The Fearless Warrior Podcast

101: The Power of Knowing Your Why with Ashley Trierweiler

• Amanda Schaefer

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Today, we are airing our February mentorship call with Ashley Trierweiler, a professional softball player with the New York Rise. Coach Kara and our Warriors interviewed her about her softball journey, revealing how faith helped her overcome mental challenges and position changes to succeed at the highest level. 


Episode Highlights:

• Her faith in Christ helps manage performance anxiety
• Transitioned from outfield to first base just before the season at GCU
• Focus on controlling what you can control rather than perfectionism
• Using prayer as a mental skill
• The journey is going to be hard with challenges, but it's going to be worth it


Connect with Ashley:

IG: @ashleyy.tree



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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:

All right, welcome ladies. We got a nice group here all together. We're excited to welcome you. We have tonight for our mentorship call. We have Ashley Treeweiler. I had to practice her name multiple times before you jumped on the call. It is not said how it's spelled, so Treeweiler is how you say her name and she is a native Californian.

Speaker 2:

She played her college ball. She actually played at two different universities so maybe we can hear about the different experiences she had at those universities. But she played for four years of undergrad at Santa Clara University in California and then a grad school year at Grand Canyon University in Arizona. She was an outfielder mainly at Santa Clara, but then she also might be able to share about this switch to first base at GCU. So that's kind of a fun transition. She was an All-American in college, which is a pretty big deal, and right now she is a professional and she's playing with the New York Rise and having that great experience. Also fun fact she told me just before I got on the call that she is currently teaching gym, so she's a teacher as well right now, living in Michigan, which is where I'm at as well. So that was kind of a fun little thing to discover that we actually live just a couple of hours apart from each other right now. So that's Ashley. We ahead. Ashley, take it away, introduce yourself.

Speaker 3:

I'm Ashley obviously, played again at Santa Clara for four years and then got the chance to transfer for my fifth year at Grand Canyon because of the whole COVID situation.

Speaker 3:

I know you guys are really young so you might not remember a ton about that and school and stuff, but that was a big part of my softball career and situation was having that happen in the middle of my freshman year.

Speaker 3:

So not a great way to start out a college career by any means, but yeah, and then now playing professionally, gonna start my second season in June, which is super exciting, um, but yeah, I guess, just to start, I'd say one of the most important aspects of my softball career and just my life in general is the fact that I am a Christian and I believe in Jesus Christ and he is the savior of my life and he's what gives me purpose far beyond softball.

Speaker 3:

And, as someone who definitely used to find a lot of my worth and identity and purpose in the sport, growing in my faith has certainly helped me kind of step out of that. I mean, I definitely struggle with it still and you know I'm sure you can all relate to being in a slump and feeling like wow, like I suck right now, like this is terrible, things like that, and like what am I even doing? I still think that sometimes. So when I say that my faith has helped me in that aspect of my game, it has not been a fix-all solution by any means, but it's definitely made it easier to get out of that mental space. So if any of you have any questions about that, I would love to talk more about that specifically.

Speaker 3:

But yeah, there's a lot. There's a lot to unpack with. Like the mental aspect of my softball journey, even even just through college I mean before college is a whole other college. I mean before college is a whole other story too.

Speaker 2:

But um, I don't know, uh, where? Where would you want me to start? Because I know that's, that's great. Um, yeah, let's start. Let's start there with, like your, your exposure to mental skills. Like, when were you first made aware of, like you can learn these things? Like, did you do much of it in high school that it was a not until you got to college? Like when, when were you first exposed to the idea of mental skills?

Speaker 3:

I think a lot of mental skills were kind of implicitly taught, so like not directly taught, of like, okay, this is how you can think through an at-bat, or this is how you can use self-talk to kind of get yourself out of a rut, when, because you can have all the talent in the world, but if you don't know how to mentally work the game or keep yourself in the game, your talent is going to not be, as it's not going to reach its full potential.

Speaker 3:

Not something that I didn't really realize, because I struggled a lot with my mental game for a long time, because I was just very up and down and like my mindset was based on my performance a lot, which I think is common in a lot of softball players, because it's it's a hard sport and like we play a sport where you fail so much more often than you succeed, especially you know, as a hitter things like that.

Speaker 3:

Um, but we had, like we had a sports psychologist in college that would help us and teach us skills of like how to regulate our emotions during games, because you know, when you get caught up in competition, I'm super competitive and so it's really easy to let the heat of the moment kind of overtake you and control your reactions and your emotions in the moment, especially in the face of failure. But having those mental skills and being like, oh, so, that's what. Like that's what's going on in my brain right now when I'm in the, when I'm in the heat of a competition or when, you know, I just struck out for the third time in a row and I'm like, hey, what am I going to do next? So I don't know if that answered your question or not, but yeah, totally no.

Speaker 2:

I think that that is a through line that we get a lot is that most of these high performing athletes like yourself, like they did not really get overtly exposed to mental skills until college. Like that's a very, very common thing that we're hearing and, honestly, that's that's like why the goal of fearless is to bring that age down by quite a bit, like we want to. We want to lower that age of where people are being exposed to mental skills for the first time Because, like you said, there's things that you can learn. It's not just like I think for so long it was thought, oh, they just naturally can get over these things, or they naturally have the right mindset, and now it's like no, it's, it's not a natural thing, it's not either you have it or you don't.

Speaker 2:

It's something that you can learn and and that's what we're really trying to do is trying to teach people those things so they can learn them earlier, so they can help them. But yeah, no, I think it totally did answer it. Let's talk about we were talking before we let all the girls in about your experience going from Santa Clara to GCU, and not only were you changing schools, but they had you change positions. So I want you to talk about that, about what that was like to change positions, what ways you struggled or how you went through that transition and how you, how you found your way changing positions like that for sure.

Speaker 3:

So that was. I laugh now looking back at it, but in the moment I was there I had a lot of feelings about the whole switch um, because they didn't switch me until February of season. So, like the weekend before our first tournament, they were like oh, by the way, like we need you to start taking reps at first base, and so if anybody is an outfielder, only you know that going from mostly fly balls to then taking only ground balls on the dirt is super different. And like I'd played infield before, but like before college, and so I was kind of scared I'm not going to lie Like I was a grad student, so I'd been already playing for four years, but when they said, okay, we need you to play first base, I was like wait, are you serious? Like I was so nervous and so scared. So I hope that I hope that can be encouraging, of like even even we get scared sometimes and we get a little nervous when we don't feel like we're prepared to do something.

Speaker 3:

But I mean, I think, honestly, getting thrown into it it was. It was good and bad because it was a new challenge and I like being challenged. So trying to look at it through that perspective as it was happening, like, okay, this is a new challenge for you to tackle and for you to improve at something game to learn. So obviously a new position was a brand new. It's a brand new situation for me and I tried to embrace the challenge. Uh, and that kind of kept me from losing my mind because it was rough at first, like fielding ground balls it's hard, it is hard, it's one of the harder parts of the game, um, and so there were a lot of like it was a lot of that emotional roller coaster of like dang it, I just like missed a third ground ball in a row.

Speaker 3:

Or at practice, when they just hit me reps like, rep after rep after rep and I still couldn't get it right, like I still I still have beef with backhands.

Speaker 3:

I'm not gonna lie like it's, it's a challenge, but I'd say like the transition was difficult but it was worth it in the end because if I wouldn't have had that experience playing at first base, I don't think I would have ended up on my pro team, because that's what I ended up playing the majority of the time for the for the rise. So looking looking back at it now, I can say I am glad that it happened. But if you would have asked me as it was happening, I I wouldn't have been super happy about it because I wasn't. But you know that's part of that's part of being a good teammate and being a good team player is you go where you're needed, even if it's not necessarily what you want to be doing. But you know at when you're at that level, like being being part of the lineup is great, no matter which way you look at it. So that was the mindset that I tried to have going into that. But it was by no means a perfect experience mentally.

Speaker 2:

But yeah, what, what? What did help you, though, so you talk about mentally? Did you have like mantras that you were saying over and over to yourself, or did you have like a routine that helped you feel more comfortable, or what? What were you doing to approach that?

Speaker 3:

Good question. At first I really didn't have that mantra or routine, because it was. It was so brand new. But I relied a lot on my teammates and my coaches. To you know, support me and for like, hey, like to remind me that, okay, like, even though you are a high level performer and you are a great player, like, this is still brand new.

Speaker 3:

We don't expect you to be perfect, because I don't. I don't know how many of you have ever been perfect in the sport of softball, but I know that I have not. But that's what I was expecting of myself. And so, having having people that I knew cared about me to remind me, hey, you don't have to be perfect. Like, we don't expect you to make every play, to get like, to field every ground ball perfectly, and having that, that definitely got me into a better mindset of like, okay, what am I doing? Am I giving it my best effort? Am I controlling what I can control?

Speaker 3:

That was a good shift for me was shifting from I have to do all of this perfectly to as long as I'm controlling what I can control. The outcome will be what it is, and most of the time, when we're doing the little things right and we're controlling what we can control, the outcome will typically be in our favor, but obviously there's a lot in softball that you can't control and that's just kind of. That's part of the fun of the game too. So yeah, spoiler alert too, that's a part of life.

Speaker 2:

There's lots of the fun of the game too. So, yeah, spoiler alert too, that's a part of life. There's lots of things you can't control in all of life, not just softball but yeah, I think that's awesome, that's great advice to control things you can control and focus on those things Awesome. Thanks for sharing all that. I think we will go ahead and open it up to you girls that are here on the call with us. Either you're welcome to unmute if you'd like to ask a question, or if you want to put it in the chat. We can start going through those. What questions do you guys have for Ashley? What do you want to ask her about life as a pro or life as a college athlete? I see Clara's got her hand up. Clara, do you want to unmute and go ahead and ask your question?

Speaker 3:

Let's hear why that is you and go ahead and ask your question like what's your why? That is a? That is a great first question, clara. My why is? Is my faith, like Jesus and God, that that is my why. Because he's the one that gave me the ability to play softball in the first place and gave me just like the upbringing that I had and the support from my parents that I had from a really young age to be able to practice and play and get to this high level, you know health and safety and all of that, and just he's orchestrated everything in my life up until this point and he's gonna keep doing so. And so if I can be used by by the lord in this sport for however long I get to play still like that. That is why I still play that and I just I love the competition, like aside from that, like I love competing and I love just sports and games in general. So so a little side note on that one.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome, Andy. You got your hand up. What's your?

Speaker 3:

favorite Bible verse? That is a great question. My sister's name is Andy too. That's awesome. I just that's awesome had to throw that out there. Gosh, every time I get asked that question, every single bible verse leaves my brain. But I would say there's so many psalms that I literally prayed through before games over this last season because, like, honestly, mentally, with the whole first base transition and all of that like it was, it was hard for me. I had a lot of like doubt and a lot of just like pressure on myself. That wasn't really productive. But, um, I'd say one verse that we talked about a lot in FCA this last year, which is fellowship of Christian athletes. If any of you might have that at your school, gosh, why do I get so nervous answering this question? You're doing great, but we talked a lot about Psalm 119, 105, and I'm going to read it so that I don't butcher it. But your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path, and so obviously softball is not in the.

Speaker 3:

Bible. Right, it's not in the Bible and so it's something that is a gift from God. And so when we face things, or when I face things in the game that I'm like why can't I hit this pitch right now, or why can't I get on base or why can't I field a ground ball, like all of that, bringing that to the Lord and trying to view that and the mental part through just the lens of his word and what the Bible says about anxiety and worry and our purpose as people and as Christians and as athletes and whatever we're doing. Like for me, his word is going to tell me how I should react in situations and how I can use my faith to overcome trials and how I can use trials to improve my faith and my mental game and to just grow the strength of my, if that makes sense.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome. I mean, it goes back into that identity piece you were talking about earlier with this, this idea that there's something so much bigger than you and there's so much, something so much bigger than softball. It's just, it's something that that can identify you outside of whether or not you can throw a ball around a field. Very well, that's awesome. Good question, andy.

Speaker 3:

Uh, sophia, you got your hand raised, um, okay if you use any breathing techniques, which ones are your favorite? I don't really use a lot of breathing techniques. Um, I have. We did practice box breathing as a team when I was back at Santa Clara. We did that one time when we had a little like mental skills training day with our sports psychologist, but I don't really use breathing techniques all that much. They weren't super helpful for me, but I know that they are really helpful for other people. So I would have to talk to some of my old teammates who did use those more often to get you a better answer. But I know that I have tried box breathing every now and again, but other than that, the breathing techniques aren't my go-to. So sorry, I don't have a better answer for you, sophia.

Speaker 2:

No, I was going to add to the follow-up then. Is so, what are your go-to Like, what are the things that work the best for you, that you go to when you're struggling?

Speaker 3:

I mean I just I pray basically the whole game. If I'm in the outfield, I'm just talking to myself and talking to the Lord out loud. If I'm at first base, it's more in my head, but like just praying and bringing whatever it is that I'm feeling in that moment before God, like that, that helps me a lot because it kind of grounds me. And if I, if I'm frustrated and I start ranting about it, I'm like I can kind of check myself and kind of feel that that conviction from God during prayer where I'm like, oh, I shouldn't really, like that's not, I can be frustrated, but that's not that big of a deal, like we're going to move forward from it.

Speaker 2:

if that makes sense, yeah, so that kind of is then a hybrid between, like, grounding and self-talk, maybe somewhere in there. Yeah, yeah, life, yeah, and that's what's so great about these mental skills. Like you learn them. You learn how to do different things. You figure out what works for you. If you need to mix and match, go for it. If you need to smash them together, go for it. If you need to, like, come up with your own take on breathing or self-talk or you know whatever. Like that's what's so great about these all. We talk a lot about being like a tool belt and all these different tools in your tool belt that you can use at different times. So that's that's absolutely a great way to approach it. Um, adeline had a question in the chat for you. She says what was grand canyon university like? What was your experience like there? Yeah, I guess what was it like playing there?

Speaker 3:

so much fun it was such a great experience, like, so I wasn't in class because my school was online, so I didn't get to go to class and, like, have that experience. So I can't really speak to that. But softball wise and just socially, it was so awesome because GCU is a Christian school and so they have a lot of faith based activities, a Christian school, and so they have a lot of faith-based activities. But even outside of that, like the basketball games are so fun to go to and like the sporting events are really awesome and it's just it's such a good community.

Speaker 3:

And playing wise, my team at Santa Clara, we we struggled a lot because we had a new coaching staff my freshman year and so we were all. And then COVID happened and we were all kind of still just learning each other and we we had the talent but we just it was really hard for us to put together wins. But going to Grand Canyon, it was the complete opposite where, like we had, so we had so many wins and we played a lot of games. Um, I think we finished the season 50 and 10 last year, which is a lot of games and a lot of games, but just going there and being able to finish my college career on such a high, like being part of such a competitive team, like we beat some ranked teams and those were huge, and we went to regionals, which was amazing, um, and so I'd say that overall experience was just, it was phenomenal and, of course, like there were still challenges, but, in the grand scheme of things, like it was so awesome what else you guys got?

Speaker 3:

I think soph Sophia has another question. Go for it, Sophia. Who was your?

Speaker 2:

role model or when you were younger and like first year in softball. Who did you look up to?

Speaker 3:

My mom, definitely. She played softball when she was in college and, like her and my dad, we like we are just a super athletic family and, like my siblings were always in sports too and so but I think my mom is just she's an awesome lady and just even not even outside of a sports context like she's the most supportive person that I know and that I have in my life and like I know that I wouldn't be the player that I am or the person that I am today if I didn't have my mom. So I think she's my, she's my role model for sure.

Speaker 3:

Um, softball wise, though, I didn't really watch a lot of softball when I was young I'm not gonna lie like when I was 11, 12, 13, I wasn't watching college softball that much. That wasn't until later in high school. But Natasha Watley was always so fun to watch because she's just such a great athlete and such a great player. And Haley McClenney, when I started getting more toward the recruiting process and seeing her at the end of her college career and in the pros and stuff that was always, she was always super fun to watch too. Um, other than that, though, I don't really have any like softball role models. There's some players now, but even that I play with and I'm like you're awesome and like please teach me everything you know about this game, because they're they've been playing it for longer than I have, but yeah.

Speaker 2:

Good question. All right, we're getting short on time, but what else? Oh, here we go. Adeline has another question. When did you become a Christian Like? What does your faith journey look like?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so I was, I grew up in church. So I was, I grew up in church, so we were, you know, going to VBS and stuff and going to church on Sundays and youth group and all those things. But I think I didn't really personalize my faith until the end of high school, but really through college, because I had a lot of.

Speaker 3:

I had a lot of anxiety in high school and in the beginning of college and so really leaning into my faith during those times like that's when I really started to know who God was and to get to know him on a personal level, so that I think that was when it really shifted for me, and so I've been a Christian my whole life, but really knowing and experiencing the love of God, that was more toward the end of high school and then to college and now for sure.

Speaker 2:

All right, last chance for any other questions, otherwise I'm going to ask my last question that we always ask we got any other burning question? We didn't have any food-based questions this time. Sophia, sophia, you got a food question for us. Go for it. What's your favorite food?

Speaker 3:

Potatoes. That's a quick answer. That's my answer every time you can have potatoes. So many different ways Hands down, that is the best Maya do you have another question?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, Maya, go for it. What's your favorite, like chocolate ice cream, but there's an ice cream up with the question that we really like to ask people. So these girls are, you know, anywhere 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, maybe. So these are younger girls. If you could go back in time to when you were this these girls ages what advice would you give your former self?

Speaker 3:

If you could go back to their age, what would you tell yourself? I think I would tell myself that the journey is going to be hard and there's going to be a lot of challenges, but it's going to be worth it. Because I think you know when, when you're a young player, you have your eyes set on like, oh, I want to play at this school and I want to go here and I want to do this and have this career and those are such great goals to have. But recognizing that okay, like it's going to be a challenge, but welcoming the challenge I think that is something that I would have benefited from is really understanding how hard it is mentally and physically and how like it really does require a lot of dedication on our parts to get to high levels. But it is worth it and like that is like you will find, you'll find your place, even if it takes you a while and even if it's a really hard journey. But you're like you, you're going to get there and it's going to be worth it.

Speaker 2:

Awesome. What a great note to end on. Thank you so much, Ashley, for coming and sharing your story and chatting with us tonight. It was really, really great.

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Amanda Schaefer

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