Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 184. DiDi Richards, WNBA Player

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184. DiDi Richards, WNBA Player · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

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  Speaker 1: And I just want people to see me, and when
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: they see me, they see someone who's unapologetically them. And
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: I hope that I am able to show people that
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: look like me, whether that's a woman, a little girl,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: a little black girl who wasn't doesn't feel like they're
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: they're going to be somebody. They're like the nerves of
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: the classes, real skimming me. I just want you to
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: know that your time is coming, stay patient, and you know,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: just be confident anapologically you at all times. I think
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  Speaker 1: that's my biggest thing, and that's just who I am.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Hey everyone, Emily Evadi coming to you live from the
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: AG Studio. You are listening to episode one eighty four
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: of Hurdle, a wellness focused podcast where I connect with
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  Speaker 2: everyone from your favorite athletes to top experts and industry
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  Speaker 2: CEOs about their highs, ties, toughest moments, and everything in between.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: We all go through hurdles in life, and my goal
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: through these discussions is to empower you to better navigate
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: yours and move with intention so that you can stride
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: towards your own big potential and of course have some
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: fun along the way. Today I am so so so
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: excited to bring you my conversation with d D Richards.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: She's a WNBA player for the New York Liberty.
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  Speaker 3: And man, does she have a story.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: For today's episode, we dive into what happened to d
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  Speaker 2: d October twenty fourth, twenty twenty the on court freakish
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: collision that left her temporarily paralyzed while playing at Baylor.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: Yet thirty eight days later, thanks to her strong will,
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  Speaker 2: outrageous support system, great doctors, and trusting her gut, she
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: was back in the game, plus so much more the
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: emotional and mental repercussions that that incident had for her,
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: what it was like for her to get drafted, her
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  Speaker 2: strong feelings about social media, using it to your benefit,
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: and also being realistic about the content that is on there,
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: being as many of us refer to a highlight reel.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: We also talk about her partnership with Quest for their
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: Rookie Challenge, why it's a perfect fit for her, and
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: how you can enter to win twenty thousand dollars to
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: support your personal quest to maybe make a difference in
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: your community.
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: Again.
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  Speaker 2: For more details on that, head on over to Questrookie
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: Challenge dot com. Honestly, this episode of this conversation so inspiring.
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  Speaker 2: I feel like I have been on kind of another
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: level lately when it comes to just garnering these stories
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: of life changing hurdle moments, and I'm so so grateful
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: that part of what I do, part of my job,
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: is to bring you them week after week. Make sure
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: you following along with Hurdle over on social It's at
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: Hurdle Podcast. I'm over at Emily a Body and if
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: you have a question for me, I'm all ears. I
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: would love to answer it on an upcoming episode of
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  Speaker 2: the show. To leave me a voice message, click on
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  Speaker 2: over to the show notes and do just that last
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  Speaker 2: the word welcome to seven three two Hurdler. Again, text
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  Speaker 2: the word welcome to seven three two Hurdler and with that,
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: let's get to hurdling.
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: Today. I am sitting down with d d Richards.
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  Speaker 2: She is a w NBA great she plays for the
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  Speaker 2: New York Liberty.
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  Speaker 3: How you doing today, great?
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: How are you?
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: I'm so good, I'm so excited to see you today.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: I feel like, right off the bat, I have to
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: be honest with you in that I went to Yukon.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Oh gosh, I'm so happy you said that. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: I'm still gonna be okay during this, but I'm gonna
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: look at you a little different.
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  Speaker 3: It's cool, it's cool, I get it.
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  Speaker 2: I just I just felt like I needed to air
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  Speaker 2: that out right off the bat. DEDI went to Baylor,
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: Baylor and Yukon a little bit of a rivalry, yeh is.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: A little bit, but not a lot. And then like,
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  Speaker 1: we're gonna be that bridge that makes it not a rivalry.
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  Speaker 3: We're gonna be the bridge that makes it not a rivalry.
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  Speaker 2: I like that, and I also feel really flattered right
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: now because I'll be honest. I tried to do a
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: dive into the d D Richards podcast archives, and there
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  Speaker 2: wasn't much to dive into, although you did chat with.
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  Speaker 3: A friend of mine, Trista, when she was over at Parson.
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  Speaker 1: Like, oh my gosh, oh my god. Like that was
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  Speaker 1: like one of my favorite interviews, first office per in barstool,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: and so like that was my first one right after
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  Speaker 1: the tournament, So I was super excited so I didn't know.
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  Speaker 1: I'm so happy, like y'all know each other. See, forget
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  Speaker 1: the Yukon Baylor thing, forget.
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: It bridge, We're building the bridge. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I am so inspired by you. I'll never forget I
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: uh my. Another one of my girlfriends is Jess Simms.
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  Speaker 2: You may know her because she's the in arena House
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: for the Liberty And before she started officially, I went
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: with her to one of the games and she said,
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: this must have been like maybe three or four months ago,
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: five months ago. I mean it feels like forever. She said,
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  Speaker 2: m you need to talk to bb.
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  Speaker 1: I love Jizz. So when you see her, please give
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  Speaker 1: her a hood.
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  Speaker 3: I will, I will. Hopefully i'll see her. I'm running.
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  Speaker 2: I'm running the New York Marathon this weekend, and hopefully
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  Speaker 2: I'm gonna see her up in Harlem.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, you look at me like I'm crazy.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not a run for fun kind of girl. I
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  Speaker 1: will tell you that.
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  Speaker 3: It's okay, It's okay. You have other talents here.
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  Speaker 2: So, like I said intro to you, WNBA basketball, did
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: you grow up with a just like basketball was your thing?
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  Speaker 2: Or did this was this something that you kind of
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: came into with age definitely.
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  Speaker 1: The second one. I hated sports, Like I was not
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  Speaker 1: a sports girl. I was like, still sweat, I can't
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  Speaker 1: before makeup like ew. And then my brother we were
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: like a sport family other than my mom, but like
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  Speaker 1: everything was sports sport driven, and I'm like, well if
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: my mom ben In playsports and I don't have to
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: play sports, you know, like being a MoMA's girl. So
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: definitely came with age. I grew to love it, like
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: around middle school. So but I'm happy I've got help
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: with it.
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  Speaker 2: And not only did you fall in love with it,
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  Speaker 2: but you started to really succeed at it. So when
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  Speaker 2: did that I'm actually really good at this realization kind
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: of happened for you.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: I want to say it's I got my first offer
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: and like ironically, my first offer was from Baylor, so
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  Speaker 1: like that was like around eighth ninth grade. And once
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: I got an offer from Baylor, like Kim Volky, I'm like, oh,
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  Speaker 1: I might be able to do this long term. Like
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  Speaker 1: that's that's the legend. So the love came with me like, oh,
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  Speaker 1: I'm actually kind of good. It didn't come like, oh
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  Speaker 1: I'm so in love, But this is where it came.
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  Speaker 1: Because you start beating people and that becomes fun. See.
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  Speaker 2: But what you're talking about is interesting, right, because in
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  Speaker 2: order to get to that place, like, you have to
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: stick with it for a certain amount of time. So
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  Speaker 2: there must have been something about basketball that you really
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  Speaker 2: did enjoy even at the beginning.
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  Speaker 3: Maybe the team aspect, I should.
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  Speaker 1: Say yes, because that's the political correct answer, But it
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  Speaker 1: was more so like it was just a competitive nature.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm a competitive person, So like I was more
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  Speaker 1: in love with, oh that person beat me today, then
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  Speaker 1: like I'm gonna keep working so I can beat them
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  Speaker 1: tomorrow or next month or next year. So I fell
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  Speaker 1: in love more with that part of the game, with
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  Speaker 1: just the being able to compete, the competing nature, and
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  Speaker 1: then just being able to be out there with people.
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  Speaker 2: The competitive nature obviously kind of takes a whole new
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: meaning when you.
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  Speaker 3: Start to play in college.
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  Speaker 2: Talk to me about that shift for you and what
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  Speaker 2: were some of the first to different and says you
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  Speaker 2: noticed about that next level of play.
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  Speaker 1: Definitely the strength and the speed, but like you said,
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  Speaker 1: like the competitive drive, like in college compared to high
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: school is so different night and day because you're kind
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: of playing it for fun. In high school, it's more
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  Speaker 1: of a job now in college, and then you get
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: in the big leads and it's even a bigger job,
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: a bigger business. So it's just knowing. I think that's
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  Speaker 1: the biggest thing I noticed as a freshman was like, mom,
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  Speaker 1: like I got to actually go into the gym work
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: like off time, like all the time because everyone out
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  Speaker 1: here could shoot and everyone out here could dribble. Now
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  Speaker 1: you have to find a way to separate yourself. And
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  Speaker 1: I think that was the biggest thing for me.
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  Speaker 3: What what does that work look like?
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: People hear that, like, I'm in the gym, I'm working
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: all the time, But you're saying it's bigger than just
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: the skill drills that we're seeing on the court.
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: What did that look like for you at the time.
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  Speaker 1: It took me a long time to buy into it.
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  Speaker 1: It's more of a it's an art. Like someone that's
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: just dedicated to the gym. That's that's crazy, because your
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: dedicates putting your body through basically hell, you know. So
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: it was an art that I had to learn to
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: fall in love with because you're constantly running, or you're
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  Speaker 1: constantly trying to perfect what you're not good at. I
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: think people going to the gym, and they want to
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: perfect what they are already good at. And I think
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: that's what makes the difference between pros and you know,
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: average players, is pros going there and they try and
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: perfect what they aren't good at. So that's the most
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: frustrating part of the game is I know I can't
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: shoot three, so I'm not going in the gym to
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: piss myself off. I'm going to the gym and do
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: something that you know, makes me feel a little better.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: So I think that was the biggest thing that changed
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  Speaker 1: my whole mindset in the game. That didn't come to
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: like sophomore junior year in college. It took me some time,
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: so I'm happy I found it. But wait, it was
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: a lot.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: But I mean a lot of strength training, right, Like
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: we're talking about like a ton of strength training, which
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: I would argue is one of the things that so
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: many individuals have a hard time staying diligent with.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: I could not agree more. I don't think you can tell,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: but by my little pusy you can tell that I
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: hate the weight room. I hate it, but it's it's
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: like more of like a love hate relationship. But I'm
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: trying to tell y'all you have to live like almost
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: every day, especially like up here you because they're strong,
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: they're fast, so it's like you kind of have to
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: stay in shape, and especially like as a rookie, like
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: not being able to play as much, and you got
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: to find different ways to make a game like situation
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: for you outside of the game.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: So a few years under your belt, your junior year
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: hits and a little do you know that we're about
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: to be in a global pandemic and not just because
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: of that, but your life is about to change completely,
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: So talk to me a little bit about where your
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: head's at going in to twenty twenty.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: I was so excited. I was like anxious. We had
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: just won a national championship year before, so I'm like, Okay,
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: this is gonna be the year We're gonna win ten
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: two in a row. Like we're going to be crazy
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: because our team, like we brought back our whole team
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: except to people. Then we brought in a lot of reinforcements.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: We're gonna be a lot faster team. So I'm like, Oh,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: they couldn't handle this last year, they really want handle
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: us this year. So it was more of an excitement
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: and like a hunger to get back on the court
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: summer like we have. We had like a month off
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: for basketball, so you take May, that's your summer. So
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: I'm like working out the whole time back home and
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: then I come back and we're just excited. I think
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: as a team, we were just real anxious.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: Real anxious. Okay, how does that start to shape up
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: for you?
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: We are we're killing it. Actually, we probably lost like
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: one game around this time when the there was there
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: was like a bug in your ear, like you would
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: hear something about COVID, if you would hear little things
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: about COVID, like months before it happened, but you don't
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: ever think would actually happen is going to happen. You
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: just think people are getting sick. And like, I mean,
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: we all took it lightly, I will say that, like
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: you could hear it all the time. We were like, Okay, well,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: it's just another one of the like a sign flu.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: It's another one of the little flues that run around
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: and you know, so we're boss to play. We're playing
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: a home game. I think it had to been a
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: home game. We're playing home a round the Iowa state.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: And we ended up losing that game. And that's the
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: last game before they shut everything down, like we ended
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: on a loss, so I was really upset. But like
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: we're on the way. We're literally about to take off
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: on a charter flight to go I think to Kansas
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: for a big twelve tournament, and literally mon details the
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: pilot stop. They're trying to cancel the tournament. We don't
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: know if we're gonna even be able to play. By
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: that time, somebody a game had already happened. We had
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: to buy because we were first in our what you
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: call in our conference. So we're on the way there
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: and they were like no, they're not gonna let them
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: play a game tonight, and then thinking about cancel the tournament.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: So then we get off the plane again, we're gonna
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: just practice, do this, this and that. Then they shut
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: the world down like this in US home classes are canceled,
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: schools canceled, and I'm driving home, like, what the heck
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: just happened? Like everything happens so fast. I'm like, Mom,
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: I'm on the way home. The world didn't like what
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: was going on, so I'm just come home. We're okay.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: I'm like, wow, that.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: Was so fast, Yeah, it all did. I think everyone
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: has like some sort of a similar story. It was
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: like everything felt completely normal and then nothing was normal
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: at all, and in fact, there was like a new normal.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: So in your new normal, you started taking classes from
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: home and the season was just kind of put on pause.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: Literally, classes from home the worst thing that could ever happen,
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: because it's like the teachers thought you weren't in the
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: global pandemic and it's just like, well, you're sitting at home,
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: I as will load you up for work, and it
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: was the worst ever.
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: I can't even imagine.
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: It's like it's also I say this all the time,
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: but I can't imagine being in college when like social
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: media was as big as it is now. Like, I
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: my heart goes out to like all of these people,
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: specifically really women, to be honest with you, because I
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: feel like we can be our own biggest critics as
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: it is, But it's so hard to like be navigating
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: all those feelings that you're dealing with when you're in
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: like your late teens early twenties, and that's amplified by
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: social media. Completely different topic, But I honestly like I
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: don't know how you've done it, Like you.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: Said, completely different topic, like that social media at foss
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: Reality and some people understand that. Some people don't, and
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: I just go bad for the people that don't.
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean you're pretty good at it though.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: You've got you're crushing out like one hundred and twenty
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: three thousand plus on Insta. I think the last time
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: I checked your TikTok, you're like climbing there too.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: It's really an art. It's like you're leaving free money
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: if you don't figure out social media. I just want
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: to let everybody know that once you figure out social media,
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: you have like the answers to a lot of things.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Like I said, the world's time of virtual You need
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: to get a hit fun game.
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: You need to get it on. I love that. I
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: love that.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: If you're leaving free money, you heard it here first, Hurdlers,
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: you heard it here first. Okay, So you're taking these
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: classes from home, you're working all the time. When does
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: getting back to play seem like something that's going to
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: actually be viable for you and your teammates.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Around like July, because I was I took a trip
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: because a lot, I mean, the world started opening up.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: So I'm like, I cannot sit in this house anymore
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: if I'm gonna quarantine. I'm a quarantine in a hotel
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: on the beach or something like, I'm gonna just be outside.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: So then I take a trip to San Diego, and
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: as soon as I go to San Diego, my coach
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: texts me and like in the group, I sage thirteen
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: and a group message and was like, you guys, do
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: you'll think I can be out here July twelfth? And
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: this is like July third, and I'm like, wow, we're
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: coming back, like we get to go back on campus.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: And she's like, yeah, they're letting me go back. They're
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: trying to start games, we're trying to start practicing and
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: opening things up a little bit more out here. And
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: I'm just like okay, well then yan. So around that time,
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: it was just talk and then things would fold, like
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: July twelfth will come and she's like, well, July twentieth,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: July twenty, the come. Well August first, So like it
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: kept getting pushed back, but school was about to start
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: and they were talking about in person classes, so regardless,
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: we had to move back on campus. It was just
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: about getting in the gym, and you know physical like
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: sports is like more germs, So it was how was
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: you gonna practice. How were you gonna work out in
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: a weight room where you had to wipe down the
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: waits all the time. So I think that was the
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: biggest thing. But you could tell that we were getting
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: back into the group and like people were about to
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: start playing again.
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: Did that make you anxious or were you one of
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: the people that was just more of the mindset like
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: I'm just going to handle it as it comes.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: I it was more like the anxious came more from uncertainty.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: It was more so like I'm so irritated with saying
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: that I can play or I can't play, or I
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: can't move here, and I can't move here, I can
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: go lift. I hadn't lifted forever. Everything was body weights.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: I was doing push ups and stuff. So I was like,
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: I know, I looked thin, Like it's time to get
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: in the weight room. So I think that was the
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: biggest thing for me. Was just an uncertainty of it all.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the uncertainty so you guys start playing question mark.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, we did. It was the best feeling ever.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: And like I, like I've said, the anxious feeling from
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: last year kind of carried, especially now. I didn't want
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: a loss, now it's like, oh, now we really got
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: to come hard. So now the whole team's kind of tense.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: Like practices were all like you know, chippy between coaches
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: and players, but it's just it's definitely, I think something
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: bey there so great. All the time. We were always
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: so like everything every day felt like it was a game.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: Every day felt like it was our last game. So
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: for us to have lost that game, then we kind
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: of had a lot of time to make up. So
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: practice was you know, intense, and we were leading up
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: to scrimmage days, so it was getting real.
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: Fun and it was getting real hot there.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: So talk me through then October twenty fourth, it.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: Was a Saturday and we were scrimmaging. Saturdays are a
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: scrimmage days at Bail. I don't know how it is
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: every school, but our scrimmage days either you hate it
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: or you love it. I was the one that I
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: kind of loved scrimmage days, whether that was us playing
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: three on three or five on five, just some pick up.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: That's one thing I looked forward to every freaking day.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: So whenever Saturdays is coming, I was like the first
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: one there, whether that was you know, lifting or treatment
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: or whatever. I had to do to get ready for
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: scrimmage days. And I thought I had got there so
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: early this day though, and I remember like getting there
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: so really like I have a jeep. So I'm like
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: pulling up and I'm like wow, like the trainer and
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: not here, coach is not here, like nobody's here. Where
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: it is everybody? So I'm like, look, I call my mom.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: I'm like, Mama. At this point, my mom was about
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: to take a flight to wherever she was going, and
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: so she was up and I'm like, Mom, I think
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: they cancel practice, Like I think they're playing a joke
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: on me because like nobody is here, like I don't
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: see anybody. She goes seriously when you need to call them.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: I don't like when they play you know my mom?
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: You know mom, they fucked out. I don't like when
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: they do that. And I'm like, mom, it's okay, I'll
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: figure it out as I go.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: Don't you always have that moment where you like have
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: a second where you regret telling your mom that like
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: something was a little off because you're like, oh, now
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: she's worrying.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: My gosh. Like that's that's often. That's often I'm like, Mom,
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: I shouldn't have told you that, she goes. I don't
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: want you to feel that way. We're best friends, which
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: we are. I don't know if y'all know me and
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: my mom were best friends, but she still has this
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: mom like neck and I'm like, mom, I'm just telling
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: you this as a friend a daughter. But no, that
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: was one of the time definitely, and people started finally
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: showing up. I got out and you know, I mean,
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: I'm I act like this bubbly, loud, booky person from
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: four am to like midnight, like every now and then
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: I'll get a little sleepy through the day, but I'll
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: still be this person. So it's in the morning I'm
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: being loud. We'd be, you know, the same thing I
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: always I'm always doing. And it was just like it
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: wasn't like a weird day. It was like the first
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: scrimmage day. But you know, you can still feel like
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: there's a cloud and I'm like, where is this cloud?
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: Like what was going on? We had lost our first game,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: I think, and I'm like, all right, I'm not losing again.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: So that was the second games up and like I
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: don't know, I I played I played the point guard
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: my senior year, so like at Baylor, our thing was
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: set up to where the point guard never went to
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: go offensive rebound. The point guard was always safety. So
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: I'm backing up and I'm kind of reading the field,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: which is my favorite thing. Like I'm like, okay, because
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: they're going to try to this long past and I'm
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: gonna get to steal and it's gonna look so crazy,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: like the crowd's going crazy. So men's scrimmage. There's no
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: crowd and I'm thinking like that.
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: She's like, let me just recap here. There's actually no crowd,
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: but in my.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: Head, this is a game. So like I see a
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: pass go up and my player that had just scored,
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: which is moon Arson, is the fastest person on our team.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: So I don't know why I thought she couldn't get
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: back till this day, I'm like, why did I even
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: why did that even happen? Like why did I think
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: that was okay? But I literally saw a ball. I
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: saw that Elaine that I could go and she's, you know,
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: being a normal basketball player, trying to get back on
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: defense back to her player and it's running top speed,
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: but she sees the ball as well, so she's trying
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: to get the ball running this way, and I'm running
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: this lay and all we sees the ball and we
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: just collide. And I was airborne. So when she collided,
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: her head hit my hip bone and that made like
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: I guess my spinal cord shape, and so that sent
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: my spine into spinal shock because there's ways your spine
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: isn't supposed to move technically, and so when your body
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: feels that's more of a defense mechanism to just shut
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: all the way down. And my body did that. But
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: in so many words, that kind of saved me from
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: a lot of injury, because like if my body wouldn't
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: have liked just shut down, then say I braced myself
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: and then I break things, you know, because that's the
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: number one when people start breaking things when you brace yourself.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: So my body like naturally shutting down kind of really helped,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: but it could have really like messed a lot of
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: things up as well.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so you come down from being airborne and talk
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: me through what happens in the moments, minutes, hours that
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: happened after that.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: I was out for like they say, a minute and
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: a half, two minutes I was I don't I technically
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: don't remember I keep hearing stories about it, so I
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: say it like I know, but no, I don't remember
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: that I was not, but I remember looking up and
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: we have banners, you know, you have you know, banners
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: from winning, okay, But so I'm looking up at the
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: banners and like I'm in and out like it's foggy,
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: it's blurry. And then I hear like questions, which is
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: my trainer? You kept asking a questions And finally I
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: finally like I'm I'm like awake, and I'm like, give
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: me up because I'm the type of player that's like
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: give me off the court, like I'm I'm okay. So
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: I'm like I just can I get up? Like can
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: you move me off the court so they can keep playing?
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: And they and not everyone's looking at me like we
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: can just move me off the side, and he's like
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: did he okay? He's like you want to get up?
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: And I'm like yeah. He's like, well to get up,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: and I'm just like okay, like I can't move and
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: he's like what and I'm like I can't fill my
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: my legs. And so immediately I'm scared, like if anybody
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: that's anything happens, like you know, I'm immediately trying to
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: hold tears back. I'm like, oh my god, really my legs.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: I can't move my legs and at this time, my
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: left arm is completely numb, but I can move my
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: right arm. So I'm like, I'm so confused, like I want, like,
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: why can't I move? Like I can feel my arm,
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: but I can't feel my other arm, and he's like,
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: move your toes and I'm like I'm trying, Like so
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: this why I'm getting a little irritated. I'm like, I
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: really am trying. So we got to figure something out.
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: And he's like, Okay, just breathe. And so now he
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: thinks it's a neck injury because of what's happening, and
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: so he's my neck is stabilized. He's like, just don't
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: move his calm down. He's like he's really calm, but
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: you can tell that he's scared too. So now that's
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: scaring me. And then Coach Molki comes over there, who
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: is like the hardest person I know, and she's looking like,
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: are you okay? Everything's gonna be all right? Like who
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: she is, She's real supporting, like nothing's gonna happen. We're
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: gonna get you to the hospital. And I'm like, I'm
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: going to where like just just move me, Like why
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: can't I move? And she was like, no, we're gonna
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: get We're gonna get the ambulance. Scared, we're gonna call
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: the doctors. You just stay here and you be still
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: or whatever. And so I'm that part. After that part
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: and me going into the ambulance and me getto the
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: hospital is all like black, Like I just remember being
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: in the hospital after that, so like either I was
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: sleep but I know they gave me pain medicine, so
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: I don't know if that knocked me out or so.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: But got to the hospital and at this point, my
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: everyone's trying figure out where my mom is, where my
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: dad is, and my mom just landed in Atlanta, I
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: think she was going to and she's like what, like,
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: I'm coming out there now. So she got on the
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: next flight back, and so my dad and my brother,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: like my dad got my brother out of school. They're
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: driving up this is like I mean at school out
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: of practice, and they're driving up because it's like early morning,
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: so they're like what's going on, Like what was happening?
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: So they drive out there. At this point, the doctors
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: are just like poking me, like trying to like move me,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: and they're like do you feel it? And so me
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: being who I am, I'm looking like I'm like looking
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: so I can get out of the hospital. I'm at
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: a hospital girl. So I'm looking at him and when
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: he moves, I'm like yeah, but I know I can't
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: feel it. So I'm like crying and Alice was like
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: does it hurt? And I'm like no, I really just
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: can't feel it, like I'm just saying yes. And now
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: they're covering my eyes, so they put like a block
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: till I couldn't see it, and so they're like can
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: you can you feel it? Or they're like tell me
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: when you feel it, and I'm just like okay. So
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: I'm sitting there and I'm like are you doing it?
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: And he was like yeah. And so at this point,
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: they poked me so much with the needle that I'm
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: like bleeding because they're trying to figure out like was
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: like my nerve that I can fill or a nerve
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: that I can't feel, and it was just like it
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: was a lost cause. And so I'm going through a
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: lot of cts, a lot of MRIs, a lot of
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: different things at this point. It's where they finally admit
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: me to the hospital because you have to be able
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: to move yourself in order to leave a hospital. And
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: I'm in there for a night. My brother stays the
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: night with me, and he's in distraught. My brother's like
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: my me and him are like the closest people ever.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: He's nineteen younger than me, And when he started crying,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: I was holding myself together. But when he started crying,
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: it was more so like, oh my god, I'm really
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: this is really happening right now, Like I can't believe
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: this is happening right now. And so I think that
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: was more of a reality slap in the face because
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: I was more so as like, I'm going to get
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: through this, right I'm I'm going to figure it out tomorrow.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: Is going to be back when the next morning comes,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: and my arm I can put my arm, so it's like, okay,
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: now we're moving. We're going to happen. So they bring
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: in this neurosurgeon in there, and he's just like it's
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: all subjective everything. This is final shock. He explains the
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: injuries to me, explains what it is, and explains that
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: it happens to a lot of people, but it's more
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: so on like impact of like waves for surfers or
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: football players getting hit, you know, but it says not
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: really common in basketball because it's not a high contact
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: sport like football. But the way we hit, he explained,
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: and he saw the video. He was like, I can
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: definitely see how this happened, and it's normal, but it's
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: not the normal recovery isn't the same for everyone, Like
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: he was basically explaining, some people will never come back,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: some people come back in two years, some people come
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: back in months, weeks. It just depends. Everything's subjective. And
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: so I'm like, depends on like I gotta be strong,
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: Like what do I have to be? Like I'm trying
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: to figure out, like I have to be healthy, have
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: to eat this, what do I have to do in
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: order for it to be okay? And he's just like, no,
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: it's literally just when your body feels like it's safe
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: enough to wake up. So that's I think again, uncertainty
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: is what made it so annoying. It is just like
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: one day I can wake up and walk and the
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: next day I can Like, it doesn't make sense. So
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: I think that was the biggest thing for me.
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: Oh my god, I mean what in incredible story.
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: Basically what you've described here.
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: As you're temporarily paralyzed, being that you can't walk, you
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: got some of this feeling back in your arm. It's
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: so interesting to me hearing you talk about like wanting
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: to look at them as they're poking you and make
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: it seem like you know that you're going to be okay.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: Where do you think maybe that comes from, Like do
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: you think that you've always been someone that's been really
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: independent or do you think that was just kind of
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: like a fight or flight moment for you.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: It's definitely me being like I'm not trying to be
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: in here or like me. It's more of a controlling
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: thing for me, you know, like I'm a bear controling
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: the person. So like I'm in this just this situation
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: that I can't control. So if I can find a
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: way to control where I am, then I'm going to
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: figure it out. And I think that was a lot
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: of like my downfall, but a lot of the reason
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: why I, you know, got through the injury as well
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: as I did.
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: It's it's exactly what so many of us struggle with
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: doing when we come to these hurdles or any difficult
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: moment in life. So many of us, like we want
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: to find our own solutions without admitting that there are
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: other people that are gonna know better than us. There
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: are people like there's a reason for neurologists, you know,
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: like they know a lot of stuff that we don't know.
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: So to open ourselves up to that assistance when we
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: don't think that we want it, but we might need it,
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: that's like really scary.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: It's crazy, and it's definitely a reason why I felt
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: like I felt the need to talk about my injury.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: After like days I went by and like the people
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: I met like going to different like correct, Like I've
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: met people that were paralyzed like for a while, like
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: years since birth. I've met people like that, and I
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: watched them like have no hope, or I watched them
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: like in our sessions where I would be like literally
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: right next to someone that maybe had just was paralyzed
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: as well as me, but I have the mindset that
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to be this way forever. They just
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: had no hope, and I was just like I want
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: to talk about this for people like that, Like I
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: want to get the people something to look forward to,
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: you know, down the line. So I thought that was
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: the biggest thing for me, and it's honestly a huge
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: reason why I partner with Freaking Quest Rookie Challenge, because
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: they were so invested in finding three people that you know,
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: won their hearts basically and giving them a twenty thousand
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: dollars grant, you know, to further their quest and helping
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: themselves or helping their community. So all I love that
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: about questioning the rookie chance that they came up with,
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: and I just think that that was like the biggest
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: thing for me was getting that out.
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: Taking a break from today's episode to give some love
• 30:08
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  Speaker 3: Pause or cancel at any time.
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: When do you think you turned the corner from maybe
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: being a little angry and like, how is this happening
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: to me?
• 33:15
  Speaker 3: To this isn't something that I'm going to live with
• 33:18
  Speaker 3: for the rest of my life.
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: I really it was more so my brother. Honestly, I was.
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: I was upset. I was definitely upset, and I felt
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: like I felt like there was no hope as well
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: and being with being the role model that my brother
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: looked up to and like being that person that he
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: kind of went to for everything. When I saw how
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: down he was, it was at it was a moment
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: where I was just like, man, forget it, Like this
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: stuff isn't working. I was trying everything, even freaking gquacamole.
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: They think that that's one of the things that helped.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: Like I know, I was eating it like every all.
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: Day because I think they maybe just tell you that
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: so that like you have something good to do, Like
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: you know what you're not doing so hot, you should
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: some guacamole.
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: Freaking gucamole. So I'm like, I don't want to bualcamole
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: no where. Like I had just a moment for a second,
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: and so I look at him and I'm talking to
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: my dad right now, and I'm like, I don't want
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: to blacamole. And my brother he's he hates something to
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: say it, but he's a lot more emotional than me,
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: a lot more. But he's my younger brother, like he
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: was the young he was the little boy. So we
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: cradled him a bit a bit, and so he was
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: a lot emotional. And I looked over there and he
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: was fighting back tears because he just did not understand
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: what was going on. And like at that moment, it
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: became like a well, this is going to be something
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: else he looks up to me for or this is
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: going to be something else, like you know, I overcome
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: for him and me kind of thing.
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: When do you start to get feeling in your legs again?
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: I so it took me three days, I want to say,
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: to get out of the hospital. And it was literally
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: you have to be able to walk up a flight
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: of stairs in order to leave. And so my toes
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: started coming back, like in the the middle of the
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: first like day that I had been in the hospital,
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: Like my in for COVID, you can't have your whole
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: family in there. So my brother and my dad and
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: my mom were kind of cycling coming in and out
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: of the hospital, and my mom was in the hospital
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: and I took a nap. I woke up to her
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: and she remember she was gone. So I woke up.
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: My dad was with me, and then I went to sleep.
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: My mom was in and I'm like, oh my god,
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: like hey, and so I'm like, she gave me a
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: hug and like I could feel like a tingling in
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: my toe and I'm like, I'm like, mom, I think
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: my toe. I said, I think I can't feel my toe,
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: and she goes, what And so now she's calling the doctor.
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: You know, my mom, I already told you. So I'm like,
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: oh my god, Mom' like that's actual to perform a trick,
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: like I just really think I just feel like tingle
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: in my toe. So the nurse comes in there and
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: she goes, can you feel this, And she says, like
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: flicking my big toe and I'm like yes, I can
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: freaking feel it. And She's like, can you feel this
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: so that she's going down like my feet and I'm like, yes,
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: I can feel that, like I can feel it. And
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: so now my mom is like tearing up. I'm tearing up.
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: I'm like I'm gonna get it. I'm gonna get out
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: of here, like I'm going to get out of this,
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: like I'm going to get up, and so we start.
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: She starts doing like little tickling tricks and I'm very ticklish,
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: like to where I was like, oh my god, like
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: I can feel it, like I'm that's that's there. And
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: so like it was like four am, five am. I
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: woke up and I had to peace so bad, and
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: so I'm like ringing the thing or whatever, and they
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: lift my leg and they rubbed like this the outside
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: of my leg and I was just like can you
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: do that again? I'm like can you? Can you just
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: and so I put my hand there and I'm just like,
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: oh my god, I'm okay. And so that's when I
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: was just like, you know, there's a God, Like I'm like,
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: there's that that We're going to figure this out, Like
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: if I just lean on you and everything, We're going
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: to figure it out. Plus there were scriptures everywhere because
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: again I go to Baylor, which is a back to school,
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: so that the scriptured all over the hospital, like on
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: the floor, on little little ceilings or on the side
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: of the walls or whatever. So I was reading the
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: score true that it was a lot going on. I
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: was very emotional, little coast for me. But it was
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: like the second day out in the hospital, I was
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: like bending a little bit more and I was it
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: was a little shaky, little wobbly, but I was, you know,
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: I could feel. So I think that was the biggest thing.
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: Talk to me about the feelings you had when you
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: got to be back with your team again for the
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: first time.
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: It was so random. It was like a random day.
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: Everything just turned on. Like I could feel like I
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: was signing my feet, I was going on ladder. It's
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: not it felt like, you know, the mode was about
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: to go. And then they were like, bid you can
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: jump in the drill, Like see if you can jump
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: in this drill. And it was like it was a
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: really like basic drill, but they're like, see if you
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: can do it. And it was just like some dribbling
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: drills up to half courting them back or whatever. And
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: I think that was like it was just a light
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: like I was like, there's a light at the end
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: of this tunnel and I'm starting to see it, like
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: now I just got to keep going forward. So I
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: think it was it was, like I said, it was
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: very emotional. My teammates they were crazy throughout the whole
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: journey and to see them. I just felt like everybody
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: went through the injury with me and like it was
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: the deepest thing I could go through. Whether that was
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: like the Bayley fans or my coaches or my players,
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: like they were with me every step of the way
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: and you can feel that they were going through whatever
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: I was going through.
• 38:20
  Speaker 3: What was the timeline on that it was?
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: I want to say like a week and a half,
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: two weeks of being out of the hospital.
• 38:26
  Speaker 3: Wow, So this happened like relatively quickly.
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: It was so like it once. They basically idea of
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: everything is shock your body into like back into what
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: it was. So whether that's getting on a treadmill and
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: then falling on your face, then your body's gonna figure
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: it out. Like I don't want to do that again.
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: So that's how I looked at it when they would
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: explain it. That was like my forum of like, well,
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: you're telling me to jump off a building and if
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: I don't land, then keep doing it because it'll figure
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: it out.
• 38:57
  Speaker 3: It'll figure it out. It'll figure it out.
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: So and you also mentioned that you were the opportunity
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: to like meet some really cool people. Do you remember
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: anyone in particular that really left an impact on you.
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: Still talk to him now. And so I didn't meet
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: him during the like the whole paralysis trip and like
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: the doctor trips and I I'm gonna say I'm not
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: gonna say the story. I'll say them with them sama Ja.
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: And I knew him. I know him because he was
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: going through a time where he reached out to me
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: and I read about him and all this stuff, and
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: he was a football player, and I was just like,
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: you're the best person I ever met in my life
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: because he called me and he still had you know,
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: his was way worse than mine. He had like a
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: speech problem as well, and so he went for him
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: to build up the strength to get on FaceTime with
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: me and talk to me. I was like in awe
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: and he became a hero, and like he he like
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: solidified the fact as to why I did what I
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: did and why I was okay with putting the videos
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: that were I had no hard to watch. So like
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: he was the reason why I did that for people
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: like him because he saw he still has hope for it.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: He'll still like text me like I'm doing this better,
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: I'm doing that better. And it's just like those some
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: days I need that and he's there. He's my hero
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: and a lot of my days.
• 40:21
  Speaker 3: I mean, we're talking about the physical burdens.
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: I guess that would come hand in hand with not
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: only this temporary paralysis, but then on being then on
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: that comeback journey. But we haven't even touched much on
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: the mental side of things. I did see your your
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: CBS segment. I'd love for you to talk to me
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: a little bit about what that's been like for you,
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: what it's been like for you navigating the emotions and
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: so many of the thoughts that came hand in hand
• 40:50
  Speaker 2: with such a traumatic time.
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: It took a lot. I was in This is like
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: still a really hard conversation for me and it really
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: bothers me. But it it took me some time because
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: if you can hear, like like you see how fast
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: everything happened, and like so like if you can see
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: that everything happened so fast, and I wasn't able to
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: kind of deal with different emotions as like the right way.
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: I didn't put myself first in a lot of situations
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: where like I said, I was doing things for other people.
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: I was doing things to get back on the court
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: of my team. I was doing things because my I
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: didn't want to see my brother like that instead of
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: really locking into how I felt. So it was a
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: lot of you know, different specialists had to see because
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: people were kind of worried about me and how I
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: was handling things. They thought that it was more of
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: like a mask for what was deeper, and looking back,
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: it definitely is and it was, and I say it
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: is because it's something that I'm still getting through to
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: where it's conversations that I'm still having that I couldn't
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: have to pause or I have to like push them back,
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: to push them off to a different time. But my
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: psychologist basically says it's like a mental block for me
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: to where there's something that I don't I choose not
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: to talk about and I choose not to remember, but
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: they happened, and I feel like they didn't happen, And
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: I think this was one of the situations, like the
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: whole injury itself. Once I got back on the court,
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: I tried to erase it away, like everybody would talk
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: about it. I'm just like, what are you talking about?
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: Like I'm back on the court, Like I don't need
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: to talk about that. It happened that's like a sprain ankle.
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: In my opinion, that's how I was taking it, which was,
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: you know, very bad. And that's why I am who
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: I am when it comes to like the mental aspect
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: of life, because I'm still battling something that I never
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: want anybody to feel. So I'm trying to go out
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: of my way for people to be okay with talking
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: to specialists, be okay with go into therapy, and be
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: okay with being themselves and being emotionally who you are
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: instead of trying to push everything off. So again, like
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: I said, it's still something.
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: I'm dealing with, Yeah, And I mean it would be
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: kind of weird if you weren't still.
• 42:55
  Speaker 3: Dealing with it.
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: I mean, it didn't happen all that long ago in
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: like your did you start seeking out talk therapy to
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: try to work through that?
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: No, it was. It was definitely recommended. A lot of
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: things have been recommended that I kicked myself in a
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: butt like even right now, I'm just like, it's a
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: lot of it's a lot of things that I could
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: have done a lot better, but I'm in the process
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: of doing them better right now. I'm definitely looking for
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: a different talk therapists through New York Liberty who have
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: done a great job at you know, making me feel
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: loved and making me feel that I'm not the only
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: one that has a battle or a hurdle to get
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: through in my life. And it's just about, like you know,
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: finding the right people that support you throughout the situation.
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: I think I'm around the right people now and I
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: was before. It's just now I'm trying to take advantage
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: of it.
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: There's like a moment that has to happen where you
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: have to get to this place that you're in right now,
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: Like you said it so well twenty seconds ago, like
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: I know that now I can do better. It's like
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: at any moment, you have the opportunity to make that choice,
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: to make that choice to go in a different direction.
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: And sometimes we get so frustrated or mad with ourselves
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: about how things have been that we deliberately choose not
• 44:08
  Speaker 2: to make a change right now, but understanding again that
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: like you can make that choice right now.
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: Yes that I couldn't said it better myself.
• 44:18
  Speaker 3: It's so empowering. It's so empowering.
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: And like you as a role model, like I said before,
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: like throwout like two hundred thousand at least combined social followers.
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: Like there's so many people and I'm sure you interact
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: with them every single day that like look to you
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: and your story and are just like so blown away
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: and inspired by you.
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I that comes with a lot of burden
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: because like.
• 44:39
  Speaker 3: Now, yeah, let's talk about that. Let's talk about that.
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: It's I mean everyone, you know, they know this, they
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: know my story, they know me, and now I kind
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: of have to put on face all the time. Like
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: I feel like I can't have a bad moment. I
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: can't have a time where I have I go off
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: on social media because I'm angry or I you know,
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: that is also a maturity thing that comes with time.
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: But it's you kind of have to know that we're human,
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: like no matter whatever your role model, whoever your role
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: models to be Beyonce does a great job and looking
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: like the same person all the time. That comes again
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: with you know, time and experience. But like I said,
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: I'm still a ricky. I've been I've had problems, I've
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: done some things and it's just like I just you know,
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: I live and I learned. But as I live and learn,
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: I noticed that with this, you know, with so much
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: is with so much, has given so much as expected.
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: So and that's that's me right now.
• 45:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 45:36
  Speaker 2: I mean the thing is, though, and like I love Beyonce,
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: don't get me wrong, but like I don't want to
• 45:42
  Speaker 2: like feel the pressure to like be that one dimensional
• 45:46
  Speaker 2: like that status quo all the time.
• 45:48
  Speaker 3: And like again, Beyonce is a queen, so I'm not like.
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: Sitting here shit talking her, but like there's so much
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: value to that vulnerability and it's just a lesson that
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: we have to learn. And that doesn't mean that like
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: everyone's going to be like obscenely comfortable like letting out
• 46:02
  Speaker 2: all of their you know, issues to the world.
• 46:05
  Speaker 3: I'm not saying that you need to do that either,
• 46:07
  Speaker 3: but I am saying that.
• 46:08
  Speaker 2: Like it's a good and normal and like expected thing
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: for like life not to be perfect period.
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: Perfect period, Because like I said, Instagram false reality. I'm
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: trying to tell everybody, don't paint me to be the
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: person you see on Instagram because I will wear back
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: you sweats and a T shirt and not brush my hair.
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: I do not look like that. Twenty four seven. I
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: think that's my biggest thing right now. With social media,
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: I go through times where it's like I don't want
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: it no more, or I just want to delete it.
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: But I, like I said, this world is turning virtual.
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: So it's about more finding your life and you know,
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: getting it to understand social media and the normal life. Yeah.
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So then talk to me about how you felt
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: on draft day, because what a freaking journey man, Like
• 46:58
  Speaker 2: you're we're still in co times. This draft is unlike
• 47:03
  Speaker 2: the other drafts that came before it, So talk to
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: me about what you thought was gonna happen on draft
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: Day after your journey.
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: I was a nervous freck honestly, like I had just
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: got hurt, like last the week before, so I had
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: just like my hamstring was I felt like it was
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: in two. I felt like I didn't have a hamstring.
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: And they were just like you're gonna take time, it's
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: gonna take months, and I'm just I don't have months,
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: like I this is my new life, like I'm about
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: to enter a new journey. I don't have months. So
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: Draft day everyone, I was on National TV when I
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: got hurt, so all the recruit all the scouts know
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: I'm hurt. So I'm like, Okay, I'm definitely not gonna
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: get drafted high. I'm like, I'm hurt. I'm really up notworthy,
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: Like now you have to nurse me back to health
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: and hope that I'm just this person. So I was
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: expecting the worst. I'm also on ESPN. I'm just like, oh,
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: they only pack so many people to be on ESPN,
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: and you know, I'm like, oh my god, I'm gonna
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: be like the last pick I want ESPN. Like this
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: is so embarrassed. So I'm literally a nervous break. And
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: then I finally got draft. I'm gonna go in and
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: say I really wanted to get drafted to New York
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: or LA just because of the opportunities in those cities
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: and I want to be a model, so like it's
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: just like those are the two cities that need to
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: be in. So I go. I think I found out,
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: like pick number eleven, that they're like d D New York.
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: It's gonna take you at seventeen. Just be ready. And
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: I'm just like, why would you tell me? I wanted
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: to be surprised, Like what's school? Why would you do
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: that for me? You could have tell my dad, my mom,
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: but you tell me? So I number they tell me
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: at eleven, So I'm literally walking around my house like
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: I'm like, what pick are we at? And they're like fourteen.
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: I'm like okay, so then I'm going to eat and
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: what pick like sixties and I'm running over there. I'm
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: trying to fix my makeup get for I'm like, what's
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: my surprise space. I'm working on my surprise space the
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: whole time. So like when they say your name, I surprised.
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: I'm like, but don't cry, because now it's going to
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: look forwards, because you know, so I got they called
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: my name and they're like it was New York, and
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: I was still like to still hear it, like I
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: was told that I was going to be pick number seventeen,
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: but to hear my name being called by Kathy Nglberg,
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: I was like, oh my god, I finally did it.
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: I've been chasing this dream for what like ten years now,
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: and now it's here, like it's it's finally here, like
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: it's just at my hands now. So I don't know,
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: it was. It was a beautiful moment, and then the
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: waterworks started coming because it was like you really weren't
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: supposed to be here, Like you really weren't supposed to
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: be here, like you weren't supposed to walk Like a
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: couple of months ago you are like, you know, scouts
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: and recruising. You weren't supposed to go to Baylor. You know,
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: people didn't think you were good enough. So it was
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: just a lot that was like going, like just the
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: naysayers in my head and then now I'm here, So
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: I think it was just it was one of the
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: best ones in my life.
• 50:01
  Speaker 2: That moment that you just said, like people didn't say
• 50:03
  Speaker 2: that you were good enough. For someone who feels like
• 50:06
  Speaker 2: they to struggle with that, maybe it's a comparison game.
• 50:09
  Speaker 2: Maybe it's just self inflicted, that negative self talk. What
• 50:13
  Speaker 2: kind of advice do you offer to them to get
• 50:16
  Speaker 2: through those challenging moments.
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: The advice I live by, which is not letting anyone
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: define your faith. Like I think that's my biggest thing
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: that It's just it's always in my mind. I'm always
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: thinking about it because, like I said, if I was
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: to let the naysayers say that I wasn't gonna go
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: to basketball, I mean it wasn't a college for basketball,
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: then I wouldn't I wouldn't have tried anything, or I
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: wouldn't have tried to prove them wrong. Or if I
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: would have let someone tell me that I wasn't gonna
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: be able to walk, which they did, then I probably
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: would have just I would have been like with no hope,
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: no fate, no you know, want to do anything. So
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: I think that's my biggest thing is just doing what
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: you want, how you want to do it, and being
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: unapologetically yourself no matter what, regardless of what the person
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: next to you is saying. I think that's the biggest
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: advice I can give any Ready, it's.
• 51:01
  Speaker 3: Kind of like that moment like why not me? Right?
• 51:03
  Speaker 2: I remember I was listening to a podcast this morning
• 51:05
  Speaker 2: with Selene Flanagan and she heard about the six marathons
• 51:09
  Speaker 2: all being at this end of the year, and she's like,
• 51:10
  Speaker 2: someone should run all six of those, And then she
• 51:12
  Speaker 2: had a moment and she was like, why don't I
• 51:14
  Speaker 2: run all six of these marathons?
• 51:16
  Speaker 3: Like why not me? You know? And I mean, that's
• 51:18
  Speaker 3: a really crazy, freaking example.
• 51:19
  Speaker 2: I think there are a lot of easier why not
• 51:22
  Speaker 2: me moments that we can reflect on, but you're preaching
• 51:26
  Speaker 2: it right here. It's like in any moment, like we
• 51:29
  Speaker 2: all have the opportunity to be our own biggest hype woman,
• 51:32
  Speaker 2: you know, Like, so what is it that you want?
• 51:34
  Speaker 2: And like what's stopping you from being the person to
• 51:37
  Speaker 2: go out and get after it?
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: Exactly? And that's literally all it is.
• 51:40
  Speaker 2: Quick hit here, I mean important moment we're talking about,
• 51:44
  Speaker 2: like the WNBA draft, such an exciting moment for you.
• 51:47
  Speaker 2: I want to talk about the WNBA in general, and
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: maybe it's more of like women's sports in general, right
• 51:53
  Speaker 2: I recently wrote an article where I interviewed a bunch
• 51:56
  Speaker 2: of female professional cyclists, and in cycling, for example, women
• 51:59
  Speaker 2: are finally seeing the kind of pay that men are
• 52:02
  Speaker 2: seeing in the professional cycling circuit and starting to get
• 52:06
  Speaker 2: the media time that men have been getting for decades
• 52:08
  Speaker 2: and decades and decades. How do you feel about the
• 52:11
  Speaker 2: coverage of women's professional basketball right now and maybe where
• 52:16
  Speaker 2: it's going.
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: I think we'll forever be fighting. Whenever we see the
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: day where we're equal or you know, to the same
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: point as guys or men, I mean, I think it'll
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: be a beautiful day. I think we should celebrate. But
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: right now, I mean, it doesn't look it's getting better.
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: Like I hate to be that person that's constantly like
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: we need this, this and this and this and this
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: and not you know, you know, kudos to the people
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: that have gotten this here, Cannas Parker, Tina Thompson, freaking
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: Lisa Leslie, you know, the people that went through the
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: struggle for me now and now I want to go
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: through the struggle for the people in the future because
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: technically is it's a struggle. They've gotten this a lot,
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: but it's still not enough. And I think that's the
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: biggest thing for women is that if we stop here,
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: then what did we do this for In a way, so, no,
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: it's not where it should be. The women's coverage is
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: not where it should be. But I think social media
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: does play in my favor. I think social media for
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: women is crazy. I think we kind of run the
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: social media world right now, and I think we just
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: need to take that under our belt. Like how they
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: put our games on Twitter and they put our games
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: on Facebook Live and stuff like that. I think that's
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: good for us because now men see us in a
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: new light, like they see us on social media, They're
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: going to go google us, They're going to go find
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: us on Instagram and stuff. So if you see me
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: on Instagram, then you also see me pushing for my
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: game that's going to literally appear on your phone, then
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: you're gonna want to look at it. So I think
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: that's a good thing for us, and I just I
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: don't know. I love the direction that's going though. I
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: want to say that, although I hate it now, I
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: love the direction is going.
• 53:50
  Speaker 2: When you think back to those you know, one and
• 53:53
  Speaker 2: a half two weeks where you were really going through
• 53:55
  Speaker 2: the thick of it, like questioning everything in your life.
• 53:58
  Speaker 2: If you had to think about maybe a piece of
• 54:00
  Speaker 2: advice that was offered to you during that time, what
• 54:04
  Speaker 2: comes to mind.
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: Honestly, it's way like nothing to do with athletics. Someone
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: literally just told me go get some ice cream, okay.
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: So I remember like it was like day like four
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: of me being out of the hospital and I was
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: trying to ride a stationary bike. I couldn't. I just
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: had to like rock and so it killed me and
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: I was like in there crying like I don't know
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: what I'm gonna do, like my life. I need my legs,
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: like I just kept saying, Alex, I just need my legs, like,
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: and I'm stuck. I can't even ride a bike, I
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: can't walk. I need a walker and so someone it
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: was a random person in the paralh Center that just
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: walked like who was meeting with I want to say somebody.
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: I don't know who it was, but they were just
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: like I've been hearing about your story. I've been watching
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: you walk in here every day and just go get
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: some ice cream, and I'm just like, you're freaking right, like, oh,
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: give some like just go like do something where your
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: life is it? This isn't your job, Like your job
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: right now is to play basketball. Go do something that
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: doesn't evolve your job. And I think that was the
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: biggest thing for me. So now I paint a color,
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: I go get ice cream when I want. So I
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: think that was just have some time to yourself. And
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: that's how I took it when he said it. I
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: don't know if you meant it that way, but I
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: definitely took it way deeper than I should have because
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: it was just go get some ice cream.
• 55:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but like how many times in like a regular
• 55:31
  Speaker 2: day should I just like go up and metaphorically like
• 55:34
  Speaker 2: get some ice cream? Like there's so much stuff in
• 55:36
  Speaker 2: our day to day, Like you couldn't control the fact
• 55:39
  Speaker 2: that you felt like you were like waddling on that bike,
• 55:41
  Speaker 2: but you did have a moment to control yourself, like
• 55:44
  Speaker 2: taking a walk to wherever you wanted to get your
• 55:46
  Speaker 2: ice Could you have a favorite ice cream flavor?
• 55:47
  Speaker 3: Should we know about this?
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: I literally love anything cookies and cream, Oreos, vanilla, just.
• 55:53
  Speaker 2: Plain, oh plain wow. Okay, you were getting real spicy
• 55:58
  Speaker 2: over here. Just a plain girl, the complete opposite of plane.
• 56:06
  Speaker 2: If you go to d D's Instagram, but on an
• 56:08
  Speaker 2: ice cream flavor, note she likes to keep it.
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: Play just cookies and cream like this.
• 56:14
  Speaker 3: All right, respect, respect, no hate on that. Okay, we're
• 56:18
  Speaker 3: winding down here.
• 56:20
  Speaker 2: Earlier, before you did mention your partnership with Quest, talk
• 56:23
  Speaker 2: to me a little bit about that and why that's
• 56:26
  Speaker 2: so meaningful for you.
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: First off, just meaningful because it's my first deal ever
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: and it's my What's beautiful about that is I grew
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: up eating freaking Quest bars, So it's just like to
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: be with Quest, signed with Quest, I was just like,
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: heck you, my age brought it. That's me. So it's
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: it's bigger and more beautiful because it's now having to
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: do with something I believe in and something that I'm
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: really passionate about, which is you know, supporting people's quests
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: on different things in their community. They're doing a really
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: good job at making rookies of any kind feeling encouraged
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: and celebrated and supported, which as a rookie, I think
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: that's the biggest thing. Because you're a rookie, you're in
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: a different city, you're a different scenery, different team, different coaches,
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: and pluses a good job at making us feel, like
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: I said, celebrated, and I think that was big for me.
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: And so basically, just enter this challenge at quest Rookie
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: challenge dot com for a chance to win twenty thousand
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: dollars to help for your personal community impact.
• 57:28
  Speaker 3: And so I like it. I like it.
• 57:30
  Speaker 2: And I earlier before you had mentioned that you wanted
• 57:34
  Speaker 2: me in New York or LA because you want a model.
• 57:36
  Speaker 2: I mean, we just had a rookie season here, but
• 57:40
  Speaker 2: beyond that, like what do you see, you know, your
• 57:43
  Speaker 2: future looking like?
• 57:44
  Speaker 3: What do you see coming down the pipe for you?
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: I hope modeling. I think my whole life people have
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: tried to put me in like this, like one one
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: like lane kind of thing like basketball, basketball, basketball, And
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: I think mainly up here I've realized that you don't
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: As a woman, as a person, you don't have to
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: be identified as this one thing, you know, Like I'm
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: a businesswoman who happens to play basketball. Technically, I went
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: to school. I got a degree, just like everybody else.
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: So I think that was my biggest thing. And so
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: now I'm hoping I can do a little bit of everything.
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: I want to get into cosmetics a little bit. I
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: want to get into modeling and basketball, and I want
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: to be able to say that I did all of that.
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: And I think the biggest person I look at is Rihanna.
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: Like she was a singer. She was a Caribbean singer.
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: The really rare for her. You know, she could have
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: really like killed what she was doing, which is being
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: a Caribbean singers. Not many of her in this industry,
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: and she was killing it. And then she decides to
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: do makeup. Then she decides to do lingerie, that she
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: decides to do skincare products, and now she has like
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: her home, she's trying to put her own like fashion designer,
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: you know, close together. So I think she definitely showed
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: me that as a woman, as a person, as anything,
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: you don't have to be just one one thing, you know,
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: one trick on I want to be a multiple.
• 59:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah me, multiple trick ponies, lots of ponies.
• 59:04
  Speaker 2: I feel like you got a lot of tricks on
• 59:06
  Speaker 2: the court, and you have a lot of tricks of
• 59:07
  Speaker 2: your sleeve when it comes to off the court as well.
• 59:11
  Speaker 2: Someone goes to your Instagram page, they see a beautiful
• 59:14
  Speaker 2: woman with over one hundred and twenty three thousand followers,
• 59:16
  Speaker 2: a basketball player going after her passions. Here when you
• 59:21
  Speaker 2: look in the mirror, what is it that you see
• 59:24
  Speaker 2: looking back at you?
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: I see, you know, a confident person who had to
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: teach themselves confident And I just want people to see me,
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: and when they see me, they see someone who's unapologetically them.
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: And I hope that I am able to show people
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: that look like me, whether that's a woman, a little girl,
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: a little black girl who wasn't doesn't feel like they're
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: they're going to be somebody. They're like the nerves of
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: the glasses real skinny mean. I just want you to
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: know that your time is coming, stay patient, and you know,
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: just be confident anapologically you at all times. I think
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: that's my biggest thing, and that's just who.
• 59:59
  Speaker 3: I am right now.
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 2: You have an opportunity to offer yourself aside from go
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 2: get some ice cream, some advice. Looking back on that
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 2: hurdle moment, three, four or five days removed from the hospital,
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 2: trying to get back to the woman that you knew
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 2: before you got temporarily paralyzed.
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 3: What do you tell yourself?
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: You are not invincible? Okay? I literally I felt that
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: I was on top of the world, that this is
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: going to be, that this is my time, and there's
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: something that can stop me. But things happen to people,
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: and you're not control of what happens tomorrow. To live
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 1: your life now and live your life looking at the
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: now and not the future.
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 2: Live in the now, Live in the now, Dedie Richards,
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 2: I'm so grateful to be one of your first official podcasts.
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for your time. How do the
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 2: hurdlers follow along with you? How do they keep up
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 2: with you? Or do they get inspired by you? Give
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 2: me all your details.
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: Instagram, Twitter, TikTok. I'm trying to get back on YouTube
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: and I usually have the same name everywhere, which is
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: Dedie Ridge too.
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 2: Okay, amazing. I'm over at Emily a Body and at
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 2: Hurdle Podcast. Another Hurdle conquered. Catch you guys next time.