“How strong you are is not based off of what you can do,” advises Taylor McQuillin, one of the top pitchers in the 2015 class, “but is based off of overcoming the things you thought you could not.”

The Southern California standout has committed to the Univ. of Arizona and plays for one of the premier club teams in the nation, OC Batbusters-Haning.  She is also a standout student with a 4.2 GPA at Mission Viejo (Calif.) High School where she earned 1^st team All-Orange County honors in 2013.

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.

Here is her latest blog for Student Sports Softball in which she talks frankly about hitting the wall of burnout and how to push past it…

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

 

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Nowadays, softball athletes tend to work out 52 weeks a year and it seems like they never get a break. There is always something going on – be it a game, practice or a lesson.

A lot of times people will question me asking, “Do you ever feel burned out?”

My answer is always the same. Yes, I get fatigued and, yes, there are times when I feel overworked, but there is never a day where I tell myself that everything I do isn’t worth it.

I work hard because I know that I need to get better and I need to improve because there are always people that are working just as hard to compete with me.

Fatigue comes with hard work but to me it is worth it. My body may feel burned out but my mindset is not. I personally feel that your body reacts to the way your mind processes things. When you tell yourself that you are good enough or when you tell yourself you cannot do something, you react to how you think.

What keeps me from “burning out” is the mindset that I have. I want to get better and I want to achieve greatness and I choose to surround myself with people that want to see me master something that I enjoy just as much as I want to see myself master it as well.

So, yes, I “burn out” because I am human. All humans burn out at some point or another and all athletes certainly do as well. It is what you do while you are feeling this way that makes you an athlete.

Whenever I feel burned out, I remind myself of all the people who told me that I could not do something and it makes me stronger because I will do everything in my power to show them that I can.

Never tell an athlete they cannot do something because the second you say that they can’t, you set yourself up to be proven wrong.

I never have to try and entertain myself during softball because no two games are ever the same. No two practices are ever the same. Something is always different and that in itself is exciting and entertaining to me.

My teammates always have their ways of entertaining themselves and me as well. Each week they come with new stories to share and new experiences to talk about. That is one of the perks of not living near everyone on the team because when you don’t see them as often you become closer sometimes and that makes it fun for me as well.

I am always excited to see my team because my team is like family. There is a bond there, whether people see it or not. I want to work hard for my team because they work hard for me. They keep me from “burning out” because I think of them when I feel drained and I know what I have to do to continue to make them proud.

In the end, people burn out; it is going to happen. It is part of life. The way you hold yourself when you are fatigued is what defines you.

How strong you are is not based off of what you can do, but is based off of overcoming the things you thought you could not.

There is no way to avoid burnout but there is a way to avoid giving up. Show people who you are and what you want to become.

— Taylor McQuillin