Interview with softball player Julia Hollingsworth
Julia was an outfielder for Tulsa softball. She graduated with her Bachelor’s degree in Exercise Sports Science from the University of Tulsa. She is now in graduate school at Texas State University pursuing her Master’s degree in Developmental Education. She has had 3 surgeries during her softball career. She is from Ennis, Texas. She loves Crossfit, fishing, kayaking, and hiking.
You can listen to the podcast here. Here is a summary of our conversation:
As a child, she did gymnastics, softball, and other sports. She played the piano and the french horn. Growing up in a small town in Texas helped with the competitiveness and local support of her sports.
Going into Tulsa, she had surgery so her brand new roommates in college were helping her with getting around without being able to use her arm. She spent a lot of time in the training room doing physical therapy.
She started out in the major of speech pathology but fate guided her to her true calling of exercise sport science. She is planning on using that degree to pursue a career in coaching and/or involvement with softball after graduating her with her master’s degree.
She was a Graduate Assistant at Texas State for the softball team for a while. She loved being able to work with some very great coaches and athletes. She eventually had to step back and focus on her studies. She also took the time to figure out who she was without being able to play softball anymore.
She lost her grandfather toward the end of her senior season, who was her best friend. She also had a knee injury that affected her more than she led on. The end of her softball career was a tough time because of those things and figuring out who she was and what her next steps were going to be.
She wants to be a full time coach to give back to the sport and be the mentor to young softball players like all of the coaches she’s had.
Her favorite thing to remember is “instead of compressing your thoughts and feelings, address them”. That way you can start getting to the root of your problems and see better days.
If you have any more questions for Julia, please leave comments below or contact me. For more information, head to my Q & A page. If you or someone you know is struggling, please call the Suicide Hotline. It’s toll free and available 24/7 at 800-273-8255.
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