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The BIG LIFE: Frustration, Injuries & Finding What You Can Control · The BIG LIFE

0:03
Welcome back to another episode of the Big Life Podcast. We are on week seven
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and already a couple games into conference schedule.
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We're so sorry that we missed last week. As she said, we're staying at conference,
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so we had a good excuse. We were very busy and finding time has been difficult
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for both of us, but we're excited to be back.
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Yeah, and we have a lot to catch up on. I've played two games within the past
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two weeks, which has been kind of nice. More big games coming up.
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But before we get into the soccer part, give me your last two weeks in three
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words You'll get my reasoning after but I feel frustrated Okay, your turn.
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Okay, three words my last two weeks on that grind Dude, that's freaking nice. Okay, and why is that?
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No, no, you go first you go first. Okay, so I got injured and I partially tore
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my MCL so I've been frustrated with the fact that I got injured and then frustrated with just everything.
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Everything keeps playing in my head over and over again. Like,
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that's why I'm more frustrated.
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And then also, like, the fact that we just started a conference and,
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like, these are very important games and good games for me to get,
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like, minutes and stuff.
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But yeah, so that's why I feel frustrated. But overall, my mood is being frustrated.
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And for me, frustration is something that I'm not good at controlling.
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So it's kind of hard because I'm stuck right now.
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But what about I said like we're on that ground or I'm on that grind because
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it's just been like these past couple weeks um we our first game was the iron bowl.
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And that's like our rival and our second game is Arkansas and that's our rival
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too and so we just kind of had to grow like I've had to grind and like.
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Be mentally ready to play in a packed like stadium against,
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Auburn away and then when we played Arkansas be mentally ready for the style
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of soccer I had to play against
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and so it was kind of just a grind these past couple weeks for you like how
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did the injury like happen so I lost the ball like technical mistake I should
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have went to my left went to my right,
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so that's like also plays in my head because that's not normal and I was also
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like dropped down as the six like I went to go receive the ball laid it off
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got it back lost it and then I went to like push,
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and I like I don't know the words the scientific words but I landed like in if this was my knee like,
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this is my right knee it would have fallen so like everything in here is just,
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broken so low-key also ties into what I was saying about being frustrated is
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like that is not a normal way of how I would lose the and get injured and I've
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gone over it like over and over in my head like,
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what I could have done differently like if I if you watch the clip I'm playing
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10 and I come down to play six on the weak side so like I'm doing extra work
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that I shouldn't have been doing anyways.
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Because we like weren't building out so I was like okay let me let me try and
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go help so then I go over them and I just it killed,
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yeah it's looking been pretty depressing I can't lie have you been like are
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you going to be able to play or like is this the type of injury that you can't,
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play through it first day I didn't sleep when it happened,
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I didn't sleep that entire night I slept like two hours and then I had a meeting
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with the coaches after and it was just did not go that day after and it just
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did not go well but they say that it's like symptom-based so like however I
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feel is gonna like gonna determine if I'm gonna play or not
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as of now it's been like almost two weeks two weeks on Thursday so in two days when this drops like I
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do not think I'll be able to play for the next week and.
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I hope only a week but like it's so sore and I got off my pain meds and it just
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hurts so bad and I keep telling them I'm like I don't know like if that's supposed
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to feel good like because they said one of my teammates suffered the exact same injury,
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and they were like oh the reason she came back so like it took her three months
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to come back was because she stayed off of it for a long time like they weren't
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she was an active like rehab lifting like doing all that stuff so she was like idle,
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so they're like oh now they're thinking the more active I am while still like
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applying rest and rehab and stuff like,
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that'll heal it a lot quicker but you know season just started conference plays only,
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like what two months like a month and a half so I don't know could potentially
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be out for the rest of the season but do you have to get surgery on it or no
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no it's a partial tear and it's like at the top like,
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i don't even know i was trying to understand it but like the mcl's thick and
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it's on the inside of your knee and it's like at the top in the front,
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the way i fell i thought i heard a pop i was like dude it's wraps i literally
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went i i like fell i heard a pop and i was like dog i was like.
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No and do you start crying i feel like when i know i didn't i got up and i started
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i got up and i was like trying to walk it off i was like dude this is fine like this is fine like
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then i started getting up whatever dude they almost got through like they almost
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scored a goal because I wasn't in the right spot because I was playing six at
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the time and I wasn't in the right spot then I got up and I was like hopping around I was like
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no and then it went out for a corner and I was like dude you gotta sub me and
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then the entire game I was just crying and then at night crying the entire I don't cry either
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but like this was like bad pain also because I thought I did my ACL so I was like.
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Yeah I was like dude it's it's wraps I was genuine two of my teammates actually
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had that injury last year.
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And they low-key played through it. I don't know if you guys do this,
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but they got a shot. I think it was a few.
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But they kept playing, and then they just rested after our season was done, and,
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Because we were in the spring, so we didn't really have to not quit playing.
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But that sucks. I'm surprised you didn't start crying right away.
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I was in shock. Last time I got injured in a game, it's been a minute,
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knock on wood. But I heard my ankle pop, and I thought I sprained it really bad again.
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And I instantly started yelling, crying. I was like, no, this can't be happening. No.
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No, my knee, I was like, dude, no. and then I then I tried to get up like dude
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I have the clip it's it's so bad the way I fell was funny too like,
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I was laughing because I was like dude what is wrong with you and then it just
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wasn't funny because then the next day or whatever I went to go get MRI,
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okay how did your games go my games wait so,
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you for okay for you the last game you played was when you got injured in Michigan
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State yeah okay did you play any other games that week before no we put Michigan
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State was our opener, then Purdue, and then we played Oregon.
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So we had three games instead of two.
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Like, how did you feel going into the Michigan State game, though?
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Like, going into it before? Oh, frustrated. I was pissed because...
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I wasn't in the lineup, which is like, there's just nothing I can,
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it makes every player frustrated for whatever reason.
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I have my reasons of why I feel frustrated about it. But yeah,
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so like, honestly, that also probably was a factor of me getting injured.
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And like, I didn't play bad when I was in, like I was in, I think for like five
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minutes and then I got injured and then went out. Yeah.
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And like I told the coaches, it's the exact same thing that happens to me in the spring.
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Like I went in as a sub I love being a sub but at the same time if it's for
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a reason if you have a different reason than like I think then,
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it's hard like it messes with my mental game a lot and it happened in the spring
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I went in for like what five minutes again and I sprained my ankle when I was
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out for two weeks three weeks yeah but yeah we lost the game but,
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it was a good team Michigan State like they're they're they're clutch so I give
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them props like yeah I think I think they're number one.
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Yeah, but they just lost to Michigan. They lost to Michigan.
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I did see that. That's low-key and say 3-1. I was like, yeah.
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The RPI came out. It did? Yeah, like the actual NCAA RPIs.
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Michigan State, Vandy, North Carolina, Ohio State, Virginia,
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Wake Forest, Baylor, Alabama, Michigan, Stanford. We're ahead of Stanford.
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That's crazy to me. Hold on, let me tell you.
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Stanford when they got their girls back.
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Like, because they obviously just ended. I think they're back on the road.
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Yeah, no. Like, low-key good that they...
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They had seven gone? They had... I don't know how many they had.
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But they had a lot in the U.S. They had one in England. And then they also had
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one in another country. I'm not sure which one. But they had another one in another country.
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And it's third. But, dude, that's good for you. What do you guys? Eight.
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If I know who we are on United Soccer Coaches, I would probably guess eight as well.
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What about your game? You played Auburn and you played Arkansas.
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Yeah, so we played Auburn last Friday.
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And so that was our SEC first opener.
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And Auburn is in Alabama, obviously.
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And so that's our rivalry game.
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I started that game. I've actually started all of our games,
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which has been very great. And actually, just found this out today.
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But we have our best start in program history.
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So we won nine of out of our first 10 games and so we bested the our 8-1-1 start
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in 2022 when Bama made it to the final four and then 8-2-0 starts in.
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1987-1994 I've started like all the games I kind of feel like I've been a helping
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like a big helping factor in our good start and I just like I love the direction
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that we're going and it's been good I've.
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Anyways, going back to my game, the Auburn game, like, I played,
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like, okay. I was, like, it was just, like, SEC is just so much different.
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Like, the style of soccer that's played, no matter the team you play,
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really, it just turns more direct.
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And so I was kind of struggling to, like, keep myself in the game, if that makes sense.
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Like, whenever the ball would go over my head, the response would be,
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like, oh, there it goes again.
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Instead of like oh I'm gonna get the next ball for my forwards when it goes
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to them or oh I'm gonna get that ball that the defenders try and head back if
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they win the 50-50 but like,
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my mentality for the Auburn game like it wasn't as good as it should have been
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and then I came out in the first half after I thought I'd been doing well and
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I was confused I was like why am I even out like some of my teammates on the
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bench were like I don't know why he's taking you out yada yada
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and I think I let that get too much in my head that the second half,
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I didn't play as well as I wanted to again yeah and so I was like it's not like I played bad though
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I just didn't play you know yeah oh yeah we ended up winning that game 1-0 so
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like so got the dub won the iron bowl like gotta go home good bus ride home
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yeah always great when you beat your rivals like cross town rivals,
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and oh my gosh we had the like craziest game plan we basically were gonna play their style of soccer.
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But ours as well. And do you know how Arkansas plays? Their whole goal is to
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get the ball forward as quick as they can.
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They would keep three forwards high at all times.
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So we played basically with four two sixes, two tens, and two nines.
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But the tens would pull out or the nines would pull out or outside backs would
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pull out. So we'd always have like some form of width, but it was like not like anyone's center.
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You'd be outnumbered in the midfield so you can like cover people.
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Yeah. Or you would outnumber people in the midfield. Yeah.
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And it was just like, I was a little skeptical of if we would be able to pull
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it off because last year we tried to play their game, which we didn't intend
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to go into the game playing their style.
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It just kind of happened when we were trying to play direct and they kicked our butts.
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But from the start of our game, like we were in their faces.
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I don't think I was running 100 miles per hour, probably the first 10 minutes.
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So gassed. Like we ended up scoring two in like the 37th minute,
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like after eight minutes had gone by, it was offside.
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I don't think it was offside, but like it paid off. Like we had so much momentum
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and like, I felt like I was like, well, you know, I'm getting in.
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What was the score? We won 2-0.
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I low-key think I saw both games. It was a good 2-0, too.
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We were outplaying them. I mean, they had their opportunities,
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obviously, but we definitely outplayed them. And I felt like I had a pretty solid game, too.
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Solid on defense, making it hard on them. Blocked some shots.
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Dude, nice. Well, yeah, because you only had two. We had Purdue. We lost 2-0.
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I don't associate. Well, actually, I do. It's my team. But my Benergy was good.
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We call it Benergy Bench Energy. We call it BBE.
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Nice. Bench Energy. Anything you're frustrated with? Anything,
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like what's your confidence level looking like right now going into the next week?
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If I'm frustrated with anything, it's just like my mentality.
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There's times when I would come off and I'm like, why am I getting taken off?
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Which it's okay to feel that way. Like it's okay to question why you're coming off.
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Like I can't control that I'm coming off. like there's a reason and like ensure
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I want to know the reason but like,
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like I just got to keep telling myself okay you're just getting a break you
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know like you're gonna come back in I feel like it's still a work in progress
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like the mental part and it's so it's frustrating because it's so hard to control
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what you think in moments,
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controlling what you think is sometimes the biggest part of the game you know
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no yeah it's the way you approach the game like you don't you you won't know
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why you will never know why you got subbed out because they can say you one
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thing you can think one thing people can say you one thing but it's like.
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As long as you're focusing on like your next minutes that are upcoming,
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like what's upcoming the next, the next second, which is the game still.
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It's not about what they're going to say after.
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What's what the result's going to come after? Like, it's just focusing on what's
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controllable, I guess, right there.
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I agree. The frustration for me is something that I keep putting off,
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but I need to go to like my sports, like to get like tools or whatever it is
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to get things that will help me deal with that.
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Because that is something that I've struggled with since I was little,
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like frustrated. I get frustrated and I don't know how to deal with myself.
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Like that's just how it is. And then when I talk about it, I start crying because
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I literally cannot like express how I feel about things.
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Like it genuinely just pisses me off that I'm like, dude, I don't know what
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you see that I don't see or what I see that or I see something and you don't see it.
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Like I just that never matches for me. So like I understand the frustration.
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Have you ever like frustration cried in games?
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Oh yeah i frustration cry in training like all the time i'm like dude i can
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do that what the hell am i doing like we ran fitness finished yesterday and
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i didn't make the line but,
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one of them's like i cannot run i physically have a brace i have a thick acl
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brace that i'm wearing right now and i literally cannot bend my leg and like
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i've been doing a lot of like calf work and stuff and,
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like quad like strengthening my legs still while being like not being able to
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like actually play soccer and run but those were like really fatigued and i
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was getting frustrated at the fact that like i know i can finish this fitness
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test like this is cake but i could not do it like my legs my my.
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Freaking air capacity was just not working. So I was getting frustrated.
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I started crying after. I was like, dude, what are you doing?
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Well, that's kind of like our next segment, which was what people don't see.
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What about your classes? How are those going? How's your lifting,
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your treatment, homework? My classes, I have them every single day.
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But Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I just have one class from 11 to 12.
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So I can wake up whenever. It's great. Tuesday, I have two classes one's 9 30
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to 10 45 the other's 11 to 12 and then thursday i just have the 9 30,
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to 10 45 one dude those that's cake what the heck those are all like only an
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hour classes i wish yeah i'm not in a major right now i like switched out of my major so i'm,
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i'm minoring in what my major was so now i don't actually have that but so i'm
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like random classes i have one class after this at 5 30 easy it's only like
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that one's two hours and then tuesdays and thursdays i have 11,
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to 12 20 and then on thursday i have so that one's on tuesdays and thursdays
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and then on thursday i have a 8.
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To 8 a.m to 9 50 which low-key sucks because it's like two hours and then wednesday
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have 7 p.m to 10 20 gaming class p.m i mean i had my first exam,
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on wednesday last week or i think so and i low-key thought it was i,
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thought it was multiple choice nope it was a short answer the whole entire thing
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so i like you know like when you know ever like all the information but you
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prepare for a multiple choice instead of,
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short yeah so like it's all it's all the right answers but it's like they're
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all like logical answers but there's only one i know yeah and so like sometimes when it's like,
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what you have to know it's like a certain amount of thing I don't know how to explain it,
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I don't know I don't take I haven't taken exam since I've been in college like
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bro dude I haven't all of them are all papers,
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I like papers papers are easy let's talk about let's play would you rather okay
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would you rather score the game-winning goal or make the game-winning assist
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probably the game-winning goal because like that you just get more like,
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credit even if the assist is really good like you get more credit if you score
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the game winning goal like one of our goals was like last seven seconds it was
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a header off a off a free kick and we scored like that's that's.
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Yeah that's aura i would not do the same hat trick in regular season game or
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score winning goal in a championship see i could do either or again mine's winning
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goal in a championship because that means i made it to the championship,
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oh true but like if i had a trick against arkansas i would be pretty hype about
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that too yeah but like imagine winning a master championship yeah yeah yeah
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yeah true okay no no no i got it i i get i get wrong you got it you got it you know,
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okay play in pouring rain or 100 degree heat this is low-key good for you 100
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degree heat i know i'll play in rain i do that every day,
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energy 10 times faster me i i don't know what it is i just die okay play at
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8 a.m or 9 p.m 9 p.m bro under the lights that's so tough me too imagine having
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to wake up at, like, 5 a.m. and, like...
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And eat? Need to go, like... Yeah, no. Play your biggest rival at home or away? Probably home. Really?
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Yeah, well, I mean, considering I've played Auburn at home and away,
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last year when we played them at home, it was so hype.
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I don't know what I would do. I would want our biggest rival is UCLA, so...
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I'm probably going to give it, now that we have a new stadium,
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probably home, but like with the energy we have when we play away,
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I would probably want to play.
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Now let's go to college life, like actual college life.
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Give up your phone for a week or your favorite food for a month?
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Probably my favorite food for a month because I like so many different foods.
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It wouldn't matter. I would just try to have something new every day.
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Mine's phone. I could live a week without my phone if,
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like if I still had my teamwork's working because i really don't use my like
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i use my phone i'm i look even for a lot but like i could stop teamwork's to
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the vacation right when you said dude never use tiktok again or never use ig again,
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probably tiktok i'd be better off without tiktok,
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yeah okay i agree and i feel like instagram you can use it for more things like
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like getting brand deals from people more than tiktok this one's good would you rather,
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relive the best soccer moment you've already had one more time or go forward
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in time and see the best soccer moment that's still ahead of you?
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Probably relive it. Yeah, I don't know. Like, what if my best soccer moment,
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is winning the Maddie this year? Like...
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Maybe I'd want to see that. Dude, Cho, we're still on the run.
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We're still on the run. Yo, Cho, Chico.
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This guy. Yo, Cho, I literally called today to say. Maybe you guys will make
20:28
the tournament this year.
20:30
All right, give me one word to, like, end it. Like, how—give me one word to
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how you're feeling going into this next week.
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Give me something positive. It's got to be positive, though.
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Discipline. I'm doing my stuff to get better because it's on my control.
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Obviously, the injury is not, but my sleep, my hydration, the amount of effort
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I put into my rehab is what I'm going to get out. So what about you? Probably growth.
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Like, just keep going up. Keep trying to keep playing like me and make my impact
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when I am on the field and get the chances to keep growing, like, mentally as well.
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And then in the classroom as well, too. Can't forget that because I'm a student athlete, right?
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But definitely just like i feel like growth like you can always grow there's
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no yeah there's no stopping,
21:19
one percent better every single day okay well thank you guys so much for listening
21:24
to this week's big life episode make sure to follow girls soccer network on
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instagram for more content
21:29
you can find me on tiktok and instagram at page thompson underscore 30 and you
21:33
can find me on instagram and tiktok at jayden rodriguez.7 thank you guys for
21:38
listening along hopefully we have a guest
21:40
the next week but hopefully you guys also enjoy our solo talks but thank you
21:44
guys for watching and we'll see you guys next week yes.