Off-Season

For the past eight years throughout high school and college, I've never really had an off season. Even when I got to Illinois State, where softball was the only sport I played, our "off-season" was just as busy as our playing season. The only time I would take a break from softball would be for a week or two between the college season and summer ball. Now that I'm a college graduate and I'm playing in the NPF, I've gotten a new understanding for the term off-season. The off-season is so long that at times I don't know what to do with myself. It's tough for NPF athletes to train during the off-season because we live all over the country. It's not like we can just get together and have a practice. Since I'm in grad school at Illinois State, I still have access to the facilities for training, so I've managed to stay on top of my training. The strength and conditioning coach for ISU softball, Landon, makes workouts for me to do in the weight room and puts up with my musical taste when I'm in there :) For pitching, I threw at ISU's practices in the Fall and then to Tony, who also works in the weight room. For the last few weeks of the Fall semester, Shannon Nicholson, a fellow Redbird pitcher and I threw to each other. And let me tell you, us catching each other in full gear is quite a sight to see. Shannon just signed to play with Akron this season, so we'll both be pitching to the ISU softball team this spring to stay in shape. Only 4 months and 4 days until Spring Training begins, I can't wait!!

FLOTG,
Stacy Birk #??