The Fearless Warrior Podcast

106: How Faith Powers Performance with Laurèn Schiek

• Amanda Schaefer

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This week, we are re-airing our May mentorship call with Laurèn Schiek, retired softball player and podcast host. She explains how maintaining her identity in Christ rather than in softball outcomes allowed her to play fearlessly and persevere through injuries, coaching changes, and a life-changing diagnosis.

Episode Highlights:

• Emphasizes having identity rooted in faith rather than athletic performance
• Shares practical mental reset routines: breath work and physical cues
• Discusses the importance of showing confidence and composure
• Encourages athletes to master their craft through consistent extra work
• Highlights the value of playing with and against talented athletes to elevate your game

Connect with Laurèn:

IG: @laurenschiek23

FB: https://www.facebook.com/laurenschiek23

Podcast: For His Glory


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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:

Hello ladies, good evening, happy Memorial Day, glad to see you guys here. We got a good group here. This is a nice, solid group of girls showing up tonight, so I'm glad that you guys all could make it and we're super happy to have tonight as our mentor for our mentorship call. We have Loren Chic is here, and she is from Wisconsin originally, so she's a Midwesterner. She played her college ball at two different schools. She started out at Santa Clara, which is in California, and then she moved to Abilene Christian, which is that's in Texas, right? Yep, yeah, okay, that's it. That was that. She pitched at both of those schools and we're really excited that she is here to talk to us. So, lauren, go ahead, take it away, introduce yourself to these girls.

Speaker 3:

Hi guys, it's great to be with you guys and I appreciate you guys taking the time to jump on this call tonight. Really blessed to get to play at two different schools, as Coach Cara was saying, and really that is something that when I was your age I had a dream of doing. I wanted to go play at the highest level and I wanted to also pursue business, and that's something that I was really passionate about, and I'm sure you guys also have passions and gifts and talents that God's given you outside of just softball, and that was something that I really wanted to pursue wholeheartedly as well. So that's what kind of led me out to Santa Clara originally, and growing up I had been blessed with a lot of success at the when I first started out playing softball. You know we won national championships, state championships, like it was kind of winning was the norm, like we didn't go seasons with with a loss, and so then, getting to college, I had a different experience that was a little bit more challenging in that route, but also learned so much through that as well. But through it all, what I can truly say is that, like through the wins, through the losses, like through all those things that you guys are going to experience throughout your career is, like, what has helped me the most is just maintaining my relationship with Christ and keeping that at the center of everything I've done, because really, like you know, you can have really high highs, you can have really low lows in life, but when you have Christ at, like, the center point, like it just keeps you at peace through it all and it also allows you to go out and play fearless, just like fearless fast pitch. You know so, but yeah, so, anyways, I had been blessed with the opportunity to go out also play with Team USA in the Dominican Republic right before high school, and so that was a really unique experience as well and just really makes you appreciate the game and really makes you appreciate how blessed we are to live in this country. We're experiencing Memorial Day weekend this weekend, so we're getting to just remember all people that have sacrificed so much for our country and truly, you just see such a difference when you go out and you experience other countries and you play overseas and things like that, like you really see how blessed we are to be here. And so another thing that I would really want to hone in is just being grateful for all the blessings that we do have living here in this country and the opportunity to even play the game.

Speaker 3:

And my last season last season actually, of playing softball I started to notice that I had have troubled vision, like seeing in my left eye. I noticed I was playing at the University of Texas and we were under the lights. It was a big game and I ended up just calling time with my catcher. I said, hey, I'm having trouble seeing, and I ended up finishing out the season like by the grace of God, like had success, but found out I had a brain tumor the whole time while I was playing and a lot of people had no idea that I was experiencing like fatigue and a lot of different symptoms, but I just kept pressing on through it. And so for the past two years now being outside of softball, I've been going through treatment for a brain tumor and, um, after six months of treatment I miraculously had my vision restored completely, like truly by the grace of God, like they. The tumor had gotten so big it was resting on my optic nerve, so it's right behind your eyes, and a lot of times when a tumor gets that big, um, it'll actually sever that completely, and so you won't be able to see, and so, like it's a miracle, like to this day, like I truly believe that um, jesus truly healed my vision.

Speaker 3:

So, um, but yeah, so I've experienced that in my own life as well, and I feel like, going through softball and going through all these things, like I felt like the Lord had really prepared me to be able to now go through this in my life.

Speaker 3:

And that's something I also want you guys to really take away is that softball is such an amazing opportunity to be able to go through hard things, um increase, just like work ethic.

Speaker 3:

You know, have something that you're diligent in, um that you go after wholeheartedly, be able to work with other people. There's so many amazing um abilities and characteristics and traits that you get to learn by being on a team and working with others. But, most of all, it also prepares you for all the other things that God has in store for you. Um, all these different challenges cause life's not always going to be easy, but when you're able to continue to persevere and endure, just like you do when you're playing softball right, we're not always going to experience success 100% of the time, but being able to deal with that, being able to quickly recover and fix your eyes on something greater. And you know, I think that that really just keeps you level headed, confident and truly being able to play fearless. So, yeah, I would love to get into some, maybe some tangible tools or something that's really helped me throughout my career. But yeah, that's kind of the background, a little bit of like where I come from, where I've played, and yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 2:

I don't know how I missed that in my research about you this whole, the whole brain tumor thing. Wow, that's. That's quite the quite the experience to go through. What do you think? What do you think you took from softball? What, what helped you, that you learned in softball that helped you with your battle against cancer, like what transferred over. Do you think from from those experiences?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, also like to clarify like my tumor is benign, so it's not malignant or anything. It's under control. It's still there. I just had an MRI but it's it's coming down like, praise the Lord, so we're hopefully going to be gone with, done with, this chapter soon. But if not, like still just thankful that the Lord has been carrying me through it and really strengthened me in this time.

Speaker 3:

And I feel like that's one of those things is that when you go through like really hard things, it's an opportunity to be refined and strengthened. And like when you go through a tough workout and you go through you know the extra work that you put in outside of on the field and you put in all those reps. You put in all of the just effort, the time, energy, the hard work behind it. You got to go through that grind to get the glory and to experience any type of glory, and really I don't want the glory to be for my own. Like I want to glorify God with my life and that's my goal and that's my purpose and that's where I put my identity in, so I'm not putting my identity on. You know, all these maybe accolades that I've received or all these worldly things that the Lord has blessed me with, but really, like my, I want to just deflect that and give that to the Lord, because he's given me the opportunity to even go out there and even play and to even endure all these things. You know, and I would say for you guys too, like God didn't give us like a spirit of fear, but he gave us a spirit of power, of love and of sound mind, and that's really what came to mind just thinking of fearless, fast pitch is. But he gave us a spirit of power, of love and of sound mind, and that's really what came to mind just thinking of Fearless, fast Pitch, is that he gave you confidence and you can have confidence in him. You don't have to just rely on your own strength.

Speaker 3:

And I feel like a lot of times, like we go out on the field and we've put in all the work, we've put in all the reps, so we can just go on and be confident in who God's created us to be and he's given you guys all unique gifts and talents. So I would really hone in on what specific talent has the Lord given me? How can I maximize that? How can I be the best at that one thing. Obviously, it's amazing to be versatile. I hit as well, so I pitched and I hit for a lot of my career.

Speaker 3:

But I would say, master your craft and work at that with all that you have. Go after it 100 percent, and you never want to look back and say I could have done more. Like I would just say, put 100 percent of your eggs in that basket and do all that you can to be prepared. So when you get up for that big moment, when you're on the games on the line, you want to be the one that says, yeah, put me in, coach, I want to be up there, put me in the game.

Speaker 3:

Like you want to be the one that says, yeah, put me in, coach, I want to be up there, put me in the game. Like you want to have the ball in your hand. You know, because you're prepared. But ultimately your confidence isn't in what the result is, your confidence isn't in or your identity and your purpose isn't in the result. It's a blessing when you're able to dominate and conquer that, but for me, like having it in Christ, like I can go out there fearlessly because I know that at the end of the day, this doesn't define me. It's a blessing in my life but and it's something that I'm going out there knowing that I've prepared for this opportunity, so you guys can experience that freedom in that too.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we talked about that a lot in the Fearless Warrior program, right, ladies, where your identity is more than softball and that you need to have other parts of your life that are important as well, and so that's great that you found that in your faith, that that that's something that anchors you, and we all need to find those things that anchor us for sure to help us, both on and off the field, to be the best that we can be.

Speaker 2:

So that's awesome. Um, you talked a little bit about in high school and I think most high level athletes can relate that when you're younger, you like were the best all the time. You're always winning, you're always, always, you know, reaching these goals. And then you go to college and it just ups the ante that much more. So what was that transition like for you? Going from high school, where you're like the big fish in a little pond, going to California, which is, like you know, a huge softball state, and playing at a school, and all of a sudden being in college, like? What was that transition like and how did you, how did you adjust to that? How did you cope with that?

Speaker 3:

yeah, um, you know, it was such a blessing too to have the opportunity to go out there, because I know that at the time when I was getting recruited, it was really hard to get those looks, to even be seen to go out that way. Um, and getting out there, I just really prepared, like that summer I would work, be just training every single day, and sometimes you have to also sacrifice a lot of other things so that you're able to focus on your goals and stay focused on and you know, what's at hand. And so for me, like throughout high school and things like that, like I wasn't going to the football games or whatever, I was just working in my basement, just training pitching reps into a tarp, into my basement, like that's really how I started, and from you could say like humble beginnings, truly like just throw into a tarp, you know, like by myself and because I knew that that was my goal. And so sometimes you do have to make those sacrifices, but I do feel as though I it had paid dividends for me, um, and getting to go out there and play, I was definitely prepared like, um, physically, like I came in doing great and I ended up just having some really tough injuries, um, throughout my career that really were hard, were challenging but also strengthening in a lot of ways mentally, because I felt as though being able to persevere through those things and it humbles you in a way that you really appreciate things a lot more as well.

Speaker 3:

So I got out there and I ended up overtraining a lot and, due to that not having enough rest and things like that I ended up fracturing my shins. So coming in, I had, I was on crutches and a lot of things like that that had happened. That transpired, um, but again, like the opportunity to overcome those injuries and just keep persevering like that's, that's just going to make you stronger in life, um, that's going to make you stronger, obviously, as a competitor and as a warrior on the field, but also just life in general, you know, um, because we're all going to face different challenges. But how are we going to respond to those things? How are we going to overcome them? Keep battling through and fighting through it, you know.

Speaker 3:

So, yeah, getting to play out at Santa Clara was a huge blessing. You know. It's great to see that they made it to the NCAA tournament this year and great to see that for the program and I had multiple coaching changes in my time there as well. So, getting to learn under different, um, yeah, just a bunch of different coaching styles, so that's a blessing too. And getting to learn and how to work with different people, you know. Getting to learn, how can I, you know, make the best of the situation that I'm under? Like, how can I develop these relationships with my coaches or my teammates, and how can I get the best out of my teammates and those around me? And? And just be a light, you know, in any way that you can be. And, um, getting with COVID, I was able to get a year back of eligibility, so that's what brought me out to Texas, so I was able to get my master's there as well.

Speaker 3:

And, um, I would say the biggest thing is, like, no matter where you're at, whether you're playing, like if you're in the Midwest, whether you're playing down south, wherever you're playing just be the best. That, like you can be. And I would say, like, don't let that. Maybe there's a ton of talent around you. Like, don't let that. You want to be around the best, because that just makes you better. There's continues to elevate you by training with the best. So I wouldn't say don't get intimidated by that, but you can respect the talent but also be elevated by that, and you want iron sharpens iron. So you just want to continue to be sharpened by the best people around you, you know so yeah, so I think that it's a blessing to get to play with the best, because that only is going to strengthen you ultimately and bring out the best in you and bring out that competitor in you too.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, just being able to keep that perspective, I think is really helpful, that it's good to go up against people that are better than you, but I know a lot of people we've had lots of speakers that have come and talked about that transition from high school to college can be, or you know, whatever.

Speaker 2:

Even just going from your JV team to your varsity team, that jump in talent level can sometimes be daunting and to just, you know, stay the course and persevere. That's a great, a great message, All right? Well, we will go ahead and open it up to you, girls, If anyone wants to. You can either ask a question of Loren in the chat or you're welcome to unmute and ask your question of Loren in the chat. Or you're welcome to unmute and ask your question. We'll get. We'll turn the time over to you guys to ask her whatever. Whatever questions you want, She'll, she'll answer them all. What do you got for her? Oh, someone, Andy, you got your hand up. Go ahead, unmute.

Speaker 3:

What's your favorite Bible verse?

Speaker 3:

That's a great question.

Speaker 3:

Well, I wouldn't say I really have one right now, but the verse that I say to you was 2 Timothy 1.7, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and sound mind, and so that's one that really came to mind as I was just thinking about Fearless Fast Pitch.

Speaker 3:

But another one it's a whole chapter of Isaiah, isaiah 41, um, and it just talks about Isaiah 41, 10 specifically, something that I've really been anchoring in and honing in on throughout my um treatment for my brain tumor, and it just talks about how the Lord's going to strengthen you and uphold you with his righteous right hand and how he's going to continue to just he can be our strength. You know, when we feel weak, like he is always strong, and that's something that's also been really helping me throughout this time in my life right now. So if you ever feel weak, we can just seek the Lord and ask him and truly like he's going to give us a strength that is not even of this world, like he's going to help us through it and continue to carry us through it. Good question.

Speaker 2:

Katie asked in the chat what's your favorite food.

Speaker 3:

Ooh, that's a good one. Have you ever had an acai bowl? There you go, the smoothie bowl. Those are really good.

Speaker 2:

Those are really good. Sophia asked what made you start to play softball. So how'd you find softball?

Speaker 3:

yeah, that's a good question too. Um, so I actually played baseball when I was little and, um, I was, the boys were starting to get way stronger than me, and so I was competing with them. But it got to a point where my parents were like it's time to play softball, so I had to switch over. They were starting to get a little too strong for me at the time.

Speaker 2:

So, yeah, what age was that? How old were you when you switched over?

Speaker 3:

I was sort of I believe it was like 11, around 11. So I played baseball for a couple of years when I was younger and then made the switch over.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome, yeah it didn't used to be as available as it is now.

Speaker 3:

It was a lot smaller.

Speaker 2:

All right, Chloe, you got your hand up. Go ahead and unmute.

Speaker 3:

How did you just like to remember to have faith in Christ through, like all your injuries? That's a really good question. I would say that it really just comes from seeking him in prayer, just asking the Lord, that Lord, would you just help me with this, um, and just come to him with a open heart and just really it just can be a simple prayer, you know, and just really developing that prayer life. And then, secondly, something that I always carry with me, no matter if I was going to play in California or Texas, wherever, I would always bring my Bible and really just have his word by me all the time so that I can refer to his word, as I know that it's a truth.

Speaker 3:

And sometimes our thoughts can get, you know, sometimes we can have negative thoughts, but when we seek the Lord's word, like it's true and he can, it can speak life into us, and so I am so encouraged by that and knowing that I can get a strength from God's word. So I would really, I would say the biggest weapons that you can have is seeking the Lord in prayer and then reading his word, and a lot of people don't even know that you can tap into that and once you do, man. It's just, it's amazing what God can do in your life, and he's got amazing plans for you, chloe, so just keep leaning on him.

Speaker 2:

I'm telling you All right Switching gears a little bit. But Katie asks what kind of car do you have?

Speaker 3:

Um. I have a Cadillac um XT5. I have a Cadillac XT5.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so that's her car. Caitlin and Cassidy Scott are asking how did you get so good? So what was the key to your success, do you think?

Speaker 3:

Well, I think the Lord really can bless us with a talent, for you know different talents like that he's given us, and so I think it's up to us at that point to steward those talents by just working hard and truly just. Maybe if I was on a team, like if I wasn't the absolute best player, I would just outwork them, I would out hustle, I would just put in more reps and I would just train as hard as I could. And I would even encourage you that if you're on your team and you're not the best player right now, who's to say that you can't be, you know. So just keep working hard, like, just put in the extra work behind the scenes when nobody's watching, like I would also encourage you to think about okay, what is it? Am I hustling, like, when nobody's around? Am I working hard when no one's there, or am I just kind of going through the motions?

Speaker 3:

And I would really too, if you're having trouble with that, I would just ask the Lord that he would give you just tenacity, that he would just give you a passion and more drive and more strength than that too, because he's giving you this talent for a reason this passion and this desire to be great at softball for a reason. So how can you steward that the best? And I would say just put in the work, because you're not going to get better just by sitting there doing nothing, you know. So just keep working hard and putting in those extra reps when nobody else is, and that's going to really separate you.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's. I think I just saw a quote, I think it was Tom Brady. I think it was a Tom Brady quote. That was like talent really doesn't matter that much, like what's way more important is is the work that you put in, and that's we. We always think, oh, I'm not good enough. It's like, well, you also just need to be willing to do what it takes to be better. So, um, sophia wants to know if you play any other sports.

Speaker 3:

I did. Growing up I played basketball as well, but once I got to high school I really just focused on training. So I would do high speed treadmill training a lot throughout my off season and so I got up to like over 21 miles an hour just like doing sprint training a lot and do some weightlifting as well and running and things like that. So I really focused on pitching, hitting and then like skill work like on my own and then in the off season, and then I also did like cardio and weight. So like between all those avenues I really just focused on how could I become the best athlete? Um, I also did a lot of like agility and things like that.

Speaker 3:

Um, but I knew that I wanted to play softball at the division one level, and so I really honed in on how can I just maximize my time in preparation for that. And I think it's amazing if you can play multiple sports as well. I just personally got a concussion that took me out of basketball and so I really don't want to risk another one going back into it. But if you guys play multiple sports, I think that's amazing. I know a lot of college coaches love to see that like that. You're versatile and you're able to do a lot of things too, but yeah, so that was kind of my story.

Speaker 2:

Great, I love the multi-sport athletes. That's my thing. What is your favorite pitch? Andy wants to know what's your favorite pitch.

Speaker 3:

Oh well, I was a left handed pitcher and I was more of a movement pitcher, so I would throw a lot of like drops and change ups. I would really try to keep the better soft balance. So I would say, yeah, between like a drop curve maybe it was like one of my favorites I threw a lot of like drop change curve. That was kind of my some screwballs too, but I would.

Speaker 2:

I would kind of just stay low in the zone once I got to college. So yeah, it was really fun.

Speaker 3:

What was? What was your best pitch to hit? What were you hunting out there? Well, once I got to college, I pretty much was just thrown just outside like low and so, or if I was going to get, I remember we played UCLA and so I actually got to hit off of Rachel Garcia.

Speaker 2:

Oh, that's awesome.

Speaker 3:

And so I knew everything was just going to be up. So I'm like I'm just going to tomahawk this thing Like I don't care. Did you slap from the left side? I did in high school, and then, once I got to college, I really didn't, and then I ended up breaking my hand, hitting in practice, and so then my senior year I wasn't able to hit anymore just because they wanted me to.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, like don't, don't break your hand again.

Speaker 3:

It was my pitching hand too, so that was really.

Speaker 2:

Oh man, your coach is kicking himself yeah.

Speaker 3:

Right.

Speaker 2:

That's funny.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so they know what they're. They know what they're like. They already got you kind of scouted out before, so they, they don't like the outside. You're probably gonna get that, so just be ready for that. What happened against Rachel Garcia? Did you hit her? Um, actually I did, but I flew. Well, I hit like a line like a one, like a liner, but it bounced like right before deep in second baseman, got me boom out. I was like to play. That was a nice hard hit. I'm gonna take it.

Speaker 2:

That's hey, you know it's hard enough sport, we don't need to, yeah, to dwell on making it harder. Um, chloe, you got another question, go ahead how did you, like, push yourself to train?

Speaker 3:

yeah, chloe, that's a good question. I would say that the biggest thing is you have to think about your goal, like, what is your goal? Like, do you? Because if we only train when it's easy, then we're not gonna like we have to do things that are hard when we don't want to do it. You know, and I think that's part of just growing in like mental toughness to in a way.

Speaker 3:

So I would think what's our, my end goal here? Like I want to be the best that I can be. So if I want to be the best that I can be, I have to know that I'm gonna have to do things that other people don't want to do, and maybe I don't even want to do it. So I'm just gonna have to push through that mentally and just know, hey, this is my goal, I'm committed to this and I'm gonna get this done, no matter the cost.

Speaker 3:

And um, I think a lot of times too, like just if you ask the Lord, lord, help me, um, help me get through this, help me stay diligent, help me be committed, you know, and that's something that the Lord can also help you with, um, in my experience, but I would say I just had a goal in mind. I knew what I wanted to accomplish and I knew that to get there is you're gonna have to work hard and you're gonna have to put in those hours behind the scenes. So I would just encourage you to just do the extra mile and do things that nobody else is doing. Work ethic wise, like put in all the reps you can do and go after it 100%, because when you do it pays off so much yeah, um, sophia wants to know how many different pitches do you throw, how many do you got?

Speaker 3:

yeah, um. So I threw a big repertoire between before getting to college and then once I got to college I kind of refined them. But in high school I was throwing fastball, change-up, drop, screw, curve and a rise ball. But then once I got to college I just kind of focused more on like fast change Well, not even really fast ball. I was really just throwing like drops, curves, change-ups and just kind of mixing it up that way, a little bit of screwball for the outside corner for me.

Speaker 3:

But yeah, I think if you can, yeah, if you can really master like those pitches and you're able to pinpoint them, I think it's kind of it's super valuable just being able to pinpoint your pitches and know exactly, because we have all the spray charts, like once you get to college.

Speaker 3:

I did too in high school. But, like at the college level, like you have so much statistics, you have so much to work with, you have the heat maps of everybody that you're playing, so you really know, um, the type of batters that you're facing, you know where, where their, you know hot spots are and things like that. So, just being able to pinpoint your pitches and know how to make them break as sharp as possible and things like that were huge at the college level, because you're facing, you know, great competition and so if you're putting anything over the plate, fat, like it's probably going to be out of the park, like there's not very much room for error. So I would just say, like working on like any type of consistency with all your pitches and precision in that, is like a huge asset.

Speaker 2:

Great. What was? This is my question for you. What was your like reset routine? Like, let's say, you're pitching someone you know hits a home run, or you know you let in a runner or you walk somebody. What did you do to reset yourself when something negative would happen as a pitcher?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, that's a great question. I think, physically too, I would have a physical reset and I would take a lot of deep breaths. So this is something that I really started working on once I got to college. I did a little bit in high school, but I really needed to have a different type of level of focus, because in high school there was a little bit more margin of error, and so they'll make you pay if you put, like I said, a pitch fat over the middle, like there's really no room for error in that regard.

Speaker 3:

So, um, being locked in every single pitch is so vital and whether you're a hitter, pitcher, whatever position you play, every single pitch matters, you know, because it could be that one pitch that you're, say, you're at third base, it's that one pitch that you're mentally not on, that the batter actually hits to you and then you're not ready for it or you're cut off balance, you know. So the biggest thing is how can you stay mentally locked in? And I think for me, like I would be praying throughout the game, but I also would be breathing and just like focusing on, like breath work. I think that was huge for me, just relaxing, and I would also grab some dirt and I would just have that kind of as a reset. I would have like a rosin bag as well, um, but I would just kind of scoop up some dirt and like physically like drop it, just be like that's reset, like this is a new one, just so I also have my mind, body, everything like connected, knowing that like hey, wipe that away. Um, sometimes I would take my foot and I would just put it across the dirt a little bit, just as a sign of like, okay, clean slate, new slate, next better. Because you have to just have really short-term memory. Um, if you're gonna dwell on an error that you just made or dwell on a bad pitch that you just made, well, you don't want that to keep spiraling. You need to like stop it right in its tracks and focus on okay, how can I bounce back? Because if you can recover really quick, that's going to be a huge asset and, um, also just staying composed in that too. So that's really where the breath work was super helpful for me.

Speaker 3:

And just staying cool, calm, collected, even though I maybe internally wasn't always. I would just want to showcase confidence on the mound, um, because your teammates also are feeding off of that as well. So just maintaining that confidence, that composure, you know having like good posture, um, because you also want to showcase that to your competitor too. You don't want to showcase, oh I'm scared, oh I'm, you know, anxious. No, you want to be confident, um, and you want your competitors to see you're, you're, this is who you're going up against, you know. You want them to see that you're ready to dominate and um. So I think your composure in that is huge as well.

Speaker 2:

Awesome, all right. Well, we're running short on time, so I'll ask you Sophia's last question, I'll ask you my last question and we'll go ahead and wrap up from there. But Sophia's last question. I could probably answer this, but it's. Did anybody hit a home run off of you? The answer is yes, I'm sure right. And then her follow-up to that is what did it feel like? That's kind of kind of a similar question, like you, just you just got through your reset, or what did it feel like terrible?

Speaker 3:

right. I would just say how great does it feel when you hit the home run yeah take that but make that the opposite that bad, yeah, yeah. I'm terrible, but yeah, I'm fond of the next one and you're not gonna be perfect nobody is. But besides, obviously, christ, you know it was perfect. But we you just gotta bounce back quick have very short-term memory and just know that, hey, I got another opportunity. I still got the ball in my hand. So you know, we got to dominate the next pitch.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, ladies, all of you I hope you all are watching the Women's College World Series right now. They've been some great games and if you are and if you're not, you should start and when you do watch them, you should watch for all of these things. These are some of the best players in the country right now. People are hitting home runs, People are getting out, People are making errors and you should be watching them and see what do they do next. So if you watch them I've seen tons of these girls you watch them. They have a focal point.

Speaker 2:

I was watching a girl the other day where she had, like, her bat right in front of her face and she was saying something to herself every time before she stepped in the box. So these ladies are doing the skills that we're teaching you. They're doing that self-talk, they're doing that grounding. They're doing that failure recovery, reset routines that they've got going down. So watch for those as you're watching these games, because those, these ladies, the best, some of the best in the country right now are using these exact skills that you guys are learning and they're having the exact same struggles. They don't. They don't get through a season without making errors. Like it just happens. Every team makes errors, but it's what you do after it that really matters. So, um, all right. Well, uh, we'll finish up. This is the last question we'd like to like ask everybody that comes through. Um, our question to you is if you had a time machine and you could go back in time and tell little Loren something, what would you say to yourself?

Speaker 3:

That's a great question. Um, I would say, just seek the Lord more, like, more and more and more, like that's the biggest thing. And I would say, just keep working hard, like you did, like I think, between both of those things, like work at it all the way as hard as you can and then seek the Lord with your whole heart, like that's the recipe for success. And yeah, so I would say those are the biggest things that have helped me in my life is number one is Christ, number two is just working hard, and that translates into business as well, and that's where I'm at right now in my life. And so, yeah, those are those two things right there. I would say, just keep going after 100 percent.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome. It's a great message to all of you All right, well, thank you so much, lauren, for coming. Thank you for sharing your story with us. Thank you for sharing your faith and all of your advice for these girls. We really appreciate you making the time to come out and talk to us tonight.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, you bet. Thank you for having me. It's great to meet you guys.

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Amanda Schaefer

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