Try not to get lost in comparing yourself to others. Discover your gifts and let them shine! Softball is amazing that way as a sport. Everyone on the field has a slightly different ability that makes them perfect for their position.
It's a game of failure [softball]. Everybody would play, that was easy and everyone's not playing because it is so tough. But it's a matter of keep plugging away, keep working hard, believing in yourself and it is a team sport and there is nothing better than being out there, having a ball in your hand, playing the game that you love and ultimately that's what it comes down is having fun and enjoying it.
It is incredible how far women have come and women in sports have come.
My life has been centered around sports. It is where I have met my closest friends and shaped the values that have made me a successful athlete, student and role model for young people.
When you train six to seven hours a day to be the best in your sport, you don't want that to be overlooked. I don't train for my looks.
I had female role models to look up to starting in middle school, athletes like Julie Foudy and Mia Hamm who made me realize that there was room in the world of sports for women. They ignited my dream of becoming an Olympic athlete.
I didn't really get into boys until my junior year of high school, when I had my first boyfriend. But for the most part I was always playing sports, so I was too busy for them!
Our sports [softball] is a game of failure already so my dad always says to parents who he is a pitching coach and he's been my pitching coach since I was 11 years old is if they can be the best kid on the team, let them experience that and then obviously the challenge has to come later on but you don't get that opportunity very often and confidence is such a huge part of this game and in life in general.
Although it is disappointing that softball was not reinstated into the Olympics, we are going to continue to keep growing the sport.
Seeing women on television was very important to me. It opened my eyes to the possibilities of women's sports. It showed me what I could do and who I could be.
For softball, we need the Olympics. For young girls dreaming of that Olympic dream, that's where it's at, and that's where it all started in '96 for our sport.
The whole sexiness thing-I don't know if I'm comfortable with that. But it has helped the sport grow. I think it changes how people see women's athletics.
