Latest / Beyond the Paw - Clemson Athletics / Ep. 43 - Trinity Brown's journey with Gymnastics

Transcript

Ep. 43 - Trinity Brown's journey with Gymnastics · Beyond the Paw - Clemson Athletics

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, welcome back to another episode of Beyond the Paw.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Today we have a very special guest. We have my roommate,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: my teammate, star of Clemson gymnastics, Trinity Brown, where she
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: talks about battling through injury, her time at Clemson, and
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: her future career aspirations. So let's go beyond the po.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Welcome to Beyond the Pop.
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: Thank you, thanks for having me guys here.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Trinity, my teammate. I am so glad to have you
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: on Beyond the Paw. I feel like this has been
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: a long time coming. You have like a tremendous story
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: and I just know this just being your teammate, your roommate,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: one of your best friends. So I'm so happy you're
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: able to Donnis.
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: I'm so happy to be on your finally, I've been
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: asking you for the long time. She's like, oh no,
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: like later.
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: Honestly, I thought you had already been on. That's why
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: when you were like Trinity and I was like, did
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: she already do it?
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: So I'm glad you're finally here.
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm so excited.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: No, yeah, okay, So we want to get to kind
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: of your journey with gymnastics. I know you started at
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Utah stage. What was it like growing up in the
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: sport stuff like that.
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: So I started gymnastics around the age of three. I
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: didn't really have like a preference where like obviously when
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: you're younger, your parents just kind of put you in anything.
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: They're like, Okay, try this, like, you know, see how
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: it goes. My mom did cheerleading and gymnastics growing up,
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: so I think that's kind of what inclined her to
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: be like, Okay, I'm gonna, you know, put my child
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: in this to see, you know, if she likes it
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: or not. And so we did the little recreational mommy
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: and me classes, and I guess like I was really
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: good and kind of ahead of the other people that
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: were in my class. And so the one of the
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: coaches or instructors actually came up to my mom after
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: the first I think it was like the first round
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: of classes, and she was like, hey, like, your daughter
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: is really good at gymnastics. You should think about putting
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: her on the team. And my mom was like, uh,
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: like what does that mean? Like she has no clue
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: about like how a competitive gymnastics team worked because she
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: just did recreational and you know, it's just like twice,
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: three times or two times a week. Yeah, She's like
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: yes to everything, but didn't really know like everything that
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: went into it. And so obviously she said yes to
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: the coaches and then from that point on, I just
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: like went to practice every day, and it was obviously
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: a huge time commitment, and I don't think she was
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: ready for that, but I think it was something that
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: like she knew I was good at and I was
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: honestly like wanting to go to practice every day and
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: I was like, so, is it time for practice now?
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: And she's like, no, you have to go to school first.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah that too, And starting gymnastics at three years old, Yeah,
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: that's really yeah yeah, and.
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: Like really before like I was able to formulate my
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: own opinions about anything. So it's just like I always
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: tell my mom about this and it's not something that
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: I regret, but like I've never done any other sport,
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: like I've never tried tennis, I've never tried dan just
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: because gymnastics has always been like what I've known since
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: three years old, and like I think now like knowing
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: that and being a twenty two year old, like you know,
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: collegiate gymnast, I definitely like when I have kids in
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: a family and stuff, I definitely want to make sure
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: that they're kind of exposed to everything. Not that gymnastics
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: is bad by any means, but it's just like I
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: want them to be able to have versatility when it
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: comes to like what sport they want to play, like
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: who they want to be growing up, and see like
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: different sides of themselves, so like really me and like
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: hand eye coordination with like balls or anything non existing,
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: So like it wouldn't have worked anyway, but like I
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: think I would have liked to see seen that. But yeah,
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: so you can't start gymnastics competitively obviously into your six
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: and so I just would practice every day and practice
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: and practice and practice until I was six years old
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: and able to finally start competing. And actually my very
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: first meet as a six year old, I was doing
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: my beam routine and I was doing like an Arabesque,
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: so basically where you stay on one leg and you
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: kind of like extend your left or right leg out
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: behind and you kind of balance. A fly landed on
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: my leg during the meet, and so like I was like,
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: oh my god, Like obviously you have to hold it
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: for a certain amount of time. So that you can
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: get credit for the skill, and the fly is just
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: crawling on my leg because obviously, like I'm a still
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: object and I'm like, oh no, like this is not
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: gonna work. So I had to brush it off, like
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: I came out of the Arabesque, brushed it off, and
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: then went back to the Arabesque close.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: That definitely gotta be a deduction.
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: Oh, I'm sure it was. But when I was six,
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: I was like, I don't care, like, get this fly
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: off me. So yeah, I've wow. Gymnastics has been a
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: huge part of my life, and I grew up in
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: a predominantly African American or black community, so I definitely
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: think like growing up a lot unlike a lot of
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: other gymnasts, I was able to see girls who look
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: like me around me for the majority of my gymnastics
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: career up until probably high school, and so it was
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: like a very comfortable environment for me to be in
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: just because I was like, man, like, it doesn't matter
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: what color my skin is, Like I can do just
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: as much as everyone else, so regardless of like anything,
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: Like I am talented and that's enough.
• 5:05
  Speaker 5: So you're that's also incredible, and you're at Utah State.
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and you were with yeah, yeah, okay, yeah.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: I feel like we've told this story like so many
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: times of like the Spider Man meme of being like, oh, wait,
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: you're here, and as standing in a group at the
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: airport or in Greenville and they're like, wait, you're here.
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: It's it's crazy because like my junior year, going into
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: my senior year, I committed to Utah State, and like
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: at the time, I was looking for a school that
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: was very much so as academically vigorous as it was
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: athletically rigorous, just because of what I want to do
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: with my future. And I just felt like at the
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: time the coaches were like people who saw me as
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: a person and not just as another statistic or like
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: a number, and could actually see me for who I
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: am and who I was gonna be, and like the
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: importance and like significance that I put toward academics and stuff,
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: and so like I thought that was something that was
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: huge in my recruiting process, which is one of the
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: big reasons that I committed to Utah State. And then
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: I met Eve. I actually wasn't like I didn't really
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: know who Eve was when I first came to Utah State.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: Like obviously she was. She was a year older than me,
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: so I was a freshman.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: She was just a little freshman. Yeah, I was a sophomore,
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: so I was so much old.
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and like when I was, like when I first
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: came to Utah State, I was like, man, these girls
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: are old. But like now that I'm like a grad
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: student and me and Eva are like a lot closer
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: than we then we started off. I'm like, age is
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: literally nothing but a number, Like regardless of your age,
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: regardless of everything. You're close with the person because of
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: like who they are, or like not close with the
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: person because of who they are, and like age has
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: nothing to do with it other than like obviously like
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: a little bit of maturity. But yeah, So I went
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: through my freshman year. I had a great year.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: Multiple event titles.
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, so great. It was an
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: amazing year for me, Like I loved my team. And
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: I'm definitely the type of person that's an extrovert, like
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: I seek to meet everyone. Am I close with everyone? No,
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: Like I definitely would say that I am like a
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: smaller close friend type of person, Like I probably have
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: a two or three really close friends, but like I
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: know a lot a lot of people.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: It is so funny. We can be walking down the
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: street and like people will come up to try and
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: talk to her like they known her for forever. Yeah,
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: and I know this person and she's like, I don't
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: I think so I'm h once before.
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: I know, And like, I'm not great with names. So
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: if someone would be like, oh, hey, train me, I'm like,
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: oh hey girl, Like they're trying to have a conversation
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: with me, and I'm like what is their name? Like
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: i am not even focused on the conversation.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Or they'll be like, oh my gosh, are you Trinity
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: from the gymnastics team, And I'm just standing there like yeah, yeah, but.
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Like I said, like, I seek to meet everyone
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: just because like I'm an outgoing person. I love to
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: meet people. But after my freshman year it was a
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: great year, and then we were at our banquet and
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: our coaches were like, Oh, We're going to go start
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: the team at Clemson, and I'm like, oh, what is Clemson?
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: Like it didn't really ring a bell to me at all,
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: just because at the time, Clemson didn't have gymnastics, and
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: during my recruiting process, I was only looking at schools
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: that had gymnastics, So I was like, where's Clemson? What
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: is that? Like what does that mean? And so after
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: we had the banquet, I obviously was at a loss
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: for words and I didn't really know what to do,
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: just because I thought I was spending my entire four
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: years in Logan, Utah at Utah State, and.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: I feel like this is where you and I became
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: a little bit closer to you during this process.
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: This was I think this was a really big turning
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: point between, like even as relationship, just because we were
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: both not sure what we were going to do. Obviously,
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: we didn't choose Utah to just be living there leisurely
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: and like, oh, like this is definitely where I want
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: to live, Like it is negative two degrees outside and
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: it's snowing. Like clearly we were there for strictly school
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: and you know, gymnastics and everything else that it had
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: to offer. Obviously, but I think that whole transfer portal
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: process and deciding whether to get in or not and
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: just thinking about like what you're leaving behind, but also
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: like what the future holds, Like I definitely think that's
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: what brought even eye closer. Like obviously there was a
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: different difference in age, so I wasn't as close to
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: her as the like other girls may have been that
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: were in her grade. But I definitely think we were
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: both feeling like apprehensive and just like I don't really
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: know what to do, because yeah, we.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Were both like calling each other like what are you doing?
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: Well?
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: What are you doing?
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: Well?
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: I'm going to do this? Oh me too? Okay, yeah,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: well yeah.
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: We're just like kind of bouncing ideas off of each
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: other and just trying to figure out and like, to
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: be quite honest, whenever the coaches let us know that
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: they were going to go start the team, my initial
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: like mentor was responses like, oh, I'm not going because
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: when you think of a brand new company, or a
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: brand new school, or a brand new anything, like, it
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: has to start from the ground up, and so there's
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: so many different implications and like risks and things that
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: you just don't know about because the team is so
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: brand new. And just like when they build a new
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: apartment complex in five months and you're like, Okay, well
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: there's a really high chance for a carbon monoxide leak
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: because you like they've built the they've built the apartment
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: and start short time, and just like didn't pay attention
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: to detail, and so I was just kind of like,
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: and I don't really know if I want to be
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: a part of a brand new team that absolutely has
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: to start from nothing and that didn't even have like
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: physical facilities yet. So it was a big, big, big
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: move family.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Clemson had nothing to show for yet, like obviously, like
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: reputable programs have like championships and like like records of
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: have they done how they've done in the past, and
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: Clemson had none of that.
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: So or a gym a gym there was not.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, terrifying. Yes, we had to commit off of an
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: idea and like all these.
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: Like VR like virtual reality like, oh, this is what
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: it's gonna look like, and I'm not there.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: They haven't even dug up the dirt.
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.
• 11:18
  Speaker 5: What was like the thing that you were like, Okay,
• 11:20
  Speaker 5: I'm gonna I'm gonna do it, Like, let's start it.
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: I think me just being a person that likes to
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: take risks, not necessarily because I don't I don't really
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: like the adrenaline rush of the unknown, but I also
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: would be so mad at myself if I were to
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: close myself off from such a possibly great opportunity like
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: had I say that Utah State, yeah, I prob I
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: definitely would have graduated and gotten what I needed, but
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: like nothing comparable to the heights that Clemson can offer it.
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: And so it's like and I always think about it too.
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: I'm like, imagine I hadn't entered the transfer portal, or
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: I entered it and then came out of it and
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: decide to stay at Utah's it because it was comfortable.
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: I'm so grateful that I made this change, and like
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: that was like my deciding factor, just taking the risks
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: because you never know what's on the other side, Like
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: it might not always be good, but nine times out
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: of ten, like if you have some you know, education
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: and knowledge behind it, and also like a support system
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: and like friendships like Eve and I I think it
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: like makes it a lot easier.
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: So so good decision. And now you have coach Liz
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: and co coach Justin. What has that been like for
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: both of you new coaches.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: They're very reputable as well. They brought cal from like
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: very low in the rankings to number two in the country. Yeah,
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: with not the same amount of facilities, not the same
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: amount of resources that they had at that school, Like
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: it I think they've been blown away by what Clemson
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: has had to offer. And I think they're super excited
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: about the future of Clemson gymnastics because with all of
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: the stuff that we do have and now with them
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: coaching us as well, like there's like no end yeah,
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: like to what we can do. So I'm super excited.
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: I actually saw them when we were in the waving room.
• 13:07
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and I think they were like giving a tour
• 13:10
  Speaker 5: like for visits, and they were like so pumped.
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: They were like running up and.
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: Down like the hill in the weight room, and I
• 13:16
  Speaker 5: was like, oh my gosh, these coaches are fun. Like
• 13:18
  Speaker 5: they just like looked like they just had so much energy.
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, they just like want it.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: They just you could see that they're.
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: There's such lighthearted people, like individuals, Like they are excited
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: to come in the gym every day and just like
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: see what can be done different or like what can
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: be done that's new, or like is there a small
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: change that we can make here in your being routine
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: or whatever. Yes, Like they're just invested. And you can
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: tell that they're invested because they know how to coach
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: literally from the foundation all the way to the big
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: skill that you guys see us like competing on TV,
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: Like they know how to break it all the way
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: down and then build it all the way back up.
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: And you can just tell, like that's why Cal ended
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: up being so successful is because like they had that
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: great foundation and like they're genuinely bought into the team
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: and it's not just for the glitter in the in
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: the TVs and the cameras like they are. Yeah, like
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: that's great and everything, and it definitely enhances like our program.
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: But I definitely think that they're a boughten and they're
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: committed to seeing this team improved.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: They're very much about the basics. Yeah, basics everything break
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: down a skill from the ground up. It's it's it's
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: been truly interesting for me to learn because you know,
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: I'm old. This is my sixth year of doing collegiate gymnastics,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: So it's very very much a learning process for me.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: Trying to do a skill like the way I've done
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: it my whole entire life, and they're like, wait, try
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: it this way or do something different this way, And
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, so you can teach an old horse
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: new trick.
• 14:47
  Speaker 5: Yeah, no, but that's definitely something that's like learning as
• 14:51
  Speaker 5: a senior too, It's like you can like if you
• 14:54
  Speaker 5: open up, you know new possibilities of like different ways too.
• 14:57
  Speaker 5: It's like, yeah, I learn something new and try try
• 15:01
  Speaker 5: different things.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: Like that's how it's.
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: Cool too, because it's not the same thing every day
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: at practice. You're not gonna go do this skill five
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: times just because it's in your routine, Like you might
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: be doing that skill that day, but there's also twelve
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: drills that you have to do in front of it
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: that's gonna make your skill better then, Like the twelve
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: drills is actually not an exaggeration, like, yeah, there might
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: be twelve skills before you actually do the skill that
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: you compete.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: That's the beauty of gymnastics too, is that there are
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: things so many things that you can do to be better.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: Like you're striving for perfection at all times, and there
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: are so many things you can do to help you
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: get there. So having us do those things like every
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: single day, like we're just gonna get better and better.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: And the only way you grow is outside of your
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: comfort zone. So if things make you uncomfortable, the transfer
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: portal was uncomfortable, like we wouldn't be here without it, right, Yeah,
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: it just helps you grow as a person, as an
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: athlete everything.
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's the big thing about gymnastics too.
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: It's like it teaches you so many things outside of
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: like the physical part, Like you learn mental toughness, you
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: learn how to, you know, be outside of your comfort zone,
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: like standing on a four inch piece of what is
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: definitely not what a normal, you know, typical average person
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: does every day. So it's like you're either gonna, you know,
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: adapt to this change or like you're not cut out
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: for the sport because it's like you have to be
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: willing to do the things that you don't necessarily want
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: to do, or you know, just take that leap of
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: faith whatever, like the case may be. And I don't know,
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: I am very very grateful, you know, for gymnastics for
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: teaching me this, because I like use it in all
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: aspects of my life.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: So walk me through, like your first year at Clemson,
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: how was competing for the first time in front of
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: that many people, the fans, the crowds, like all of
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: that sort of stuff, Like what did that mean to you?
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: It was, honestly, just like I had this huge feeling
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: of gratitude because it's like we had just gone through
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: this huge change with like the transfer portal and stuff
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: and just unknown and just scary. And then we had
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: like that year off while our facilities were being built
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: that it was still like a sense of unknown because
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: it's like we're driving easily every day or Anderson and
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: we're practicing, you know, in like club gyms, and we
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: did that for a year and I'm like, man, like
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: right now I can't really see, you know, the end
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: of the tunnel. But then when January tenth came or
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: you know, whatever day we competed, and just to see
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: like how many people are in support of gymnastics in
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: this new program, like it blew me away because I
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: was like, yeah, like we're gonna come to Clemson and
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: like people think gymnastics is cool, but not that cool.
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: But then when we had our first meet, like seeing
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: all those people, I was like, yeah, like I am
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: not even nervous anymore because I am. I'm so excited.
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: So just like flip around and have fun with my
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: teammates and you're my friends, and like see who I
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: can find in the crowd that I might know. Like
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: it just felt like a sense of relief because I'm like,
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: this is this is why I did it, Like not necessar,
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: like this is my why, but like this is proof
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: that if you take the risk and you like put
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: in the hard work it you know, it works out
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: in your favor. So I thought it was amazing.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: And we truly did go through the hard work. Yeah,
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: that year off and everything like that, and just to
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: see the fruits of our labor, like you're kind of saying,
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: is just ye incredible. I feel like we have the
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: best atmosphere in collegiant athletics. Like we've traveled everywhere, We've
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: gone to the best programs of the best. We do
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: not have fans like we do at Clemson. No, it
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: is insane and it hopefully it stays that way because
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: it just makes everything better. And like fan engagement and
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: the what do they call that volleyball the cold spirit,
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: central central spirit, central spirit.
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: There.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: They are a huge part of our meats as well,
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: and they bring the energy which makes us have more
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: energy and makes us fired up and makes us want
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: to compete for those little girls watching in the stands
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: and stuff like that.
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so yeah, it's just huge.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: Justin and Liz are going to be Yeah.
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: I still think that they're blown away every day by
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: just like the little things that Clemson has and they're
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: just like man, like we would have never ever thought
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: of that, but like it just it just adds to
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: Like the reason that makes you like want to get
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: up for practice in the morning or go to practice,
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: you know in the afternoon, like when you don't really
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: want to go is like so many people around you
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: are like giving you the opportunity and the resources and
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: the support. Like all you have to do is go
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: to practice because then it pays off when when the
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: competition season comes. So I'm I'm totally grateful for being
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: at Clemson.
• 19:33
  Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, I want to ask you about you talked
• 19:36
  Speaker 5: a little bit about like your future career and your life.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: What is your major? What do you want to do?
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, certification at Yeah.
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: Okay, So I've always wanted to work in the medical field.
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: Just to preface that, like at a young age, I
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: didn't know exactly what I wanted to do because obviously
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: the only thing that anyone knows about medicine when they're
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: young is I want to be a doctor. Like there's
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: it's just so general and so broad. But as I've
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: gotten older and the reason why I want to go
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: into medicine is because of all my injuries and like
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: going to the doctors, like even if it was for
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: like basic checkups, honestly, like I would be trying to
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: take the gloves home and like you know, my mom's
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: like put the gloves down, like I do not take
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: the cup. I'm like no, like I need to do
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: this to practice my surgery at home, like all my
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: baby doll Like yeah. And so just from like being
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: at the doctor and being in the oar for surgeries
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: and stuff, I'm like, yeah, this is definitely what I
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: want to do. But so I started my like collegiate
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: career for academics. I started at Utah State and as
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: a kinesiology major, and so that kind of just like
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: got me into like the regular like general biology classes
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: and stuff like that. And then when I transferred to Clemson,
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: they didn't have kinesiology and so I was like, oh no,
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: like what am I gonna do? Oh no? And so Leslie,
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: our academic coordinator, she was like, we have a couple
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: of options because like you know, like credits transferring and
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: all that. So she was like, you can do chemistry
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: or biology. I said, Okay, a couple of options. Yeah,
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: you literally have two options in there, two of the
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: hardest majors that the school offers, and I was like, well,
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: definitely not chemistry because me and numbers don't go together ever.
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: But so then I ended up choosing biology, and I
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: was like, I don't really know what I'm getting myself into,
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: but like if I want to be if I want
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: to go into medicine, like I need to do what
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: I have to do to get there. And I will
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: not say like it was easy by any means, Like
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: my sophomore year, my first year at Clemson academically was
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: probably my most trying year. Like I hadn't seen so
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: many b's and c's like all my papers and grades
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: in my life, and I was freaking out. I was like,
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: I'm I'm an A plus student, Like why am I
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: not doing well on these exams and like these assignments.
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: But it's just like that's kind of what college is. Like.
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: It's definitely just like a reality check, like it is
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: just not gonna be perfect every time.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: But also balancing that, yes, your schedule.
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: Well yeah, and the major itself is very time consuming.
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: Like on the first day of class, I remember this
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: like verbata, my teacher goes, Yeah, you're gonna be needing
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: to spend at least twenty hours a week learning these
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: math problems so that you can you know how to
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: do them on the exams. And I'm like, I don't
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: have twenty hours because my twenty hours a week is
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: going towards gymnastics, and then like I have to make
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: time for sleep and you know all the other stuff.
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: And so it's just like I had to definitely like
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: think about if this is something one that I really
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: wanted to do, and like how was I going to
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: make it work? And a lot of the nights, I
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: can't lie. I was up till two and three o'clock
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: in the morning studying for exams, finishing assignments and like
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: making sure that I got the information because I'm like,
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: if I were to change to business or at one point,
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: I was considering changing my majors to criminal justice because
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: I thought I just couldn't do it anymore. Like I
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: was tired. I was like just delirious, couldn't couldn't do
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: the chemistry Until this day, I still hate chemistry, but yeah,
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: like I was like, I can't do this anymore. And
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: then I thought about it, and I was like yeah,
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: like it would be cool to do criminal justice. But
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: at the end of the day, like my heart eat
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: as much as hard as it is, like it lies
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: with biology. So I ended my senior year in biology
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: with a four point zero after okay, after all of
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: the tears and the ups and the downs of the degree,
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: like I love it, like as much as I like
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: don't like numbers and stuff, like I'm drawn toward that stuff.
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: I'm drawn toward science. And so I actually ended up
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: having to defer my graduation from my undergraduate degree from
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: May twenty twenty five to August. So I actually just
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: graduated like literally a month ago, so thank you, and
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: like even knows this too. But so the fall semester
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: of my senior year, I was taking like nineteen credits,
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: like I was taking physics, I was taking cell biology, virology, anatomy,
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: physio like all this stuff. And then on top of that,
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: I had labs with each of the classes. So I
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: was having labs four times a week and they were
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: all three hours, and like I just wasn't going to
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: bed till three o'clock in the morning, and we had
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: practice at eight.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: And like we would like hear trinity up at night
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: or in the morning, waking up early to study, like
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: it was taking a toll.
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, sure, And like I would come home from the
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: library at like three am, and then we would have
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: practice and like the and then at practice, I'm like
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: obviously not doing well because I'm exhausted or my brain
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: is like not not here some it's on my exam
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: or whatever the case was. And so like it got
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: to a point where it was like 'mlike not manageable
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: at all. Like I was crying a lot. I just
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: wasn't able to grasp the information like I knew that
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: I could, because I didn't have the brain power to
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: give to it. And then I was talking to Eve
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: one day in the kitchen and she was like training, like,
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: you know, you don't have to graduate in May, like
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: you can graduate in August, like just drop physics, take
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: it in the summer, and then like you can graduate
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: in August. And I was like, uh, absolutely not like
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: my four years. And I think everyone kind of like
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: has this mindset is to graduate in exactly four years.
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: You start in the fall and you end in the spring,
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: and like that's this like fixed mindset that everyone has.
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: But it's like everyone's like path, like academic path is
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: so different and at the end of the day, like
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: I still have a paper and so does everyone else
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: that says my name and Bachelor of Science or Bachelor
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: of Arts or whatever, and like it doesn't matter, like
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: the path that takes you, you know, whatever path it
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: may be, it doesn't have to be the same. And
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: like that's what's so cool about, you know, school, is
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: that everyone has something different to tell about it, and
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: like and it's not linear. It's like always some ups
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: and it's always some downs. So I'm really grateful for
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: like Eve kind of giving me that like good advice
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: that that kind of like urge is just like it's
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: really okay, like two or three months is not going
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: to make a difference, and so like it really really August. Yeah,
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: like it's untill summer time.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: You're like sacrificing your sleep and your energy towards gymnastics,
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: which I know, like we both love, and like that's
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: something you want to put one hundred percent effort to.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: So like you can give your one hundred percent effort
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: to everything at once. Yeah, and you need to take
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: a step back exactly literally evaluate everything.
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: I'm just graduating in May for the sake of graduating
• 26:20
  Speaker 4: in May.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: It's not worth all that.
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: It's not And like my parents told me the same thing.
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: They were like, is it like if you think about
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: in the grand scheme of things, like would you want
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: to graduate in May with a two point five gpa
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: because you couldn't, you know, give your all to physics
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: or to whatever class because you are running off of
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: two hours of sleep and you've had practice and weights
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: and all this other stuff. I was like, I'd much rather,
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: you know, not take my gpa just because I'm trying
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: to graduate with all my friends in May. So then
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: I decided to drop physics completely. And so I was like,
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: I'm just going to take Physics one and two in
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: the summer. So I ended up taking it out of
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: community college because I felt like, you know, the information
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: was like given, like you know, get taught better, and
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: I could like have a much better grasp on exactly
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: what I was learning because obviously, like numbers don't come
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: to me as easily as it might for others, so
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: I like have to take a step back for like
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: most you know, math classes and like do the extra
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: practice because it doesn't, you know, come so easy to me.
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: But I actually ended up getting an A in both
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: of those classes. And then while I was doing physics,
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: I decided that I wanted to get a phlebotomy certification
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: because yeah, these guys want to be a position assistant
• 27:34
  Speaker 3: after college, and so in order to be admitted into
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: any of those schools, you have to have a certain
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: amount of like patient care hours, so they're called like
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: pack hours. And it's not just like going into an
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: oar and shadowing or like watching what a doctor is doing.
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: Like you have to have physical, hands on experience with
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: patients in order to be admitted into these schools. And
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: that's just like even considered, you know, for admission. And
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: one of the schools I'm at it's like, oh, you
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: need two thousand minimum hours, and I'm like, well, like
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: you can't do anything in like any healthcare setting with
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: no certification, like it's illegal. So I was like, okay,
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: let me just get this certification really quickly. It took
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: six weeks, and I had a class from eight am
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: to four pm every Saturday in Greenville for six weeks,
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: and so I ended up doing that. I got my certification,
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: So now I.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: Now Trinity can take yes and I.
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: Actually just took all the student athletes blood a couple
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: of weeks ago during the second round of physical Wow.
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: So it's like really cool, it's awesome, like it's just
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: paying off. And so now for my fifth year of gymnastics,
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: I decided that I wanted to do obviously like a
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: master's degree, but definitely something that was like gonna help
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: me in the future and stimulate my brain because like
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: the easy route is like athletic leadership, Like not saying
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: that it's like dumb or anything, because it's not, but
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: it's just like I need something that's gonna kind of
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: like challenge me and make sure that like I'm still
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: prepared when I do go to PA school. So I
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: decided to do my masters in medical device reprocessing. So
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: it's like bioengineering and just learning how medical devices like
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: get passed through the FDA and are like usable now
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: like crutches and stuff. So I think it's really cool.
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: I'm having a great time. It's asynchronous, so I'm adapting
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: to the a you know, like not being directly in
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: front of a teacher and in like a lecture hall.
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: But yeah, it's been great.
• 29:28
  Speaker 5: Like also being an athlete too, and like you said,
• 29:30
  Speaker 5: you did have some injuries like going that route too.
• 29:33
  Speaker 5: It's like the medical devices is like something that you
• 29:36
  Speaker 5: see every day, so it's really applicable.
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, So it's it's been amazing, Like I'm learning a
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: lot and like it's very applicative to like what I'm
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: doing now and like certain things that I'm seeing like
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: when I do go in shadow or do phlebotomy and
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: stuff like that. So it's been really cool.
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: Are the athletes just like what are you doing?
• 29:54
  Speaker 5: Yeah?
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: Am I knew? And they're like trying to do what
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: like you're doing, like how are you taking my blood?
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: I'm like, oh, got a certification over this summer? Yeah,
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: but yeah, it's cool.
• 30:07
  Speaker 4: There are children of all ages in South Carolina who
• 30:09
  Speaker 4: are in need of a forever home. Many are teens, siblings,
• 30:13
  Speaker 4: or have complex medical needs. Public adoption through the South
• 30:16
  Speaker 4: Carolina Department of Social Services can be not only life
• 30:19
  Speaker 4: changing for them, it can be life changing for you too.
• 30:21
  Speaker 4: When you provide stability, guidance, and support, you're giving a
• 30:25
  Speaker 4: young person the foundation to succeed in school, work, and life.
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: In return, you'll gain a meaningful connection.
• 30:31
  Speaker 4: Learn more about public adoption in South Carolina at DSS
• 30:34
  Speaker 4: dot SC dot gov.
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: Now back to the show.
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: You talked a little bit about your injuries and it's
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: motivating you to do what you want to do after
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: school and stuff like that. Can you kind of explain
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: and go through Like I know you dealt with a
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: major injury last year, can you kind of explain about that?
• 30:52
  Speaker 3: So January thirty first of last year, So twenty twenty four,
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: I was the last Perst gymnast to go. I think
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: we were competing against Pitt Pitt or I don't know
• 31:06
  Speaker 3: who we were competing against. It was someone, but I
• 31:09
  Speaker 3: was an exhibition on floor, so number seven out of
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: the top six, So my score didn't contribute toward the team.
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: And I like was feeling like off that whole entire day,
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: And like no one ever believes me when I say this,
• 31:23
  Speaker 3: but like I know when I'm about to get hurt,
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: Like I just have an inkling that entire day or
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: like for like when it's about to happen that I'm
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: gonna get hurt. And like the entire day I felt
• 31:32
  Speaker 3: kind of off and like I wasn't feeling that like
• 31:35
  Speaker 3: adrenaline rush that I normally felt the day of the
• 31:37
  Speaker 3: meat and like going into that night, and I was
• 31:39
  Speaker 3: kind of just like I was overly calm, and it
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: was kind kind of freaking me out because I'm like,
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: this is not normal. And so then we went through
• 31:46
  Speaker 3: the rest of the meat like I just wasn't in
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: a great mood. Like obviously I competed, vault did well,
• 31:51
  Speaker 3: you know, contributed to put up a score for my team,
• 31:54
  Speaker 3: but I just knew I wasn't myself. And so we
• 31:56
  Speaker 3: were warming up on floor and my achilles started hurting,
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: and I was like, well, like my achilles are, like
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: this is normal, Like I've had achilles pain before.
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: But like to preface with gymnastics, like achilles pain doesn't
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: necessarily mean like something something bad is gonna happen, because
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: we've all had it, like we understand it, we feel
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: the pain, and like obviously it's scary because like that
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: sure is a possibility, but that's not an indication of
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: it actually happened. And it's happening, so I can understand
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: why you were just like, oh, it's hurting like normal,
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: like this always happens or yeah, stuff like that. It's
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: not like something to be like alarming.
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and like we all get our ankles tape and
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: so like, obviously there's a possibility of the tape being
• 32:36
  Speaker 3: too tight in that area that can cause pain. So
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: I didn't think of it any like as anything. I
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: was like, okay, like my tape is tight like whatever.
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: So then I wait for my turn, let all six
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: people go, and I'm standing beside my teammate and like
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: she's not competing floor, and I'm like, I think I'm
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: a want to tear my achilles And I told her that,
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: and so as I was going up on the floor,
• 33:00
  Speaker 3: like she walked out of the arena because like I
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: just told her this crazy information and.
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: She's like gymnastics, like it's it's you can't say stuff
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: like that, Like you just can't because that is like
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: just terrifying, you know, like yeah.
• 33:16
  Speaker 3: It's very scary, and like obviously, like I didn't want
• 33:18
  Speaker 3: it to happen. But again, when I like, I feel that,
• 33:21
  Speaker 3: I can feel when I'm about to get hurt. And
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: sure enough, she like walked out of the arena in
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: my first pass, which is a double pike. As soon
• 33:28
  Speaker 3: as I did my back handspring to go into the flip,
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: it tore, and so I like.
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: But I could see like on her face like before,
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: like it didn't look like the normal trinity like we
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: practice every day with or anything like that. There was
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: sort of like a like a gloss or something over
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: and and you could hear a pin drop.
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, because I'm like, as soon as I punched
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: the floor, I was like, I think I like either
• 33:53
  Speaker 3: hit the the mat that I was landing onto. I
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: think I hit it wrong or whatever. But as I
• 33:58
  Speaker 3: was flipping through the air, like I could feel like
• 34:00
  Speaker 3: my tendon like rolling up into my cap and I'm like, Okay, well,
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: now I have to land. So how am I gonna land?
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: She tore it on the punch, yeah, and so you
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: have to land the skill.
• 34:13
  Speaker 3: And I'm like, I can't like open up and land
• 34:15
  Speaker 3: on my stomach because then I'm opening myself up for
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: more injuries. So I'm like, so I landed the skill honestly,
• 34:21
  Speaker 3: and obviously fell to my hands and knees and stuff.
• 34:24
  Speaker 3: And then that's when they the doctors and the coaches
• 34:28
  Speaker 3: came over and they're like, what's wrong. I was like,
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: I tore my achilles whatever. No, Like you knew right away,
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: Oh I knew immediately, Oh my gosh. And they were like, no,
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: it's not torn. I'm like, are you sure, because I
• 34:38
  Speaker 3: think it's torn. So then I but.
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: You know, like doctors and coaches like they're always gonna
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: say yea.
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think it. Like what makes it worse
• 34:48
  Speaker 3: is that, like I do have a little bit of
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: like a biology background, so I'm very like familiar with
• 34:53
  Speaker 3: the body and like you know that stuff. So I
• 34:55
  Speaker 3: was like I knew exactly what it was when it happened.
• 34:57
  Speaker 3: They took me into the the locker room and they
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: did like the Dorsey flextion like tests on your calf
• 35:05
  Speaker 3: to see if your foot moves or not when your
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: calf is contracted. And they did it and my foot
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: didn't move, and they're like it's torn. It's like yeah.
• 35:12
  Speaker 3: And then I got an MRI. Like they brought me
• 35:14
  Speaker 3: into an MRI room on a Saturday. I'm like, oh,
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: I didn't know, like MRIs were open on a Saturday.
• 35:19
  Speaker 3: It wasn't. Anyway, we got the MRI on a Saturday
• 35:23
  Speaker 3: and they showed me and they showed right where it
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: tore and it was pretty high up in my calf.
• 35:29
  Speaker 3: And so I ended up getting surgery like a week
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: after that. So February eighth, and they told me it
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: was gonna be about a twelve month recovery, and like,
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: you know, obviously everyone's body is different, and so when
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: I tore my achilles, like right there on the floor,
• 35:43
  Speaker 3: I was like, my season is just so far from over.
• 35:46
  Speaker 3: Like I don't even know how to like process this
• 35:49
  Speaker 3: at this point because I'm like I'm a senior. I
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: don't have so many years, you know, like to be
• 35:55
  Speaker 3: able to come back and like all this time and
• 35:58
  Speaker 3: I'm just like I think I was trying more on
• 36:00
  Speaker 3: the floor because I was like, what am I gonna do?
• 36:03
  Speaker 3: More than it was like I'm in pain because I'm
• 36:06
  Speaker 3: like I just don't know. And again it was a
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: feeling of the unknown. I'm like, okay, like obviously I
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: know that I need surgery, but what are the next steps?
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: And so I got surgery and I was like kind
• 36:17
  Speaker 3: of down and like I'm not really the type of
• 36:19
  Speaker 3: person to show my emotions outwardly, but my mom was like, like,
• 36:22
  Speaker 3: you just look like there's something going on. I met
• 36:24
  Speaker 3: my parents came and stuff for the surgery, and they
• 36:27
  Speaker 3: were just like are you okay? And I was like, yeah,
• 36:30
  Speaker 3: like I'm fine, and they were like no, like you
• 36:32
  Speaker 3: don't look fine, like what's really going on? And that's
• 36:34
  Speaker 3: when I broke down and like the actual tears started
• 36:36
  Speaker 3: coming on, and I'm just like I'm scared because I
• 36:38
  Speaker 3: don't I don't know like what's next to come? Like
• 36:41
  Speaker 3: do I have a fifth year? Do I? Like? Like
• 36:43
  Speaker 3: what is the plan? And so currently I'm eight months
• 36:47
  Speaker 3: post stop of September eighth, so I'm able to like
• 36:52
  Speaker 3: run jump a little bit, like very light and moderate.
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: She's killing it with like the physical therapy. I see
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: her every day doing exercise.
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: Therapy is no joke.
• 37:03
  Speaker 3: It is no joking, and you have to be like
• 37:06
  Speaker 3: on it. Yeah, you have to be. And there's like
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: I had four or five days of pt at one point,
• 37:12
  Speaker 3: like for an hour every day of the weeks. Like
• 37:14
  Speaker 3: some days I was in the pool and the underwater
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: treadmill like running like intervals, sprinting one minute, walking one minute,
• 37:20
  Speaker 3: like just to get the calf's drink back. Because it's
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: like when you hear your achilles, like there's so many
• 37:24
  Speaker 3: other parts of your body that like go into it,
• 37:27
  Speaker 3: like no one really thinks about. Oh, like your achilles
• 37:29
  Speaker 3: is your strongest ten in your body, like it holds
• 37:31
  Speaker 3: all your weight, and so it's like in order to
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: get that strength back, like you have to like kind
• 37:36
  Speaker 3: of work over time to not only be able to
• 37:38
  Speaker 3: withstand your own weight, but then as a gymnast to
• 37:41
  Speaker 3: withstand the weight of like then impact that you you know,
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: with like vault.
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: And floor ten times your body Yeah.
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: Literally, like one of our teammates calculated and it was
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: like forty times your body weight when you land, and like.
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: She's just like the force coming.
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the force coming down like with the they did
• 37:56
  Speaker 3: with like force plates or something, and so it's like
• 37:59
  Speaker 3: you're taking on your body weight plus so much more
• 38:02
  Speaker 3: just from like being so high in the air and
• 38:04
  Speaker 3: then the force coming into the ground. And so some
• 38:07
  Speaker 3: days are like really good for me mentally and physically,
• 38:09
  Speaker 3: and some days I'm like, man, like, am I ever
• 38:12
  Speaker 3: gonna be able to run the same way again? Am
• 38:13
  Speaker 3: I ever ever gonna be able to evault or do
• 38:16
  Speaker 3: floor the same way again? And like even yesterday I was,
• 38:19
  Speaker 3: I am like, my leg is like shut down right now,
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: according to my physical therapist, because it's like swelling in
• 38:24
  Speaker 3: weird places, and so they're making me take a week
• 38:26
  Speaker 3: off of just not doing anything just so that the
• 38:28
  Speaker 3: swelling can calm down and stuff, and so I'm like
• 38:31
  Speaker 3: restricted from doing a lot of things in the gym
• 38:33
  Speaker 3: right now. And so when I walk in the gym,
• 38:35
  Speaker 3: I'm like, man, like everyone can run around the floor
• 38:37
  Speaker 3: and you know, do you know like whatever, like do
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: their skills and land how they normally land. And I'm like, like,
• 38:44
  Speaker 3: I just feel like left out a little bit, and
• 38:46
  Speaker 3: not because like that's any of any like anyone's fault,
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: but it's just like my own, Like, man, I wish
• 38:52
  Speaker 3: I could, you know, go come back to the sport
• 38:54
  Speaker 3: that I love. And this is I think this is
• 38:56
  Speaker 3: like a really big reason why I Whenever I I
• 39:00
  Speaker 3: think thought about wanting to quit or like wanting to
• 39:02
  Speaker 3: stop gymnastics, I'm like, what would I do without it?
• 39:06
  Speaker 3: Like at this point obviously it ends, but it's just
• 39:09
  Speaker 3: like quitting is like the easy route, and like without it,
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: I don't even know what, like what I would be doing.
• 39:15
  Speaker 3: When I tore my achilles, I was like, well, like
• 39:17
  Speaker 3: do I medically retire? But I'm like that, like I
• 39:20
  Speaker 3: don't know anything else about gymnastics, And so it's just
• 39:22
  Speaker 3: a huge mental battle right now, just trying to figure
• 39:25
  Speaker 3: out like or just trying to tell myself that I'm
• 39:27
  Speaker 3: gonna get there in time, and like it's it's not
• 39:31
  Speaker 3: a linear process. And in my brain, like knowing me
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: as much as I know about biology and stuff, I
• 39:35
  Speaker 3: still think I'm like man, like why can I still
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: not run like correctly yet? Or like when I wake
• 39:40
  Speaker 3: up in the morning, why am I limping around my room? Well,
• 39:43
  Speaker 3: you did surely just get surgery and you have eight
• 39:46
  Speaker 3: metal pins in your heel, Like I just need to
• 39:49
  Speaker 3: give myself some grace, you know, sometimes coming with this
• 39:52
  Speaker 3: recovery and stuff. So yeah, it's been it's been a
• 39:55
  Speaker 3: pretty good recovery. Like everyone around me has been super
• 39:58
  Speaker 3: supportive and helpful in my t temates have been nothing
• 40:01
  Speaker 3: but helpful and supportive and like the most the most
• 40:04
  Speaker 3: waste possible. So like it's been really great to be
• 40:07
  Speaker 3: around people who like love you and you know, care
• 40:10
  Speaker 3: about you, and the want to see you do well
• 40:12
  Speaker 3: and don't mind saying, oh, hey, trend, like I saw
• 40:14
  Speaker 3: you do like a back talk today, Like that's crazy.
• 40:17
  Speaker 3: He's been eight months. Like so it's just like good
• 40:20
  Speaker 3: hearing from them, Like okay, like maybe I am making
• 40:22
  Speaker 3: more progress than I actually think I'm making in my head,
• 40:25
  Speaker 3: so I.
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: Feel like an injury like that also teaches you so
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: much about yourself yeah too, and how you come back
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: after failing as well, and like sure it ebbs and flows,
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: and like you may have a really good week where
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: your achilles feels great, and you may have a week
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: where it feels bad. But it's just like that process
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: of getting to where you know you can be is
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: where you learn.
• 40:45
  Speaker 5: And it definitely shows a lot about your mentality too,
• 40:47
  Speaker 5: like how you're attacking every day because like you said,
• 40:49
  Speaker 5: it's not easy, and like you hang around your teammates
• 40:52
  Speaker 5: that can do it so easily, not even think about
• 40:54
  Speaker 5: it right exact, but then you're like working through just
• 40:57
  Speaker 5: to try to like get that muscle back, so like
• 40:59
  Speaker 5: God's definitely challenge, but your crushing.
• 41:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's crazy because like you take walking for granted
• 41:04
  Speaker 3: every day, but like now when I get it, I'm
• 41:06
  Speaker 3: like okay, like hello, walk normally now, Like I have
• 41:09
  Speaker 3: to think about walking normally, like making sure I'm putting
• 41:11
  Speaker 3: my heel down and then my toes. Like it's just
• 41:14
  Speaker 3: like so many things that you take for granted that
• 41:16
  Speaker 3: you never thought would be like not normal for you anymore.
• 41:19
  Speaker 3: And then like something happens and it's like you actually
• 41:22
  Speaker 3: have to think about doing it or making sure that
• 41:24
  Speaker 3: you're making a concerted effort to like do it correctly.
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: So yeah, no, Yeah, I literally started crying on the
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: floor when I saw that. That was the most uh
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: heartbreaking thing like I've ever experienced, like personally, as like
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: a teammate from standing out and like watching you learn
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: how to walk again and watching you learn how to
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: run or making like these little like like skills here
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: and there, and like coming back. It's like really cool
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: to see like how you're persevering through this like devastating
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: thing you know that's happened to you, and I feel
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: like you've grown so much through the process, learn so
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: much about yourself, learn how to come back from failure,
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: all of these things, and it's really really cool to see,
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: like as a friend and thanks to me.
• 42:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, this is my third surgery, so like I'm not
• 42:11
  Speaker 3: new to this by any means, but this is definitely
• 42:13
  Speaker 3: the most like traumatic and longest recovery time. So I
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: mean it's been cool. I've been able to learn so
• 42:20
  Speaker 3: much about myself outside of gymnastics, which is good because
• 42:22
  Speaker 3: obviously that's going to come to an end, and I
• 42:24
  Speaker 3: need to make sure that I have an identity outside
• 42:27
  Speaker 3: of my sport. So I guess good and bad comes
• 42:30
  Speaker 3: with being injured.
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: I kind of want to transition into Clemson and student
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: athlete development and your personal development as well. Like you've
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: been a part of Power, can you kind of explain
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: what that is for people who don't know and what
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: that entailed.
• 42:45
  Speaker 3: Power Leadership Academy is basically a semester long program that's
• 42:51
  Speaker 3: led by Toy and uh is Jana still apartment okay
• 42:55
  Speaker 3: in Jena, And you basically learned as a female to
• 43:02
  Speaker 3: lead in your space, not only like with your voice,
• 43:05
  Speaker 3: but with your actions and learning how to own a
• 43:07
  Speaker 3: room that you're talking in and like speak diplomatically but
• 43:10
  Speaker 3: also effectively to make sure that you are being heard.
• 43:14
  Speaker 3: And it just teaches you so much about just learning
• 43:17
  Speaker 3: how to develop yourself to be a leader, like obviously
• 43:21
  Speaker 3: saying oh, I want to be a leader, Like what
• 43:23
  Speaker 3: does that really mean? I think that this, like the
• 43:27
  Speaker 3: Power really teaches you, like the skills that you need
• 43:30
  Speaker 3: to be a leader, Like you don't have to necessarily
• 43:33
  Speaker 3: always speak to be a leader, Like you can lead
• 43:36
  Speaker 3: through you know, example, And I think that me personally,
• 43:39
  Speaker 3: Like I feel like I lead by example. I mean
• 43:43
  Speaker 3: I feel like I.
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: Feel like you're a vocal leader.
• 43:46
  Speaker 3: I feel like it's like a little bit of both,
• 43:47
  Speaker 3: Like I don't mind speaking up on behalf of people
• 43:50
  Speaker 3: who like I need to speak up on behalf of
• 43:52
  Speaker 3: like my teammates. I don't mind saying the hard things.
• 43:55
  Speaker 3: I don't mind being the person to call and say,
• 43:57
  Speaker 3: like let's have this hard conversation. And so I like
• 44:00
  Speaker 3: attribute that to power so much because it's like it's
• 44:03
  Speaker 3: it's so much easier said than done, Like it's easy
• 44:05
  Speaker 3: to say, oh, I'm gonna call a meeting, okay, but
• 44:08
  Speaker 3: like when you call this meeting, like how are you
• 44:10
  Speaker 3: gonna speak to people? How are you gonna, you know,
• 44:12
  Speaker 3: keep people engaged when you're having a conversation with them, Like,
• 44:15
  Speaker 3: how are you gonna speak so that you're not, you know,
• 44:17
  Speaker 3: attacking anyone personally? How are you gonna have this meeting
• 44:21
  Speaker 3: so that it's effective? But it's also like moving and
• 44:24
  Speaker 3: people understand what you're saying and are fully engaged in
• 44:26
  Speaker 3: or listening, and then are gonna go and like do
• 44:29
  Speaker 3: something different in their personal lives or like in their
• 44:31
  Speaker 3: business or company or team or whatever. So like, I
• 44:34
  Speaker 3: think Power was like a huge turning point for me
• 44:38
  Speaker 3: in terms of like the leader that I want to be,
• 44:40
  Speaker 3: because it teaches you, like the leader that you are,
• 44:43
  Speaker 3: like you either lead by example or you lead vocally
• 44:46
  Speaker 3: or you do a little bit of both, and I
• 44:48
  Speaker 3: think both are great like skills to have. But power
• 44:52
  Speaker 3: really like helps you hone in on like who you are,
• 44:56
  Speaker 3: who you want to be, and like really helps you
• 44:58
  Speaker 3: step out of your comfort zone to you know, make
• 45:01
  Speaker 3: those changes. And so then at the end, towards the
• 45:04
  Speaker 3: end of the Power Summit, we went to Oregon as
• 45:07
  Speaker 3: different for you know, every cohort, but we went to Oregon,
• 45:11
  Speaker 3: and we went to Washington, and we went to Oregon.
• 45:14
  Speaker 3: We went to the Nike Yeah, and that whole campus
• 45:19
  Speaker 3: that was crazy. I've never seen anything like that. And
• 45:23
  Speaker 3: just like to see the women there and not even
• 45:27
  Speaker 3: women like but like to see the people there who
• 45:29
  Speaker 3: are in their roles and are able to like make
• 45:31
  Speaker 3: these executive decisions for the stuff that we're wearing like
• 45:34
  Speaker 3: right now. It's just crazy because it's like you have
• 45:37
  Speaker 3: to have those skills in order to get you know,
• 45:39
  Speaker 3: people to listen to you. For your ideas to get
• 45:42
  Speaker 3: you know, brought up on the board and you're able
• 45:44
  Speaker 3: to like effectively explain what they are, what they do,
• 45:47
  Speaker 3: like how they'll draw attention, whatever the case may be.
• 45:50
  Speaker 3: So like that was huge, and we went to Amazon,
• 45:52
  Speaker 3: we went to Lululemon. It was just like so many
• 45:56
  Speaker 3: like opportunities to see how people lead in their own
• 45:59
  Speaker 3: space and in every one is like obviously different. And
• 46:01
  Speaker 3: that's what's so cool about, you know, being around leaders
• 46:04
  Speaker 3: is that like not everyone's the same. So power is huge,
• 46:07
  Speaker 3: and I think everyone that comes here should you know,
• 46:10
  Speaker 3: get into or at least like go to the end
• 46:13
  Speaker 3: of the year the summit. The yeah, at the end
• 46:16
  Speaker 3: of the Year's summit, because it kind of just like
• 46:18
  Speaker 3: wraps up into a little nutshell about like what power
• 46:21
  Speaker 3: really is. And it shows like even like the people
• 46:23
  Speaker 3: in your cohort, like you meet them and you're like, oh, yeah,
• 46:26
  Speaker 3: like you're on volleyball, right, like we're friend, Like we
• 46:28
  Speaker 3: don't I don't really know you, but like you end
• 46:30
  Speaker 3: up getting close with these people who aren't necessarily in
• 46:33
  Speaker 3: your sport and like you kind of watch them grow
• 46:35
  Speaker 3: while they watch, you know, you grow, and so it's
• 46:37
  Speaker 3: really cool.
• 46:38
  Speaker 5: I think that's also cool too, that like you're learning
• 46:40
  Speaker 5: it through gymnastics, Like you're getting this opportunity through clumb
• 46:43
  Speaker 5: Center gymnastics. But like you just said, it's so transferable.
• 46:46
  Speaker 5: You're making executive decisions one day, or you're doing you're
• 46:50
  Speaker 5: working in a hospital one day and you need to
• 46:51
  Speaker 5: make a decision. It's like that, like just form of
• 46:54
  Speaker 5: leadership is so transferable. Yeah, from athletics to the real world. Yeah,
• 46:57
  Speaker 5: a really cool opportunity.
• 46:58
  Speaker 3: To It's huge, and it's like cool because not every
• 47:02
  Speaker 3: school has opportunities like this, and I think it's up
• 47:05
  Speaker 3: to the student athlete who wants to maximize their like
• 47:09
  Speaker 3: college experience to like seek outside of their sport and
• 47:13
  Speaker 3: do things that will like help them in the future.
• 47:16
  Speaker 3: Like obviously power isn't directly about gymnastics, but it's something
• 47:21
  Speaker 3: that will help me so much just like growing as
• 47:23
  Speaker 3: a person and in my you know, future career and
• 47:25
  Speaker 3: even like tie your leadership Academy, that's another leadership like
• 47:30
  Speaker 3: thing that I did with learning about my skills and stuff.
• 47:33
  Speaker 3: And so it's just like you don't have to go
• 47:35
  Speaker 3: out of your way to like, you know, do this,
• 47:38
  Speaker 3: but they're right here, like in our community on our campus,
• 47:41
  Speaker 3: you know, in nearly like very close to your athletic facility,
• 47:44
  Speaker 3: and it's just like taking that extra hour, extra thirty
• 47:47
  Speaker 3: minutes to come like learn about yourself, you know, and
• 47:50
  Speaker 3: you know, learn skills and stuff about leadership, and it
• 47:53
  Speaker 3: just like is very formative in terms of like who
• 47:56
  Speaker 3: you become at the end of your college career.
• 48:00
  Speaker 4: Need that like as an ad they development. Yeah, I
• 48:03
  Speaker 4: appreciate that because that's what we try to do. And
• 48:05
  Speaker 4: it's not to distract from academics or athletics, but to
• 48:09
  Speaker 4: be more yeah developed and become a better leader, but
• 48:12
  Speaker 4: also have some identity beyond. You know, I'm not just
• 48:16
  Speaker 4: a gymnastics leader or a volleyball leader. Like I am
• 48:19
  Speaker 4: a leader, and I do it through volleyball, but I
• 48:21
  Speaker 4: also do it through my class work. And then you're
• 48:24
  Speaker 4: doing it through your injury recovery and then soon enough
• 48:27
  Speaker 4: you're going to be physician assistant valuator.
• 48:31
  Speaker 3: Using those same skills that I learned here.
• 48:33
  Speaker 2: So it's cool to hear you talk about that.
• 48:35
  Speaker 4: And that's always my favorite part too, of seeing a
• 48:37
  Speaker 4: group start at the beginning and everyone's so quiet.
• 48:42
  Speaker 3: You see them at dinner, but like I don't.
• 48:43
  Speaker 2: Know, and then unstoppable. By the end, you're like, all right,
• 48:46
  Speaker 2: we gotta keep moving.
• 48:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but it's cool.
• 48:48
  Speaker 4: Too because I've gotten to know you and then throw
• 48:51
  Speaker 4: you out for opportunity.
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: Yes, and people love you. I'm taking you on the road.
• 48:56
  Speaker 4: We've done a couple of events and you just do
• 48:58
  Speaker 4: a really nice job talking with people.
• 49:00
  Speaker 3: Thank you. It's I mean, thank you, Tory, like opening
• 49:03
  Speaker 3: up so many networking opportunities, and like that's another thing
• 49:07
  Speaker 3: about Clemson, Like there's no reason to not have some
• 49:11
  Speaker 3: like plan or like anything lined up after you're done
• 49:14
  Speaker 3: being at Clemson. Like it's hard to fail here because
• 49:17
  Speaker 3: people put you in such a like great position to
• 49:20
  Speaker 3: be able to be successful. And like whatever it is
• 49:23
  Speaker 3: that you want to do, it might be communications or
• 49:25
  Speaker 3: you know, like what Eve is doing, Like she has
• 49:27
  Speaker 3: so many things to put down on her resume because
• 49:29
  Speaker 3: she takes the time and all the opportunities that Clemson
• 49:32
  Speaker 3: gives her and is driving from it. So I think
• 49:35
  Speaker 3: it's amazing.
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's so funny. We had a friend visit us
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: from Utah State, one of our old teammates. She came
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: for the LSU game. I think and sad we lost,
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: of course, but still she was just amazed by everything
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: that Clemson had to offer. She was like, wow, like
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: I can't believe. I stayed like I'm mad at you guys. Yeah,
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: like genuinely because the opportunity he's like, the networking, the facilities,
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: the atmosphere, like the family that Clemson has, like everything.
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: She was just like, I can't believe you guys have
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: this at your feet, Like this is insane, Like no
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: other school has it like we have it. And I
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: think that is just like so humbling, you know, to
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: know as well. So it's it's very cool to see.
• 50:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree.
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: I also wanted to ask you about your family a
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: little bit. I know you have a younger sister, Alexis,
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: and she does track and she's herself is going through
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: the recruiting process and all of that. Can you kind
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: of explain to me, like as an older big sister
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: who has gone through it already, like what you've been
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: telling her and like little advice.
• 50:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah. So yeah, she's a senior this year. I'm from Maryland.
• 50:46
  Speaker 3: So she goes to school and at Bulliss with Quincy Wilson.
• 50:50
  Speaker 3: He's like the sixteen year old won the gold medal. Yeah, him,
• 50:53
  Speaker 3: so to school together and so through this recruiting process,
• 51:01
  Speaker 3: Like I actually didn't really have that much of a
• 51:03
  Speaker 3: recruiting process because I was getting recruited through COVID. So
• 51:06
  Speaker 3: I'm kind of like living a little bit through her
• 51:08
  Speaker 3: and kind of seeing like the things that she's going through.
• 51:11
  Speaker 3: But she has a lot of offers and she is like,
• 51:16
  Speaker 3: I want to go on this visit, in this visit,
• 51:18
  Speaker 3: in this visit, in this and I'm like, yeah, like
• 51:20
  Speaker 3: I think it's so great to go on visits because
• 51:23
  Speaker 3: you know, it's hard to make a decision about a
• 51:24
  Speaker 3: school that you've never seen before, but also like make
• 51:27
  Speaker 3: sure that you're prioritizing the schools that like, you know
• 51:31
  Speaker 3: how the things that like you need and you want.
• 51:33
  Speaker 3: Like she's a pretty good, you know, track runner, she
• 51:36
  Speaker 3: does long jump, and she's a sprinter. She does the
• 51:38
  Speaker 3: one hundred, two hundred and then the four hundred. So
• 51:41
  Speaker 3: it's just like, do you need to go to a
• 51:45
  Speaker 3: LSU or in these big schools that have these really
• 51:47
  Speaker 3: big titles and there's a chance that you might not
• 51:49
  Speaker 3: be able to contribute to the team, or like would
• 51:52
  Speaker 3: you mind not going to a like going to a
• 51:54
  Speaker 3: school that like is a little bit smaller, maybe doesn't
• 51:57
  Speaker 3: have as much recognition as a school like l you
• 52:00
  Speaker 3: but at summer where like you can make a big impact.
• 52:02
  Speaker 3: And so like that's something that I've always stood by.
• 52:05
  Speaker 3: It's like it's great to put, you know, the name
• 52:07
  Speaker 3: on the paper, but it's like when you really dive
• 52:10
  Speaker 3: deeper into it and look at the big picture, it's
• 52:12
  Speaker 3: like you want to be able to say that you
• 52:14
  Speaker 3: went to this school and you were able to contribute,
• 52:16
  Speaker 3: and not only contribute athletically, but also like get what
• 52:19
  Speaker 3: you need academically. Like she wants to be an engineer,
• 52:21
  Speaker 3: and so I'm like, that's a big major. Like that
• 52:24
  Speaker 3: is a huge major, very hard. I told her, I
• 52:26
  Speaker 3: don't know if that's a bag grade of an idea,
• 52:30
  Speaker 3: especially like just like being a student athlete.
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: That's her dream.
• 52:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know, I'm not I'm not gonna take
• 52:36
  Speaker 3: you chose a very hard Yeah, I don't, but I
• 52:38
  Speaker 3: think engineering is a different piecet. But anyway, it's just
• 52:41
  Speaker 3: like make sure that you are going to a school
• 52:43
  Speaker 3: that has resources. And I always kind of bring up
• 52:45
  Speaker 3: Clemson when I'm talking to her, and it's just like
• 52:47
  Speaker 3: make sure that you're choosing a school that has the
• 52:49
  Speaker 3: resources that you need, because yeah, like we all go
• 52:52
  Speaker 3: to school with you know the norm like regular students
• 52:54
  Speaker 3: and student athletes and everything like that, but at the
• 52:57
  Speaker 3: end of the day, like you are not just a
• 52:59
  Speaker 3: normal like you have another job on top of you know, school,
• 53:03
  Speaker 3: and so it's just like you need a little bit
• 53:06
  Speaker 3: more guidance or a little bit more resources at the
• 53:09
  Speaker 3: end of the day to get through your day because
• 53:11
  Speaker 3: not only do you have class all day, you then
• 53:14
  Speaker 3: have practice and tutoring and weights and you're spending twelve
• 53:18
  Speaker 3: hours or so like doing school, but then the rest
• 53:21
  Speaker 3: of the time, like you are doing things toward your sport,
• 53:24
  Speaker 3: and so it's just like you need to make sure
• 53:27
  Speaker 3: that like you're getting the most out of the school
• 53:29
  Speaker 3: and the school is paying you back as much as
• 53:32
  Speaker 3: you're you know, paying toward it, like with your time
• 53:35
  Speaker 3: and you know, dedication and you know everything. So that's
• 53:38
  Speaker 3: been a big one for me. She actually used to
• 53:40
  Speaker 3: do gymnastics. She got to level ten and she was like,
• 53:43
  Speaker 3: I'm tired of being scared, Like she would have such
• 53:46
  Speaker 3: a big fear of beam and you know, I don't
• 53:49
  Speaker 3: blame her, like I don't do beam anymore either. It
• 53:51
  Speaker 3: is scary. Yeah, And she's like, I'm tired of like
• 53:54
  Speaker 3: having this not in my stomach every time I go
• 53:56
  Speaker 3: to practice. Like she would be physically sick before practice,
• 53:59
  Speaker 3: and I'm like, do you have a stomach virus? Like
• 54:02
  Speaker 3: and obviously like we're there are five years old bios
• 54:04
  Speaker 3: like yeah, and so like we would be in the
• 54:06
  Speaker 3: car and the way to practice when we were younger, and
• 54:08
  Speaker 3: she's like, oh, you don't feel good and I'm like, okay,
• 54:12
  Speaker 3: like what is wrong with you? Like are you sick?
• 54:14
  Speaker 3: Like get out the car, go to practice, like but no,
• 54:17
  Speaker 3: She's like, I'm like have so much anxiety going in
• 54:20
  Speaker 3: the gym. And I'm like, yeah, I don't blame you.
• 54:22
  Speaker 3: Like gymnastics is a different beast and if you like
• 54:24
  Speaker 3: can't find a way to get over that anxiety, it
• 54:27
  Speaker 3: will like eat you up. And so she decided to
• 54:29
  Speaker 3: go into track and she's really really thriving at it,
• 54:31
  Speaker 3: and she's really smart too. So I'm just telling her
• 54:34
  Speaker 3: to like definitely like immerse herself in all these experiences.
• 54:39
  Speaker 3: I think she's has like nine or ten visits lined
• 54:42
  Speaker 3: up for this year. But also to make sure that
• 54:46
  Speaker 3: she like makes herself the priority and advocates for herself
• 54:50
  Speaker 3: and like what she wants and like things that she
• 54:52
  Speaker 3: knows she will need as a student athlete. And you know,
• 54:56
  Speaker 3: have fun doing it too, because like it can be stressful,
• 54:59
  Speaker 3: but it's definitely important to have fun because like you
• 55:01
  Speaker 3: really you can't get it back once you know you're
• 55:03
  Speaker 3: in it. So yeah, that's good advice.
• 55:07
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that's like you know, struggling to find what they're
• 55:10
  Speaker 5: gonna do or whatever it is.
• 55:12
  Speaker 3: So I think that's yeah, you get it on that head.
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: What advice would you give yourself, like your younger self,
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: Like knowing you you've gone through all of this and
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: the injuries and all this stuff, Like what would you
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: tell your younger self?
• 55:24
  Speaker 3: I think at the end of the day, it's like
• 55:28
  Speaker 3: regardless of all the things and like the negative things
• 55:32
  Speaker 3: that come with gymnastics, Like if it's something that genuinely
• 55:35
  Speaker 3: makes you happy and you don't mind getting up every
• 55:38
  Speaker 3: morning or you know, evening to go in the gym
• 55:41
  Speaker 3: for a little bit and then gonna go like go
• 55:42
  Speaker 3: do school or whatever, like, then do it. Like you
• 55:45
  Speaker 3: don't have to take the easy way out just because
• 55:47
  Speaker 3: you do gymnastics. Or like you do volleyball, you do football,
• 55:50
  Speaker 3: like whatever the case may be. Like, if it's something
• 55:54
  Speaker 3: that makes you happy and you're passionate toward it, like
• 55:56
  Speaker 3: do it, like find a way to do it and
• 55:58
  Speaker 3: get it done. Like I mean, I don't know. When
• 56:01
  Speaker 3: I was younger, I just was like always all about
• 56:05
  Speaker 3: fun and like what made me happy. And I always
• 56:07
  Speaker 3: did what made me happy. And like my mom used
• 56:09
  Speaker 3: to tell me, like whenever, like the kids would be
• 56:11
  Speaker 3: on the playground at school, they would be like, you know,
• 56:14
  Speaker 3: jumping off the swings and stuff like that, and like
• 56:16
  Speaker 3: I would be in the grass like practicing my floor
• 56:18
  Speaker 3: team like that that made me happy. Like that is
• 56:22
  Speaker 3: what made my day at recess, you know, or lunchtime.
• 56:25
  Speaker 3: So like doing the things that make you happy, like
• 56:27
  Speaker 3: regardless of what it's like what everyone else is doing
• 56:30
  Speaker 3: or if it's easier or not, Like, if you want
• 56:32
  Speaker 3: to do something, you will find a way to get
• 56:33
  Speaker 3: it done. So that's what I would tell my younger self.
• 56:36
  Speaker 2: Love it.
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, what's your what's your impact that you want to
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: have on Clemson when you leave too?
• 56:43
  Speaker 3: Uh? My impact? I definitely would definitely want to like
• 56:47
  Speaker 3: have people to say, Like she was involved in everything
• 56:50
  Speaker 3: and like all around student athlete, very holistic, just because
• 56:55
  Speaker 3: it's like Clemson offers so many opportunities and resources and
• 57:00
  Speaker 3: like to not to not take advantage of them would
• 57:04
  Speaker 3: be doing yourself a disservice. So definitely, I want to
• 57:06
  Speaker 3: be remembered as like a holistic athlete and someone that
• 57:09
  Speaker 3: like didn't mind speaking up when I had to and
• 57:11
  Speaker 3: just involved within the community, like outside of my sport.
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: That's awesome. Thank you.
• 57:18
  Speaker 3: I hope to do more good.
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: Deal, Trinity, where can people find you on social media?
• 57:24
  Speaker 3: So really I'm just on Instagram. It's Trinity Jane with
• 57:29
  Speaker 3: to ease, Trinity j A.
• 57:31
  Speaker 4: N A E.
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: Awesome.
• 57:33
  Speaker 3: Well, thank you so much for coming, Thanks for sharing
• 57:35
  Speaker 3: your stories, you guys for having me finally on two years.
• 57:42
  Speaker 3: Gad to have you. Thank you guys,