The Fearless Warrior Podcast

118: Taking Talent to Their Full Potential with Coach Tim Walton

• Amanda Schaefer

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We have a special treat for you today. I had the privilege of interviewing Coach Tim Walton, Florida Gators Head Softball Coach. We unpack how Florida Softball sustains excellence through fit-first recruiting, honest feedback, routines, and preparation that drives confidence.


Episode Highlights:

• Whole-person development 
• Recruiting for culture fit and long-term relationships
• Confidence built from preparation, not praise
• Routines, resets, and portable processes
• Tell The Truth Tuesday and film with purpose


Connect with Coach Walton:

IG: @_timwalton




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Welcome And Coach Walton’s Legacy

SPEAKER_01

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, you're in the right place. Let's tune in to today's episode. Hall of Fame coach Tim Walden is in his 21st year at the helm of the Florida Gators softball program. Going into the 2026 season, Walton has amassed over 1,000 wins, two national championships, won nine regular season, and six SPC softball tournament championships, and appeared in 13 women's college World Series. It's safe to say that Florida has etched itself in the elite status of college softball. I have Coach Walton here with me live, and I cannot wait to give you a peek behind the scenes of your program and how you've built not only success, but a lasting legacy on the players that have gone on to do amazing things beyond their four years at Florida. Coach Walton, welcome to the Fearless Warrior Podcast.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, thank you. Thanks for having me on AB. Appreciate the time and obviously the ability to continue to not only grow the game, but the grow the minds of a lot of uh a lot of people young and old out there listening to the podcast today.

SPEAKER_01

I had a little birdie help me with what would I ask Coach Walton? And without word vomiting all over, I'm gonna open it up to you first. Where are you at? What are you doing at the moment of this recording? We're kind of in a dead period. We're looking towards the 2026 season. What's on your mind?

Beyond X’s And O’s: Whole-Person Development

SPEAKER_00

Not a lot. Um, it's funny. I I did all my exit meetings and um all my stuff with my players prior to Thanksgiving. I've started to do that now last few years. I I like that, just giving kind of everybody a rundown of where we were, you know, where we're headed, you know, the things necessary for you to head in the you know, the direct. I'm I'm a real I'm about shaping kind of what the the goals are to help the process along. So I'm not somebody who likes to say you're you do all these things right or wrong. It's like what what are your goals? What do you want to be? What how do you want to, and then we figure out how we want to get there. So um last two days um spent at Disney with my wife. Um, you know, we did uh a couple different parks and just uh it's good, just you know, you gotta you gotta have a little bit of personal time, uh especially with your family. My favorite month of uh of the calendar year is December. Like December is the the month where there's not a ton going on on or off campus, and it um it helps you kind of separate a little bit.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Well, and from the players I've talked to, and you've had some amazing prolific players, of we can talk about the success, right? And the the bio and the wins and the national championships. How are you developing these girls as players? It's really important to you, and I think we get caught up in the X's and O's. How are you developing beyond the X's and O's with your players, their relationships, you know, the whole player?

Recruiting Philosophy And Fit Over Hype

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, you know, uh having this the 2019 team, the USA team, I think we had five Florida Gators of the 17 or 16 on the roster to qualify for the Olympics. That was pretty dang special. Um, so as a coach, you know, it's like a it's like a like a parenting kind of a moment where you see your young players really aspire to be something they've dreamed of their whole entire life. And so for some, they never even dreamed of it because it's it's probably not even something they ever even imagined they could do. And then by the time the Olympics set in, obviously after the pandemic, we had three three athletes medal, the first Florida softball medal winners in the sport of softball. So that was pretty cool to see um, you know, see Kelsey, Michelle, and Aubrey, you know, achieve that. Um, and then uh two days ago, we had six players you know taken for the inaugural um athletes unlimited. Um, you know, when what they're basically doing is taking six teams and putting six teams together to play professionally in the United States, which is something that hasn't happened um you know in a long time. We've had a bunch of different pro leagues and a bunch of different you know teams trying to achieve success. Now you've got Major League Baseball endorsing, you know, the young women aspiring to be professionals, which they deserve it. They deserve it on this in this country too, because obviously between you know the United States and Japan, um, you know, two of the best countries in the world competing for for medals every single year. So um awesome opportunity for our six athletes that get a chance to kind of um again uh carry the baton, pass the torch, if you would, to uh to to taking softball to another level. And I think that's the the best part about what I get to do is I get to see a lot of people do things first. It's the first time they've ever done this, first time they've been married, have kids, graduate, you know, all the things that happened in their lives first. And I think that's the coolest part of my job is um there really is no X's and O's to how those things get done. Each person's, you know, journey to what they view as um you know an accomplishing life is really what I support. You know, I think that's the best part of my job is is uh I don't really try to bring people in here and you know, cookie cut them into a way. It's here's what do you want to be? All right, well, let's figure out how we can do that. How can we, you know, you want to major, you want to be a doctor? Corby Otis, you know, she just got drafted a couple days ago. She's she's gonna be a doctor. You know, she's gonna go to medical school. So, what are you gonna do in the offseason, Corby? Oh, I'm going to medical school at the University of Florida. Yeah, I know I'm, you know, so that's the best part about what I get to do is I get to watch and be a be a small part of uh of the lives of people aspiring to be you know great at anything they want to be. And I think that's uh that's that's that's what I recruit them to be. Hey, what do you want to be? You know, you can be anything you want at the University of Florida, it's the everything school, and um, and it's been a been a cool seat for me.

SPEAKER_01

That's awesome. And some of the names that you named, I can't imagine getting to be recruited, right? I've watched some of your gals get recruited that I've followed on Instagram, and you get recruited to a school like Florida, you know what culture you're stepping into. How do you prepare the freshmen? Like, what does that conversation look like? I know freshman year is just they're drinking from the fire hose, they're learning the program, the culture. How are you just bringing them into Florida softball? Like, what is how intentional are you with with that first year?

SPEAKER_00

Well, I think the first year really kind of is you know a lead up or or I lead up before that. So one of the things I try to do in recruiting, you know, you can take the men the names you've mentioned before. Aubrey obviously is a great story of recruitment. Um, you know, it's funny about Aubrey. I was I was in Brea, California. She went to Bray O Linda High School. I'm at the local Chick-fil-A where all the kids go for lunch, and I'm just picking up something before practice, before going to watch her play high school. Um, it was actually a high school practice that she played shortstop at, not catcher, but that's another story. Um, but um I try to, I tell all the athletes that I recruit, okay, we've got, you know, right now I have three other coaches, myself, Stephanie, Francesca, and Eric. Eric's our recruiting coordinator, but my job is to build a relationship with everybody that I recruit. You know, my coaches are really good. They can come and go, they can be the next head coach at whatever institution they want to be at. And um, so I want to make sure that my athletes understand that you're building a relationship with me that's gonna last forever. And um I don't want this to be about, hey, let's we want to be an all-American, we want to win a national championship. No, you number one, what do you want to get your degree in? Okay. Number two, you know, you know, what what things are important to you in life? And um, and it's my job to hold them accountable to their um to no, I don't micromanage, I don't get overly involved in personal lives if they don't need, I only get involved if they need me to or want me to. And I think they're two different things. Um, but I think ultimately um I try to build a great relationship with my athletes. And and and in most cases, um it's it's not super, super, super personal. Like I don't have to know all the things about your you know, your relationships or your family life or your family struggles or you know, whatever it is. But you might have financial struggles, you might have academic struggles, um, you might have a learning disability. There's so many things that go into you know people. And um I try to be a I try to build the relationship with them so they can trust me to say, hey, I'm really struggling with this. How can um I get help? And I'm usually gonna say, listen, I can help you on this, this, and this, but what you're asking for is in somebody else's department. Let's get you over to the best, not just um you know what your coach thinks. But I'll I'll provide perspective when asked. Um, so I think that again, the relationship piece, it's not just about hitting. Like Kelsey Stewart was an amazing athlete before she came to the University of Florida. What we built was a trusting relationship. She knows that if I tell her to bunt, she's gonna bunt. If I say, hey, I want you to hit away today, I want you, she's gonna hit away. Like we built a relationship based on um, it took time, but it took, uh it takes a lot of trust. And I think that's the the number one thing that I try to build even before they step on the campus as a freshman. Because when they're a freshman, they are drinking from a fire hose. Everything they're doing is a first. First time they're away from mom's cooking, first time they have to do their laundry, first time they've had to share space with another person of their age and of their ability and their competitiveness. You know, that's not an easy thing to really manage because you know, when you're competing, you're competing and you probably have a hard time turning off competitiveness.

SPEAKER_01

Right. And you're you've got a whole squad of competitors. And that was my other question is this idea of you're going to one of the most elite programs in the country. I give the analogy all the time with my clients who might be struggling with I'm not the ace pitcher. On my club team, I was the go-to. I was I was pitching all the time or whatever position they're playing. And then you go to a program like Florida where the death chart is stacked. It doesn't mean that you're a bad athlete. It just means that you're now in an elevated status. And so how are you coaching them on, you know, earning their stripes and playing time? What are those conversations like?

Freshman Firehose And Building Trust

Earning Roles: Honesty, Patience, Metrics

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I mean, so I've always been a person of honesty. Um, I'm going to tell you really exactly where you're at. Um, and it doesn't necessarily have to be where you're going, but it's where you're at. And if you want to go to this next level, then these are the things we have to accomplish. Um, I'm not somebody who usually tries to live in the subjective world where I'm like, oh, I think this, I think that. I try to live in objectives, like this is reality. You know, you you either, you know, if you use pitching, for example, your velocity's this, your swinging miss rates this, your you don't have the ability to put anybody away, or you give up too many hits, or you give up too many walks, or I just try to live in really, I try to keep things as as black and white as possible. And then in other situations, I might run into an athlete who's really, really good, but they just don't think they're as good as I think they are. And I have to pump their tires up and I have to tell them, listen, man, I've seen this a lot, and you've got the ability to do so many more things than you think. And uh we just have to figure out how to coach you up a little differently, or we have to figure out how you need to coach yourself up a little bit differently to accomplish this. But I think the one thing that's being lost really in all sport, this isn't a softball exclusive thing, is the ability to be patient. Patience is something that most people don't have anymore. You want to tell somebody how you're feeling, you post it. I'm feeling like this. You don't have to wait for someone to read that chapter in your book 30 years from now. You can tell them right now, you know, I'm having a bad day, or I'm not gonna be playing basketball for a month because I'm on the IR or IL or whatever you want to call it. So, long and short, I don't think we have patience as much as we used to. You know, I'm fortunate. I came from a um my my mom and my dad really weren't overly, overly involved in my um athletic career. They took me where I needed to go, they supported me a thousand percent, but they never gave me their opinion of what, oh, you're so much better than that person, or you're so much better than that person. I had to earn that. And um, you know, my story's kind of funny. I played professional baseball, um, I played the college world series. Um, you know, I've I've I've done a lot of things, um, won a high school championship, but my high school story is funny. As a 16, well, I graduated high school at 17. Um, I went to college at 17, and um, we won a uh a California so CIF championship in my junior year, and I was a part-time varsity player. Um, I didn't even get any varsity innings my junior year, none, zero. My senior year was my first year of varsity. Where we got kids that I'm recruiting that are varsity as seventh graders. And so I think ultimately what we've created is we've created a monster and that nobody has the ability to be patient anymore and allow things to develop at the rate they're supposed to develop at. Um, you know, it takes time, it takes a lot of time to be really good. Um, and uh sometimes that means you're gonna fail. Sometimes that means somebody else is better than you, and that's okay. Like, I mean, you know, the the it's it's gonna happen how it's supposed to happen. So um I do believe that, you know, teaching my young people how to be patient is the hardest part of my job because in reality they haven't had to be patient. You know, I've had kids commit to me at sixth grade, seventh grade, eighth grade. Um, they're a heck of a lot better than I ever was. But um, and I think though those kids that committed at a young age have all moved on to be all Americans too, but it's still it's um it's really Taylor Shoemaker on our team's a sophomore. She's the National Freshman of the Year last year. And at one point in time, I read things that said Taylor Shoemaker was ranked 58th in the country or ranked this or ranked that. And um, if we'd have been a little bit patient and maybe watched her play as many games as I watched her play, you can tell right away, well, whoa, this is special. This is something totally different. Um, I don't care what she's ranked, this is going to be one of the best players. Um, and she is, she is that. You know, she's a really good player. Um, but I would not, if I just read the articles about her, I would say, oh, she's a good player. She's she's a 58th ranked player, but there's so much more that goes in underneath the hood of what makes athletes. You can be a bench player your freshman year and be an all-American your sophomore year if you understand um how to work intentionally. And um, and if you understand that, you you could even be an all-American or you can even be an Olympian, because I've seen it happen personally. And so I think that reality is that the better the team, the longer it takes for some. And that's okay. It doesn't mean you're not going to be good. It just means it's gonna take a little longer time than maybe you thought. And I think failure can really, really, really help shape um, you know, your future destinations.

SPEAKER_01

That's incredible. So many gold nuggets there of patience and the going from bench to starter, and what does that look like? And you kind of describe the it factor of like when you're recruiting and you see a kid that that just has it, right? Like, what are some of those things that you're noticing? Like tangible, like what do you see in the dugout? What are you seeing on the field?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I I will say this. It's it's easier for me to tell you that they don't have it than they do have it. Because do have it take a little bit more time. Um, because not all the not all the first team all American Olympian softball, professional softball players are a fit for Tim Walton and the University of Florida or for that family, because that's what it really takes. It takes a relationship, you know, and and um, and not all relationships, I mean, shoot, I mean, I hate to even get personal, but I mean, I mean, the divorce rate in our country is at a super, super high rate because the relationship's you know fractured at some point in time. So I think ultimately when you find the right person at the right place, you get the right, you know, you get the right fit, you get the right person, you get the most. I always go like this. I can get the most out of them. And when you can get the most out of a first-team All-American, you know, you've got you know, national players of the year type, you know, you've got Amanda Lorenz, Skylar Wallace's, Kelly Barnhill's, Lauren Hager's, you know, those kind of kids. But um, it's easier to, I could easily tell you kids that aren't a fit than it is, then I go, wow, this is this is the it factor. Um, I think the it factor sometimes takes a little bit longer. Um, even though most people can tell you, oh, I can point out the first round draft picks just like that. Yeah, I can point that out too, but just because you're a first-round draft pick doesn't mean you're it. And um I think that's something that I've really tried to um, I've really tried to to kind of carve out, like I don't, I don't, I don't, um, I don't, like I said, I don't cookie cut anybody. Um, but I've seen some really good players that there's no way that they would be as good in my program as they are in other programs. And I've seen some other kids that have been like, okay, that turned out to be amazing players because we were the best fit ever for them, um, socially, academically, athletically. There's so many pieces to go and into what it takes to be a great college um, you know, athlete, student athlete.

SPEAKER_01

And it sounds like when when you get them, when they are finally on campus and they've been recruited, you're now looking at it as the whole person, how can I get the most out of what I saw, right? Your potential. And the biggest thing that athletes struggle with is I want to play to my full potential, but now that I've made it, now I gotta prove that I'm good to Coach Walton. Now I gotta earn my playing time. Let's dive in.

SPEAKER_00

You gotta don't have to prove it to me. You have to prove it to yourself first. I always say that I get that, I get that a lot. Oh, coach, you have to have confidence in me. No, no, no, no, no. You have to have confidence in you. My confidence will follow really, really quickly.

SPEAKER_01

Right. Yeah, we say it's cherry on top, right? You should always come to the table with a full ice cream bowl. And if your coach gives you confidence or a compliment, it's like, thanks, I already came to the table with a full ice cream bowl, but I'll take that cherry on top.

The “It” Factor And Program Fit

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. I think the the the beauty of what you're talking about to me is really the the the best part of coaching is when you can pull the best out of your athletes the way they want to be coached. In other words, when when it's your idea, I'm a heck of a lot better coach than when it's my idea. When it's your idea, hey, coach, coach Walnut, I'm really thinking about, I need to make an adjustment. And I go, yes, you do. Let's do it. Like, let's, I'm, I'm all in. And then, okay, what do you think? Oh, well, here's what I think. And now you've already listened. But when I say, hey, let's do this, this, and this, do you really think so? Like, I mean, I'm I'm going pretty good, you know. And I'm like, well, if you were going that good, we probably wouldn't be thinking about it or talking about it right now. But if you want to go this good eventually, we're gonna have to make a couple of these little tweaks. And I don't ever like the word change because it's not a change. We're not changing anything. We are adjusting, we're adapting. You're adapting to the environment that's getting ready to be, you know, thrown on you. So um, but I am I am a super confident person. Like I am not insecure. Um, I'm very confident. And what I'm confident in the most is that if you work really hard, if you're super, if you do a great job of self-evaluating, if you can really evaluate, you can truly sit back and go, hey, I gotta do, we're gonna be really, really good. Um, where I get lost sometimes is everybody just wants to compete, compete, compete. And then they forget that there's more to just competing. You can't just compete. You have to understand how to work intentionally, you have to understand how to put the right time in. You know, well, some kids get mad, oh, so-and-so doesn't hit as much as I do. Yeah, because God gave them a different gift than you. If you didn't hit as much as you do, you would never be as good as you are. And so um I don't like to compare. Um, Laura Rutledge did a Zoom one time with our team. It was awesome. She's a she's a gator, and she said, Comparison is the thief of joy. And I'll never forget it. I know Skylar Wallace quoted. It the other day when she spoke to my team. Um, you can't compare yourself to somebody else, just look in the mirror, that's your real competition.

SPEAKER_01

Love that. You gave a great segue, and I want to point out something that you said is you said, I'm I'm a confident person. And so this is a direct quote, by the way, from Au Aubrey. She texted me and I said, All right, what am I gonna quiz Coach Walton on? What do you what do you want to know? How do how can we share his genius with the world? And so this is a direct quote. Something I found unique after I graduated was that I never went into a game thinking we couldn't win. I found that others at top programs didn't always have that. So, from a culture perspective, how he developed that kind of competitive focus.

Confidence Starts With The Athlete

Preparation Mindset And In-Game Adjustments

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, well, I think number one, the reason I'm so confident is is preparation. In other words, when you talk about confidence, so my confidence that I'm talking about to you is confidence in my coaching, confidence um in my preparation, confidence in getting you prepared for the games, getting you prepared for you know the fourth inning when things change, or in the seventh inning when they bring in a new pitcher, whatever it is. Like preparation to me is the reason I'm so confident, is that I feel like I have the ability to adjust in game to the feel and the temperature of what we're what we're dealing with. We can go all week long. Sometimes you go longer and you prepare for something. It's not what you thought it was going to be. I have the ability to tell our players in the second inning, hey guys, I know I did this, but I was wrong. Let's get rid of that. Here's what we have to do to be right. And um, and so sometimes you see the Florida Gators, you know, finish the seventh inning better than they started the first inning with, which is fine by me as long as we're able to finish it off. Um, but ultimately it's about feel, it's about adjustments. I'm not afraid to make adjustments. I'm not afraid to take chances or risks. Um, I'm not afraid to pull a starter out of the game because they just aren't the right matchup. Um, you know, I think that's that's that's all part of you know competing to win that game. Doesn't mean we don't believe in you, just this matchup isn't for you. And so um, but yeah, I feel like the preparation, what we put in, um, you know, when we won our first national championship, we had to overcome a huge hurdle. And the hurdle was the University of Washington. They had a two-headed monster pitcher, pitchers, um, and we had to play them in a super regional. And that was the toughest challenge we'd had the entire season. And it was 98 degrees with a feel-like of about 118, um, as hot as I've ever been in my coaching career. Um, we played awful in the SEC tournament to get where we were at, but we played great in regionals. Um, and we we overcame it and we went on a crazy run um and went on a, I mean, I don't remember what the exact number was, but we we won the World Series. We won it through preparation. Um, I I had I tasked our team that year. Um, I just read Lone Survivor, and I'm not a reader, just so you know. I read Lone Survivor, and I'm so fired up. I came back to our team and I said, listen, guys, I've been inspired. And they're all looking at me with their eyes like this, like, oh, here we go. And I said, I come up with an idea. Well, number one, I will never ever be a Navy SEAL. I can figure that out right away. Those dudes are tough, those those people are a one-of-one, amazing individuals. And I'm not that, I'm not tough at all like that. Those guys are crazy and and and thankfully they're crazy for our country. Number two, I want you to give, I want you to figure out, give up two things for the season, and I want you to add one thing more that you need to do to help us win a national championship. And they all looked at me and you know, a couple of them fought me, of course. That's just normal. And so I gave up two things and I added one thing. And the one thing I said that I need to do to help our team is watch more video and be more prepared for us to beat, quote unquote, the elite teams. And before the Washington series, I watched, I had two iPads, three phones, a computer. I watched every pitch of every game that the University of Washington played. And what I was looking for was I was looking for trends. What were the trends that helped the hitters hit their pitchers the best? And the trends were amazing, they were right there in front of you if you watched it and watched it and watched it and watched it and watched it. So I went back and watched all the strikeouts, watched all the extra base hits. And the next thing you know, so we win the national championship and everybody's celebrating, obviously. And I went into like a freaking coma of like almost like depression, because I had over-stimulated my brain for such a long period of time because I decided I was going to add the video piece into, and I held myself accountable to it. Like there was not a game I was not going to be prepared for for our team. Um, but more importantly, to figure out how we can coach through some adversity when we're facing all-American pitcher after all American pitcher. And by the time we got to the World Series, man, it was like it was autopilot. Those guys, they played amazing. And um, you know, I give them all the credit because they they earned it. Um, but I do give us uh the ability to really kind of adjust the process to be better to win our first championship. We'd been we played for two national championships before that in nine and eleven and played great, but you know, nobody nobody loves second place, I can tell you that.

SPEAKER_01

That's a tough spot to be in. I and I was prepping for this, watching videos in the the video of of Aubrey, you know, talking about that the was it 2017? What year was that? Right, the it would have been the three P years?

SPEAKER_00

16.

SPEAKER_01

And you know, this this culture, right? And and the leadership, and you know, you could have the greatest squad, but it's culture, it's mindset, it's mental toughness. How are you kind of training that? Because you know, we're getting behind the scenes of we get the X's and O's and the game film, and you know, how are you prepping them? You know, for example, let's say you make it, you're at the College World Series, we're not all of a sudden gonna change our process. What's your process from day one of season to we're gonna be there? We're assuming that we're gonna win, therefore, we're gonna end our season at the college world series. What is that like for you prepping them mentally?

Culture Over Talent And Embracing Roles

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, we don't number one, and I don't I don't want this, I don't assume anything. So that's the best part about us. There's no assumptions. Okay, like you might watch us practice and watch us work, and you're like, oh my gosh, what are they doing? It's because we are not taking anything for granted. We are not assuming we're going to win. Um, we're coming at you like you you're the number one team in the country, and we're the 50th team, and that's how we practice. I think that's the preparation piece. Um, the 2016 team is probably the best team we've ever had. Uh, it's really hard for me to say that with some of the good ones, but the number of players on that roster, you go, holy smokes! Alicio Ocasio, Kelly Barnhill, Delaney Gorley, Amanda Lorenz, Kelsey Stewart, uh, Aubrey Monroe, um Katie Medina. No, Katie graduated, Kirsty Merritt, Justine McLean. The list goes on and on and on and on and on and on. Taylor Fuller and Taylor Schwartz. There's some amazing athletes on that team. And we were, that was the first time we were number one wire to wire until we lost, you know. So it is what it is. Um, I still I told our players a long time ago, you know, I'd rather lose with people that I respect and enjoy being around than win with people that are jerks. And that team was not a team of jerks. Um, there might have been some moments where you know we we got too cool for school or things were what we were, but I think at the end of the day, we had a bunch of hardworking um athletes um that really you know embraced the culture of um winning and the culture of doing things right and the culture of taking care of each other as much as possible. And so I thought that part was you know, that was the best part. But I think from the beginning to end, it's it's really that what I just said. When I recruit players, and every year I'm recruiting, I should be recruiting better players than we have. Um, you know, and I and and and you don't you don't say, hey, this kid's here to take your position. You know, you mentioned Aubrey, and I'll I can tell a story about Aubrey that I love. And she's come into my office and she says, Coach Walton, I feel like everything I'm doing is helping everybody else get better and take my job. And I said, Absolutely you are. And it's their job to push you to another level so that I get a better Aubrey Monroe, and that way we're gonna win championships with and you're gonna accomplish things. She went, and you know what? It worked because the players that we had got better and she got better, and they got better. Everybody always said, Aubrey Monroe, she can't hit, she can't hit, she can't hit, she can't hit. Well, maybe she can't hit consistently, but in every big game we play, she can hit. For some reason, she can hit a home run in the biggest games, she can hit a double to send your team to the gold medal game. She can do all the things. She has it, like Aubrey had it. She just consistently couldn't put together, you know, uh uh, you know, 10 games in a row offensively. And, you know, whether that was because she's too hard on herself or whatever stuff, but uh maybe her swing wasn't the fastest or the strongest or this or the or the tightest. Um, but that girl could hit when you just when you thought you had her, boom, two her and homer. Uh she was amazing at that. So I think that's the cool part. From the beginning to the end, everybody we bring in, it's their job to push you, but your job is not to look at them as competition. Your job is to embrace them, help them, show them the way. And um, it it doesn't mean that they're gonna take your job. Um, it's it's their job to help push and elevate our program and continue to push it and continue to push it. And you know, we have a lot of players that embrace that. They flat out embrace it. We have other players that, you know, unfortunately they don't because it does get too hard. But this isn't a pecking order program, it's not a cutthroat program. Um, it's a program that simply lays out the the traditions and it lays down the expectations. College World Series. We're we're we're training to go to the College World Series. You came to the University of Florida to go to the College World Series. And, you know, if we win the SEC along the way, if we win the SEC tournament along the way, awesome. But we're here to get to the College World Series, and how do we do that? You know, that's it's a lot of preparation, it's a lot of training. Um, there's some setbacks. Um, every one of our championship teams had setbacks. Um, but the the reality of it is it's getting players to to buy into their role, getting players to embrace each other, have empathy. I think that's the hardest thing to teach people is empathy. You know, just because you're not from the same family, just because you're not blood, doesn't mean you can't have empathy for somebody else's situation, where they come from. Um, you know, and that's not an excuse, that's just reality that everybody's different.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, absolutely. So going back to the preparation, what are some of the things that you're carving out time for in your practice plan for mental skills, like you know, their routines and being intentional about their pregame routine and visualization and watching film, what are some of those things that you're carrying on the mental skills side?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so I I would I would say that, you know, early Tim Walton coach was probably 100% physical and 0% mental training. But what I've learned is that a lot of the things that we have built into our practice plans and built into our strength and conditioning and built into the to the it's it is a lot more mental preparation than than one would think. Um, and so I I wouldn't I I I I I can't lay it all out from a time standpoint, but what I can say to you is that I'm a huge routine person. And I'm also somebody who can call time out in the middle of a of an inning and go, what are you doing? What do you mean? Well, you're you you said you're due to this and you you're breathing routines like this, and this is what you do when you step out of the batter's box. You just slammed your bat on your cleats and you grabbed your helmet by the by the face mask. That's not what you do. You need to take a deep breath, get back to your reset, and get back to your routine. Oh, okay, thank you. Yeah, yeah. You know, like because that's the one thing that most people don't understand. It's it's umpires make bad calls, fans say things they shouldn't say, coaches give you dirty looks, players on the team shrug off their shoulder, whatever. Like you either understand how to get over yourself or you don't. And I think that's really what it comes down to. So we spend a ton of time on routines, being able to build quality routines. Um, you know, again, process will definitely, you know, um shape results and results reshape process. So if you um I had a I just had a uh a speaking opportunity with um with this uh young aspiring Olympian. Um she's young, she wants to be, she wants to, she has to make her teams roster for the Olympics. And uh said, Oh, hey, what's your routine? Like, let's get into your process. And it was silence. I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I mean, I'm I'm sorry, but like you're talking to the wrong person. Like, we can't worry about making the team. You gotta understand what makes you good. You're way better than you think you are. You gotta get into dive into all the details. And when something gets off, you're gonna easily be able to find out what's off as opposed to saying I didn't qualify because of X, Y, and Z. You might not be good enough. They might be better, they might perform better. But if you don't have a routine, if you don't have a process, if you don't have a daily or weekly or monthly, you know, shoot for us, it's between innings. Um, you know, you got no shot. And um, you know, I think that's what mental toughness really is. Is you and now I've also learned, like the other day we played a game and um we played a six o'clock game. Six o'clock game typically means our team's gonna probably be here at three fifty between two and three fifteen, unless they have treatment or they do other things. I mean, they're here a long time and they they have a whole process that they go through. And and we're here to to make it as time-managed as possible for them so there's no wasted time. For I don't want people to waste time. I want them to come in, get your work done. If you're done working, get out. If you're hanging out, hang out. That's fine. But I just don't want them to feel like they are gonna, you know, that the I just don't want them to feel like we're we're we're not being mindful of their personal life or their school life or whatever else they have. So I said, All right, we play tomorrow at six. I'll see everybody here. We're gonna stretch at 5.30. And they went, what? 530. I said, yeah, life happened. Our plane got canceled, our bus broke down. I don't know what happened, but you guys are stretching tomorrow at 5.30. You can do some mental swings. I don't know what you need, but you can do with that stuff. But we're playing at six. Pitchers, you have 21 minutes to get ready to go for the game. And they all looked at me like, you know, and um, we just did it that way because sometimes life happens. So I'm all about routines, I'm all about process, but we're an outside sport. It could be hot, could rain, we could get a cancellation, we might have to play a doubleheader. And um, if you don't equip your team for that, then you're not doing them justice either. You can't be so routined and so superstitious that everything has to happen like this. You have to be able to, I call it like you have to turn over the Apple card every once in a while.

SPEAKER_01

That's awesome. Yeah, I can't even imagine the looks that you were getting.

SPEAKER_00

Well, but we're practicing adversity. So I mean, is it really adversity? I don't know. We'll see.

SPEAKER_01

Well, so this kind of dabbles in both categories because it's part mental, part physical, watching film. I think one of the things that I think a lot of people don't understand at your level is the amount of film, and you've kind of touched on it today. Tell me about tell the truth Tuesdays.

Routines, Resets, And Mental Skills

SPEAKER_00

Well, I can tell you that so out of out of everything that I do, um it typically comes from a failure moment or a mistake moment. So I've messed something up. Okay. My first ever SEC trip. Okay, we're playing Alabama at Alabama. And I get my papers and I come out and I got my stats. And we're playing now. Alabama just went through their preseason. They were getting ready. We're all 0-0, Florida Gator. We had a good preseason, you know, my first year. So I start reading off, okay. All right, here's their leadoff batter, and she's got 68 stolen bases. And their best pitcher, who's now on my coaching staff, mind you, Stephanie Van Brakel, um, their best pitcher, she doesn't give up any runs, she strikes everybody out. Like, all of a sudden, I just equip my team with the absolute like, we're gonna lose. Not only are we gonna lose, we're gonna get your butts kicked. Um, and we're not we're not good enough. That's exactly what I told them on a sheet of paper. I'm like, what the heck? So I I never did that ever again that way. So I think you have to be careful with film. Um, I do think that film can really sound like a great way to prep your athletes, but so many athletes just aren't equipped um, you know, with with um you know, with with honesty. Sometimes you need to to trick them a little bit. Sometimes they don't need more information because more information makes them start guessing or thinking too much. So I think it's you gotta be really, really strategic in how you um you deliver video or film. Now, Tell the Truth Tuesday is a little different than film because this is after the fact. This is factual. You fell rounding around second, you threw to the wrong base, you whatever. So, what I what I tried to do with Tell the Truth Tuesday, which I tried to take out of our program, and our athletes actually fought me. They were like, no, no, no, we need that. That's it, it's really important. We need so-and-so to really see that she's not doing this because when we tell her, she doesn't believe us. So we need to see that. Or we need that because what that does is the impact is we we gain in confidence, we feel more prepared or or we feel more confident after we're done with it. So I'm I'm I'm a little more strategic with it. A lot of times I I would show all these clips, and I didn't want it to be like a oh, dread your weekend so you don't show up on the video on Tell the Truth Tuesday. It's more about being able to like play the game, let's learn from the game. But objectively, we're learning. We're not telling you you're doing this. Like, um, I wrote this down because I think this is something that kind of really um is important to kind of communicate. So um, my model of teaching just goes to I I want to show you a clip, I want to collaborate about it, I want you to go out and do it again. I want to reshow you, and then I want to communicate about it. I don't want to just sit there and tell you you're doing something wrong or you're doing something different. I want to be able to show you what it looks like and then readjust it. But we're gonna do it again, like I said before. If it's your idea, it's a lot easier to accomplish than it's my idea. But when it's our idea, it seems like we can accomplish the world. So um, so tell the truth Tuesday is just an honest way to recap the week. Sometimes it's just the weekend, maybe it's just the game. Um, so again, I don't want to make the same mistakes over and over and over again. Um, if I can get to something that I think is really, really important. A miss sign, it's not there for Tell the Truth Tuesday. Why? Because it's a miss sign, it is what it is. But you throw into the wrong base, um, you rounding, you hit your first home run off of Monica Abbott, and it would have been a grand slam, but you got excited and you rounded the base and you ran past the runner at first. Now it's not a home run, it's a single. That's important to show on video. You know, that's uh it's embarrassing. But again, if that that moment will last the entire rest of my life as a coach, and I don't let anybody forget about it.

SPEAKER_01

Well, and part of it is you're taking away the stigmatism and and the embarrassment of like, again, this is just factual, and competitors want to be competitive. Well, how do we get competitive? They want you to tell them what they're doing wrong, they want that adjustment. And I love everything that you're talking about because I think Gen Z gets a bad rap, and these next generations of they really do crave that collaboration, and I think sometimes.

Tell The Truth Tuesday: Film With Purpose

SPEAKER_00

coaches don't know how to I've coached professionally I coached the Orlando Pride two summers um I coached uh USA the best players want to be coached the best players want to be coached and it's like like all get kids come to camp and they're like you know they're they're super high level kids and they're like hey any feedback I'd love it and then sometimes you get some kids that are just okay and to come to camp and they're like nah you know my my coach said I do this this is how I do it I'm like okay well I'm just telling you the best Natasha Watley when Natasha Watley say Coach Walton you know if you see something please let me know I'm like if Natasha Watley the best player to probably ever play the game is asking for advice I think that everybody should look in the mirror and say that. But but back to the Tell the Truth Tuesday too that I think is important. Like there are times I throw myself on Front Street. I show hey look right here I was out of position I screwed up I didn't do it correctly like and I think that's important for for younger coaches to understand too is it can't always be athletes wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong we try to show some goods too I mean there's a lot of times the goods are pretty pretty pretty obvious but if somebody does something just like wow amazing a great effort play I want to show that too because I want effort to also be part of you know doing something properly it's not just about making all the plays sometimes you can't make the play but your efforts A plus A plus I think that's vital to you know longevity of success.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah and you're pointing out the praise you're finding ways to praise a situation and the brain loves proof and so if you can show these athletes the proof that they I believe that if we watch this film again next weekend or next series you're making that play nine times out of 10. And I think that's going to reiterate that for them as well.

SPEAKER_00

If there's ever anything that I feel like could possibly cause um anything abrasive anything you know any anxiety any kind of insecurity or any maybe even some kind of a you know confrontation I'm gonna do that privately and I'm gonna show them you know by themselves or maybe there's two of them together because they both play the same position or they both do the same thing, whatever. So for the most part I think and again you also have to know your audience like you know for example you know if I'm gonna show Skylar Wallace something in front of the whole team um I might show the whole team so that somebody else doesn't do it. But if it's gonna be something that I really need Skylar Wallace to do a better job on, we're gonna do it on the dirt. We're gonna do it we're gonna do it in the in the cages we're gonna do it where we can hash it out as opposed to like you know make it make her feel like nails on the chalkboard when she watches a video because I don't think that certain athletes just don't respond to certain types of environments.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah yeah and you have to know that so here's here's a fun question that I've been waiting to ask the whole episode. Can we talk about Kelly Barnhill? If you were to pick her up on the timeline and drop her into today's game as a pitcher she's probably thinking man if I could leap and if I could do all these things like all of these but that's just a fun question especially selfishly as a pitcher of like do your players ever come back to you and say oh you've changed or the game has changed or I wish I would have had access to this now like I can't even imagine how much fun Kelly would have now well the the sophomore Kelly Barnhill um is as good as any pitcher I've ever seen.

SPEAKER_00

I mean holy smokes um you know obviously creating as much of a legal environment for Kelly I mean that was it it's so funny too because you know I I've done this a long time and and anybody that's been in my program they know how much time we spend on following the rules um you know obviously winning but we're never gonna be a team that's gonna you know cross the line like we always do it the right way or you know at least in our world we think we're doing it the right way I'm always a big somebody who's really big on um positive energy so like we're not gonna do any kind of celebration that's gonna hopefully um you know deteriorate or or or or demean the other team or show the other team up like that's just part of the way I was trained. But Kelly Barnhill, I mean, I mean her work ethic um unbelievable um her God-given talent unbelievable I mean just some of the things she could do but yeah you could drop her in and I'm sure that you know you can make some changes along the way but the sophomore Kelly Barnhill was as good a pitcher as I think I've ever seen in this game um as amazing I mean shoot we haven't struck out 16 people in a weekend in a long time I mean she was 16 she struck out 16 people from I think Missouri on a Monday night when I was like holy smokes this kid's locked in so yeah it'd be fun it'd be fun to bring I mean there are some personalities that aren't Kelly Barnell that I would say the same thing. I mean I wish you can drop her back in here and give us another podcast episode like build your uh what's it called your um they do whole leagues around it like fantasy like a fantasy we're just gonna build a even so much not even about just ability like almost like when you you see those those little things on Instagram like hey you can sit on the airplane in the row with this person this person there's I just want to put some of these personalities in the room and some of them aren't even on my team because I just know those kids you're like oh man I really we could pop her into the room just to just to change the way you think about playing or just sometimes it's just changing the vibe you know yeah yeah and yeah I we could go on and on.

SPEAKER_01

I I love this episode so much because you kept it real. You gave us a behind the scenes our final question that we've been asking is what's a piece of advice that you've really carried with you that that you've received well um I think I as from my my parents I guess more than anything is that you know probably more than anything you kind of you get what you work for.

SPEAKER_00

You know I think that in so many cases um you know I I can say that nowadays I have my own kids and you know just the the the understanding of money and understanding of work and you know even me I mean someone I see people making tons of money that do things so different than I ever have done things. And it could be that they're TikTok famous or they're uh they've got a an influencer on Instagram and and that doesn't I don't think that I I'm not a judgy person. Like I don't really care what people do as long as they're making some kind of form of positive impact. I mean that's what I'm big on is like how can we make a positive impact? Why does everything of well my social media pages mostly are all positive. Like I don't try to you know I've had plenty of flights canceled before and so but I'm not somebody who posts hey at so and so like you know that's it is what it is. It's called life you know so mine's no different than anybody else's but I think the main thing I'd say is you you really do get what you work for. I'm a I'm a real big believer on on hard work um you know because I I just don't think that really anything's given and um you know I think that's just I've been very fortunate um my career paths very fortunate um but to stay and do what I've done for the length of time um there's nothing else fortunate about it. I've been able to work really hard I guess the fortunate part is um someone says I'm a really good coach I'm not a really good coach I've had really good players that make me look like a really good coach and um I think that's the best part is you figure out how to coach manage people and they're gonna make you look a heck of a lot better and smarter than you really are and um you know you take away all the good players that I've ever had and I'm I'm just a mediocre coach and um I think that's I think that's the the the that's the part about being um I don't want to say I don't want to use the word humble. I think it's more important to understand about the work ethic piece. All the things we've done is about building relationships and working really hard at it.

Adapting To The Modern Game And Personalities

SPEAKER_01

Well and when your confidence comes from preparation like you said earlier you're just following your process and working hard the results will follow.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah it's it's it's it's I mean it's a gift and a curse to be honest with you. But um I've always gone into games like hey we're gonna win we're gonna win you know what do we got to do to win this game? You know wow coach we haven't we haven't beaten so and so and so many it doesn't matter. You know what are we gonna do? What do we got to do? First of all I got to get you guys to believe in it. Let's create some adversity. You know in the old days you're like oh what do we got to do to create adversity? Oh make us run. Okay all right all right so all right if we don't do this we're gonna run like let's go all right and then everybody gets mad but then they're like yeah but I'm at least I'm I'm I'm tougher I'm I feel like I'm at least I'm getting tougher for it. I'm like all right we'll do it. So you know I've had players they've initiated that hey you need to bring we need to make we need to bring this back we need to get tougher. I'm like let's go. So I haven't I haven't softened up like I think my players would tell you that like they they got my players my old players would say oh you've gotten soft you're doing things this something like you know it's called sustaining success means you have to adjust to your environment so I'm adjusting to my environment I do things a lot different but it doesn't mean it's it's better or worse.

SPEAKER_01

It's just different amazing well I cannot wait to to watch your 2026 season as always and just appreciate your time today. So thank you.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah thank you it's been fun thanks Abby

Contributor

Amanda Schaefer

Host