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Live from Columbus, Ohio - LG Transparent Conversations Q&A w/ Lee Kiefer, Teresa Kiefer, and Gia Kvaratskhelia on the Role of Student-Athlete Support Systems - Part 2

Live from Columbus, Ohio - LG Transparent Conversations Q&A w/ Lee Kiefer, Teresa Kiefer, and Gia Kvaratskhelia on the Role of Student-Athlete Support Systems - Part 2

Released Friday, 9th December 2022
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Live from Columbus, Ohio - LG Transparent Conversations Q&A w/ Lee Kiefer, Teresa Kiefer, and Gia Kvaratskhelia on the Role of Student-Athlete Support Systems - Part 2

Live from Columbus, Ohio - LG Transparent Conversations Q&A w/ Lee Kiefer, Teresa Kiefer, and Gia Kvaratskhelia on the Role of Student-Athlete Support Systems - Part 2

Live from Columbus, Ohio - LG Transparent Conversations Q&A w/ Lee Kiefer, Teresa Kiefer, and Gia Kvaratskhelia on the Role of Student-Athlete Support Systems - Part 2

Live from Columbus, Ohio - LG Transparent Conversations Q&A w/ Lee Kiefer, Teresa Kiefer, and Gia Kvaratskhelia on the Role of Student-Athlete Support Systems - Part 2

Friday, 9th December 2022
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visible dot com. The next chapter

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with Prims' RIPET is a production of

1:32

iHeartRadio. Hey,

1:34

everybody. It's Prem. Welcome to

1:36

the next chapter presented by Baron Davis

1:38

and Schlick Studios. This week, we

1:41

continue the transparent conversation series,

1:43

a nationwide multi university

1:46

tour in series addressing student

1:48

athlete mental health and well-being, where

1:51

I, the host, moderator, and co

1:53

advisor, help lead these conversations with

1:55

different panelists on different topics

1:58

regarding student athlete mental

2:00

health. And it's all

2:02

being powered by LG Electronics USA.

2:05

So in the last episode, we talked about

2:07

student athlete mental health beyond the college

2:10

experience. And afterwards, like

2:12

all the other panels. We did a Q

2:14

and A, so people in the audience could really have an

2:16

opportunity to interact and get

2:18

involved in the conversation and ask

2:20

some real and raw questions.

2:23

So here I am at

2:25

Loyola Merrimount University in California,

2:28

alongside Taurea Flowers, national

2:31

champion at UCLA, two

2:33

time Olympian, and gold medalist, currently

2:35

the head coach for the LMU softball

2:37

team, and also Betsy Flint,

2:39

former Columbus to an athlete and assistant

2:41

volleyball coach and also an

2:43

Olympic hopeful.

2:50

And

2:54

we're live.

2:56

And we are about an hour

2:58

and fifty two minutes in. So

3:01

the question becomes, does

3:03

coach Doraiah? want

3:05

to

3:07

drop

3:07

some bars now. I'm

3:09

ready. I'm

3:10

loose now. Right? Gia the vocal I mean, we're

3:12

real loose now. How do you feel about that?

3:14

You feel warmed up? Do you still have, like, weather

3:16

or Beyonce? Yeah. Oh, no. No.

3:18

butterflies are done. I'm good. They're, like, having the

3:20

first set back of the game. You know, when you're ready.

3:23

Yeah. So you're ready, Flo? Yeah. Oh,

3:25

no. Yeah. Teach Tell

3:27

me if it's like maybe once you three four checks.

3:29

No one understands what we're talking

3:31

about. No one's paying attention. Okay. So,

3:34

hey, okay, we are back. We have coach to

3:36

rise flowers, national champion at UCLA,

3:38

two time, Olympian, and Gold Medalist.

3:40

Currently, the head coach for the

3:42

LMU football team. We got some of your

3:44

players out there.

3:46

Or maybe they went to class,

3:48

but they chose they've been really participating

3:50

and that's awesome to see them out there. Oh, they're

3:52

great. They love their experience. I love seeing

3:54

them out on on campus. Sometimes it's funny,

3:57

you know, it's like, I'm not supposed

3:59

to be on campus

3:59

or at the grocery store. You know, it's just yeah.

4:02

They it was a surprise. I'm a real person.

4:04

But no. It was good. I

4:06

have a great group. That's awesome. And of course,

4:09

Betsy Flint, who's been part

4:11

of the LMU family many, many, many

4:13

years as a student athlete and assistant volleyball

4:15

coach, currently in the professional circuit,

4:18

got your eyes set on the next

4:20

Olympic Games twenty twenty four Empology.

4:23

That'll be super cool. So, alright, we're

4:25

we are going to engage with the audience and

4:27

we have a lot of questions here. I think we

4:29

have about six

4:30

or seven. Okay. So here we go

4:32

on the fly.

4:33

if you

4:35

What is the best way to focus on

4:38

the good and present moment when life

4:40

can be stressful at times? Because it's

4:42

certainly a lot easier said than

4:44

done. So what is the best way to really

4:46

focus on the present moment?

4:49

Do

4:49

either one of you want to chime in?

4:52

Yeah. I think

4:53

I I do this in sport a lot too, where

4:56

you have those thoughts come in and

4:58

acknowledging, like, I'm

4:59

really stressed or acknowledging what's coming

5:02

in your head And

5:03

being okay with that, and then

5:05

I like to feel my toes in the sand and

5:07

get back in the present. But

5:09

I think if you're at home, it's shutting off your

5:11

phone shutting off the TV and just

5:13

being there and maybe it's

5:15

reflecting and journaling

5:17

or

5:18

maybe it's cooking, maybe it's just being present and what

5:20

you're doing. but just turning

5:22

off electronics and just being

5:24

fully here.

5:25

Yeah. How about you? Coach Flowers.

5:28

Well, we talk to our athletes a lot about

5:31

neutral thinking too, because sometimes when

5:33

you think you always have to be positive or

5:35

have to have a certain mindset, it's

5:37

hard to stay in the because you're constantly

5:39

thinking, I'm not in that

5:41

space right now. So it's this is reality

5:43

of my situation. What do I need

5:45

to do to get to the next point?

5:48

or even what do I need to do to step

5:50

away. And I think that

5:53

either, you know, whether it's taking a

5:55

nap or I I like to

5:57

as an introvert, I would do

5:59

either a movie or or just

6:01

have my alone time. an introvert. You know

6:03

what I'm thank you. Yeah. I tried to

6:05

disguise myself. But

6:09

I think also making lists for me,

6:11

checking off lists and having my to

6:13

dos, but even if it's making a

6:15

list of what you're grateful for or

6:17

thankful for, it kind

6:19

of just resets you a little

6:21

bit, kind of grounds you and then you can come up

6:23

with your next plan of attack. Yeah. I

6:25

like both of those ideas. I think maybe from a

6:27

clinical perspective, two things that I

6:29

often try to encourage as

6:31

tools or skills because staying in the

6:33

present moment is really skilled

6:35

that takes time. So for me,

6:37

meditation is really big. It's not certainly

6:39

not for everybody, but I do think that it

6:41

can help a lot of different people. It took

6:43

me, you

6:43

know,

6:44

six to eight months before I really

6:46

started to understand the concept. I

6:49

mean, sitting still. Betsy, we talked about that

6:51

you mentioned, you know, learning how to

6:53

shut everything off and sit still

6:55

and sit there and silence by yourself.

6:57

You're like, this is kinda and then

6:59

stuff starts coming up. Yeah. For a minute. You

7:01

know what? I did a deprivation tank

7:03

last night, and that's sixty minutes.

7:06

Just laying there floating

7:08

on, like, salt water and

7:09

Sixty minutes. Sixty minutes. I

7:11

was so worried going in. I'm like, what am I

7:13

gonna do for sixty minutes? Like, what are my thoughts

7:15

gonna like, where are they gonna take me? And

7:17

I was so surprised how fast it went.

7:20

And by the end, I was like, I'm just

7:21

gonna breathe and then it was over. Who

7:24

who watched Quora? for that hour. My husband.

7:27

And I think all moms, everyone

7:29

should do that because I'm outside of the

7:31

movies. I'm down. It was incredible. Yeah. No

7:33

offense, Duke, because do oh,

7:35

he's my her forty year old.

7:37

He's watching POWER RANGERS dinosaurs

7:39

or something. I don't know. But, yeah, I I

7:41

would take that definitely. Okay.

7:44

Let's

7:45

move on to the next, oh, my answer

7:47

was meditation and also journaling.

7:49

I think I really I love journaling.

7:51

I think it's about those two things

7:53

I really try to do every single

7:55

morning. There's a book out there called the Miracle Morning,

7:57

and it's all about, like, engaging

7:59

in

7:59

certain practices before

8:02

you start the day to

8:03

kind of just set the tone, be

8:06

with yourself, get your mind right,

8:08

journaling, meditation, exercise

8:11

reading. Those were like the four kind of elements,

8:13

but I love journaling because

8:15

it really brings our thoughts

8:17

and everything that's going on internally down

8:19

to onto a paper or computer screen

8:21

and makes everything come come to

8:23

life. Okay. Has there been a difficult

8:26

time when you were heating that you had to

8:28

overcome quickly. And if so, how did

8:30

you adapt?

8:33

It's hard

8:33

to nail it down to one moment. Right?

8:35

I have

8:35

one that's actually fairly recent.

8:38

We were playing in

8:40

Hamburg and

8:41

this is like a top tier international

8:43

tournament and they were serving

8:45

the ball so hard. I and I'm

8:47

I I like to think I'm a really good passer,

8:49

and I

8:50

just I was getting aced. I

8:52

I couldn't pass the ball, and it was just really

8:54

hard. And, like, in

8:56

that moment, I I just kept telling myself,

8:58

like, I'm the best passenger in the world. Like, I I can do

9:00

this. I I can get through this, and I just kept

9:02

repeating it. And

9:03

eventually, it Gia, like, happened. It

9:05

it clicked. And I was able to receive

9:08

really well. And just that

9:10

moment, I felt, like, so, like,

9:12

you know, in control of my my

9:14

mind, which

9:16

I'm you're never

9:17

gonna be fully in control and those

9:20

self doubt those

9:20

thoughts came up, but it was cool for

9:22

me to overcome that and just kinda repeat

9:24

a mantra to myself and eventually

9:27

we did win a gold medal there in

9:29

Hamburg, so It worked out

9:31

nice. Yeah. I did. How about

9:32

you, coach Flowers?

9:34

Oh, girl.

9:35

the Well,

9:37

you know, softball is a failure sport. So I

9:39

feel like there's so many times

9:41

where, you know, I was falling short, but

9:43

one that comes to mind, my

9:46

senior year The only

9:48

thing the media kept talking about was how we

9:50

were in danger being the first

9:52

class to go through UCLA and not win

9:54

a national championship. So

9:56

we had taken second twice. We lost

9:58

early at the World Series, my junior

10:00

year. So now we're back and

10:03

we lose the first game of the world

10:05

series and I had

10:07

three errors in that game.

10:09

So in my mind, right, I'm going I'm

10:11

at home in the hotel and I'm like

10:13

crying. It's all my fault we're about to

10:15

lose again. And the

10:17

next day, my coach pulled me aside and

10:19

said, hey, I'm thinking about making a change

10:21

at your position. And

10:24

as a senior and, you know, someone

10:26

coming in and it's our last chance. I'm like, oh

10:28

my gosh. Like, you don't wanna hear those words,

10:30

but I was coach whatever you

10:32

need. And she stuck with me

10:34

and my teammates made sure before the

10:36

next game that they knew that they had my

10:38

back I think that's the luxury of

10:40

playing a team sport of other

10:42

people can pick you up as you go

10:44

and you we had such an incredible picture

10:46

that year and she'd get ready to pitch and she'd look

10:48

at me and say the ball's coming to you and you're

10:50

just Gia, oh my gosh, we're connected, we're

10:52

ready, and we went on to win Gia national

10:54

championship. So That's all. You

10:56

know, it's a weeklong tournament, so you have

10:58

to turn it around quickly. But

11:01

it was tough. It was you just your mind

11:03

started going to my mind started going all

11:05

the things that could go wrong and how it was

11:07

gonna be my fault and what happened

11:09

and I had

11:11

people around me that let me know. It's it's

11:13

okay. We

11:13

we worked hard all

11:15

season long and we're gonna come back and do this

11:17

thing. I love both of your stories are all

11:19

about triumph and resiliency and coming

11:21

back after a really tough moment. I think my

11:23

moment, I will down hopefully because I

11:25

know we're running out of time, but reminds

11:27

me of my freshman

11:29

year We were number two we

11:31

were number one in the country. Wake Forest was

11:33

number two. I choked

11:35

in my match. I was up 6443

11:38

and Darren headlights. We had

11:40

won something like

11:41

ten consecutive ACC thirteen

11:44

ACC regular season titles and

11:46

something like thirteen ACC

11:48

championships or something. And all I could think

11:50

about was, like, don't

11:52

joke. Like, don't don't messed

11:54

this tradition up. And I messed it up. And

11:57

obviously, you know, other people lost, so it

11:59

wasn't just about me. But that

12:00

was so brutal. I felt awful.

12:02

But what we ended up doing was,

12:04

you know, coming together as a

12:06

team, supporting one another. We

12:08

worked harder. We trained harder. We decided

12:10

to work on our fitness. get up

12:12

and, you know, work out together

12:14

at seven AM for the next month or

12:16

so and really, you

12:18

know, you figure you focus on the process

12:20

and control focus on

12:21

the things that you can control. Whatever

12:24

takes place takes place and so we ended up getting

12:26

revenge and beating wait for

12:28

us in the ACC

12:29

tournament. So that was pretty cool.

12:31

Okay. What is

12:34

your best advice for reaching fulfillment

12:36

after college? We

12:38

definitely talked about that a little bit, talked about

12:40

the why, talked about purpose. Either one of

12:42

you wanna go first. I don't

12:44

think I

12:44

have anything more to add just, you

12:47

know, exploring your why and

12:49

finding your purpose, and that might evolve and

12:51

change over time. And just

12:53

reevaluating every so often when maybe

12:55

you feel lost or you're not sure what

12:57

you're doing. finding, yeah, your

12:59

purpose and what you're doing every single

13:01

day. Yeah. Coach, I

13:03

would just piggyback on that and knowing

13:06

it's okay things are gonna change. You're gonna

13:08

change. You're evolving as as

13:10

you get older too. So not

13:14

thinking that fulfillment is just one

13:16

thing. It can be multiple. Yeah.

13:19

I think for me, it's all about

13:22

fulfillment, purpose,

13:24

direction. What am I gonna

13:26

do next? It all really boils down

13:28

to getting to know yourself. And it's

13:30

always it's always changing. Right?

13:32

I always feel like I go

13:34

through a significant change every three to

13:36

four years. you know, you know,

13:38

like your priorities shift, your

13:40

values shift, your identity shift, your

13:42

responsibilities shift,

13:44

your career aspirations might shift.

13:46

So I think, you know, for

13:48

reaching fulfillment after college, you

13:50

have to really get to know yourself. And I

13:52

think we would be shocked at

13:54

how little self reflection and self

13:56

awareness we engage in. Of

13:58

course, this is coming from an aspiring

14:01

psychologist who's going to really

14:03

like, encourage people to do that self reflection. But that's

14:05

honestly, you know, it takes a lot of cognitive

14:07

effort, you know, to figure out, like, the

14:09

things that we're good at, the things we're

14:11

not answers that we don't have. So I

14:13

think I would say for that for

14:15

me, but love your points on on

14:17

that. Okay. Next question. What

14:19

resources do you wish you had access to

14:21

collegiate athlete. Oh, boy.

14:27

Gonna drum my Yeah.

14:29

You know what? I'll I'll go first while

14:31

both of you are are kind of thinking,

14:34

you know,

14:36

I think the resources

14:38

were there for me, maybe in

14:40

the college, the counseling, you know,

14:42

the caps, the counseling and psychological

14:44

services, but I I

14:45

definitely didn't know they were there.

14:48

We certainly didn't have

14:50

the resources or maybe the

14:52

availability in terms of just Gia general

14:54

psychological help. And for

14:56

me, it's not just about the

14:58

sports psychology and performance aspect.

15:00

Right? And hopefully, everybody is hopefully,

15:02

everybody learns the difference, right, sports

15:04

psychologist is really geared towards

15:06

helping people maximize their

15:08

potential and performance on the quarter field. They're

15:10

not really credential to

15:12

handle many other psychological or

15:14

mental health issues. So I think for me, I

15:16

wish I would have had maybe a therapist

15:18

or Gia. available

15:22

to me. So so

15:24

I could have really maybe begun that

15:26

process. How about either one of

15:28

you? Yeah. Similar. I knew

15:30

that they existed, that our

15:33

student psychological services existed.

15:35

I think it was just more of like getting

15:37

the courage to go. And I think I wish

15:39

I would have taken advantage of that,

15:41

especially because it's free and

15:43

it's on campus. And

15:45

then I I really enjoyed We had

15:47

sports Gia multiple come in

15:49

and just working with them one on one

15:51

because oftentimes they come in and work with the

15:53

team and they ask, you know, like, if you want

15:55

anything, reach out And

15:57

I would just encourage athletes to reach out

16:00

individually because you can get a lot more out of

16:02

it.

16:02

Yeah. definitely.

16:04

Yeah. I don't have much different.

16:06

I think just having

16:09

a better understanding at

16:11

that moment in time. that

16:13

I should have utilized those resources.

16:15

And I'll be honest, I don't

16:17

know if we had those types of

16:19

things. We did have a sports psychologist that

16:21

did come in but one

16:23

of the reasons I picked the school that

16:26

I went to was because all

16:28

of

16:29

my coaches played and competed

16:31

there too. So

16:33

I felt like I had that connection

16:35

to ask when when I was struggling

16:37

with certain things. If, you know,

16:39

maybe one coach could connect with me on

16:41

one level and maybe somebody else. And

16:43

then they brought in the sports psychologist Gia

16:47

just I think too having my

16:49

support system

16:53

I was able to tap into them a

16:55

little bit more too, and they hadn't they didn't my

16:57

parents didn't know anything about softball. So

17:00

when I talked to them, it was about

17:02

me as a person and then not asking, why didn't

17:04

you swing at a certain pitch? So I

17:06

definitely feel lucky in that

17:08

aspect. Yeah. Yeah. That's

17:10

so interesting. Okay.

17:12

Next question. This was written in shorthand,

17:14

so I'll try to piece it together.

17:17

does the involvement

17:18

of sports at a young age

17:20

have any effects on one's

17:22

adult life? Do you end up becoming a

17:25

better person? I

17:26

don't

17:29

know, but better, but more

17:31

assertive for sure. I can remember being

17:33

more competitive, more assertive.

17:36

I think I always had that competitive of I'm gonna

17:38

learn how to do a cartwheel even if it was by

17:40

myself and how I wanted to perfect

17:42

something. But I was the kid

17:45

strangely enough. Like, I was terrified

17:47

to call Domino's and order the pizza.

17:49

Like, I don't know why, but my and

17:51

my mom would get so mad, but

17:53

Like, I was nervous they were gonna ask me a question.

17:55

I didn't know or I just I

17:57

don't know what it was. I didn't wanna speak in front of

18:00

people. I I never would have thought

18:02

I'd come on a show something like this or be

18:04

the leader of a program. Right? But it's

18:06

just it made me

18:08

more confident to

18:10

be myself. And I think that that's what Spurt

18:12

brought to me. Yeah. Absolutely.

18:15

How about

18:15

you, Betsy? Yeah.

18:17

That's awesome. Gia I

18:19

mean, I think it's awesome to be

18:22

playing sports at a young age. I

18:24

don't know if question was geared

18:26

towards burnout or not, but I was able to play

18:28

in a lot of different sports. I didn't feel

18:29

like I burnt out at a certain

18:31

age.

18:32

But yeah, I think you learned so many different

18:34

skills from different coaches and different

18:37

sports

18:37

that I would I I wanna do

18:39

it to my daughter. want her to be playing

18:41

sports if she enjoys it.

18:43

I think there's so much to learn

18:45

from

18:45

an early age. Are you guys

18:46

doing volleyball? at at her

18:48

home, probably. She does she does love

18:51

volleyball. She does. Yeah. I

18:52

told her maybe pick a sport that pays

18:54

more money.

18:58

That's awesome. Tennis golf

19:00

golf is easy on the body. No. Although, to

19:02

be honest with you, tennis players, especially

19:04

those that reach a certain level, they

19:07

will often kind

19:07

of, like, push their kids

19:10

away from tennis a little bit because it's really

19:12

it's it's really demanding. It

19:14

really is. But there's a lot of sports that are so demanding

19:17

these days. because of all the travel, the

19:19

money, Gia mean, it's become right?

19:21

It's just been a year round

19:24

aspect and experience.

19:26

Yeah. This tough I think the way I can

19:29

simplify the question or that

19:31

my answer to this question does

19:33

involvement of sports at a young age, have any effects on

19:35

the adult life? Do you become a better person?

19:38

Definitely has a lot of effects.

19:40

Just like anything else, I kind of

19:42

equate sports to an instrument

19:44

or a tool or even just kinda like

19:46

a knife, you know, just like anything else you

19:48

have to know how to use

19:51

it? And there can

19:54

be, you know, some positive effects, but

19:56

also some negative effects as well. For

19:58

the most part, I think it's a net positive. There's

20:00

some question like, it's a net positive

20:02

experience. And do you become a

20:04

better person? I do think I really

20:06

have. You know, just Gia both of you

20:08

kind of mentioned, just the confidence. I think being

20:10

a female. I think that's just Gia totally

20:12

different. It's a

20:13

really, really

20:14

cool thing, especially for me being

20:17

vertically challenged.

20:19

Why y'all laughing?

20:21

Yeah.

20:22

For me being vertically challenged, like,

20:24

there's nothing better than, like,

20:27

having, like, that little

20:29

small dog syndrome, like, yeah, that I

20:31

feel like I can hang. It's okay, you know. And I

20:33

don't think I would be where I am without

20:35

sports. So hopefully

20:36

that answered your question. We have a few

20:39

more minutes and last one. How

20:43

might one plays a more

20:45

individualized sports like

20:47

track or tennis, stay

20:51

motivated and to keep that

20:53

mental toughness or rather

20:55

stay thinking about the team, maybe

20:57

and really focusing on the bigger picture. So

20:59

hopefully that makes sense. I think

21:01

the person was really just asking, you know, in

21:04

when you're an individual sport,

21:06

how do you how are you able to maintain that

21:09

mental toughness while also

21:12

really trying to adhere to maybe a

21:14

team environment because that can be a a

21:17

difficult thing. And I'm curious what you

21:19

you both think because you both

21:21

played

21:21

Team Sports. So

21:22

Yes. And beach volleyball is

21:25

tricky. It's kind of like tennis where,

21:27

you know, you're

21:29

scoring five five teams. and

21:31

it's just you and your partner. Yeah,

21:34

I think there is a lot to that,

21:36

but I think

21:37

one thing is one developing

21:39

relationships with your teammates because you want to play

21:41

and perform better for them.

21:44

But knowing your role too, like, taking care

21:46

of yourself and taking care job

21:48

is going to help the team. And then

21:50

when you're done playing, you're cheering them

21:52

on, you're on the sidelines, like with

21:55

them, doing your best to

21:57

bring out the best in them.

21:59

Yeah, I don't have a direct answer, but

22:01

that's kind of what I was feeling.

22:04

Yeah. a

22:04

good answer. How about coach? Well, I

22:06

have a mentor that we kind of

22:08

joke that softball is disguised

22:11

as a team sport when it's really

22:13

individual Gia you're making the play or you're up

22:15

to bat, you're kind of out there all by yourself.

22:18

But I

22:20

think Betsy hit it, the nail on

22:22

the head of me being

22:25

my my best does help my team.

22:27

So as a track athlete, you know,

22:29

I I don't totally know, but right, the

22:31

scoring. So if they're they're doing well,

22:33

but knowing that if someone else does well, it

22:35

doesn't take from me. It just adds

22:37

more value to the group.

22:39

And me pushing myself to be

22:42

better in practice or when we're training or

22:44

competing against each other makes everybody

22:46

else better. So figuring out

22:48

of me being my best

22:50

self in self care and

22:52

elevating my game can help

22:54

make everybody else around me

22:57

better too. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. I agree with Gia both

22:59

of you. Like, recognizing that

23:01

you can remain motivated

23:03

because becoming your best

23:06

helps the team become its

23:08

best. It's all directly correlated

23:10

and connected with one another. And I

23:12

think the other thing because the weird thing about tennis is

23:14

you start out, it's really an individual sport, and then

23:16

Gia moment you get to college, and all of a sudden becomes

23:18

like a team sport. And it it

23:20

was a really tough it

23:23

was a different dynamic. And I I my

23:26

the pendulum swung the other way for me

23:28

because I was like, oh, I'm

23:30

all self list, you know, and it was weird

23:32

because it's like my teammates are kind of my

23:34

competitors a little bit because we're all trying to

23:36

fight for spots. And so it's a

23:38

really hard thing. So I

23:40

think The thing I wanted to know

23:42

or

23:42

I wish I would

23:43

have realized is recognizing that

23:46

being a part of a team and being

23:48

the best teammate

23:50

is not just about points and scoring

23:52

and getting the most wins. I didn't

23:54

realize that. So it's really

23:56

learning learning about the sport and

23:58

learning the differences between

23:59

individual and team

24:00

sports. So some of that might be listening and

24:04

listening to basketball, you know, basketball

24:06

dynamics or learning more about football or

24:08

softball or volleyball or whatever. And

24:10

just hearing from other coaches

24:12

and other athletes and you'll really

24:14

begin to understand, like, how you can

24:16

contribute to not only yourself, but

24:18

also a team, you know, whether that's

24:20

scoring or being a good cheerleader, being

24:22

the glue person, so to speak

24:24

so I think I I probably Gia wish

24:27

I

24:27

would have known that. Yeah.

24:29

So we're gonna wrap up just

24:32

on time. two minutes so you can get home with Betsy to

24:34

take care of

24:36

take care of your daughter. Well, I mean, we've been

24:38

sitting here for a really long time.

24:40

the the final question, I'll ask that both of you, and

24:43

I've asked all the other panelists, is

24:45

Gia, what was it like just to sit here? And I want

24:47

you to be honest, what was it like to

24:49

sit here? And maybe talk about some things that

24:53

seemed

24:53

maybe raw and also things that we don't necessarily

24:55

talk about all the time in sports,

24:57

either one of you. Yeah. For

24:59

me,

24:59

it's just a good reminder

25:02

to stop and listen to

25:04

myself and reflect I

25:05

get so caught up and just running from

25:08

place to place. Like I mentioned earlier,

25:10

you think

25:10

I learned by now? And it's still

25:12

a challenge just to like

25:14

take

25:14

a little moment between each thing

25:17

and just be here and not

25:19

worry about anything else. So,

25:20

yeah,

25:21

it's awesome just to have this

25:24

conversation and bring those things up that I can

25:26

get better at and knowing

25:28

that, I mean,

25:28

these are conversations that can be

25:30

had openly with you know, friends

25:32

and people you love and just talking to

25:35

them and making sure they're

25:37

okay and just

25:39

being a good person and a good friend to all

25:41

those people. That's awesome. I love

25:43

it. Yeah. How about you

25:45

coach? I would say, you

25:47

know, we do talk about this

25:49

subject

25:49

a lot with our team. And

25:52

and I say a lot. I we we talk

25:54

about it, and I wish we would do a better job

25:56

and and speak more, and it's

25:58

more open, but I'll be

26:00

honest sometimes I'm like, oh my gosh. Am I saying the

26:02

right things? Is it still I feel

26:04

like I'm still learning about me

26:07

and how I want others to feel

26:09

in kinda just the subject and and

26:11

how it's evolving. So

26:13

it's It's good, but it it makes me

26:15

a little self conscious of just am I

26:17

doing the right things? And I'm hopefully, I'm

26:19

directing people the right direction. But

26:22

It definitely, again, makes me

26:24

reflect and make sure that I'm putting an emphasis

26:26

on it in my program. Yeah.

26:29

I appreciate what both of you said. And I totally agree, coach,

26:31

because, you know, I actually made made a

26:33

post today on social media just kind of

26:35

talking about that because I think

26:37

with such sensitive We

26:39

know this is a serious. can be a serious topic. And we always wanna

26:41

do the right things, and we don't want to

26:43

lead people in the wrong direction. And so

26:45

the consequences of what we could say

26:47

can be pretty big, you know, because

26:49

we don't want to hurt anybody or further hurt

26:52

anybody. But I don't know. The way I kind of phrased

26:54

it, I I just felt like, you

26:56

know what? If our intentions are there, if we leave with compassion

26:58

and love, like, no one's ever gonna fault that.

27:00

We are gonna make mistakes along the way. Right?

27:02

We're Gia mean, but we're we're gonna

27:04

make mistakes, but this is what

27:06

This series, the LG transparent conversation series

27:08

Conversations It's just being real and

27:10

being honest and just doing our best

27:13

to help anybody that's listening

27:15

or help anybody that's out there. It's not

27:17

gonna be perfect. We're not gonna be able to save

27:19

every single life. But at the end of the day, we're

27:21

just trying. Right? And that's all you can

27:23

really do. And I

27:23

guess that's a lesson that we could learn from sports.

27:26

But Betsy Coach, I mean,

27:28

it's been such an honor. It's been so much fun.

27:30

Oh, thank So That's what we can have in them.

27:32

Maybe we can do a happy hour.

27:34

Wellness Friday. Uh-huh. And we'll

27:36

become even more Transparent raw. I don't

27:38

know if TD and the LG people

27:40

would He's he's starting to

27:41

That's Gia That's a mess. No.

27:44

Because you're not going out yet

27:46

slowly.

27:46

Do I will get

27:48

through these chips, honey. Okay. He's

27:50

calling. I'm being I'm being called. That's

27:53

gonna do it for today, the LG transparent

27:55

conversations here at LMU, and

27:58

this has been wonderful.

27:59

Thank you so much.

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