The Fearless Warrior Podcast

103: How the 4 B's got Courtney Wyche to the Pros

• Amanda Schaefer

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This week, we are sharing our April mentorship call with Courtney Wyche, a professional softball pitcher for the New York Rise. She shares her journey from self-taught pitcher to professional athlete competing internationally with insights on mental toughness and developing your personal brand.


Episode Highlights:

• The Four B's: Breathe, Be in the moment, Believe, Battle
• Breathing to music rhythms to stay centered during games
• Recommends young athletes play multiple sports 
• Encourages athletes to believe in themselves regardless of what others say


Connect with Courtney:

IG: @courtneyyy42


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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:

Good evening ladies. Welcome tonight to our new guest speaker, our new mentorship call. Now that we're calling them Tonight, we are so excited we have Courtney White here to speak with us tonight. Courtney is from Maryland, silver Spring, maryland, which is just outside of DC. She pitched for the University of Maryland and at the University of Maryland she made the Big Ten all tournament team. She was second team all Big Ten and if you look at the Maryland record book she's right up to the top, top three, top four in multiple categories of the Maryland records. So she really made an impact there, had a big influence there.

Speaker 2:

She's currently a professional, so she's playing pro ball. Now she's playing for the New York Rise. She's also played in I'm going to have her explain it, but she's also played in a professional league in Mexico and she also and this was news to me tonight she also plays on the US Virgin Islands national team, which is a national team for the US Virgin Islands, which, if you don't know, is down in the Caribbean and it's kind of like a subset of the US national team. Well, it's not a subset, it's a team like the US national team that competes in the international tournaments and she's got the opportunity to represent the US Virgin Islands as part of their national team. So welcome, courtney. I'm going to pass it on over to you and you can go ahead and take it away thank you, coach Kara.

Speaker 3:

I appreciate it. Good evening, ladies. Like Coach Kara said, my name is Courtney Weitsch. I'm really excited to be here with you all. Definitely appreciate you coming on board. I know it's chaotic in the lives of your young student athletes but again, definitely excited to share with you a little bit about myself and about my journey and answer any and all and I truly mean that I'm an open book Any and all questions that you all may have about softball life or anything of the nature that you kind of see. All right. So I play for the New York Rise. That's actually the shirt I have on as well. The Rise is new. We just started. So last summer was our first season and I will be going back again this year. So I'm really excited season and I will be going back again this year. So I'm really excited.

Speaker 3:

But some of the favorite things aside from me being a professional athlete, I'm a sister. I have a younger sister who's 18. I'm a coach, so I actually work with young ladies that are all the way as young as 11, couple teams there and then all the way up to when they're about to go to college 16, 17, 18. I also have my own business. So I'm an entrepreneur as well. I teach young ladies how to pitch, specifically focusing on the mechanics and fundamentals and that sort. And then a couple of fun things about me I love Squishmallows. So if you all don't know what those are, those are the super fun pillows that have like, oh, I see one face. Yep, sophia, we got something common. I have five. So if y'all have some more, I would love to hear how many you all have. But I got to get on my game because a lot of the girls I've talked to have like way more Um. And then something else on here that I love. I love the Ravens. They're my favorite NFL team. And what's one more thing. What's one more thing? Energy. You'll see that word kind of there in the yellow. I'm a huge, super energetic person. You can kind of see I'm I'm ready, it's eight o'clock here where I live and I'm wide awake, all right. So that's just a fun couple of fun things about me and we'll kind of just get into it.

Speaker 3:

So my young athletic life and how I grew up playing softball I started playing at the age of eight and I was always the youngest on every single team I played. I have a late birthday. My birthday is in August. So I was already right on the cusp for my grade but playing-wise I was always the youngest, even though I was also always the tallest. So I started off in rec ball, moved quickly to travel ball at age 10, and quickly found out that softball was going to be my sport.

Speaker 3:

I am very tall. I'm 6'1". Both of my parents are quite tall. My dad is 6'2", my mom is 5'11". They both played basketball professionally.

Speaker 3:

Now if y'all know anything about height and basketball, you would think that that would have been my sport. But quickly found out that that was not for me. So I went into softball and it stuck immediately. I loved hitting, I loved being on the field. Everything about it just screamed this was for me. So moving into travel ball, that was where I kind of figured out OK, this is going to take some hard work, you know, some effort, things of that nature. And that is when I kind of migrated all around the field.

Speaker 3:

So I have played every position at some point in my career, except for catcher, because I am tall. Shout out to all my catchers on the call Knees don't, they don't, they don't function like that. So I love my catchers, because I I'm a pitcher, so I have to respect my catchers. But I was not going to be a catcher myself. So when I was 11, I actually taught myself how to pitch. So I bounced all around the field. I was like you know what None of these positions feel like home. I'm going to figure out this thing in the circle, like what are people doing? Why is it so fun and all that fun stuff and so so watched a couple of YouTube videos, just went to some games, figured it out, and one thing led to another.

Speaker 3:

My mom got me my first pitching coach when I was 12 years old. So she was like, okay, well, I guess you're not leaving the circle, so we might as well go and invest in your ability to do it a little bit better, cause I was throwing balls into the backstop. You know bowling high. If you're any pitchers on my call, hopefully we can talk. I get it. I have been where you are and where you're going. Okay, so a couple other fun things that are on this screen.

Speaker 3:

I've played for travel teams all over the country. At some point I've traveled to actually 37 out of the 50 States in the United States because of softball. So I'm sure you all are familiar with that being able to travel and go to different places. Families are saying pack up the car, we're driving 10 hours across. You know the States and stuff. It's been a lot of fun for me to be able to travel and see different places. I played for Virginia glory, a team called Maryland Wagner's, north Carolina lady lightning and then Alabama Thunderbolts, all right. So if any of those travel teams you guys have ever heard of been a part of those organizations.

Speaker 3:

And one other thing, kind of on just the younger softball side, is I started pitching and loving, falling in love with pitching, I should say, because of the art that it is and the creativity that you can have. So, as you all know, softball players in general we're very creative beings. I like to tell everybody that. But pitchers especially have a very unique mind and seeing things about batters, about their own pitches and all that fun stuff, and that is why I've created mine, basically cultivated my whole life around it, like I said before, having an own business, playing professionally, teaching, coaching, all that fun stuff, all right, and kind of diving into the professional side. I guess, before I get into that, the when I started with travel ball, like I said, the kind of the progression I played in high school as well. All four years I was on our varsity team. There was a high school in my local area Um, again, kind of definitely enjoyed those different experiences and being able to learn how to be a student athlete at that high level, because at that time I was committed to the university of Maryland at a young age, which is crazy.

Speaker 3:

So I'm really glad they changed the recruiting rules for young ladies. You all coming up now, but I was just working on my craft. So I went from throwing the ball, really learning how to pitch and the proper mechanics and then training my body and strength training and eating right and all that fun stuff is really when I clicked it all together in high school and so between high school and college I figured everything out. And then one thing led to another. I was reached out to by the New York Rise organization during actually during the Big Ten tournament last year and they were like hey, we're starting a team in New York and we want you to come be a part. And at the time, ladies, I did not know that I actually wanted to play professionally. That was not a dream I had growing up, as I was your all's age high school or even college. It really didn't click full time until about probably about my junior or senior year of college that this was actually an opportunity that I had. So that's my goal, though, is the reason why I play and do everything I do is to give you all more opportunities as you're continuing to grow in this sport, so that way, there's a thousand more opportunities to play professionally and to coach and do all these fun things that this sport can teach you throughout your lives.

Speaker 3:

All right, so a little bit just about this slide. Like we already mentioned, I became a professional last year, so I haven't even completed a full year yet, but I've learned a lot. I've been able to travel to, like I said, new York, the US Virgin Islands, like Coach Kara mentioned, as well as a team in Mexico, so I just came back from playing in two months, december and January in Leon, mexico, so if anybody kind of knows where that is, it's like in the middle. That was another great experience and, on the professional note, my ultimate goal is to play for Team USA in the 2028 Olympics. Got a couple opportunities to play for other countries, but either way, I hope to be there. So that's the ultimate goal.

Speaker 3:

The last thing I want to share with you all and we can like say I hope you have questions that I can touch more about in a little bit but just my brand. So, aside from actually playing and being a pitcher on the field, my brand, which are my initial CW and the number 42, is just how I carry myself and how I represent myself. I use it for everything. I use it for my girls when I'm coaching. I carry it proudly. Sometimes I even get my nails done with the number 42. It is something I truly just embody everything around.

Speaker 3:

So the logo in the center here is actually a logo I created for my professional career, which is my initials. And then court is in session is a fun slogan that my mom actually came up with. People now call me the judge in some of the professional settings I play in, because if y'all know how a judge has a gavel and they you know in court, when somebody's sentenced, they're done. Pitching terms when you strike out, you're done. It's a fun little little play on words, but just overall, I just wanted to share that with you all because, again, I think it's super important, um, to have a brand and something that you kind of just embody as a player, but also as a person, um, and definitely especially as a young woman. So that's just a little blurb about me. I'm excited to hear what questions you all have with my little screen here, and then I will toss it back to Coach Kira.

Speaker 2:

We'll toss it back to Coach Kira. Yeah, that's awesome. Thank you so much. Yeah, I mean, I think you really covered it, covered a lot of things. That's great. I think I would start off with one question before we kick it over to the girls. As far as, like, mental skills go like, what was your first exposure Like? When did you first become aware of the idea of mental skills and learning about how to train your mental skills along with your physical?

Speaker 3:

skills? That is a great question. I think when I first came across, it would be my seventh grade year, when I was being recruited for college Again, glad they changed the rules, because some of y'all might be seventh graders and like I'm not thinking about college. Yeah, I wasn't either. But that was the first thing that hit me like okay, this is a lot. I got colleges offering me scholarships. I don't know where I want to go in six years and it was just, it was all over the place.

Speaker 3:

So that was the first time that I really tapped into that mental toughness and read quite a few of the books. The Mind Gym, I believe it's called, was one of my favorite ones growing up and I still read it a couple of pages even to this day and just learning how to balance life and priorities, and all that because I didn't know I was going to play college softball and I knew that came with a lot, you know, of responsibilities. So that was the first time and then, just as I got older, it just slowly progressed into the the amount you know.

Speaker 2:

It obviously increased with the more responsibilities that I had yeah, and did you feel like at what point where you was it you're like your coach or your team that was leading out, like it sounds like you kind of discovered it on your own and did your own work, but like, was it not till college that you actually like had any access to those resources? Or when did you get exposed to, like the actual training it from your coaches or your team?

Speaker 3:

That's another great question. It honestly I A little bit in high school, my high school coach did bring in a sports psychologist to work with the team. A little bit we did. I will say I was exposed to more of like the meditation and calming your mind side of things in high school. I love doing yoga, so I've been doing that for a really long time. So just like meditating quickly before a game, visualization was something really big that I did throughout high school was something really big that I did throughout high school. But team wise and professionally wise, I would say it didn't click in until college, when I actually had a sports psychologist I could go talk to about everything. My coach made it a point to bring her into practices and to games and all that stuff and just really diving into how you can perform when you're, you know, might not be feeling your best or when you are feeling your best. So just really looking at both sides of the coin. But yeah, that's a good question, yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's I mean. That's one of the reasons why our goal is to try and get it before then, like way earlier way before college yeah that's when these can really be super helpful. All right, well, ladies, um, if you guys want to go ahead and ask courtney some questions, uh, we already got a hand up whose hands up? Uh, uh, sophia, I see, sophia, you got your hand up. Whose hand's up, sophia? I see, sophia, you got your hand up. You want to unmute and go ahead and ask your question?

Speaker 4:

What are the squishmallows you have and, out of those ones, which is your favorite?

Speaker 3:

Okay, so I'm going to answer that backwards. My favorite is Courtney, because her name is Courtney, like my name here. I'll show you real quick, it's right here. So she's. I also love cats, so she's a purple cat and purple is my favorite color. So this is Courtney. And then I also have a donut, because I love donuts. Her name is Willow. I have a dog whose name is Andrea, a tiny little rabbit like the small one, a mini one. Her name is Satine, and then a chocolate bar named Chalky, because I couldn't think of anything else. Great question.

Speaker 2:

I knew as soon as you put the squishmallows on that side, I was like she's going to get a question about squishmallows.

Speaker 3:

My kids are crazy for squishmallows I love, I love my squishies. I love pillows.

Speaker 2:

All right, andy, got your hand raised.

Speaker 4:

What is your favorite pitch to throw?

Speaker 3:

Great question, honestly, a change up. My change up is one of your favorite pitch to throw. Great question, honestly, a change up. My change up is one of my favorite pitches to throw because, okay, so I throw hard, I guess I could have thrown that in there. Um, I am a power pitcher so I throw consistently 74 to 75 miles per hour and I have my fastest speed is 77 miles per hour. So having the speed, then throwing in the change up at 55 56 is is absolutely it's a neutralizer.

Speaker 3:

So that's nasty yeah it's a really big difference um but, otherwise, if you take out the change up my drop curve, my drop curve drop ball variation is is also one of my favorites.

Speaker 2:

Great question yeah, I think that change up gets gets overlooked a lot of time in softball. We have such cool spins and stuff like that, but if you can effectively use a change up gets gets overlooked a lot of time in softball. We have such cool spins and stuff like that, but if you can effectively use a change up, man, no one's gonna ever be able to square up. That's exactly. It's makes you look silly. You get up there. Um, all right, katie how many pitches do?

Speaker 3:

you know. You said how many pitches or pitchers, pitchers, pitchers. So I know how to throw every single pitch in our sport, but my main ones, I would say, are the four. So in order fastball, like I said, because of the speed I'm able to locate it and it has a little bit of a wiggle. My curveball, my drop ball and then drop curve. Those are like my go-tos, my, my arsenal. But I do know how to throw a rise ball and I also know how to throw a screwball and then change up. So I know all of them. But again, at my level, you have an arsenal, you have a go-to. I kind of focus on those first four that I mentioned.

Speaker 2:

But yes, it's been fun yeah, what would you, what would your advice be to young pitchers? So most of these girls are in like the 11, 12, 13, 14 range. We've got a few of the older girls, but so what? What would be your suggestion for pitchers starting out, like how many pitches should they try and be throwing and when?

Speaker 3:

One to two master your fastball first. Really the rule of thumb, like Coach Carr just said, actually, fastball change up, you want to be able to master both of those. And mastery when I them. Like coach car just said, actually fastball change up. You want to be able to master both of those. And mastery when I'm teaching my girls is effectiveness, consistency and accuracy right. So being able to locate it on both corners, high and low, being able to mix in your change up at any time, whether it's on a 0-2 count or a 3-0 count, you want that's mastery of a good change up. And then your effectiveness of being able to keep batters off balance with those two pitches.

Speaker 3:

Once you get to that point and you're able to do that consistently which is about that six to seven out of 10 range reasonably, then I suggest you start learning another pitch based on what your body wants to do. The biggest thing when I'm teaching my young pitchers is if you have a natural stride where you get really far out and you're on your front side, then a drop ball might be the way to go instead of me trying to teach you a rise ball, which is the complete opposite of what your body naturally wants to do. Learn your body, and that goes for all positions. Learn what your body wants to do, especially with hitting, with fielding, throwing, pitching. Learn your body. That's the biggest thing when you are going to practice and stuff. Ask questions, coach, you're telling me to put my arm here, but I don't understand why they can explain it, because that's learning your body. So that's a great question, that's awesome.

Speaker 2:

All right, estella, get your hand up. What's?

Speaker 1:

your go-to when you're facing adversity.

Speaker 3:

Great question On my glove is the words the four um, and that stands for breathe, be believe battle. So it's the four B's. And that stands for breathe, be believe battle. So it's the four Bs. I have had that on my gloves since I was allowed to create my first glove, actually like back in high school, so that's my go-to right. Whether it's you know, I just gave up a home run and everybody's looking at me like oop, or if I just struck out the side and we're still feeling a little like, you know, something's not working, I'm looking at my glove immediately and I'm thinking of those four B's. Especially in adversity, I center myself kind of around that, so figuring out which B do I need right here in this moment. Do I need to breathe a little bit more? Do I need to believe in myself and not let the opponent, you know, intimidate me? Do I need to focus and battle in the situation, right, or just locking in and figuring out where I need to center myself in that moment throughout diversity, great question.

Speaker 2:

That's great. Say the B's again. What was it?

Speaker 3:

Breathe B, which stands for be in the moment Right Believe battle.

Speaker 2:

I love it. That's awesome. More B's? Yes. All right, sophia. You got another question. Is it more squishmallows?

Speaker 4:

No, Okay, go ahead. What's your favorite like mental skill technique?

Speaker 3:

That's a good one, okay, so breathing, but like, let me see, let me see, how can I explain this? The best way I can explain it is, honestly, breathing to a song it is. It might not make sense when I kind of let me try to articulate a little better. So some, most of the time, I have a song like in my head when I'm pitching, whether it's like something I just heard in my pregame, something that's on the speakers during the game, somehow one way, another song always ends up in my head. So, depending on the speakers during the game, somehow one way, another song always ends up in my head. So, depending on the pace of the song and how, my, how I'm feeling like heart rate wise and all that, I actually will breathe like kind of to that, the beat of the song. Does that make sense? It's different, it's a little weird.

Speaker 2:

Um, I haven't heard of that one that's awesome, yeah yeah, because I'm also of rhythm, so I like moving.

Speaker 3:

I can't just go sit down and, and you know, sit in a corner, unless I'm mad, and then in which case I need to do that for a second, but then I'll get up and start dancing, a little bit, kind of just moving and just getting some type of rhythm. Yeah, so breathing as I'm, like moving my body and just really releasing whatever emotions I have, typically, like I said, sitting and just staring into space is not my move, my move, unless, like I said, emotions get high, which is, you know, we're athletes, but but yeah that's, that's my technique.

Speaker 3:

It's different, I will say, but it works, at least it has.

Speaker 2:

I mean, it's the same idea, right? It's just like clearing your mind and tapping into something outside of your body so that you can like kind of recenter. I mean, that's exactly what the breathing is supposed to do. So.

Speaker 4:

Exactly, exactly.

Speaker 2:

And that Lauren had written her question in the chat. She said what's your favorite breathing technique? Now we know breathing to music. Try that one out, ladies. We teach box breathing is one of the breathing techniques that we teach, so I'm sure you've heard of that.

Speaker 3:

I have that's what these girls are calling morphine.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, okay, what else, ladies?

Speaker 3:

These are great questions, you all. They can be about anything Like I am the most open mist of books like you will ever see.

Speaker 2:

We haven't had any food questions. Where's our food questions? Yeah, andy, I saw you grabbed your squishmallow. Andy, what's your squishmallow's named?

Speaker 3:

oh, sawyer oh, sawyer, wait, is he in a squirrel? That's so cute adorable.

Speaker 2:

I love it um, do you?

Speaker 3:

handle? Ah, that's a good question. So, not professionally, I I don't hit um my professional now. I used to hit early. I used to hit a lot in high school. I hit all the time in high school, a little bit for travel ball depending on the situation, and a little bit my first couple of years of college. Fun story. That's not really funny but it's funny Now.

Speaker 3:

I hurt myself really bad diving my freshman year and it scarred my coach for life. Um, let me get much after that. But on the other side, be careful. Pitchers who do hit, you gotta be careful. Pitchers who do hit you got to be careful. Obviously it comes with its own set of risks, but I do love pitchers who hit. I think it gives you a different perspective of the of the plate. Obviously, in different pitches it gives you a little bit advantage on honestly. But I love hitting because in my free time it's something I can still do. Like I said, it just requires a lot of effort and energy that I sometimes don't have because of pitching. But I definitely encourage my younger pitchers to definitely still hit when you pitch and even as you get older, keep that in the arsenal. It's just something you know you have to give a couple extra minutes to when you're working out, but keep it in the arsenal if you can. Yes, great question.

Speaker 2:

Here's a question for you. Yes, could you hit you? No?

Speaker 3:

that's a great question. I could okay, I could possibly hit. I'm actually a really good change up hitter, so that'd probably be the only pitch I would be able to hit off myself all right, you can hit you then.

Speaker 2:

Yes, all right. Um, let's see, haley, you haven't asked a question yet. Go ahead ask a question.

Speaker 4:

What is like the best food to like eat before a game that's a good question.

Speaker 3:

So I'm more of a smoothie girl. I will say um before games, but really before and after. But before, especially, I'll go to a good smoothie, a good protein smoothie, um, a small size, especially about two to three hours or so, depends on how your digestive system works, but I would go a smoothie or if I'm really feeling fancy, as you. I mentioned earlier, I'm a donut girly, so Duncan was always the pregame in college. My best friend and I would go right to the Duncan and then drive to the field. So I was, I was a, I was a donut, but that's not for everybody. It just it depends though. Some like some type of protein, so some type of like chicken or beef, whatever you, you eat like that a small sandwich protein. So some type of like chicken or beef, whatever you, you eat like that a small sandwich, a good little Gatorade or something like that to get your energy up but nothing too heavy on the stomach basically is how you want to approach your pregame meals.

Speaker 3:

What's your go-to donut then? Sprinkles. Yep, what was it? Chocolate frosted with sprinkles. All right, yeah, that's good. I used to eat one almost every day, every before every game.

Speaker 2:

It was not not good, but you know it's fine. It's called balance. Yes, all right, katie, you have another question what is your favorite dessert?

Speaker 3:

donuts. It is donuts, it's terrible, but yes, donuts at any time, morning, breakfast, dessert, it doesn't matter. I, I'm gonna have donuts after this. Call, ladies, let's. I'm just gonna be honest with y'all uh, all, right, sophia, another one two things.

Speaker 4:

This is one of my favorites. Her name's joy.

Speaker 3:

She's a purple sugar glider oh my goodness, I love it. Yes, purple, see, love joy.

Speaker 4:

She and I would get along great and then uh on it what's your favorite ice cream flavor?

Speaker 3:

oh, that's a good one. Uh, cookies and cream and cookie dough are like neck and neck. They're like 1a, 1b. Those are my go-toos Awesome.

Speaker 2:

All right. Any other? Any other burning questions? All right? Well, I've got one final one that we always ask people.

Speaker 3:

Coach Carr, I think Estella had one. She raised her hand real quick.

Speaker 2:

Oh, go ahead, Estella. Did you play any other sports in high?

Speaker 4:

school other than softball.

Speaker 3:

That's a good question. So I did not. But again I'm going to. I'm going to answer the question and circle back.

Speaker 3:

I always recommend that young ladies do play other sports. It helps you train your total body, it helps your athleticism, it helps your mind. Even if softball is a sport that you want to play like and you want to go to college for it, give yourself something else to do, just even like for fun and just kind of to keep your body going. I did not because, like I said, when I was growing up it was very like you picked a sport, you were locked in and I knew I was going to college, so that's all I really had time to do in school. But again, I definitely wish I had played volleyball. That would have been my other sport if I wasn't a softball player. Volleyball or tennis, serena Williams is my idol, so I would have been like clean over there. But I'm like very happy with softball. Um, but yes, again, cannot emphasize the importance enough play another sport just for fun. Build your athleticism, different skills, coordination, all that fun stuff.

Speaker 2:

great question so I love to hear. I've played volleyball and basketball in high school as well. Oh exactly, good sports. All right, haley'm going to give you the last question and then I'll ask my last last question and then we'll close up. Go ahead, haley.

Speaker 4:

How do you stay motivated?

Speaker 3:

Oh, that's a good one. Good last question, haley. Now I stay motivated because softball and, like I said earlier, pitching is truly my passion. The other side, the other P word that I love, is my purpose, and my purpose is to do exactly what we're doing on this call and what I do literally every day of my life, which is to teach and to inspire the next generation of softball players. So every time I get an opportunity to play myself, I'm doing it for you all. I'm doing it for the kids I work with here. I'm doing it for you all. I'm doing it for the kids I work with here. I'm doing it for all girls that have just come to a game randomly, that type of thing. So that's my motivation now, because I truly love what I do. I don't see it as work. I don't see going to train or coach my girls as work. I don't even see going to play as work. It's truly just. My passion is what I want to be doing.

Speaker 3:

When I was your age, my motivation was to play in college. That was something I dreamed of, and another motivation I had was my family. They were a really big piece of my growing up career. I had a very, very tight support circle and so every time they drove three hours to get me into a practice I was motivated to show them that I wanted to be at that practice and to get my my maximum effort. So again, the motivation has never changed. It's just grown with with time and with my thankful maturation of life. But that was a really good question.

Speaker 2:

All right. Last question that we ask everybody that comes through If you could go back in time, if you had a time machine, you could go back in time and tell yourself little Courtney, whatever that means to you, so junior, high, high school, whatever what would you tell her If you could go?

Speaker 3:

back in time To always believe in herself and to I let me see, that's a good question. Oh, coach, you let me see that's a good question. Oh, coach, you got me on that one hold on. It's a thinker. Yeah, it is.

Speaker 3:

It is, um, yes, the first thing I would tell my younger self is to to believe in herself. When I was y'all's age, kind of growing up, I had a lot of doubt, right, a lot of self-doubt. People kind of always likes it the thrower versus pitcher, that whole phase I went through learning how to pitch and things like that. So I would tell her to forget what those people are saying and to go believe in herself and have the confidence that she could become a D1 pitcher. And the other thing I would say is to adopt the mentality that I have like now. I wish I had adopted a little bit sooner. So the confidence, the energy, like I said, the passion, I would have told myself when I was younger to figure that out a lot sooner, before, you know, before I did.

Speaker 3:

But again, I can't preach that confidence piece enough Believe in yourself. I don't care if everybody is telling you that they don't think you can. You always find it within that you, you definitely can't. Ladies, and that's what I want to leave you all with Continue to believe in yourself. Have that confidence to go out there and do whatever it is that you set your mind to. It's going to carry you beyond just the field. It's going to carry you into being really strong women in life. Great question.

Speaker 2:

Awesome. Well, courtney, thank you so much, like I feel like I'm like it's bedtime for me and I'm like amped up, but I'm like ready to go out and play.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think I think that's great. I think you shared some great wisdom. I hope, ladies, I hope you guys enjoy getting to chat with Courtney and you guys can follow her along with the with the New York rise. We'll be looking for you in the Olympics. This has been really awesome to have you here tonight, so we really really want to thank you for taking your time to do this with us.

Speaker 3:

Thank you for having me, coach Kara. Thank you, ladies, for coming on board on your Monday evening. I know, like I said, you are probably wrapping up at school here soon, but again, just keep having fun with it, okay? Thank you so much for your time.

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Amanda Schaefer

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