“You don’t need other people to approve of your ‘big dream’ ideas,” says Jenna Lilley, the outstanding infielder from Hoover High in North Canton, Ohio.

Jenna is one of the top high school and club softball players in the nation and has helped Hoover win three straight state championships including the 2013 squad that compiled a 32-0 record.  The lefty hit .697 as a junior and was named the Ohio State Player of the Year and a MaxPreps All-American. 

Lilley has committed to the Univ. of Oregon and is also excellent in the classroom with a 3.9 GPA. 

In this blog, she relates how doubters told her she wouldn’t be able to play big-time college softball or win high school championships and how she proved them wrong on both counts!

Click here to read Jenna’s earlier blogs and those from our other standout players!

Learn more about Jenna and her athletic family in this piece by her mother, Debbie, called A parent’s perspective: softball sacrifices

See our video interview of mother and daughter shot this summer at PGF

 

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My whole life I have come across many people who didn’t believe in me.

Many of you probably have too. My first year of travel softball my coach benched me and told me I wasn’t very good. So many people told me growing up that I would never be able to play “big time” college softball because of my height.

That became even more prevalent during my recruiting process as I was just an inch over 5 feet and 110 pounds. Many people also told me my high school team and I would never win a state championship. We’ve won three!

With all that said, there are negative people in this world and there are a lot of them. I’m not trying to explain that “haters are your motivators” with these examples; what I’m trying to show here is that you don’t need other people to approve of your “big dream” ideas.

My motives do not come from outside things or things/people outside of my control. My motives come from my love of the game and passion for succeeding in being the best “Jenna Lilley” possible.

I grew up saying I wanted to be the best softball player ever. You know how many people thought I was completely out of my mind and crazy? As far as I could guess looking back on it, probably a lot. As far as I cared, though, none of their opinions mattered.

The only person I needed to believe in myself was, and is, ME.

I am fortunate to have such a supportive mother who always believed in me and I will say that helped. But all those other people out there that tell you that you can’t do something big, well, don’t worry about them. Focus on what you can control and that does not include outside influences.

There is one person in the world that needs to approve of your big dreams and that is yourself. I wouldn’t be where I am today if I didn’t believe in myself.

I wouldn’t be playing softball next year at the school of my dreams if I would have listened to those outside voices. If you have the right tools, attitude, mindset, and above all, confidence in yourself, then the sky is the limit.

And for those of you out there that are told you are “too small” remember this: It’s not how big you are, it’s how big you play.

As always,

Jenna