The Fearless Warrior Podcast

125: Inside OU Softball: Grit, Faith, and Mental Game with Riley Zache

• Amanda Schaefer

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In today's episode, Coach Kara and our Warriors talk with OU’s Riley Zache. She shares practical routines, recruiting lessons, and advice to younger athletes who want to own their path.

Episode Highlights:

• Living with bilateral hearing loss and adapting to hearing aids
• Shifting mindset freshman year
• Staying ready off the bench and owning preparation
• Identity beyond softball through faith and hobbies
• Blue Collar Mentality learned from Patty Gasso
• Why OU felt like home

Connect with Riley:

IG: @zacheriley

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Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_00

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.

Riley’s Path And Versatility

SPEAKER_01

All right, welcome, ladies, tonight to our mentorship call. We are so excited to have Riley Zakee here with us. Um, Riley is currently a sophomore at Oklahoma, and uh you're a catcher slash infielder, right?

SPEAKER_03

Uh I've moved more towards the outfield, but that's a freshman year.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, all right. Super versatile then. Just wants to play softball. Um uh you're we didn't even talk about this before we got on the call. You're from Michigan originally, correct? So I'm actually in Michigan now, so that's kind of fun. So you're from Michigan, but that's not where you played your high school ball, right? Were you down in Indiana? Okay. Um and I saw that you currently are playing with your sister as well, that's on Oklahoma, the Oklahoma team. So that's really cool. And she's a pitcher. So you go out grew up doing pitcher catcher um at home. So that's really great. Um, I also saw a little tidbit that I that I liked. I saw that it said that you would play if you weren't playing softball, you'd be playing volleyball. Yep. So I think that's awesome. I I get volleyball is very deep in my own heart. What position do you play? Volleyball.

SPEAKER_03

Uh I was an outside hitter and DS. But had me do a bit of everything in volleyball too. I was a setter. They had me as a middle hitter, even though I was the trickless person on the team. But hey, you know what?

SPEAKER_01

You've got hops, you can play middle. Exactly. That's awesome. I actually was a DS and then a libero my senior year. So that's super fun. Um, so yeah, we're we're so excited to have you here. If you want to go ahead and take a minute and um introduce yourself, say hi to the girls.

Living And Competing With Hearing Loss

SPEAKER_03

Uh hi, I'm Riley Zake. Um, I'm originally from Nalles, Michigan. It's uh it's a small town, it's kind of outside Notre Dame, if y'all know where that is. Um, I'm a sophomore at the University of Oklahoma. I'm a catcher outfielder. I also can play the infield. I kind of grew up doing a bit of everything. So yeah, and I have uh hearing loss. So that's a fun tidbit about me. But yeah, um I'm an open book.

SPEAKER_01

So that's you. Well, yeah, and we can we could jump straight to that if you'd like. Um, so tell kind of your story about like how that developed, how that's affected you, and how you've been like dealing with it and moving moving on with it.

SPEAKER_03

Um, so my family always suspected I had it because I had like a speech impediment. I would always seem like I'm ignoring people. And if if you know me, I'm a my friends all think I'm very sweet and everything. So when people said I was ignoring them and I was coming off as rude, like I took that personally because I was like, I'm not trying to be like that. Like I swear I'm trying to be a nice person. So it was just it was a very frustrating time, but I would always have to have people repeat themselves. My Spotify rap probably for my life is huh. So that's just kind of how that is. But um, I never had like any science because I had good grades in school. Um, I got along with my classmates well and everything, so they just were like, she just has a speech impediment, she'll grow out of it, whatever. Um fast forward to high school, I fail all the hearing tests, never get sent home a slip. So I'm like, eh, whatever. Like they just put the headphones on. Um, but it kind of progressively got worse. Like my travel ball coaches were noticing. My high school teachers were kind of looking at me like you should be hearing this. I'm like, nobody's ever told me I had a problem, so I don't have a problem. So I don't know, maybe this is a you thing, but turns out it was a me thing. Um I get to college and I really my roommates kind of told me that I they were having a hard time just talking with me in the dorm because I constantly had to have them repeat themselves, like I just wasn't hearing them. Um, Coach Gasso and the rest of the OU coaching staff, they had a hard time talking with me. Um, I would another thing is I would always repeat what people said to make sure I heard them right. Um that just wasted a lot of time at practice, so I kind of figured out all these things I learned to cope with, they were a part of something bigger than what they I initially thought. So um I came home for Christmas break, got my hearing tested, and it came back as a bilateral sensorial hearing loss. And I also have a pressure issue in my right ear. I can't remember the name of it, it's really big. Um, but basically, when I'm sick or when I'm flying and stuff, I can't hear out of my right ear. So yeah, I got hearing aids for it, and it was a really hard adjustment period getting the hearing aids. Um, you would think that once you get them, everything is solved. No, and a whole nother batch of issues kind of present themselves. Um, my body had to readjust, I had to readjust because I just kept getting really overstimulated. Um I kind of describe my hearing loss as it's like somebody six cotton in your ears. Like everything's just kind of muffled, and the frequency and stuff I really struggle to hear is one of the more common ones. So it's just really unfortunate. But um, it took about six months for me to kind of figure out how to get used to them and everything, figure out what works for me with them, all the different settings I needed on them. And now I like to think I have to figure it out, but we'll see. But right now they're right now we're doing good. So yep.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Wow, what a what a journey you've been on. That's crazy. Yeah, I've I've read about hearing aids too. Like one of the problems is they just amplify all sound.

SPEAKER_03

Yep.

Adapting To Hearing Aids In Loud Stadiums

SPEAKER_01

And so, including background noise, including all this stuff. And so your brain really has to like get used to filtering out because that's what our brains are doing already with normal hearing is background sounds get weeded out, whatever. And so you have to your brain has to develop that ability to do that as well as you have to get used to the background noise. And I can imagine that that is exhausting.

SPEAKER_03

It was, and I got them right when the softball season started too. So it was just it was a really hard time because of that. Cause like I was just kind of getting thrown into like probably one of the loudest environments I'll ever be in, because Love's Field is just it's designed to be loud, so it's like just kind of having that at me every day just made this process like a lot harder. So yeah, I we're doing good now. By the end of postseason, when we were at the World Series, like it really wasn't phasing me that much. I was like, Oh, wow. Yeah, that's loud, but yeah, but yeah.

Transition To Top-Tier D1 Softball

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, oh, that's crazy. Um, yeah, I was thinking as you were sharing that this idea of like for so long, you just like, oh, it must not be an issue, it must not be an issue. And then you finally had to like turn around and face it. I feel like a lot of times that's kind of what happens with our mental game as well, right? Like we can like hide it, we can hide from it, especially you. I bet I mean, you're now at Oklahoma, which means as a high school student, you were a top athlete. You probably didn't worry as much about some of these mental things. So can you talk about like what that transition was like going from high school to being on the Oklahoma team? I mean, you didn't just go to any D1 college, you went to Oklahoma, went straight to the top, playing in the World Series. Like, what was that transition like for you? And like, what do you feel like you had to face about yourself or that you had to face for the first time about your own mental game?

SPEAKER_03

Um, so one of the things that the team, we don't really joke about it, but we it's one of the first things we tell all the freshmen is everyone here was once number one at their school. Like they were the best player on their team, like they were all this stuff, and it's like, congratulations. You're right. And we were all number one once, like time. You need to like lock in and like kind of get your stuff done. So it's like when you get to college and you're like, oh yeah, whatever, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like, you it doesn't really hit you until you're in the middle of the drills or you're like in the weights, like you're in that routine of a collegiate athlete, especially at Oklahoma, where you realize, oh, like this is real. And it's like, it's gonna take a mental toll on you because the demands and the practices and the hours and everything you're putting your body through, and honestly, what you're putting yourself through mentally, it it's gonna add up and eventually you're gonna crack. And it's just how are you gonna bounce back from how you crack? So it was it was definitely a challenging point. Um, I really hit a low spot my freshman year, but I also learned a lot about myself, and I learned that each day I wake up with the mindset that you know what, it's a new day, it's gonna be a great opportunity today, no matter what I do. And I just kept showing up at the field no matter what they were throwing at me, no matter how I was feeling about myself or my situation. I just I had to keep showing up, if not for myself, for my team. And it just kind of showed that no matter what I was was thrown at me, I made it through. And that's kind of how I am now is I'm sitting here, I'm like, that was arguably one of the hardest things I'm ever gonna go through, the hardest year of my life. And I made it through on the other side, and I'm still smiling. So it's just the hardest part about all this is just making it through. Because once when you make it through, that's gonna say so much about you, that's gonna build your character so much, and it's gonna honestly build your mental game so much better because now I feel mentally stronger after going through what happened last year, and I just feel a lot more developed as a player because of it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Were you were you exposed much much to like the idea of mental skills or any of this, like um, the mental aspect of the game before you came to Oklahoma? Was that a thing you learned before? Yeah.

Mental Low Points And Daily Resilience

SPEAKER_03

So my old hitting coach, Jim Donovan, he's from Chicago. Um the accent came out a little bit there. Um he was really into it. And honestly, travel ball, because of a lot of the stuff going on mentally, with my hearing it and me not knowing about it, like my coaches not knowing about it. It just kind of took a bad toll. And my dad and I, we didn't have the best relationship growing up because of softball. He would be the iron fist, the the coach who was there to push me. And so I was just really struggling for a long time with my mental side. Um, and he gave me a bunch of books to read. And even my dad now, he's like gotten really into the mental side of stuff, and he's just kind of been throwing it all at me. So I've I've been exposed to it for a very long time. But I also used to do competitive swimming and like the mental side of swimming, I would probably say is harder than the softball side, but um, like it was really big in swimming too, and even volleyball was really big. So I've kind of been exposed to it in all the different sports I've played, but each one was different. So yeah.

Early Exposure To Mental Skills

SPEAKER_01

Well, that's great. Yeah, yeah, that's uh that's our goal too, is that we want the more exposure, like every athlete needs these skills, so the more exposure, the better. Um I um I thought it was awesome. I saw the replay of you, you in the Norman regional. You got to come uh have uh an at-bat, right? You were off the bench, you pinch it, right? And you were able to drive in a run in the Norman regional to help send your team to the World Series. So I want you to talk about. So as a freshman, it said I saw that you had nine appearances. That means you're not playing in most of the games. What was that like? How did you keep yourself ready so that it was time, you know, at that that that plate appearance where you were called up off the bench? Um, like what did you do to help prepare yourself so that you were able to be successful in that moment?

SPEAKER_03

I just kept reminding myself that I'm here, I'm putting in the work, and nobody can take that work I'm putting in away from me. Um, I'm choosing to go and take the extra reps. I'm choosing to go and make the corrections and ask for help, and nobody can take that away from me. I earned the right to have that, and I'm putting it in the work to have that. So I just kept reminding myself, I'm like, you work for this, you earn this opportunity. And whether you get out or whether you hit a grand slam, that's gonna change absolutely nothing about the work you put in, and that's gonna change absolutely nothing about who you are as a person. Like, this is a sport, this is an opportunity you're getting from the sport, and what you do with it, hopefully you make the most of it, and hopefully you get hit the game-winning home run, or in my case, score the run and get on base. Like, that's the ideal situation. But if you get the vice versa of it, you still put in the work, you're learning about that opportunity. Like, even if you don't succeed, you're still learning something from it. And at the end of the day, that's what's so important in this game. So when I stepped in that box, I'm saying I'm like, I'm gonna make the most out of this opportunity. And if that's learning a lesson, that's learning a lesson. If that's gonna hit, that's gonna hit. And luckily, I got hit. I'm really happy about it. It was like a good hit, but I knew that whether I got hit or not, that was just gonna change absolutely nothing about my value in this world and how people see me in the moment. Um, the fans might say otherwise, but nobody that doesn't change anything, and it's not gonna change how my parents love me. It's not gonna change how God loves me and how he views me. Um, I always like to joke and say, you know, God did God may have might have given me these abilities to praise him and share him through this sport, but he didn't create me just for the sport. And so just kind of keeping that in your mind and realizing, yeah, he gave me this opportunity to play the sport, but he didn't create my sole purpose on this earth is not to play this sport, so I'm not defined by it.

Staying Ready Off The Bench

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah, I think that that's great. The identity piece of understanding that softball is a part of you, it's not all of you. Yeah, and if we can keep that separation, then yeah, any any success or any failure on the field isn't gonna affect who you are as a person. I think that's so powerful if we can really like get that ingrained deep in our deep in our heads and in our hearts. Um, awesome. Well, uh girls, if you would like, um we'll go ahead and open up some time for you guys to ask whatever questions you have for Riley. If you want to unmute or if you want to put it in the chat, it's up to you.

SPEAKER_02

What was the biggest thing Patty Gaslo taught you out of you?

SPEAKER_03

Um, I'd say probably the biggest thing that she taught me is to just put my faith in my teammates and put my faith in God and to just keep working hard. Um, we have this thing called uh blue collar mentality, and it's coming in, putting in the work, doing the work that you don't always want to do, or doing the work that other people don't exactly want to do. Um, but it's just it's coming in and putting in the work, putting your nose to the ground, even when you're not 100% there that day, like physically, like your body's tired or mentally you're tired, you're still giving 100% of whatever whatever you have. And I think that's like a very important lesson to learn, especially when you go into the real world and you have to go get a job. It's no matter what, you're showing up and you're putting in the work and you're giving it uh everything you have. Because if you show up and put in 50%, what was the point of showing up at all?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I bet it's great to learn from Patty Yasso all the time.

SPEAKER_03

It's amazing. She has a bunch of like just little isms, and I'm like, Yeah, you're off with something.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, she seems real great. I mean, that'd be awesome to be around her. All right, Sophia.

SPEAKER_02

What was like the process you went through to get like to get accepted through Oklahoma and like go getting to go to Oklahoma?

Identity Beyond Sport And Faith

Lessons From Coach Patty Gasso

SPEAKER_03

Um, so I didn't decide I wanted to take uh softball seriously until probably COVID, so 2020. Um, it was deciding between playing at a national level for softball or a national level for volleyball because I do come from a small town, so that means I would have to travel to a city like Chicago to go play for a big team or for volleyball or softball, and that costs money and a lot of it, especially driving and all that stuff and hotels and everything. So um my sister and I decided we wanted to play softball, it's what we want to pursue, it's what we loved. Um, so we just kind of did that. We started going to camps, we started sending out emails and stuff. I didn't start sending out emails though until like late my freshman year, sophomore year, but that's because I didn't know where I wanted to go to school. Um, but my junior year, I committed to play softball at the University of Missouri. But I saw your face. Um, but after that, um I just I kind of didn't feel like it was home anymore because I just it felt like something was missing. And so I eventually ended up decommitting. Um, I came with my sister to her visit to Oklahoma, but the coaches had been to all the games watching her pitch. I had been there catching, so they'd seen me play too. Uh, they were at the state game, I believe, um, where Audrey was playing us, my sister and I. They were watching Berkeley and Audrey. So they just I they were always there. It's just, I didn't know, they didn't know. It's just kind of how it was. But um, I came on her visit. I told them I decommitted from Missouri, but I came here solely to support my sister. I was like, you go do what you want, Queen. I'm here supporting you. This is your moment, and then they offered her, and then they offered me, and here we are.

SPEAKER_01

That's crazy. Uh crazy recruitment story, huh? Um Katie wants to know if you painted the cowgirl hat that's behind you.

SPEAKER_03

I didn't. It's from um Hobby Lobby? Like disco bowls and it's like a disco bowl cowboy hat. And I thought, oh, this is perfect because I have a bunch of disco bowls throughout my apartment.

SPEAKER_01

So all right. So you're a cowgirl from Michigan. Is that how that works? Awesome. Uh Isabella asked, Why did you want to go to Oklahoma? You kind of answered that a little bit, but like what specifically about Oklahoma felt like home to you?

SPEAKER_03

Just the family environment. Um I grew up in a very family-based um environment. So I knew I wanted to be in a softball environment where it still added on to those values and still incorporated those values. It was just such an important thing to me. So that's what I was really looking for in a school, but I also wanted to make sure they had what I wanted to study because playing pro softball is great and all, but I don't think that's in my future. So I want to go get a degree that's gonna set me up to do what I want to do with my life. So yep.

Recruiting Journey And Choosing OU

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Well, we just had Corby Otis on a couple weeks ago, and she didn't plan to play professional either. And she was playing this last summer, so you never know. Uh best.

SPEAKER_02

So, what's like a typical day, like a weekday in your schedule, like as a student athlete in like fall ball? And then what are like some habits that help you stay like grounded in stuff? Because like you're really busy, but like do you have like a couple habits that just help you like maintain a good routine?

SPEAKER_03

Um, so I'll just go through my day yesterday because actually, no, I'll go through today. Um, so I had weights in the morning at one group was at seven, and one group was at 7:45. Uh, it's 45 minutes. And then I came home, uh, clean up my apartment a little bit because I had a really long day yesterday, and I knew that I just kind of needed some downtime, so I didn't worry about that last night. I left it for today since I knew I had some more free time today. Um, went to class. I had my Roman warfare class, war machine class, just learning about like how Romans conquered everyone. It's a really random class, but I really liked it. I took it because of gladiators. Um, and then I came home, had lunch, and then I went to the field at 12:30 and practiced, didn't leave until 5, and then I went grocery shopping, and here we are.

SPEAKER_01

Wow. 1230 to 5. That's a long practice though.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, we didn't officially start until like 1:40, but like I did my own hitting and stuff because I wanted to work on some things that I knew were gonna be brought up, if not today, then later this week. So I just wanted to get some extra reps in, working on like angle downs, chops, like bunting and all that stuff, because we're really big in our situational stuff. So I just wanted to make sure I had all that stuff down before practice started. So yeah. And then the what keeps me grounded, um, I have a I have a routine at night.

unknown

Um

Daily Schedule, Study Habits, And Recovery

SPEAKER_03

So mainly doing my homework keeps me grounded. I'm a math major. So I love doing math stuff. And for some people, that gives anxiety, but for me, it calms me down. I don't know why. It's just my thing. Um, but I do my homework and then I take a shower, but I watch the flash while I'm taking a shower because it's like it's something that I like outside of softball. And it's like it gives me something to be interested in to help me separate myself from softball. So I watch the flash and then I go to I get in my bed and I keep like I finish the episode I was on because it's like an hour-long episode, and then I go to bed. So it's just like I do little things like I either read or I listen to music, like I do stuff that like separates myself from softball. So that way, like I have like my own sense of identity outside of the sport because like as you guys just kind of heard, like it takes up a big chunk of my day, it's the majority of my day. So like finding little ways to like just separate myself from it and to like put an emphasis on things that I like outside of it. Like I like collecting Funko Pops, so I have that around my apartment. Like, you I don't really have softball stuff in my apartment because I go do that all day. I don't want to come home and see it. So it's just finding ways to separate myself from what softball is kind of how I keep myself grounded.

SPEAKER_01

That's awesome. I think it's so important to have those interests outside. So Sophia did ask, what do you mean? Is it just maths or or do you have like a specific in-math major or what?

SPEAKER_03

Uh so I'm just a mathematics major, but I'm planning on um getting my master's degree in engineering. And then I want a PhD because I feel like it'd be cool to have a doctor in front of me.

SPEAKER_02

Doctor, yeah.

Routines, Superstitions, And Wind-Down

SPEAKER_03

Doctor's okay, like that's just I like to solve it. So if I can do that, fabulous. If not, I also have a master's degree in engineering, and you can't take that away from me. So that's kind of my that's awesome. That's my goal, but I really want to work at like NASA or some like high-tech company because I just I've always loved building things, but I've always wanted to help people, and I feel like that's my way of being able to help people while still doing what I'm interested in.

SPEAKER_01

That's awesome. And you you are the all academic, all SAC academic team honor.

SPEAKER_03

That's that's really proud of that.

SPEAKER_01

Impressive, especially being a math major. Like that takes a lot of work, a lot of diligence. Uh Chloe, you had a question.

SPEAKER_03

What's your favorite book series to read? Um, so I don't really read series because honestly, the author makes me really mad because I feel like they always like sideline it. Like, I feel like it's just it's going one way, and I just don't feel like the book ends how it's supposed to. But my favorite author is Jane Austen. She really, really back then, but she wrote Pride and Prejudice and um some other really good books, but just I I like older books though. That's just kind of my thing.

SPEAKER_01

So you like the flowery writing, huh? Oh yeah. I I can't, I can't, I can't do it very often. I like force myself to read like one of those a year, like of the like super long flowery.

SPEAKER_03

I really tried getting myself to read the Iliad, and uh, it was just I kind of and now I'm kind of reading it for my Roman class, so either way I'm reading it, but it's just the handwriting is so small in the book. So I'm like, it's it takes me 20 minutes to read like two pages, so yeah, it's dense. I try dabbling in a bunch of stuff, but yeah, you never know.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Uh Katie wants to know if you're left or right-handed.

SPEAKER_03

I'm right-handed.

SPEAKER_01

Good to know. Uh Sophia, you got another question?

SPEAKER_02

What are your favorite pregame, during game, and after game routines?

SPEAKER_01

Oh, I thought you were gonna say meal. I thought you were gonna say food. I told her that that you might ask that. Go ahead, routines.

Advice To Younger Athletes

SPEAKER_03

Um, my pregame routine is probably just listening to music. Uh, I normally drink a Red Bull, but I'm trying to like wean off of that because it's like it's not good for your heart and everything. So I'm trying not to drink that as much, but like I still do it sometimes because a girl can't help herself. Um my game routine, I always put everything, like I always put my left side of stuff on first. So um my left shoe will go on first, my sock, my arm guards, like all that stuff. Like everything left will go on first. So I'm very superstitious about all that. Um, and then my post-game routine. Um I normally just eat dinner and come home and watch a movie because I've probably been at the field for a really long time. And I just I kind of need some knee time to just kind of relax because like playing in a big stadium with a big crowd and everything, that's just whether you're like a starter or you're just kind of a reserve, like either way, it's a lot on you, and especially because it's like you're playing a series weekend and you're coming off from practicing three hours every day leading up to that. So it's just I'm kind of taking some me time to just kind of like relax and calm down and just kind of like reset and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_01

Right, Chloe. I'll let you ask the last question, and then I'll have the last question.

SPEAKER_03

What's your favorite food and color? Um, my favorite food is popcorn. I love popcorn with everything in me. And I was told by one of my teachers in high school that popcorn is good for you. So whenever tells whenever someone tells me I can't have it, I'm like, I yes, I can, it's good for you. So uh it's a whole green popcorn, and then my favorite color is green, but like sage green. I like a deep mossy green, I think it's very pretty.

SPEAKER_01

Awesome. All right, my last question for you. This is a question we ask everybody that comes on. If you could go back in time to like these girls' age, average like 12, 13, 14-ish, what would you tell yourself? What would you say to yourself?

SPEAKER_03

Uh, first thing I would probably say is to go have your hearing checked if I'm being totally honest. You have a problem. You have a problem taking care of now.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

But um, I'll probably tell myself to just pursue what I want to pursue because I I tend to be a people pleaser. Uh, it's one of my faults. I know it. And I know probably if not you guys, your teammates, or some other person in your life, they do what they want to do, but it's not really what they want to do, it's what their parents want them to do. And it's just if you're gonna put in so much time and everything into your life, it has to be something you want to do, and it's just kind of putting an emphasis on you have to fall in love with the sport, you have to be the one asking to go do the weights and stuff. Like, you're the one putting in the work, so it has to be something you want to do. And it's just telling my younger self, do what you want to do, and if it's what you want to do, just go for it. And I think she would really appreciate that if I'm being honest, but yeah, and that's not a knock on my current situation. Like, I mean, this is what I want to do. Like, I want to be playing for Oklahoma.

SPEAKER_01

Like, no, but there's something to that of like giving yourself permission to want something and go after it.

Closing Thanks

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, like sometimes I feel like people think it's selfish of them to pursue what they want, and it's it's not, it's your life. You only get one life, and you only get one opportunity, unless it's like contradictory to your religious beliefs, then by all means disregard what I'm saying. But um, you only have one opportunity at this life, and if you're not doing what you want to do in this life, then what are you doing? Like, go for everything you want in this life, take what you want in this life, and just sell out for it. Like, go for it a hundred percent. Because at the end of the day, if you fail, you get to learn from that failure and wake up and try again tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01

That's such great advice. Really great advice. Well, thank you so much, Riley, for joining us. Thank you for sharing about your experiences um and for answering all of their questions. We really, really appreciate you coming on.

SPEAKER_03

Thank you so much for having me.

Contributor

Amanda Schaefer

Host