Growing up playing soccer I knew I had always wanted to be more then the player I was. I was an average player not the best not the worst. Around my 7th-8th grade year I was hitting a point where I felt like I wasn’t improving no matter what I did, I had lost all the confidence in the sport, lost all the love for it. That started effecting my personal life. It got so bad to the point where I didn’t wanna do anything anymore especially get on the field. It started effecting friendships and relationships. My mom had noticed this and her being a psychologist herself she had pointed me in the direction of Sports psychology. Now when I heard this I really thought it was stupid to talk to somebody who you don’t even know about your personal life and was a waste of time. My mom had to force me to my first meeting but after meeting Dave and doing a couple sessions with him I had realized it had gotten a little easier to talk to him, for months tho I hadn’t seen any progress with my soccer mental health nor my personal life. As time went on Dave introduced me to Eddie, there was a real connection between me and him, he had been doing what I wanted to do at the highest level of the sport, he was somebody I could talk to that has gone through the same things in his career, he was a real role model for me. This is where I started seeing real growth, months after working with Dave and countless of sessions and bad days I started seeing real progress in my personal life and especially my soccer life. I have already accomplished a lot in my career including being the youngest USL 2 Player in the country, trial down in mexico, as well as multiple other opportunities in front of me. Looking back at my journey I truly do not know where I would be if my mom hadn’t forced me to that first meeting and I truly don’t know where in my career I would be without Eddie and Dave, as well as looking back I saw that there was results showing after every meeting I just couldn’t see in the time, even those bad days there was progress being shown I just couldn’t see. It definitely didn’t come easy nor fast but with time I will guarantee that talking with somebody will help because I was in the same shoes as most kids my age, just take the leap and give it time! Thanks for listening to my story and I hope it helps whoever need to hear it!

I just wanted to write this letter to you and appreciate all of you coming in and talking to multiple classes especially ours, 4th period. I think sports psychology is something I'd want to enter in the future. If you didn't know already I will play beach volleyball at the University of Tennessee at Martin. I've been playing volleyball since I was in 5th grade and I have had my struggles physically and mentally. Something I connected with was the mental part, I Never have been injured to the point where I was out for a whole season or even more than a month knock on wood. But something that I've struggled with and is somewhat reoccurring is my mental part of the game. I go to a volleyball club called Team One and there we work on meditation, Visualization, And different types of goal setting. In the past, I used to be really into it and I saw the growth in my game though this past senior year I pushed it aside and I can tell how it has affected my game and the growth of my mind and my body.

I just wanted to give you the most appreciation that I could for rekindling the thoughts of how important the mental game is in any sport, especially beach volleyball. There are so many distractions as you said in class, So many flaws and so many opportunities for failure. As well as sometimes not having the most supportive coach. For me, I feel like that was the biggest struggle these last two or three years. It has been very helpful with a strict and disciplined coach but somewhere deep down I need almost words of affirmation to keep my mind centered and at ease. I know how tough it can be for athletes to struggle mentally on and off the court. I feel like having you all come in and express your struggles and your own experiences brought light to me and how I want to shed light on helpful ways that will encourage athletes to think more about their mental game. I just wanted to say thank you again for coming in and showing not just the athletes in the room but everyone that the mind is such an important part of anything we do in life.