Year: Senior Position: OF Height: 5-2 Hometown: West Hills, CA High School: El Camino Real Major: American Studies
DIARY ARCHIVE
From the outside it just looks like one of those gray nondescript buildings out behind the Fire Department that house the parking and maintenance offices.
"That big gray shack out by the practice football field," is how I usually describe the Varsity Weight Room when someone asks me where it is. "It's sort of hidden so that only the people who need to know about it can find it," I say after the person asks why it is so inconspicuous.
Inconspicuous though doesn't mean unimportant. It just means that it's behind the scenes, the "Strength of Stanford Athletics" as a sign up on the wall reads. The reason I'm calling attention to it now though is that when you get near the end of your time here at Stanford, you realize that a lot of people went into making your career special. Making it fun and memorable and helping you succeed on and off the field. Those people don't show up in the box scores or in the newspaper clippings but they're just as important as anyone who does.
Over the four years I've been here, and the last two that the softball team has trained with Mark (Wateska) and Mike (Bradley), the Varsity Weight Room has become one of my favorite places. And that's saying a lot considering I'm usually in there before 8 or 9 in the morning.
It's almost like the "secrecy" surrounding it makes it special. Even when I feel like I can hardly walk, let alone ride my bike to class after a lift, I leave in a good mood and feeling all fired up for practice later that day.
Mark and Mike demand maximum effort on your lifts. You go "to failure" on everything. And you know what, we all do. There's a certain satisfaction in that, knowing that you absolutely put as much effort as you could into something. They don't even have to yell at you to get you to do it; they just ask you to push yourself and do your best. That, and blast awesome classic rock music in the background that totally pumps you up.
A lot of times, going in to lift on a Monday morning after a long weekend of games helps me put whatever happened on the field into perspective. I just go into the weight room, work hard, get better (stronger), and know that is all I can expect of myself on the field too. You can't have any regrets if you can say that about your performance everyday.
I guess I'm getting a little sentimental here but while I have a little (spring) break in the season, I just wanted to say "Thanks" to Mark and Mike and all the other behind the scenes people in the Athletic Department while I had the chance.
