your, your realization of dang, okay, yep, this, this works. I had to hit rock bottom and do it any other way, yep, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So, give us an inside look. I know, I know you're in the thick of season and I cannot wait. We should. We might have to do a follow-up to this episode and tack on like a a post post-season interview. But what are you looking forward to?

Speaker 2:

um, a lot of things, a lot. We have the opportunity, like I said before, we have the opportunity to win the ACC regular season this year. We didn't win it last year and it was in our hands last year. So we went into Syracuse and it was in our hands and we just needed to win two games and we didn't. Um, so our you know, our returners have that experience and I'm excited to see how they lean into the opportunity to win the ACC regular season. Um, that's kind of all. I'm excited to see how they lean into the opportunity to win the ACC regular season. That's kind of all I'm looking forward to right now.

Speaker 2:

Obviously, postseason's right on the other side another great opportunity to go into the ACC tournament, whether whatever seed we're gonna be, and win it, because we went in it last year. We lost in the ACC championship game and we shouldn't have that like again. Shouldn't have so again. Excited to again. Shouldn't have so again. Excited to see how, you know, our returners use all of the things we've been working on to use that experience from last year, have a better response to whatever's thrown their way this year, which we've had a lot of adversity thrown our way this year and we're doing really great with it so far. So I'm really excited to see how they lean into the next two opportunities we have. And then, wherever our seed lands, I know that we'll be prepared for whatever is thrown our way in the postseason.

Speaker 1:

So good, a lot of present moment focus. I think it could be very easy to get caught up. And even before we hit record, you know we're thinking about you know you always want to end your season at the Women's College World Series and it's like, how do you keep? You know you always want to end your season at the women's college world series and it's like, how do you keep? You know, are you listening for those things with your players? How are you keeping everyone in in the moment of like we can't get there without being here first and like, where, what's that coaching? Like, how do you keep them?

Speaker 2:

you know, right here basically, yeah, I mean, there's a lot of ways, there's you's, you know there's a ton that goes into performance, but at the end of the day it's like how do we play Florida State softball? But again, you have to know what that is. So we have our core values, we have our above the line, below the line behaviors. We have our vision and part of our vision is win every ACC series. So we have the opportunity to check that off. We have the opportunity to check off when the ACC tournament off, win the ACC tournament. And then you know, going on from there to host a regional, host a super regional, see what we got. But again it's coming back down to like one pitch softball.

Speaker 2:

What is my routine and my breath and like all of these tools that we work on. Just example, like last week at practice, I was, we do like you know, practice stations, bp, you're in the cages, you're base running, you're on defense, and then, like I had a little station and I was just taking them through scenarios and it was literally like I had hitters and pitchers and we were just like in the bullpen and we were just working through. I was like, okay, this is the scenario. Like, do your pre-pitch routine. What is your self-talk like? And I, I want you to visualize success. And then it was okay. This is the scenario Umpire makes a bad call. You're upset. What's your response? How are you resetting? This is the scenario you swing and miss at a rise ball over your head. How are you stepping back and how are you getting back in? And very specific moments like looking forward into Virginia Tech and the game is on the line to win or lose the ACC regular season. And I want you to visualize success, but I also want you to visualize failure or those red lights for how you're going to respond.

Speaker 2:

So just priming them for whatever could be thrown their way. And how do we funnel it back to? Just like keeping it simple. I think we started that off with like a little card and I was like all right, we've had a ton of experience this year in the box and on the mound. What are your three keys to keeping it simple? When you're your best, in your most simple form, all else fails. What are the three things you're executing when you're in the box or you're on the mound?

Speaker 2:

So if you feel so overwhelmed by the situation that you're in, just come back to like what is my most simple, best form of performance and competition, and they have to know those things. If you don't know the answer to those things, you will feel overwhelmed and you will most likely fail. I'm not guaranteeing them success. I tell them all the time I'm like you can do these three things and not be successful. But that's not what it's about. It's about giving yourself the best chance to be successful, and a big part of that is your response to adversity, your response to because they're going to get nervous, they're going to get frustrated, they're going to be all of these things as a whole staff. I'm never going to tell you you can't be frustrated. I'm never going to tell you you can't cry. I'm never going to tell you you can't get mad because you're going to. You're a human playing softball. It's how are you going to respond to those feelings and bring yourself back to neutral? So that's kind of where we're at right now.

Speaker 2:

Just an example.

Speaker 2:

This will be our first practice of the week, so we're going to spend about an hour in the classroom breaking down last week and looking forward into this next opportunity that we have, and what we're going to do today is we're going to talk about who we want to be and what are we going to do about it.

Speaker 2:

It's about who do you want to be in these next three games, what are you committing to and then what are you going to do? So, who do you want to be? What are you going to do, and can you commit to that? If you're 0 for 10, 10 for 10, if you just gave up a home run or you just struck out the side, like, what are you going to commit to? And if we can stay committed to our best self and who we want to be, the rest will take care of itself. I don't know if we're going to win the series against Virginia Tech. I don't know if we're going to win the ACC regular season, but can we walk away knowing we were present and we gave it everything we had?

Speaker 1:

Mic drop. Absolutely. I'm so excited I'm going to be amped up watching. So the thing that I would love to point out, too, is that you guys are one of the top teams in the country and have been. You guys have been prolific, and what I'm hearing you say is you are in the thick of season and you guys just said you're spending an hour in the classroom, and I can't tell you how many times I've heard coaches get scared in high school level, at the travel level, like we can't, we can't step away from the physical skills. We gotta we gotta work harder. And so just wanted to point that out. Like, if you're a coach and you're listening to this, I get it. I was there as a coach. It's okay to spend some time in the classroom and I guarantee you like the things that you're hearing right now, they matter, they absolutely matter.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, kudos to coach, because she's she's been like that in the fall once a week.

Speaker 2:

We're in that classroom, we're doing something as far as mental performance, culture, leadership has nothing to do with on the field things, um, and it's just again a little a lot, not a lot a little. I think that's where most coaches go wrong is they do a lot of little. They'll bring someone in, they'll bring someone amazing like Brian Kanan for a whole weekend and then he leaves and all of it goes with him. Like it's up to the coaches how are you going to implement that on a daily, weekly basis so you can have that compound effect and just make it part of your routine and do a little a lot? Um, so I think that's what she's always been so good at, even when we would, we would bring Brian Kane in or you know we would do some type of leadership building or you know anything. It's how she drips it into the weekly schedule a little a lot, and I think that's kind of a really big part of what makes us who we are.

Speaker 1:

Well, even the evolution of what Brian Keene has preached to all of us coaches is do you want a speaker or do you want a system? And so if we're just a speaker, you know if, if I just come in and give your team a talk, or if Ellie comes and gives your team a talk, it's not just that, it's like how do you bring it into the practice plan, into the everyday? So I'm I'm so glad you brought that in. Yeah, I have to ask you and and I'll ask you this question first and then I'll ask you the question we ask all of our podcast guests. But before I do that, is there anything else that you're feeling really passionate about that you want to make sure that we hit on today?

Speaker 2:

I think, just for the people that we're speaking to, so, like the younger travel ball coaches, parents and kids, it's just I mean, even our kids it's just as important. You know our kids and our coaches, but it just starts at such young ages. Like your environment is going to play a really big role in your mindset. Like your environment is going to play a really big role in your mindset, and coaches and parents or whoever raises a child, plays a really big role in that environment. So just intentionally developing an environment where it's okay to fail, where your kids can be authentically themselves under, like I said, your umbrella of like what are your core values as a team or a family, you know what are your standards as a team and a family, and then can you allow each individual athlete to operate as their self. Self-expression. Freedom to be yourself is probably the best thing you can do for a human in general, and just remember that they're humans playing softball. They're not superheroes. Michaela Edenfield is not a superhero. She doesn't have superpowers. She is a human playing softball and all of your athletes are the same as well. So intentionally developing a really cool environment where kids can be themselves. The relationship with failure is a really big thing for life in general and obviously softball and sports. So, having an open relationship with failure, our athletes, they're allowed to fail and it's just we use it as learning opportunities. And everyone's failure, you know, acceptance is different.

Speaker 2:

I expect, you know, a fifth year senior to be able to have a bat, a bat at bat, and come back when a freshman, she might have a bad game and it might become a bad weekend. That's going to happen. It happened to me. I had a bad game and it became 20 bad games and then it became one good at bat and then it became my sophomore year. I would have a bad game and I would bounce back. And then my junior year I'd have a bad at bat and I'd be okay, my next at bat. Obviously, I would love for that learning curve to happen sooner. We have some sophomores with a ton of experience that I expect them to bounce back, you know.

Speaker 2:

So I think, just understanding you know everyone's journey is different, everyone deals with things differently. But you know, kids, what you consume, who you hang out with the social media, you look at the music, you listen to the books, you read the energy that you let in the words that you let in. You know all of those things play a really big role. Environment waters your mindset. So you're either intentionally watering it with good things or if you just let your mind take its course, unfortunately, in the world that we live in, you're going to have a pretty negative lens on life. That's just human nature in general. Um, so just be really intentional about what you're watering your mind with. So that's going to come down to the environment and again, like I said, parents or whoever raises the child and coaches you're going to be, you're going to play a really big role in helping them develop that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and if we can do that at age 10, 11, 10. Oh, amazing Right.

Speaker 2:

Right Like lessening.

Speaker 1:

It's all about lessening that gap right.

Speaker 2:

They're allowed to be upset.

Speaker 1:

They're allowed to have a bad at bat, a bad game, but when you have mental performance, that's what's lessening the gap for them. It's not, if you're hearing us. If you're hearing us, it's not. They need the reps obviously to develop, but it's if it were more reps it would have worked by now. It's lessening that mental gap to give them that ability to bounce back. Yep, so good. Okay, you ready for my favorite question? Oh yeah, it's the time traveler question. So if you could go back in time to any point in your life and give yourself a message, what are you telling past? Ellie?

Speaker 2:

Ooh gosh, that's a good one, I would tell I probably tell past Ellie to take everything as it comes. Nothing good lasts forever, nothing bad lasts forever either. Everything's pretty temporary. And it's not about the opportunity, it's how you treat the opportunity and how you respond to adversity. So, just like stay in the opportunity. It's how you treat the opportunity and how you respond to adversity. So just like stay in the fight. Um, it's not going to be bad forever. It's not going to be good forever. So don't cling so tightly to the good and don't dwell so much on the bad. Um, just be where your feet are and be grateful for every opportunity that you have and give a hundred percent of your energy to the things you can control, and you'll end up exactly where you're supposed to be so good, so good.

Speaker 1:

You're gonna finish out. You're gonna have an amazing season. We're gonna be following you. Where's the best place to follow? I know you guys are active on Instagram. You know we can link the pages below. Where's the best place to follow?

Speaker 2:

you, coach, I, I am on Instagram. I'm really bad at social media. I'm not going to lie, it's not my um, it's not the thing I've ever been best at. I okay. My toxic trait is I'm like um, so present where I am, that like I can like. I'm just like this here because there was a time in my life where I was not. I was so many other places and it was like just create so much anxiousness inside of you, so um, but I am on Instagram. I think it's coach Ellie C maybe.

Speaker 1:

I don't even know. We'll find it and link it, yeah. My first reaction was literally just going to be saying why are you feeling guilty about that? Because you're in it like you're doing the work, which is awesome, yeah, and it's crazy because, you know, society is just like, like I, okay.

Speaker 2:

So I think that social media is such a great platform for information and learning and I have access to some really great stuff. So I need to be better about just giving people more access to like the people that I have access to, probably because I can help, you know, teach the youth. So I did say that I was going to be better about that, but a lot of things have happened this year, so, um, but yeah, instagram. I have Twitter too. I'm not very active on Twitter. Instagram is probably the place.

Speaker 1:

Sounds good. Yeah, you guys have had a lot going on and we're rallying around coach and you guys are going to have an amazing season, and sending all of our well wishes and prayers for coaches. Thank you.

Speaker 2:

We love it. We are so grateful for everyone that has been in her corner. So all of the little gestures that everyone's doing, we appreciate it as well as I know how much she appreciates it. But um it, our kids love it. So you know we're trying to keep their spirits high too. So thank you so much.

Speaker 1:

It's going to be a great year, okay.

Speaker 2:

Yes, thank you for your time. Thanks for having me, that was super fun.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, till next time we'll have to do a follow-up episode.

Speaker 2:

Okay, yeah, yeah, stay in touch. Thank you so much.

People on this episode

Contributor

Amanda Schaefer

Host