Taylor McQuillin, the 2015 pitcher from Mission Viejo, Calif., ends 2014 with one of the greatest years ever turned in by a young pitcher.

She won a high school national championship with the Diablos of Mission Viejo High, a club national championship with the OC Batbusters and was awarded the Gatorade Softball National Player of the Year Award.

In today’s blog, Taylor talks about how and where she trains and what her workouts include.

“You can’t perform to your full capability if you don’t work out or work toward bettering yourself each and everyday,” the Univ. of Arizona signee says.

Taylor’s hard work on the field and in the classroom, where she has a 4.0 GPA, evidenced by her being ranked as the No. 3 rated prospect in the 2015 class. She was also invited to try out in early January for a spot on the U.S. Women’s Jr. National team.

Perhaps Taylor’s greatest accomplishment is she has done all this despite having to overcome birth defects making her completely blind in the left eye and with only partial hearing on the left side.

Be sure to check out Taylor’s previous blogs and those of our other standout bloggers!

Video of Taylor receiving the Gatorade National Player of the Year

Official Gatorade National POY announcement

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Being an athlete involves more than just going to practice with you team and playing in games.

Being an athlete means that you work off the field as well whether it be going to lessons or simply just doing your own workouts.

Personally, I like to go up to the Sports Training Complex in Anaheim, Calif. where they have EM Speed and Power Training, which is a speed and agility program that helps you train and improve your athleticism.

They also have a weight training program there where people in high school can start to prepare themselves for college level workouts.

I have been attending EM for roughly five years now and it has helped tremendously with my strength and conditioning in the game of softball. They have different workouts for different sports and the different positions within the sport.

It is really beneficial to improving my game play and stamina throughout long days on the softball field. I go to EM between two to four times a week, which varies depending on the amount of work I have for school and the practice/game schedule for high-school.

Along with EM, I also take hitting lessons and pitching lessons.

I have two pitching lessons a week and three hitting lessons a week. With EM included, lessons take up a lot of time between school and going to bed but it is all worth it in the end.

The weekdays are pretty full for me, but I learned how to time manage and get things done ahead of time. Even though I don’t hit all the time, mostly just in high school, I still try to improve my hitting by taking lessons because I want to get better.

It may seem weird that I only have two pitching lessons during the week but I also pitch at high school practices throughout the week and games during the weekend so it balances out to a lot of pitching each week.

It is really important to participate in training and lessons throughout your week to become a better athlete.

You can’t perform to your full capability if you don’t work out or work toward bettering yourself each and everyday.

Taylor