Latest / Beyond the Paw - Clemson Athletics / Ep. 52 - Buzzer Beaters with Hannah Kohn

Transcript

Ep. 52 - Buzzer Beaters with Hannah Kohn · Beyond the Paw - Clemson Athletics

0:00
Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, welcome back to another episode of Beyond the Pod.
0:02
Speaker 1: Today we have Hannah Khane. She's a junior shooting guard
0:06
Speaker 1: SoCon All Freshman team selection, one of the top three
0:09
Speaker 1: point shooters in Clemson history, scored seventy nine three pointers
0:12
Speaker 1: in her first season, second most in a single season
0:15
Speaker 1: in Clemson history, and is a key transfer addition to
0:17
Speaker 1: the Tigers women's basketball team. Welcome Hannah, Thank you for
0:24
Speaker 1: having me. That's a lot of three, A lot of three.
0:28
Speaker 1: It's so awesome in one season, Yes, in one season?
0:31
Speaker 1: I know. Do you practice like every day for it?
0:34
Speaker 1: Every day? I just shoot shoot threes every single.
0:36
Speaker 2: Day I have to shoot shoot.
0:37
Speaker 1: Do you think it's more like mental or is it
0:40
Speaker 1: repetition for threes?
0:42
Speaker 3: I think it's both. I've realized, like obviously, in high
0:47
Speaker 3: school you work and work and get shots up and
0:50
Speaker 3: all of that stuff, and then you come to college
0:53
Speaker 3: and it's so much more mental and you realize like
0:56
Speaker 3: the game is mostly just mental. It's actually incredible once
1:00
Speaker 3: you realize like it's all in your mind and like
1:02
Speaker 3: you just kind of I always tell myself, just trust
1:04
Speaker 3: the work you've done, because I I've shot the ball
1:07
Speaker 3: every single day since I don't know, since middle school.
1:10
Speaker 3: So me missing a ton of shots in a game
1:13
Speaker 3: or me having a bad practice, it's not because I
1:17
Speaker 3: don't work or I'm not good enough. It's because it's
1:20
Speaker 3: all on my mind and like what my mentality is
1:22
Speaker 3: for a next shot or the next game and all
1:24
Speaker 3: of that stuff.
1:25
Speaker 4: So right, like you already know you can do it. Yeah,
1:27
Speaker 4: it's like doing it again.
1:28
Speaker 1: Just do it again.
1:29
Speaker 3: And obviously you have bad games as an athlete. Everyone
1:31
Speaker 3: knows that bad meets bad whatever you call it, like,
1:34
Speaker 3: but it's just how you're going to respond and show
1:37
Speaker 3: up the next day at practice, next game, next workout.
1:40
Speaker 5: So I don't know, when do you think you realize
1:43
Speaker 5: that you figured out that it's more mental.
1:47
Speaker 3: Probably my freshman year I realized it, and I still
1:50
Speaker 3: struggle with it. I'm a junior. I've been through all
1:53
Speaker 3: the mental lapses or whatever you call it like that
1:56
Speaker 3: you could probably go through as an athlete. I've struggled
2:00
Speaker 3: to not make a shot. I've struggled to I've been
2:02
Speaker 3: on both ends where I can't miss a shot and
2:05
Speaker 3: I can't make a shot. I don't play a lot.
2:07
Speaker 3: I play a lot. I do this. I do like
2:09
Speaker 3: I've been kind of all over the place. It's there's
2:11
Speaker 3: ebbs and flows of being an athlete, of course, So
2:15
Speaker 3: I think just still dealing with that, but realizing I've
2:18
Speaker 3: been through it and a lot of people go through
2:20
Speaker 3: it every day, So I think, I don't know, I think,
2:23
Speaker 3: like I said my freshman year, I really realized that
2:26
Speaker 3: and still to this day, I deal with it.
2:28
Speaker 1: So, yeah, when you're playing in a game and you
2:31
Speaker 1: hear the fans when you get up to shoot a three,
2:33
Speaker 1: does it ever like go silent for you? Like I
2:35
Speaker 1: picture it like the movies when you go up to
2:37
Speaker 1: shoot and it like crowd goes silent, like you can't
2:40
Speaker 1: hear anyone? Is that true to an extent?
2:44
Speaker 3: I feel like when I'm shooting, I don't think, I
2:47
Speaker 3: guess because that's the mental part. Yeah, like you can't,
2:50
Speaker 3: you can't. I don't know a lot of shooters and
2:52
Speaker 3: people just in general with your sport, you there's an
2:55
Speaker 3: overthinking like like second you can have like oh no,
2:59
Speaker 3: like or you catch the ball wrong, or like what if?
3:02
Speaker 1: So what if?
3:03
Speaker 3: Like a hope it goes in We talk about hope
3:05
Speaker 3: on our team all the time. That you can't hope
3:07
Speaker 3: stuff happens whatever, So I think, like you just you
3:12
Speaker 3: can't think like I think that happens like on a
3:14
Speaker 3: free throw when it's really quiet, when it's like everything stops.
3:18
Speaker 3: That's different when you're in like the midst of like
3:20
Speaker 3: the game, it's like, I don't know, it's you just
3:23
Speaker 3: gotta just play, gotta do what you do.
3:24
Speaker 1: But free throws, yeah, it's quiet and it's like a
3:26
Speaker 1: lot of pressure.
3:27
Speaker 4: I feel like free throws are kind of like serves,
3:29
Speaker 4: like like you could be in the game, like hitting whatever,
3:33
Speaker 4: and then the second it's like you just like back
3:35
Speaker 4: on the line.
3:35
Speaker 1: It's like okay, it's like, yeah, it's silent.
3:37
Speaker 5: It's just well, it feels like it should be so easy, right,
3:41
Speaker 5: haven't ever done it?
3:42
Speaker 3: But it's not. It's like for it's like free points,
3:46
Speaker 3: like you should just make it every time. It's you're
3:48
Speaker 3: wide open, no one's guarding you, none of that. Like
3:51
Speaker 3: same with a serve, you're just hitting it over the net. Yeah,
3:54
Speaker 3: if you think about it like that, but exactly if
3:57
Speaker 3: only so, I don't know.
3:59
Speaker 1: For a free throw, do you ever get distracted by
4:02
Speaker 1: the other team's fans?
4:05
Speaker 5: Uh?
4:05
Speaker 3: Depending on where you're at. Obviously, it can be depending
4:09
Speaker 3: on like the atmosphere. Sometimes it's packed, sometimes it's not.
4:11
Speaker 3: But I purposely will not look at anybody think about
4:15
Speaker 3: anything when I'm shooting a free throw. I literally just
4:17
Speaker 3: pretend like I'm about myself every single time because I
4:21
Speaker 3: don't know it.
4:22
Speaker 1: It's a lot of.
4:22
Speaker 3: Pressure when you're out there, like more than people think,
4:24
Speaker 3: Like you can practice fruit throws all day, but if
4:27
Speaker 3: you go up there and you're like.
4:27
Speaker 1: Ooh, everyone's looking looking like you can't, It's it's amazing.
4:31
Speaker 3: Even though I'm like a layup, it's like, oh, yeah,
4:34
Speaker 3: it's wide open, but woo like that you you can't
4:37
Speaker 3: have that.
4:37
Speaker 5: So it's also like you're usually going to the free
4:39
Speaker 5: throw line after getting fouled. Yes, so sometimes it's the
4:41
Speaker 5: like adrenaline of making a play and how hard you
4:44
Speaker 5: got fouled or what was just happening, And then it's like, okay,
4:47
Speaker 5: let me get my life together, and.
4:49
Speaker 1: Then how do my legs feel exactly?
4:51
Speaker 2: Everyone's watching me?
4:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, and then like you can be really tired after that,
4:55
Speaker 3: or like someone makes you mad and fouls you and
4:57
Speaker 3: then you're like oh and then you got to go
4:59
Speaker 3: up and like you gotta forget about it.
5:01
Speaker 5: So I always love seeing the people on like when
5:04
Speaker 5: they line up for the free throws, Like what are
5:06
Speaker 5: people doing to try to distract?
5:08
Speaker 2: Like some people will try to like praise.
5:09
Speaker 5: Their arms or okay, box out, box out, like we know,
5:13
Speaker 5: but you're saying that to try to distract them. So
5:15
Speaker 5: it's always just funny watching like what other teams are
5:17
Speaker 5: trying to Yes, I've.
5:18
Speaker 3: Dealt with so many different things, and I'm like that
5:20
Speaker 3: should be like illegal. Like I've had girls like just
5:22
Speaker 3: like clapping, like just clapping. I'm like, can she do that?
5:25
Speaker 3: Like I'm not like looking at you, but like I
5:28
Speaker 3: hear you, And why are you like just clapping or
5:30
Speaker 3: like raising up your arms or talking to their teammate
5:33
Speaker 3: like about you.
5:34
Speaker 1: It disrespectful.
5:35
Speaker 3: I'm like, quiet, I'm not doing this.
5:37
Speaker 1: To you, Like yeah, it's it's like amazing. But I've
5:40
Speaker 1: seen fans like hold up signs and stuff too in
5:43
Speaker 1: front of the free throw that's purposely to distract you. Yes,
5:47
Speaker 1: how is that allowed? It shouldn't be at all.
5:50
Speaker 4: Well, even at Little John if there's like the air people, Yeah,
5:55
Speaker 4: I'm like, gosh, if I was on.
5:56
Speaker 3: The free throw line, I would be like yeah, if
6:01
Speaker 3: that was like the away team, I'd be like, what's
6:02
Speaker 3: going on?
6:03
Speaker 1: Yeah? Literally is crazy.
6:05
Speaker 5: I just always think too with I mean volleyball is
6:07
Speaker 5: the same, like you're backed against the student section and
6:09
Speaker 5: people are just going crazy. But then like in golf,
6:13
Speaker 5: you have to be so quiet.
6:14
Speaker 1: When you're hearing.
6:15
Speaker 5: Yeah, gosh, even in gymnastics, like you're literally flipping on
6:18
Speaker 5: a beam and people can be let no one I
6:20
Speaker 5: feel like, out of respect for like decency, no one's
6:23
Speaker 5: trying to distract a gymnast.
6:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, for reason. Yeah, but it is similar, Like we
6:28
Speaker 1: just competed at Pitt last weekend and we noticed that
6:32
Speaker 1: the music when we were going on beam and the
6:33
Speaker 1: other team was on floor, the music was so much
6:37
Speaker 1: louder when we were on beam than it was for
6:39
Speaker 1: our floor routines that we just went. We were wondering, like,
6:42
Speaker 1: is that a tactic like maybe that they're using, But
6:46
Speaker 1: I don't know. It's it's not that bad with gymnastics.
6:48
Speaker 1: People are a little bit more respectful. They won't yell
6:50
Speaker 1: at you while you're on the beam flipping. But that's good.
6:54
Speaker 1: Definitely truck music and in Little Drawn we have beam
6:56
Speaker 1: songs too that we purposely like listen to during actice
7:00
Speaker 1: and then play during the meet so it's more familiar.
7:03
Speaker 1: But the off side of that is that when we
7:05
Speaker 1: go to in away meet, we don't have our beam
7:07
Speaker 1: songs and they can play baby when you're on the beam.
7:10
Speaker 5: Is that one of your teammates beam songs almost have
7:13
Speaker 5: me in tears the other night? Really just I think
7:16
Speaker 5: like Tara's Rise, Yeah, and then you're just seeing them
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Speaker 5: like crush this beam routine.
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Speaker 1: I'm like, that would make me emotional, that would make
7:23
Speaker 1: the emotion. Yeah, that one. Yeah, it's good.
7:27
Speaker 3: Do you have any like pump up songs? It's weird
7:31
Speaker 3: because I actually listen to slow music before games, which
7:34
Speaker 3: I don't. I don't get made fun of it, but
7:36
Speaker 3: like obviously it's not the norm, I guess, but I
7:40
Speaker 3: kind of like I'm very weird about games. Like sometimes
7:44
Speaker 3: I won't even listen to music, and I'm like, I'm
7:46
Speaker 3: just ready to go. I don't need to, but if
7:48
Speaker 3: I'm going to, I listen to slow music and like
7:51
Speaker 3: get emotional about where I'm at for a moment, and
7:54
Speaker 3: then I'll play like a bunch of like hard like music, yeah,
7:57
Speaker 3: like rap music, whatever. But I do start with like
8:00
Speaker 3: slower music if you're.
8:02
Speaker 1: Already like up here and like anxious and ready to go.
8:05
Speaker 1: I feel like the slower music can calm me down
8:07
Speaker 1: and like really ground you right before you're about to go.
8:09
Speaker 1: That makes sense to me. Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna
8:11
Speaker 1: try that. Yeah. Do you not?
8:12
Speaker 3: Do you guys listen to like pumped up music? Would
8:14
Speaker 3: you say?
8:15
Speaker 1: Or you don't.
8:16
Speaker 4: I feel like it's changed for me throughout the years.
8:18
Speaker 4: Like when I was younger, like freshman, maybe I was like,
8:22
Speaker 4: let's go, let's play like the like loudest music ever
8:25
Speaker 4: in the locker room, like let's get after it. But
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Speaker 4: I feel like as I gotten older, like I've noticed
8:30
Speaker 4: that I like like how I play better when I'm calmer,
8:32
Speaker 4: and like when I go into the court, like I
8:34
Speaker 4: need to be mind completely like clear, like I don't
8:38
Speaker 4: need to be like so amped up. But I don't
8:40
Speaker 4: know there's a mix sometimes you need both.
8:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I feel like I'm still trying to figure
8:44
Speaker 1: it out, Like I listened to my favorite songs.
8:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, like what you're listening to, like even in the
8:48
Speaker 3: car in the morning, you'll play before game kind.
8:50
Speaker 1: Of it's like we have so long too, before we
8:53
Speaker 1: before we go. It's like I can't like specify every
8:57
Speaker 1: song in my playlist to what is gonna have me?
9:00
Speaker 1: But yeah, how did you start in basketball? Did you
9:05
Speaker 1: always know basketball was going to be your sport growing up?
9:07
Speaker 3: I actually played softball? Ah, yeah, so I played. I
9:11
Speaker 3: loved softball like I played. I probably stopped playing softball
9:16
Speaker 3: when I was in middle school. I always joke with
9:18
Speaker 3: my parents because my dad played basketball, he played overseas
9:20
Speaker 3: and like, I have a big basketball family, but my
9:22
Speaker 3: mom played softball, and so I started out with that
9:25
Speaker 3: when I was younger, and I loved it. So I
9:27
Speaker 3: kind of just carried on with that and then kind
9:28
Speaker 3: of played basketball on the side, and then had to
9:31
Speaker 3: kind of decide between the two because I guess they
9:34
Speaker 3: collide like they're both the same travel season or club season,
9:37
Speaker 3: whatever you want to call it. So my parents were like,
9:41
Speaker 3: you got to pick one. One you can't afford it's
9:43
Speaker 3: a million dollars how that goes, and one like it's
9:48
Speaker 3: just a lot. You can't like they have to take
9:49
Speaker 3: me to a basketball practice and then a softball practice,
9:51
Speaker 3: like it's a lot. So I ended up choosing basketball
9:55
Speaker 3: because I was like it's just faster, like I don't know.
9:58
Speaker 3: I don't like I did.
9:59
Speaker 1: I started not like slow paced stuff.
10:01
Speaker 3: I guess like I just have to keep moving and
10:03
Speaker 3: keep doing stuff. I don't know. So I think I
10:06
Speaker 3: ended up choosing basketball, and I knew there'd be more
10:08
Speaker 3: opportunity in basketball, I felt like compared to softball, like
10:12
Speaker 3: in college if I wanted to continue. So yeah, I
10:16
Speaker 3: did start out in softball and then basketball was like flip,
10:19
Speaker 3: and then I started to become really serious about it,
10:22
Speaker 3: probably like my sophomore.
10:23
Speaker 1: Year of high school.
10:24
Speaker 3: Junior year of high school, like really was like, oh,
10:26
Speaker 3: I want to play college.
10:28
Speaker 4: So was your dad someone that really influenced you as
10:31
Speaker 4: he played basketball?
10:32
Speaker 1: For sure? Yeah, he he.
10:35
Speaker 3: It's a long story, but he coached the high school
10:38
Speaker 3: I ended up going to for my junior and senior year.
10:41
Speaker 3: He's coached there, the men's team there, like the high
10:44
Speaker 3: school team since really open. So I would grow up
10:47
Speaker 3: going to his practices and grew up to like going
10:49
Speaker 3: to his games, to state championships, and obviously it was
10:52
Speaker 3: amazing for me just to be around his team and
10:54
Speaker 3: like just the experiences. I was always in the gym,
10:57
Speaker 3: I had to be didn't really have a choice, so
11:01
Speaker 3: just to grow up around that and then go to
11:03
Speaker 3: school where he coached that, and I kind of grew
11:05
Speaker 3: up at in a way, and then I ended up
11:08
Speaker 3: playing for him my senior year. Oh that's a whole
11:11
Speaker 3: other story. Yeah, yeah, that's a whole nother story. But
11:14
Speaker 3: I got to play for him and it was kind
11:16
Speaker 3: of a full circle thing.
11:17
Speaker 1: So yeah, he was a big girl. How was it
11:20
Speaker 1: having a parent as a coach, Well, he.
11:23
Speaker 3: Was the right parent to have as a coach, for sure.
11:25
Speaker 3: He never forced me to play basketball. There's a lot
11:27
Speaker 3: of parents that are crazy. Sorry to anyone hearing that,
11:30
Speaker 3: but a lot of parents that are crazy. My parents
11:32
Speaker 3: that are like overbearing, yes a lot, and like forceful
11:35
Speaker 3: on like your sport or like even if you want
11:37
Speaker 3: to do something, it's like always too much. I've dealt
11:39
Speaker 3: with a lot of friends teammates that have parents who
11:42
Speaker 3: just it's like too much. So my parents were never
11:46
Speaker 3: like that. My dad never asked me to go to
11:48
Speaker 3: the gym, like my mom never cared if I went
11:51
Speaker 3: to go pitch or hit balls whatever in the yard.
11:55
Speaker 3: Like they never cared. They wanted me to do what
11:56
Speaker 3: I wanted to do. So him as a coach, He's
12:00
Speaker 3: the most laid back coach like I've ever had. Obviously
12:04
Speaker 3: I had other coaches like AU and like my other
12:07
Speaker 3: high school I went to. But he was the most
12:09
Speaker 3: laid back person coach like it really, I don't know.
12:13
Speaker 3: He didn't feel like he was my parent, Like he
12:15
Speaker 3: was just coaching me and that was that, Like it wasn't.
12:18
Speaker 1: Like I don't know if that makes sense. Could you
12:20
Speaker 1: imagine like getting in the car afterward and your parents
12:23
Speaker 1: just being like, well you did this wrong? Yeah, this
12:25
Speaker 1: wrong in your form? Here in your form. I could
12:28
Speaker 1: never not know. I did not imagine that.
12:31
Speaker 3: No, Like I had teammates I would ride back home
12:33
Speaker 3: with like a you or high school and the parents
12:37
Speaker 3: are going off on them, and I'm in the car.
12:38
Speaker 1: I'm like, dang, I'm like I wonder what how they
12:41
Speaker 1: think I did. I feel like it's so good when
12:44
Speaker 1: you're like self motivated and you don't have that like
12:47
Speaker 1: outside noise from your parents. I feel like that makes
12:49
Speaker 1: you want to work harder, Yes, do better. So yeah,
12:52
Speaker 1: I feel like that's beneficial. No, it really is.
12:55
Speaker 3: And I think I've had I've also had friends and
12:57
Speaker 3: teammates that get burned out. Yeah, they're parents make you
13:00
Speaker 3: train when you're young, or practice and practice and practice.
13:03
Speaker 3: It's like I don't want to do it anymore. Like
13:05
Speaker 3: that's that's very common that I've been around.
13:08
Speaker 5: So it is beneficial, and I think too, so many
13:12
Speaker 5: people go into youth sports thinking they're going to play
13:15
Speaker 5: college sports, and I think watching the Olympics, it was
13:18
Speaker 5: another reminder of like two percent of high school athletes
13:22
Speaker 5: play college sports. That's wild, and I think every sport's
13:26
Speaker 5: a little bit different, but it's like minimal percentages that
13:30
Speaker 5: you go on to play and so just going to
13:33
Speaker 5: play and have fun and learn all the life skills
13:36
Speaker 5: that you can still learn in youth sports, and then
13:38
Speaker 5: if you make it to college, like yeah, that's great,
13:41
Speaker 5: but don't burn out in the process. Don't damage your
13:43
Speaker 5: relationships in the process exactly. But I think, you know,
13:47
Speaker 5: trying to tell a fourth grader they're going to go
13:50
Speaker 5: play in college, like they haven't even grown yet. Be
13:54
Speaker 5: a teammate, learn how to play hard, have fun, learn
13:56
Speaker 5: how to win, how to lose.
13:58
Speaker 6: Right.
13:59
Speaker 1: I feel like it's different for my sport too, because
14:02
Speaker 1: you have to start at such a young age to
14:04
Speaker 1: make it as far as possible, but I feel like
14:07
Speaker 1: the burnout comes just as quickly as well, Like if
14:10
Speaker 1: you have privates, if you're in you were in the
14:12
Speaker 1: gym like five days a week at the age of
14:15
Speaker 1: five years old, so it's it's super easy to be
14:18
Speaker 1: burnt burnt out like that. That's crazy. It always like
14:22
Speaker 1: I'm still bewildered by that.
14:24
Speaker 5: I mean, I'm pretty sure it's like every sport is
14:26
Speaker 5: like under five percent. Some are one percent, so that
14:29
Speaker 5: might be three percent, but it's I mean, think about
14:32
Speaker 5: all of the people that you played with in high
14:34
Speaker 5: school and how many went on to play D one,
14:38
Speaker 5: even D two, D three, any I like, playing any
14:41
Speaker 5: college sport.
14:42
Speaker 3: It's not as common as you think. I started to realize, really, no,
14:45
Speaker 3: it's not.
14:45
Speaker 5: I mean, and for us, that's the world that we
14:47
Speaker 5: live in, right, Everybody that we know around too.
14:49
Speaker 2: Much play in college sports. Yeah, but for the most part.
14:53
Speaker 5: But if you think about youth sports and which is
14:55
Speaker 5: more important to play youth sports than to think you're
14:58
Speaker 5: going to go play in college.
14:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, I know this might be a deep question, but
15:02
Speaker 3: like when you feel like burnt out or like a lot,
15:05
Speaker 3: like what do you do, Like, what is your like mindset,
15:08
Speaker 3: like what do you do to like get out of
15:10
Speaker 3: it or like obviously take a break, but like either
15:12
Speaker 3: one of you, like for your sport, that.
15:14
Speaker 1: Is a very good question. You want to go first. Sure.
15:21
Speaker 4: I feel like in season when it's like it's October
15:26
Speaker 4: for us, it's like yeah, middle to end of the season,
15:28
Speaker 4: where it's like, Okay, we've been doing this for like
15:31
Speaker 4: three months now, and it's like obviously still enjoyable, but
15:34
Speaker 4: like it can be a little burnt out. I feel
15:38
Speaker 4: like I just really take my like reset days or
15:41
Speaker 4: like whenever I'm away from it, like really just to
15:43
Speaker 4: like focus on myself and like I'll do like a
15:45
Speaker 4: self care day. I'll go like shopping or like for
15:48
Speaker 4: a walk or like just something to like keep me grounded.
15:51
Speaker 4: I feel like it's good to like obviously pull away,
15:54
Speaker 4: but then also think about like why you're doing different
15:57
Speaker 4: things and why you're even here and we're where you
16:00
Speaker 4: were and how far you've come. I think that's like
16:02
Speaker 4: a really good reminder of.
16:04
Speaker 1: You know, how hard you've been working and stuff like that. Yeah,
16:07
Speaker 1: I think what helps me is like not being so
16:11
Speaker 1: like my sports center like gymnastics centered, Like even if
16:14
Speaker 1: I'm going into practice one day, and like when you
16:17
Speaker 1: get burnt out, that doesn't mean you like get to
16:19
Speaker 1: completely just stop, which I think would obviously help. But
16:22
Speaker 1: when going into practice, like my mindset is just completely different.
16:26
Speaker 1: Like I try to think about like a joke I saw,
16:28
Speaker 1: or like a TikTok, or try to talk to my
16:30
Speaker 1: teammates about anything other than what we're doing. Yeah, anything
16:34
Speaker 1: other than gymnastics. And when we go home, don't let
16:36
Speaker 1: like the gym come home with us and what happened
16:38
Speaker 1: a practice, like completely completely stop talking about it. And
16:42
Speaker 1: I feel like that helps because it makes practice more
16:44
Speaker 1: enjoyable too, because then you're talking with your teammates, you're
16:47
Speaker 1: bonding with them, you're having fun, and you're still doing
16:49
Speaker 1: the sport you love and getting better at it as well.
16:51
Speaker 1: But you know, just having a complete like cut off,
16:54
Speaker 1: I think really really helps me. Yeah for Suah, what
16:58
Speaker 1: about you?
17:00
Speaker 3: Oh, I would say, Actually, this is the first year
17:04
Speaker 3: I've really focused on, like being more focused on anything
17:07
Speaker 3: other than my sport. Like I think my freshman sophomore year,
17:11
Speaker 3: my whole life is just basketball basketball, Like, yeah, I
17:14
Speaker 3: know nothing else. Off days I'm in the gym, I
17:16
Speaker 3: don't care I don't take an off date. I don't
17:18
Speaker 3: do off days. That was always my thing. I think
17:21
Speaker 3: this year, I've just, i don't know, focused on everything
17:25
Speaker 3: else in my life. I'll literally hang out with friends
17:28
Speaker 3: that are not teammates, like not in any way like that,
17:31
Speaker 3: but you are with your teammates a good amount of time,
17:33
Speaker 3: and like, I'm actually really close with my teammates, so
17:36
Speaker 3: we're like with each other all the time and already
17:38
Speaker 3: love each other like family. So it's almost like you
17:41
Speaker 3: need to break from your real family. It's just like them. Like,
17:44
Speaker 3: so I'll do obviously stuff alone, buy new hobbies and
17:48
Speaker 3: stuff like that, but really see other people and I
17:50
Speaker 3: don't have to talk about my sport with them because
17:52
Speaker 3: one they probably don't know anything about it yea, And
17:54
Speaker 3: two it's like it's just nice to have interaction that's
17:58
Speaker 3: not about practice or how'd you do in the game
18:01
Speaker 3: or this, like you know. So I think that in
18:05
Speaker 3: taking the off days more serious as in like obviously
18:08
Speaker 3: resting your body, but also you know, enjoying doing something
18:12
Speaker 3: for yourself. I've learned to do this year, for sure,
18:14
Speaker 3: But obviously it's not easy you think about like you said,
18:17
Speaker 3: like you realize how far you've gotten and why you're
18:20
Speaker 3: so good at what you.
18:21
Speaker 1: Do and why you're at Clemson and all of that.
18:23
Speaker 3: Like it's because like I always thought like, oh, I'd
18:26
Speaker 3: never take off day off, like you know, so I
18:29
Speaker 3: don't know, I think just summed up both of what
18:31
Speaker 3: you said really, so yeah, yeah, I.
18:34
Speaker 4: Feel like too, Like even in volleyball, like it can
18:37
Speaker 4: get kind of heated in practice because obviously, like you're
18:40
Speaker 4: competing and like you are teammates, but you are competing
18:43
Speaker 4: for a spot. I'm sure it's pretty similar in basketball,
18:45
Speaker 4: like probably can get off and stuff. So I know
18:48
Speaker 4: that's always super important, like leaving it there and like
18:51
Speaker 4: leaving whatever happened in the gym on the court and
18:54
Speaker 4: then like we're good when we leave, you know, like
18:57
Speaker 4: that type of vibe with your teammates.
18:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it's hard though with girls world, very emotional.
19:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I know it's like especially in like women's sports,
19:05
Speaker 3: it's like you get so competitive, but then sometimes it's like, oh,
19:09
Speaker 3: she was so like weird today practice all that stuff,
19:12
Speaker 3: but like obviously you end up being fine and you
19:16
Speaker 3: set it aside and whatnot.
19:17
Speaker 1: But it is very competitive and it can be a
19:19
Speaker 1: lot so, yeah, you guys are doing really well this year?
19:22
Speaker 3: Yes, now we are. How has that been going? It's
19:26
Speaker 3: been going really well.
19:27
Speaker 1: Actually.
19:28
Speaker 3: Obviously last year so obviously I came with the new
19:31
Speaker 3: staff coach Poppy and the staff and whatnot, so last
19:34
Speaker 3: year in Chattanooga. Chance from Chattanooga. So last year obviously
19:39
Speaker 3: was their first year, my first year, whatever you want
19:41
Speaker 3: to call it, and we did really well for I
19:45
Speaker 3: would say for our first year program. But this year
19:48
Speaker 3: kind of really just slipped for us. I think we
19:51
Speaker 3: brought in mostly a new new squad and new people,
19:55
Speaker 3: new faces, and we just jelled really well, like in
19:59
Speaker 3: the South where we hung out all the time, like
20:03
Speaker 3: that's normally where like I feel like a lot of
20:04
Speaker 3: athletes you get close in the summer with kind of
20:06
Speaker 3: before your season, and I think we did literally just that.
20:10
Speaker 3: And we started off preseason and eight hours and twenty hours,
20:14
Speaker 3: and then we got into the season and it's like
20:16
Speaker 3: we just stayed close. Obviously, people get closer with each other,
20:19
Speaker 3: that's just natural, but we just gel well. And then
20:22
Speaker 3: on the court we started to really figure it out.
20:25
Speaker 3: Probably the last probably twelve games, we've started to really
20:29
Speaker 3: figure it out. Obviously, there's ebbs and flows, like we
20:33
Speaker 3: have tough games, people like don't do as well, or
20:37
Speaker 3: your better players don't show up, like all that stuff
20:40
Speaker 3: like with sport that comes with it. Like, yeah, that's
20:42
Speaker 3: bound to happen. But overall, it's just been like a
20:46
Speaker 3: total three to sixty in my opinion, and it's only
20:48
Speaker 3: going up like into next year. So that awesome.
20:52
Speaker 1: It's been really cool. The game has been your favorite
20:54
Speaker 1: so far? My favorite? You said twelve games. That's a
20:57
Speaker 1: lot of games, yeah, so far.
20:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, we have three left in our conference. So well.
21:04
Speaker 3: We played Duke on Sunday for our senior Day. Yeah,
21:06
Speaker 3: so our last home game Sunday, and then we go
21:10
Speaker 3: to Cali to end the season, which is crazy. We
21:12
Speaker 3: played Callen Stanford and then we'll go to the a
21:14
Speaker 3: CC tournament. So it's like almost done, I mean not
21:17
Speaker 3: almost done. We're gonna keep yeah postseason.
21:20
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah.
21:21
Speaker 3: So but my favorite game, I would say it's probably
21:25
Speaker 3: got to be m C.
21:26
Speaker 1: State.
21:26
Speaker 3: We'd beat them at home. That was a big game.
21:28
Speaker 3: It was a fun game. It was a good environment
21:32
Speaker 3: from what I remember, and it.
21:34
Speaker 1: Was just nice for us to like feel like we're good.
21:37
Speaker 3: I guess, like I feel like a lot of teams
21:39
Speaker 3: try and figure it out even in the season, like
21:41
Speaker 3: are we really that good? Like is it an upset
21:44
Speaker 3: or that's just what we do? Like is that who
21:45
Speaker 3: we're gonna be? And I think that's was a big
21:47
Speaker 3: game for us to be like yeah, like we're a
21:49
Speaker 3: good basketball team, and like it kind of upped everyone's confidence.
21:53
Speaker 3: And I'm sure the coaches as well, like dang, like
21:55
Speaker 3: we can go beat whoever in this conference.
21:57
Speaker 1: So I would probably say NC State, Yeah, there's something
22:00
Speaker 1: so special about beating nc Stage. Yeah, as its I
22:07
Speaker 1: just feel it in my blood, you know, I feel
22:10
Speaker 1: like you just for whatever reason, I don't know, there's
22:13
Speaker 1: something about it that's just intoxicating, intoxicating almost, I don't
22:18
Speaker 1: know if I can say that, but literally, it is
22:21
Speaker 1: so special. Yeah, that's awesome. It was really special.
22:25
Speaker 5: What was the transferring process, like obviously following your coaches here.
22:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think it was really that like, nothing serious.
22:35
Speaker 3: I obviously it was a whole thing. When they left,
22:38
Speaker 3: we found.
22:39
Speaker 1: Out how did you guys find out so well, basically
22:44
Speaker 1: our whole team This might sound.
22:46
Speaker 3: Bad, sorry, our whole team gotten out on Twitter? No, yes,
22:50
Speaker 3: so I remember being I don't know who I.
22:52
Speaker 1: Was fan student athletes from looking onto.
22:54
Speaker 3: I know Twitter gock, so I think we we were
22:59
Speaker 3: all together, actually not all of us. We were all
23:01
Speaker 3: on the same kind of floor our apartment at UH Chattanooga,
23:05
Speaker 3: but we someone saw it on Twitter sent in our
23:08
Speaker 3: group chat, and our whole team was on FaceTime. So
23:10
Speaker 3: we're all together and everyone's.
23:11
Speaker 1: Like, oh my god, no way, what are we gonna do.
23:14
Speaker 3: Like whatever, like screaming like I can't even get a word,
23:17
Speaker 3: and so I just remember hanging up and I'm like wow.
23:21
Speaker 3: So I'm just sitting in thought, like I remember I
23:23
Speaker 3: went to my room.
23:24
Speaker 1: And I was just like wow, wow, Like what's what
23:28
Speaker 1: does this mean?
23:29
Speaker 3: So then he texted our whole group chat and was
23:32
Speaker 3: like meet tomorrow morning and let's talk about like what
23:36
Speaker 3: you guys have seen and whatnot. So then he talked
23:39
Speaker 3: about obviously him getting a new job and all that
23:42
Speaker 3: came with that, and like, of course, people felt away
23:45
Speaker 3: like it's obviously he's amazing guy, amazing coach, like it's
23:49
Speaker 3: hard for someone to leave and if you're not a
23:51
Speaker 3: senior like all of that stuff. So it was emotional
23:53
Speaker 3: for people because because of that so in my head,
23:57
Speaker 3: I I was like, I was just a freshmen. I
24:02
Speaker 3: played a good amount of minutes for a freshman. I
24:03
Speaker 3: didn't do anything crazy. I mean I had like a
24:06
Speaker 3: really good percentage, like one of the best, which was
24:08
Speaker 3: another factor where I was like, well, I can.
24:10
Speaker 1: Go to Clemson. I had a good percentage whatever.
24:12
Speaker 3: But I was also like I don't know if like this.
24:15
Speaker 1: Is the ACC.
24:16
Speaker 3: This is like not a mid major school. I didn't
24:19
Speaker 3: even know if i'd go Division one in high school.
24:21
Speaker 3: So I was like, I don't know if like I
24:23
Speaker 3: don't know if I can play in the ACC, Like
24:26
Speaker 3: that's scary. So I ended up going in the transfer portal.
24:31
Speaker 3: I went in contact because I was like, like I said,
24:33
Speaker 3: I had all those thoughts of like I don't know
24:36
Speaker 3: if I can play here, like that was my concern.
24:37
Speaker 3: I obviously loved the staff and I love them. It's
24:39
Speaker 3: not really about that, like if I wanted to go
24:41
Speaker 3: to this level, I just go to Clemson. But it
24:44
Speaker 3: was kind of like, ooh, I'm like my second thoughts.
24:47
Speaker 3: So anyway, so I ended up talking to a bunch
24:49
Speaker 3: of different schools, which is really cool. I got the
24:51
Speaker 3: opportunity to do that and like hear people talk about
24:55
Speaker 3: like me in the season and what they can do
24:57
Speaker 3: and all this stuff. And then I had a few
25:00
Speaker 3: visits lined up, but my first one was Clemson and
25:02
Speaker 3: I drove actually from Chattanooga to Clemson to come up
25:06
Speaker 3: on like a day visit, and I couldn't help it,
25:10
Speaker 3: Like I was like, this place is amazing, Like I know.
25:14
Speaker 3: I was like, this place is amazing, like I And
25:17
Speaker 3: it wasn't even there wasn't even a lot of people.
25:18
Speaker 3: I think it was like school maybe had just gotten out,
25:22
Speaker 3: so there wasn't even a lot of people on campus.
25:24
Speaker 3: And I was like, this place is still amazing. I
25:26
Speaker 3: can't imagine when it's packed like that's I don't know.
25:28
Speaker 3: And obviously the staff I've known, so it's just comfortable.
25:32
Speaker 3: And I know coach Poppy and how good and good
25:35
Speaker 3: he is and what he was going to bring to Clemson.
25:37
Speaker 3: Like so obviously I had the thought in my head
25:41
Speaker 3: like am I gonna play?
25:42
Speaker 1: But I was like, let me just work for it.
25:43
Speaker 3: I'll just work and work and work and know these
25:45
Speaker 3: people believe in me regardless of who they get or
25:48
Speaker 3: who's coming in. All that like competitive stuff you have
25:50
Speaker 3: in your head obviously as like an athlete, like, but
25:55
Speaker 3: obviously I made a good decision and then I ended
25:57
Speaker 3: up just committing on the visit and I was like,
26:00
Speaker 3: I'm coming here. Forget the other visits. I was just
26:03
Speaker 3: joking around with you, just joking I'm here. So yeah,
26:07
Speaker 3: that was that was the process. Wasn't anything crazy.
26:10
Speaker 1: But what was the biggest thing that stood out to
26:12
Speaker 1: you when you got on campus?
26:16
Speaker 3: Well, when I saw the football field, I'm sorry, I
26:18
Speaker 3: was like, wow, this is incredible, but I I don't know,
26:23
Speaker 3: it's just beautiful. Like it was different though, because obviously
26:26
Speaker 3: I came from Chattanooga that was in it was in
26:28
Speaker 3: a city, so there's like city I don't know, city walks,
26:31
Speaker 3: different things to do. So Clemson it was like where
26:34
Speaker 3: am I? Like, I remember driving I was like, oh,
26:36
Speaker 3: where are we going? But then I don't know. I
26:39
Speaker 3: remember going down Uh, I don't know, it's a Tiger Boulevard.
26:43
Speaker 3: Sorry it's bad. I yeah, okay, yeah, and I'm like
26:47
Speaker 3: this is so cute, Like I love this already. And
26:50
Speaker 3: me and my parents always joke about like how people
26:53
Speaker 3: would go on the crosswalks and like cross I don't
26:56
Speaker 3: know if you know what I'm talking about like when
26:57
Speaker 3: you like go both ways. I don't know.
26:59
Speaker 1: We thought I was cute. It's just a corp anyways,
27:03
Speaker 1: but I don't know.
27:05
Speaker 3: Me and my parents, we just really liked it, like
27:07
Speaker 3: just the vibe, the people walking around. Like I said,
27:09
Speaker 3: there wasn't a ton of people there like at the time.
27:11
Speaker 6: But.
27:13
Speaker 1: The facilities were beautiful.
27:16
Speaker 3: Just the people I met, Like the few people I
27:18
Speaker 3: met on the visit, I was like, they're just so
27:21
Speaker 3: like sweet and cool and like opening.
27:23
Speaker 1: So I don't know, people definitely make the place, yes.
27:26
Speaker 3: For sure, for sure.
27:27
Speaker 1: Yeah.
27:29
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27:31
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27:57
Speaker 2: Now back to the show.
28:00
Speaker 1: I feel like that's like what we've heard from like
28:02
Speaker 1: a lot of cover.
28:04
Speaker 4: Just having people on the podcast is like the amount
28:06
Speaker 4: of times I've heard yeah, I committed on the spot,
28:08
Speaker 4: or like yeah, I just knew right when I got here,
28:10
Speaker 4: Like that's truly just like the feeling.
28:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think it's really like the people like
28:15
Speaker 3: I've that was always a big factor for me, even
28:18
Speaker 3: out of high school. Like obviously you want the right
28:21
Speaker 3: fit for who you are as an athlete and like
28:23
Speaker 3: you want to play and do all this and being
28:25
Speaker 3: a good program, but it's really it was always about
28:28
Speaker 3: relationships with me and people and like obviously my staff,
28:32
Speaker 3: my staff, the staff, like I knew, like they were
28:36
Speaker 3: already good people. But then just meet other people, like
28:39
Speaker 3: simple small conversations, like you can kind of just tell
28:41
Speaker 3: with certain people, you know, and even if it's small
28:43
Speaker 3: talk or whatnot. And I'm like, your vibe is just
28:46
Speaker 3: like comforting, and that's who you're gonna be around all
28:48
Speaker 3: the time, you know, So you want to be around
28:50
Speaker 3: those type of people. So I don't know, that's what
28:53
Speaker 3: I kind of felt.
28:54
Speaker 1: That's kind of a whirlwind of a couple of months
28:56
Speaker 1: or maybe a month of you seeing your coaches leaving
29:00
Speaker 1: you committing to a brand new school, having to move,
29:03
Speaker 1: that's a lot. No, it was a lot. It was
29:05
Speaker 1: a lot.
29:05
Speaker 3: I think the year was a lot too, because you
29:07
Speaker 3: have to adjust to like a lot of different things.
29:09
Speaker 3: You have a whole new team, new area. I don't know,
29:13
Speaker 3: and I'm like, am I gonna play?
29:14
Speaker 6: Oh?
29:14
Speaker 3: My gosh, I don't know. Am I good enough?
29:16
Speaker 1: I don't know?
29:17
Speaker 3: And he knows. We've had talks about it, like how
29:21
Speaker 3: I just kept working and I was like, I'm gonna
29:24
Speaker 3: find a way to play.
29:25
Speaker 1: I'm gonna try. Like that's I don't know.
29:27
Speaker 3: It was a lot, but it obviously worked out, and
29:29
Speaker 3: it makes you grow, makes you a better person. Obviously.
29:31
Speaker 3: I'm still dealing with that now.
29:33
Speaker 1: So how do you handle that pressure of those thoughts
29:36
Speaker 1: in your head like am I gonna play?
29:37
Speaker 5: Like?
29:38
Speaker 1: Am I good enough? Like? How do you combat those
29:40
Speaker 1: in your brain? Yeah?
29:41
Speaker 3: I guess Last year when I had those, I I
29:44
Speaker 3: literally just I would just, I guess, just work as
29:49
Speaker 3: hard as I could and think I was working harder
29:51
Speaker 3: than everybody, even if I wasn't, because maybe I didn't
29:54
Speaker 3: know what everybody else did. But in my head, if
29:57
Speaker 3: I was at the gym first, if I was shooting first,
29:59
Speaker 3: or if I did extra In my head, I'm like,
30:02
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm doing all I can, Like I'm doing
30:05
Speaker 3: a lot, I'm doing extra work, and if it doesn't translate,
30:07
Speaker 3: it doesn't translate, like it. But like I guess that
30:11
Speaker 3: was always my mentality, just to keep working, keep pushing,
30:14
Speaker 3: and even this year, like I've had struggles this year,
30:18
Speaker 3: and I'm like, I'm not going to change my routine
30:20
Speaker 3: just because of a bad game or a bad feeling
30:24
Speaker 3: or headspace you have, Like you have to keep being consistent,
30:27
Speaker 3: you know. So I think that's kind of been my
30:29
Speaker 3: attitude since I was a freshman, like really in life too,
30:33
Speaker 3: Like even you have a bad day of like in
30:36
Speaker 3: general or whatever's going on, you just got to keep
30:38
Speaker 3: being who you are, like not taking a day off
30:42
Speaker 3: of who you are, like being someone different.
30:44
Speaker 1: I guess I know it's like a little deep, but you.
30:46
Speaker 3: Know what I mean, Like it no, just being consistent.
30:48
Speaker 3: I think that's been like my motto, especially this year,
30:51
Speaker 3: just being consistent in everything like I do.
30:53
Speaker 1: So definitely the preparation that you do, yeah, for sure
30:56
Speaker 1: that gets shown. Yeah when it's time.
30:59
Speaker 3: How has it?
31:00
Speaker 6: Then?
31:00
Speaker 4: You kind of talked about it, but how has it
31:02
Speaker 4: been transitioning to the ACC ACC basketball.
31:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, what's the vibe. It's been amazing. Like I I
31:10
Speaker 3: remember growing up and watching obviously big schools play, Like really,
31:17
Speaker 3: I've watched a lot of men's basketball because of my
31:20
Speaker 3: my dad and my basketball family. My uncle played, my
31:22
Speaker 3: grandpa and my brother Like oh wow a lot yeah basketball. Yeah,
31:26
Speaker 3: so a lot of men's basketball. But I just grew
31:30
Speaker 3: watching like like these big teams and like ACC SEC
31:35
Speaker 3: and like thinking like, wow, that's amazing, and I think
31:41
Speaker 3: I don't know one, getting the opportunity to just play
31:43
Speaker 3: in college itself was like amazing to me, Like I
31:47
Speaker 3: was like, wow, this is so exciting. Like I loved
31:49
Speaker 3: my freshman year. It was like I was in awe
31:52
Speaker 3: all the time, like of the new stuff that would
31:53
Speaker 3: happen people I would meet, and then I come to
31:55
Speaker 3: the a SEC and I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm.
31:57
Speaker 1: Like the people I watched on TV.
31:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, I just think that's like amazing, Like getting to
32:03
Speaker 3: play obviously such big schools that like have big names,
32:07
Speaker 3: Like I remember last year we're gonna play South Carolina,
32:11
Speaker 3: So in my head, I'm like South Carolina, Oh my gosh,
32:13
Speaker 3: South Carolina. But I'm like, we're competing with South Carolina.
32:16
Speaker 3: I'm like, obviously they would end up winning whatever, But
32:19
Speaker 3: like I'm like, we're competing with these teams and this year,
32:21
Speaker 3: like obviously you have big schools like Notre Dame and whatnot.
32:25
Speaker 3: I'm like, we beat Notre Dame this year, Like hello,
32:27
Speaker 3: Like that's amazing. Like how I grew up watching like
32:31
Speaker 3: these big teams or like women's teams whatever. As I
32:34
Speaker 3: started to get more into the women's game, like and
32:37
Speaker 3: then here I am playing, Like it's amazing. I don't know,
32:40
Speaker 3: I'm still getting off of it. Sometimes when I'm about
32:42
Speaker 3: to go play, I'm like I'll just take a moment
32:45
Speaker 3: like soak it in, and I'm like, wow, I'm here.
32:47
Speaker 1: It's amazing.
32:48
Speaker 4: Souck your inner childhood, yes, but it is.
32:51
Speaker 3: It's so emotional. Like I don't know if you've ever
32:53
Speaker 3: experienced this, but when you do, like the national anthem
32:55
Speaker 3: or like it's quiet and like I still get emotional.
32:58
Speaker 3: It'll be a random game and I'm like.
33:01
Speaker 5: It's amazing, but you did it, like you put in
33:03
Speaker 5: the work and yeah, you got yourself here.
33:06
Speaker 1: Yeah it is really cool.
33:07
Speaker 3: It's so cool.
33:08
Speaker 1: It's like the girls you used to idolize when you
33:09
Speaker 1: were younger. Now you're one of them exactly, and there's
33:12
Speaker 1: little girls watching you, right.
33:14
Speaker 3: I think that too all the time, Like the people
33:16
Speaker 3: like girls will come up to you after games or
33:18
Speaker 3: like and it's like they'll ask for your autograph. I'm like,
33:21
Speaker 3: I literally used to do that. I can think of
33:24
Speaker 3: myself doing that, Like I don't know, it's just it's
33:27
Speaker 3: just amazing. It's like full circle in a way kind of.
33:30
Speaker 1: So there were times where I used to like practice
33:32
Speaker 1: my autograph yes, to like make sure it was good
33:35
Speaker 1: when I was younger, yes, And now like yeah, no, crazy, I.
33:41
Speaker 3: Did the exact same thing, like all the time. I
33:44
Speaker 3: would just do it, like for nothing. I'd just write
33:46
Speaker 3: it down and here I go, you're practicing when.
33:49
Speaker 1: You knew it manifest exactly. So then I just now
33:52
Speaker 1: I just do it. It's amazing.
33:53
Speaker 4: So I feel like that's so cool though, because it's
33:55
Speaker 4: like you're giving back to the younger girls that like
33:59
Speaker 4: really do look up to you and like you know
34:01
Speaker 4: you were you were one of them at one point.
34:03
Speaker 4: So like I feel like it's a really cool, like
34:05
Speaker 4: full circle movement of just like giving back to the
34:08
Speaker 4: younger girls.
34:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, and those great teams that you used to watch too,
34:12
Speaker 1: Like it's so cool you get to compete against them,
34:15
Speaker 1: like you said, like you're on the same level. Yeah,
34:18
Speaker 1: so that's that's always cool to realize you No, it is.
34:22
Speaker 1: It is amazing.
34:24
Speaker 2: What are you looking forward to with the a SEC tournament?
34:26
Speaker 3: Who I'm looking forward to? Whoever we played that we honestly,
34:33
Speaker 3: if we play anybody that we lost to, just to
34:35
Speaker 3: get like a get back.
34:36
Speaker 1: Yeah.
34:36
Speaker 3: And if we don't, who cares? Just beat them again.
34:38
Speaker 3: So I'm excited for Obviously last year we played I
34:42
Speaker 3: think we played Stanford in the first round and then
34:44
Speaker 3: we played Louisville. So I'm just I'm gonna.
34:49
Speaker 1: Win an a SEC championship. I don't care there.
34:51
Speaker 3: You go get to it, win it, go to the
34:54
Speaker 3: next tournament.
34:55
Speaker 1: Let's do it. That's what I'm excad for. So I conference. Yeah.
34:59
Speaker 5: Yeah, and like all the teams in one place, so
35:02
Speaker 5: many games in a row that you're just trying to
35:06
Speaker 5: survive in advance and find the energy.
35:09
Speaker 1: Yeah. Is it called March madness for women's basketball team?
35:12
Speaker 6: Yeah?
35:13
Speaker 1: No it is. Yeah, yeah, No, it is really cool. Sorry,
35:17
Speaker 1: it's something you need to cut out.
35:18
Speaker 3: Her said, cut it out.
35:20
Speaker 2: We love your honesty when it comes to other sports.
35:23
Speaker 1: No, I understand, it's okay talk to us about your
35:26
Speaker 1: team culture and like with your friendships. Yeah you've built. Yeah.
35:30
Speaker 3: So I actually got the opportunity to host like almost
35:34
Speaker 3: everybody on the team like on their villains, which is
35:36
Speaker 3: really cool. I think. Uh my first person I hosted,
35:42
Speaker 3: I think was well really our freshman uh Holland I
35:46
Speaker 3: was like her main host, and then I was with
35:48
Speaker 3: the other two girls. They were like shorter visits, but
35:51
Speaker 3: like I immediately got to you know, kind of get
35:56
Speaker 3: close to them off the bat, I guess. So it
35:59
Speaker 3: was cool for like most of them to commit and
36:01
Speaker 3: then like I already know you. And then obviously I
36:04
Speaker 3: talk a lot, and I love to be friends with
36:05
Speaker 3: my teammates, Like I love to be like close with
36:07
Speaker 3: my teammates, so to kind of like bring everyone together
36:10
Speaker 3: in a way or like have people connect and like
36:12
Speaker 3: be friends, like it was like really sweet to me,
36:15
Speaker 3: Like and people just clicked on their own, like people
36:19
Speaker 3: that I didn't think would interact interact and they're close.
36:22
Speaker 3: Like I don't know if that like makes sense, but.
36:24
Speaker 1: I don't know.
36:25
Speaker 3: I love it.
36:25
Speaker 1: I love.
36:26
Speaker 3: Like I said, in the summer, we had like things
36:28
Speaker 3: at our house, we went out, we did like we
36:31
Speaker 3: went to the lake. We did so many different things together.
36:33
Speaker 3: And I think that's what really honestly made us good
36:36
Speaker 3: this year too, Like it really is about your culture
36:39
Speaker 3: and like who you're around, and like the family atmosphere,
36:42
Speaker 3: Like it's a really big part of you being a
36:44
Speaker 3: good basketball team in my opinion, like now that I've
36:46
Speaker 3: been around it, so I think it's been really cool,
36:50
Speaker 3: Like we care about each other and each other's successes,
36:53
Speaker 3: like if you have a bad game, like people still
36:56
Speaker 3: cheer you on even if it's not your night, Like
36:58
Speaker 3: it's really cool, Like it's not it's not normal, I think.
37:01
Speaker 1: So I feel like it's very apparent to outside people too,
37:05
Speaker 1: how close you guys are as well, Like even when
37:08
Speaker 1: I see you guys in like the dining hall, like
37:10
Speaker 1: eating together, like you look like you're genuinely family. In
37:14
Speaker 1: another moment that stuck out obviously as that moment with
37:17
Speaker 1: russ and and her mom kind of can you walk
37:21
Speaker 1: us through like how that was set up? Yes, Okay,
37:23
Speaker 1: so I'm not sure.
37:26
Speaker 3: I think Demiro was the one who kind of planned
37:30
Speaker 3: it or set it up. She sent the message and
37:32
Speaker 3: she was like, Hey, for Russ's birthday, we wanna bring
37:37
Speaker 3: in her mom whatever, So like let's coordinate that and
37:40
Speaker 3: like have her come to the house. Whatever. So I think,
37:44
Speaker 3: so Russ goes to sleep. I'm sure people have heard this,
37:46
Speaker 3: but Russ goes to sleep at like eight o'clock, eight pm,
37:50
Speaker 3: eight pm, and she wakes up at like five or
37:52
Speaker 3: six every morning.
37:53
Speaker 1: We love that.
37:54
Speaker 3: It's awesome, great minds.
37:55
Speaker 1: I love it.
37:56
Speaker 3: I'm jealous. But so we're like, her mom was getting
38:00
Speaker 3: in so we planned it whatever got her to get
38:02
Speaker 3: here whatever. So her mom's flight kept getting delayed, so
38:07
Speaker 3: we were like, how are we going to keep her up?
38:09
Speaker 3: Because she she doesn't get cranky. She's just like all right,
38:12
Speaker 3: it's time to go.
38:13
Speaker 1: She's like it's.
38:15
Speaker 3: Bedtime, let's go. Or she'll just be in a chair
38:17
Speaker 3: and she'll.
38:17
Speaker 1: Just be like like just close her eyes. She's like
38:20
Speaker 1: I'm done.
38:20
Speaker 3: So then we're like, all right, rest, it's time to go.
38:22
Speaker 3: So anyway, I think her flight got delayed till like
38:25
Speaker 3: ten thirty or eleven. We're like three, so we're like
38:30
Speaker 3: all texting the group chat. So what are we gonna
38:32
Speaker 3: do whatever. So one of our girls, Hadley, was like,
38:36
Speaker 3: I'm just gonna pick her up, so she like we
38:39
Speaker 3: have to take her home, so we have to keep.
38:41
Speaker 1: Her like basically hostage at the house, right, So.
38:45
Speaker 3: Hadley picks her up, and I think they go to
38:47
Speaker 3: eat and then they go back to Hadley's house and
38:50
Speaker 3: they're just all hanging out and Hadlee. I don't remember
38:53
Speaker 3: how it went, but I think somebody texted and was
38:55
Speaker 3: like in the group chat, hey, you guys can come
38:59
Speaker 3: over to Hadley's us and like other people are here,
39:01
Speaker 3: we can all hang out. So some of us went
39:03
Speaker 3: over even though we know like obviously her mom's coming soon. Yeah,
39:06
Speaker 3: because then like three or four of them would to
39:08
Speaker 3: go get the mom from the airport.
39:10
Speaker 1: So then that's like such a team after. I love it.
39:14
Speaker 3: So so we were all there hanging out. We actually
39:16
Speaker 3: had a really good time. It was funny, like obviously
39:18
Speaker 3: you're waiting around, you're like, all right, come on, let's go,
39:20
Speaker 3: come on, let's get it, because we're all excited, but
39:23
Speaker 3: we're all like come on, like let's go. So we
39:28
Speaker 3: were just hanging out whatever, and then h Hadley like
39:31
Speaker 3: timed it perfectly to get Russ to like stand up
39:33
Speaker 3: and do a TikTok or something, and then the door,
39:35
Speaker 3: the door, the door, the door knocked whatever, the door
39:40
Speaker 3: like she knocked on the door and she was standing
39:42
Speaker 3: right at the door. Was perfect timing, and we were like,
39:45
Speaker 3: oh my god, it's amazing.
39:46
Speaker 1: So I'm like get my phone.
39:47
Speaker 3: I'm like like trying to get my phone out of
39:48
Speaker 3: my pocket. And then the door opened and it was
39:51
Speaker 3: like perfect. It was like this was time, perfect, perfect,
39:54
Speaker 3: She's up. She was in a good mood too, because
39:56
Speaker 3: she was like, I'll stay up because her birthday was
39:58
Speaker 3: like the next day, so she was was like I
40:00
Speaker 3: guess she was like she was like, I guess I'll
40:02
Speaker 3: just stay up since it's my birthday tomorrow.
40:04
Speaker 1: With you guys.
40:05
Speaker 3: So it kind of worked out anyways. But yeah, like
40:09
Speaker 3: like I said, like that's a perfect example of like
40:12
Speaker 3: what we all wanted to do and like had a
40:14
Speaker 3: good time while doing it. It wasn't like a all right,
40:16
Speaker 3: wrap it up, like it was like we had a
40:18
Speaker 3: good time. And then she got the surprise, so.
40:20
Speaker 1: It's literally what family. Yeah, yeah, you did that for her,
40:24
Speaker 1: for your teammates. That was incredible. Did she like suspect anything. No,
40:27
Speaker 1: she did not. She was like even better in all, Like,
40:31
Speaker 1: it was amazing. It was really cool.
40:33
Speaker 5: And she got to see her play because I hadn't
40:35
Speaker 5: seen her play in the US.
40:36
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, she hadn't seen her play. So is she
40:38
Speaker 3: from She's from Lithuania. Oh wow, yes, she had. Her
40:41
Speaker 3: mom hasn't seen her play. So for her to get
40:43
Speaker 3: to like sit like kind of front row on the
40:45
Speaker 3: court and watch her play, and she played really well too,
40:47
Speaker 3: it was like, oh my.
40:48
Speaker 1: Gosh, perfect, amazing, amazing.
40:52
Speaker 4: Is that something that just like culture in general, Like,
40:56
Speaker 4: is that something that coach Poppy has? Obviously you guys
40:58
Speaker 4: are really close on your own. It's something that he
41:01
Speaker 4: forces in the gym as well.
41:04
Speaker 3: You mean like as a team like on the court. Yeah,
41:06
Speaker 3: for sure. I think his style of basketball is like
41:10
Speaker 3: team basketball to me. I think we always we have
41:14
Speaker 3: like absolutes we call him, like a one more pass
41:17
Speaker 3: or like a drift pass, and like stuff that gets
41:21
Speaker 3: you from teammate toe like teammate to teammates, not like
41:23
Speaker 3: one on one or like so you kind of have
41:25
Speaker 3: to be on the same page all the time. And
41:27
Speaker 3: our team defense is we call it sisterhood. Defense, like
41:30
Speaker 3: you have to be in each other's gaps, which, if
41:33
Speaker 3: they're listening to this, I'm not the best at it,
41:34
Speaker 3: but but like that's what we talk about. Like maybe
41:38
Speaker 3: I get beat like one on one, but like Mia
41:41
Speaker 3: is in a gap next to me, so I don't
41:43
Speaker 3: get in trouble and she won't score because me is
41:46
Speaker 3: right there. So like that's like the sisterhood defense that
41:49
Speaker 3: we like create on the court.
41:51
Speaker 1: So we have that on the core as well obviously
41:53
Speaker 1: as off the court. So that's cool. Yeah, No, it's
41:55
Speaker 1: really cool, Like all core lates, So that's awesome.
42:00
Speaker 4: You can always tell too, like like you were saying,
42:02
Speaker 4: like it's so apparent that like you guys are close
42:04
Speaker 4: off the court, but also like on the court, like
42:06
Speaker 4: you need that as well, like you need to like
42:08
Speaker 4: flow and sheel.
42:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, so for s really cool. Yeah, that's really cool.
42:12
Speaker 2: Switching gears growing up. Do you have siblings?
42:14
Speaker 1: I do.
42:15
Speaker 3: I have an older sister and a younger brother.
42:17
Speaker 5: Okay, was it competitive, because I feel like you've said
42:20
Speaker 5: you've had a very sporty family.
42:21
Speaker 2: Yes, like it had to be competitive.
42:23
Speaker 3: Yes, My me and my brother went at it. Like
42:25
Speaker 3: when we went at it, it was really me going
42:28
Speaker 3: at him because I'm older. But we would play in
42:32
Speaker 3: the yard, play basketball, shoot until really he cried. I'm
42:37
Speaker 3: not even joke.
42:38
Speaker 1: I'm not even joking, Like it builds character. Brother bigger here.
42:45
Speaker 3: Here he is now and we would play one on
42:47
Speaker 3: one in the yard and I.
42:49
Speaker 1: Would beat him.
42:49
Speaker 3: He'd cry, we'd fight, we'd like tackle each other. He'd
42:53
Speaker 3: go in the house, my mom and dad will get
42:55
Speaker 3: mad whatever, and I'd be like, I don't know why's cry,
42:58
Speaker 3: And now we'll play one on one. He'd just beats
43:00
Speaker 3: me because he's he's actually going to play at North Florida,
43:03
Speaker 3: so he's the visual basketball player. So now he's just
43:07
Speaker 3: he just beats me like it's nothing. And I'm like, wow,
43:10
Speaker 3: it was of dirts great. He paid his tax, yes, yeah, yes,
43:14
Speaker 3: he did his time. He absolutely did so, I mean yeah.
43:17
Speaker 3: And then my sister played. She played too. She we
43:20
Speaker 3: are on the same high school team basketball team for
43:23
Speaker 3: I think two or three years, but she was never
43:27
Speaker 3: really too serious about it. It's kind of like a
43:28
Speaker 3: family thing like basketball. Grew up playing basketball, so she
43:32
Speaker 3: obviously tried it. So yeah, just grew up obviously all
43:36
Speaker 3: around sports.
43:37
Speaker 1: So yeah, I.
43:38
Speaker 2: Love that and what do you want to do when
43:40
Speaker 2: you're down with basketball here?
43:43
Speaker 3: I I would like to play pro. I think I've
43:46
Speaker 3: decided for sure I want to play pro, not sure where.
43:50
Speaker 3: I think it would be really cool to like travel
43:52
Speaker 3: and not travel obviously, I'm traveling to go play pro,
43:55
Speaker 3: but like to be in a whole new environment, a
43:58
Speaker 3: whole new country, and like play back.
44:00
Speaker 1: Well, that would be really cool. I was gonna ask
44:01
Speaker 1: if you were considering overseas.
44:03
Speaker 6: Yeah.
44:03
Speaker 3: No, I'm definitely considering that. It's obviously hard. You have
44:07
Speaker 3: to find a good place or like a good atmosphere.
44:10
Speaker 3: I know it's iffy like depending on where you go,
44:12
Speaker 3: but I definitely wanna do that for now.
44:16
Speaker 1: Yeah. And you're a sociology major, yes, And were you
44:23
Speaker 1: always wanting to go into sociology or not always?
44:26
Speaker 3: I'm really like, uh, I was really a psych major.
44:32
Speaker 3: Psychology I loved I don't know, I just love people,
44:35
Speaker 3: and I love learning why you're the way you are.
44:39
Speaker 3: And I'm very like observant and like I'm like empathetic.
44:43
Speaker 3: I don't know, I'm very like people. So that stuff
44:46
Speaker 3: was always interesting to me, and I always wanted to
44:48
Speaker 3: be involved in something like that. So like I would
44:52
Speaker 3: not turn down like maybe trying to be like a
44:54
Speaker 3: sports psychologist because it's like relatable. Obviously, you can be
44:57
Speaker 3: a psychologist, be a therapist, all the like tip cool
45:00
Speaker 3: things you'd be in or like the top things you'd
45:02
Speaker 3: be in. But like, I think sports psychology obviously is
45:06
Speaker 3: more relatable as I'm an athlete and I'm interested in that.
45:09
Speaker 3: So I don't know, that's always been my area where
45:11
Speaker 3: I like love and I'm like into.
45:14
Speaker 4: That, so definitely needed area too, Yeah, because I feel
45:17
Speaker 4: like there's not a ton you know, of people doing that,
45:21
Speaker 4: so especially giving back to the environment that you were in.
45:25
Speaker 1: Cool, Yeah, it would be cool. So you know you're
45:28
Speaker 1: also in power I am to this year. Can you
45:31
Speaker 1: talk to us about that? Yes?
45:33
Speaker 3: So I one of my teammates me and more, she
45:37
Speaker 3: was in power uh and she loved it. So she
45:41
Speaker 3: obviously said last year, I was like, not jealous or.
45:45
Speaker 1: Anything, but I was.
45:46
Speaker 3: I was like, oh, I was so cool. I should
45:48
Speaker 3: have done this whatever, But I didn't really know about
45:50
Speaker 3: it and it was kind of already a done deal.
45:52
Speaker 1: Whatever, I'll say, oh, maybe I'll do it next year whatever.
45:55
Speaker 3: So then obviously we did the I think you had
45:58
Speaker 3: sent it out or I had asked you about it,
46:00
Speaker 3: or I brought it up.
46:01
Speaker 1: Actually I feel like I did. I'm pretty sure.
46:03
Speaker 3: And I was like, yeah, I want to send an application.
46:05
Speaker 3: Whatever I gotta do, I want to do it because
46:07
Speaker 3: I just think, like everything I saw from social media,
46:10
Speaker 3: of course you see, which social media is not everything,
46:12
Speaker 3: but I also got it from me that like your teammates,
46:15
Speaker 3: teammates like reliable sources of like how it was like
46:18
Speaker 3: and like what she liked about it and stuff. So
46:21
Speaker 3: I was like, I would love to do it. I
46:23
Speaker 3: would love to be around a bunch of women athletes
46:26
Speaker 3: and like get to I don't know, just learn and
46:30
Speaker 3: like talk and get to know them and like learn
46:32
Speaker 3: more about yourself but about them, Like why not? Like
46:35
Speaker 3: that's exactly what I'm interested in and what I want
46:38
Speaker 3: to be a part of. So I was like, let's
46:39
Speaker 3: do it.
46:40
Speaker 1: You guys have had multiple sessions so far this year.
46:44
Speaker 1: Which one do you think has like stood out to you?
46:46
Speaker 3: Oh? I would say we did one called owning the Hard.
46:54
Speaker 3: I think was owning the Hard, yeah, cause I think
46:57
Speaker 3: most of them are like owning the owning your genius
46:59
Speaker 3: or owning Yeah, I'm trying to remember, But I think
47:04
Speaker 3: Owning the Hard I think was the one where we
47:06
Speaker 3: got in like separate groups and we were kind of
47:10
Speaker 3: vulnerable and uh kind of we had like three or
47:14
Speaker 3: four questions where we just talked about like something you
47:17
Speaker 3: kind of went through or a person who's been there
47:19
Speaker 3: for you, something in that area, and I don't know,
47:24
Speaker 3: I really liked it, and I I think people were
47:28
Speaker 3: open and people are just saying what they feel and
47:31
Speaker 3: a lot of similar like experiences, which is nice, and like,
47:35
Speaker 3: I just like that things are very like I said, similar,
47:38
Speaker 3: and you can experience things even in different sports, you
47:42
Speaker 3: experience the same mentalities or mindsets or thoughts, feelings, all
47:45
Speaker 3: that sort of stuff. So I think.
47:47
Speaker 1: Probably that one was my favorite. So yeah, I feel
47:51
Speaker 1: like having people open up and sharing their story definitely
47:54
Speaker 1: gives you an overall better perspective of a person, for sure.
48:01
Speaker 4: How do you feel like you've grown since your freshman
48:04
Speaker 4: year to now you've done power, you're now a numberclassman
48:08
Speaker 4: on the basketball team. How do you feel like you've
48:09
Speaker 4: grown overall as a person and a player.
48:11
Speaker 3: That's a really good question. I think I've grown. I
48:17
Speaker 3: think in different areas I've definitely gained a lot of
48:21
Speaker 3: more confidence in myself. I think I lack it sometimes
48:28
Speaker 3: I feel like that's very normal. Sometimes you gotta fake it,
48:31
Speaker 3: like that's very normal too. But I think I've gained
48:34
Speaker 3: a lot of confidence in who I am in my heart,
48:38
Speaker 3: in my I don't know intentions towards what I'm doing
48:41
Speaker 3: or who I'm with, So I've gained a lot of that,
48:44
Speaker 3: which I think is shaping into who I am or
48:46
Speaker 3: who I'm around or who I want to be. So
48:49
Speaker 3: I think that's been a really big change since my
48:51
Speaker 3: freshman year, and I definitely have learned to be a
48:56
Speaker 3: lot more independent. I I've been through a bunch of
49:02
Speaker 3: different teammates, friendships, breakups, different people, Like I've just experienced
49:08
Speaker 3: a lot in like relationships, and I think I've just
49:11
Speaker 3: learned you really just start you have yourself, and like
49:15
Speaker 3: you have to love yourself and go through stuff by yourself,
49:20
Speaker 3: like it's just it's bound to happen. And I think
49:23
Speaker 3: I've gotten to do that in college a lot. But
49:25
Speaker 3: I've also gotten to meet amazing people that keep me
49:27
Speaker 3: going too, So it's been really cool. But I think
49:29
Speaker 3: those two things for sure have been very much more
49:34
Speaker 3: like the growing area since my freshman year for sure,
49:38
Speaker 3: So it's awesome.
49:40
Speaker 1: What's the story you want to share to the Clemson
49:42
Speaker 1: fans that are listening? A story? Yeah, anything anything you
49:47
Speaker 1: haven't said or like want to share with people who
49:50
Speaker 1: watch Clemson basketball and are fans of you that you
49:55
Speaker 1: haven't shared yet, or you want to say or like
49:58
Speaker 1: anything about.
49:58
Speaker 3: People to know about you.
50:03
Speaker 1: Well, one go Tigers.
50:06
Speaker 3: I would say, keep watching women's basketball because we're only
50:10
Speaker 3: going up. I think we honestly, we don't get enough
50:13
Speaker 3: like notice in my opinion, because I think I agree
50:16
Speaker 3: it's just true and women's sports obviously is going up,
50:18
Speaker 3: but I still think Comps women's basketball needs to keep
50:20
Speaker 3: it going and like keep getting up because we're up
50:22
Speaker 3: there and we're going to only get better and keep going,
50:25
Speaker 3: especially with the people we have coming in and like
50:27
Speaker 3: the staff. So that's what I have to say.
50:30
Speaker 1: So ye, period, love it. I love it, period, and
50:34
Speaker 1: I thank you for coming on.
50:36
Speaker 2: Thank you.
50:37
Speaker 1: Where can people find you on social media?
50:41
Speaker 3: You can find me on my Instagram. Uh, it's actually
50:44
Speaker 3: hand COO thirty five. I've had it since like fifth grade,
50:46
Speaker 3: so don't judge.
50:47
Speaker 1: That's what it is. And then I have TikTok too, but.
50:52
Speaker 3: I mean you can Tana Cone.
50:54
Speaker 2: It's just my name with like three ends, Okay, And
50:56
Speaker 2: do you have LinkedIn? Uh uh we need to work.
50:59
Speaker 1: We do need to ignore that.
51:01
Speaker 3: Thank you all right, thank you guys LinkedIn coming soon,
51:05
Speaker 3: coming soon, thank you.
51:07
Speaker 5: M h
51:10
Speaker 1: M hm